ACTrees Webcast Series Points Score Trees: Partnering with Professional Sports Teams A Resource List _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ACTrees WEBCAST SERIES The ACTrees Webcast Series is a webcast held at the lunch hour on the third Thursday of each month. The goal is to provide training opportunities for local urban and community forestry practitioners. The trainings highlight successful programs and practices that you may want to adopt in your communities. Webcasts are open to all. Correctly planting and protecting trees is a good thing to do. However, planting and protecting trees also requires coordinating time and resources. ACTrees minimizes such requirements by sharing the innovative ideas and organized approaches of successful projects and models for members to replicate. We invite you to join Alliance for Community Trees for more ways to get involved. Together, we create a strong voice on behalf of the urban forest and make a great difference in the health, beauty, and livability of our communities. We strengthen communities by offering action-oriented approaches that bring people together around a common purpose. TOPIC Partnering with area sports teams is one great way to score more trees for your community. Local nonprofits are hosting plantings with baseball, soccer, football, and hockey teams to enhance urban canopies across the country. Professional teams realize how vital it is to maintain the health of surrounding area environments and are now joining forces with local nonprofits to green their communities. As a result, planting trees for goals, baskets, and home runs has proved a win for fans of teams and fans of trees. TRAINERS Jimmy Owens Greg Tudor Vice President Business Development Development Manager Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Friends of Trees 100 N. 20th Street, 5th Floor 3117 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd Philadelphia, PA Portland, OR (215) 988-8800 (503) 282-8846 [email protected] [email protected] Jimmy Owens joined the Development team at Pennsylvania Horticultural Society this year. He previously worked at New York Restoration Project, where he spent over 5 years as Director of Corporate Giving creating the program, communications, and fundraising strategies for MillionTreesNYC, overseeing the corporate volunteer program and corporate funding relationships. Greg Tudor has been the Development Manager at Friends of Trees, focusing on Corporate and Foundation Fundraising for the past three years. Prior to that, he managed the Volunteer & Outreach Program, working with many of the same corporate partners. An Oregon transplant and native Chicagoan, Greg enjoys exploring the forests of Western Oregon with his girlfriend and their two dogs. Alliance for Community Trees | 6856 Eastern Ave, NW, Ste 150, Washington, DC 20012 Page 1 202-291-TREE (8733) (p) | 202-291-1433 (f) | [email protected] | www.ACTrees.org ACTrees Webcast Series Points Score Trees: Partnering with Professional Sports Teams A Resource List _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SUCCESS STORIES—PROGRAMS Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (Philadelphia, PA) In 2013, The Phillies partnered with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for a 2nd consecutive year on PHS’ effort to plant one million trees. For each home run hit by a Phillies player during the season, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society planted one tree in Philadelphia area parks, neighborhoods, and watershed. Last year, thanks to the Home Runs for Trees program, 158 new trees were planted in the region. The trees will mitigate stormwater runoff, cool temperatures, and boost canopy coverage. For more information: http://actrees.org/what-we-do/training-and-conferences/events/sports-teams-planting-trees/ Friends of Trees (Portland, OR) Since their inaugural Major League Soccer season in 2011, the Portland Timbers have held a yearly tree planting. Every time the Timbers soccer team scored a goal, they partnered with Friends of Trees to plant one tree through their Score a Goal, Plant a Tree program. Timbers players have joined local community volunteers in planting trees through the program. To date, the partnership has contributed 2,000 trees and shrubs to the urban forest in the Portland metro region. For more information: http://actrees.org/what-we-do/training-and-conferences/events/sports-teams-planting-trees/ TreeUtah (Murray, UT) TreeUtah, Salt Lake County's 1 Million Trees for 1 Million People program, AT&T and the Utah Jazz planted 10 cottonwood trees at the Kennecott Nature Center in Murray, UT with local high students in April 2013. During a halftime ceremony at the Utah Jazz’s April 9th game, AT&T officials presented TreeUtah and Salt Lake County with a donation to support planting efforts. To get residents jazzed about planting trees at home, the first 10,000 fans in attendance also received free tree saplings. More information: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865577837/Photo-gallery-Utah-Jazz-students-plant-trees-in-Salt-Lake-County.html MillionTreesNYC (New York, NY) The New York Knicks partnered with MillionTreesNYC and PricewaterhouseCoopers as part of the “Trees for Threes” program. MillionTreesNYC is a citywide, public-private program of the NYC Parks Department and the New York Restoration Project to plant and care for one million new trees across the City's five boroughs. During each home game of the 2012-13 NBA season, PricewaterhouseCoopers donated two trees for every three pointer scored by the Knicks. During the season, the Knicks were near the top of the league in three pointers made, and due to their hot shooting, MillionTreesNYC planted 1,000 trees and 340 shrubs in Van Cortlandt Park. More information at: http://www.nba.com/knicks/treesforthrees Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (Green Bay, WI) The Green Bay Packers, U.S. Forest Service, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Wisconsin Public Service partnered for the First Downs for Trees program. For each Packer first down, a monetary donation dedicated to tree planting is made. Now in its third year, 2,000 total trees have been planted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, providing an estimated 9.98 million dollars in community benefits. In 2013 alone, 749 trees were donated and planted in 19 local communities. More information at: http://www.packers.com/news-and-events/article-1/Packers-First-Downs-For-Trees-plants-749-trees-in- local-communities/abd27c44-5f93-4a79-9e9b-d60c3ef1cc9a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (Milwaukee, WI) In 2013, the Milwaukee Brewers teamed up with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for a 3rd consecutive year for the “Root, Root, Root For The Brewers Plant-A-Tree” program. The Brewers pledge to purchase one tree for every 20,000 tickets sold to offset the trees used to print the tickets. After selling nearly 3 million tickets during the 2012 season, the Brewers planted 142 trees along the Hank Aaron State Trail in Milwaukee. The trail runs along the Menomonee River, and the trees will help improve air and water quality in this former industrial area. More information at: http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/mil/fan_forum/green.jsp Alliance for Community Trees | 6856 Eastern Ave, NW, Ste 150, Washington, DC 20012 Page 2 202-291-TREE (8733) (p) | 202-291-1433 (f) | [email protected] | www.ACTrees.org ACTrees Webcast Series Points Score Trees: Partnering with Professional Sports Teams A Resource List _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Minnesota State Parks and Trails (Minneapolis, MN) Break a Bat, Plant a Tree is an innovative partnership between Minnesota State Parks and Trails and the Minnesota Twins that gives both sports fans and outdoor enthusiasts good reasons to cheer. Every time a Twins pitcher breaks the bat of an opposing player during the season, the Twins commit to plant 100 trees in a Minnesota state park, recreational area, or along a Minnesota state trail. So far, 51,800 trees have been planted as a result of this partnership. Break a Bat, Plant a Tree promotes outdoor recreation and environmental responsibility and raises awareness about forest restoration projects underway in Minnesota state parks and trails. More information at: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/breakabat.html Denver’s Mile High Million Tree Initiative (Denver, CO) The Denver Nuggets partnered with Denver’s Mile High Million Tree Initiative and Swingle Lawn, Tree and Landscape Care to aid in the city’s goal of adding one million new trees to metropolitan Denver by the year 2025. The initiative aimed to engage and motivate area residents to become life-long stewards of their local green infrastructure through planting and caring for trees. During each home game during the 2009-10 NBA season, Swingle Lawn, Tree and Landscape Care donated a tree for every three pointer scored by the Denver Nuggets. This public private partnership will help build a healthier and more extensive urban forest in Denver, creating more inviting places to live, work and play. More information at: http://www.nba.com/nuggets/community/tree_planting_ceremony_033110.html Friends of Edwin Warner Park (Nashville, TN) The Nashville Sounds, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Nashville Parks staff, and Friends of Edwin Warner Park gathered at Edwin Warner Park to plant trees as part of the “Swing for the Trees”