Public Lands and Trees

Benefits of Trees | Select, Plant and Care for Trees | Curriculum Ideas | Reading Materials

National Public Lands Day projects strive to benefit our nation’s most precious resource-our public lands. However, another component of NPLD concerns educating Americans about critical environmental and natural resources issues and the need for shared stewardship of these valued, irreplaceable lands.

Whether as teachers, students, or adults a vast array of knowledge about natural resources can be found. In this section you can educate yourself (or others!) about the natural treasures that can be found right outside-in our public lands.

Benefits of Trees

What does the tree in your area do? Enter your area and tree information into this calculator, developed by Casey Trees and Davey Tree Expert Co. 

• A single mature tree can absorb as much as 48lbs of carbon dioxide each year. In its lifetime, the average tree sequesters at least 1 ton of carbon dioxide.
• New York City estimates that its tree canopy annually removes 2,202 tons of pollution from the air, sequesters nearly 1.35 million tons of CO2, captures over 890 million gallons of storm water, and saves residents upwards of $28 million in energy bills.
• Trees purify soil. In what scientists term phytoremediation, trees actually have the ability to absorb dangerous pollutants from the soil and transform these into less harmful compounds.
• Trees decrease the amount of storm water runoff.  Some trees absorb upwards of 1000 gallons of water each year.  Forests, both large and small, are excellent buffers against flooding.

Learn More

Curriculum Ideas

American Forests contains educational resources for students in preschool through high school.  

• Treetures® Environmental Education Program introduces children ages 3-9 to the Treetures characters who have individual messages that focus on the function, benefits, and importance of trees.
• A Tree for Every Child Program teaches students, grades 3-5, about forest communities and trees in the context of environmental change. This hands-on and flexible education program encourages practical action to create a better world. Other resources are: an online learning guide, tree planting instructions, ways to get involved, conservation tips, and the kid's page of the magazine.
• CITYgreen Environmental Education Program offers middle and high school students with a real world learning experience using science, math and Geographic Information Systems to calculate the value of trees.

• If Trees Could Talk: A wealth of information on trees and accompanying lesson plans.
• The Wild Ones Teacher Connection: Great outdoor exercises for your class.
• What Shapes Trees? A game that permits students to make connections between plants and their surrounding environment.
• EE Week's  Forestry Curricula: Environmental lesson plans assorted by grade levels

A variety of information on trees and accompanying lesson plans.

Lesson plans for students done inside the classroom or near your school.

EE Week Forestry Curricula - for grades K-12, assorted by grade level.

Project Learning Tree® (PLT) activities for NPLD

NEW! Investi-gator -a free science journal for upper elementary level students. This journal is created in partnership with the USDA Forest Service and the Cradle of Forestry Interpretive Association.

NEW! Natural Inquirer -a middle school science education journal, created so that scientists can share their research with middle school students. Each article tells you about scientific research conducted by scientists in the USDA Forest Service.

How to select, plant, and care for a tree

Natives Only! Don’t plant just yet—make sure you have the right tree for your area.

• The Arbor Day Foundation Tree Wizard will help you select the correct species.
• Want to plant a tree? Read Tree-Planting.com’s step by step guide.
• Is your tree damaged? ReTree WNY offers tree repair advice.