Archives of Stories

Adam Wargacki works with other volunteers to care for Piper’s Orchard, now hidden away along a forest stream in Seattle’s Carkeek Park. Much of the fruit harvested there goes to food banks through City Fruit, but sometimes Adam and fellow orchardists make cider. “We go kind of slow,” he says, “but that’s how the work […]

Karen Roothaan’s network of neighborhood foresters, Trees R Beautiful, began with seedling trees she salvaged from her landscaping work. A group then came together to grow more trees in backyard nurseries and distribute them throughout Chicago’s Southeast Side. Her advice: “Start today, work with others, and never give up. OK? Don’t give up.”

Cheryl Blaylock brings her skills in theater and puppetry to her work as director of youth programs for Trees New York. We followed her through three seasons and from Harlem to Williamsburg as she trained citizen pruners, made puppets with kindergarteners, coached high school tree stewards, and managed a Tree Census team. As she says, […]