TREE Fund - Hyland R. Johns Grant Program

2022 Research Priorities

In 2022, TREE Fund’s Hyland Johns Grant program will be focused specifically on the following areas:

• Urban forest management to include:

• Inventory techniques, assessment, interpretation, etc.

• Pruning, removal, relocation, etc.

• Surveys to inform decision making

• Ecosystem Services to include:

• Interactions with other biota (birds, pollinators, nuisance plants/animals, etc)

• Impact of weather events (storm water runoff, increased temperature, wind tolerance, etc.)

• Tree health to include:

• Identification and management of insects, diseases, viruses, phytoplasmas, and other biotic agents that are known or suspected of affecting tree health

• Inadvertent impact of chemicals used for other purposes (e.g. herbicides, deicing salt, airborne pollutants) on urban tree health

• Role of environment on predisposition of trees to other biotic agents.

• Decay to include:

• Identification, assessment, and mitigation of biotic organisms that cause decay in trees.

• New and/or improved means to determine the presence in trees or to determine their threat to structural integrity

This list is by no means inclusive, and they will consider proposals that may address many other topics related to tree health maintenance.

Funding Information

• Projects are expected to be completed within three to five years, with a maximum award value of $25,000. No project may receive more than one award from this program.

What they Do not fund

TREE Fund does not fund the following types of projects, and will not accept applications for such work:

• Grants to individuals;

• Projects that are primarily municipal tree surveys or assessments;

• Tree planting programs;

• Studies of individual tree species for the primary purpose of agricultural or timber/forest planting yield;

• Commercial tree- or soil-related product testing primarily for the benefit of the company that manufactures the product.

Criteria for Selection

Staff will screen all applications for applicant eligibility, adherence to submission directions (including word counts), alignment with the TREE Fund mission, and compliance with minimum requirements. Proposals meeting these criteria are then forwarded to the TREE Fund’s Research and Education Committee for a more thorough and competitive evaluation. Prospective applicants can be sure that reviewers will place highest emphasis on:

• Prior record of accomplishment by the investigative team. (Scientists early in their research careers may wish to include others with more research experience as active co-investigators or advisors)

• Potential contribution of the project to the arboricultural industry.

• Approach, including statement of hypotheses and experimental design

• Dissemination plan to the scientific community and to tree care professionals

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