This spring, TD awarded $300,000 to Fairmount Park Conservancy to promote land care and expanded tree canopy in Philadelphia’s public parks. With this investment, the Conservancy will work with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and partners to:

• Deliver proactive forestry management across 3,000 acres of parkland
• Plant 500 trees in watershed and neighborhood parks
• Engage 8,000 volunteers in park stewardship
• Support TreePhilly’s Community Forestry Partnerships
• Implement tree succession plans in 10 parks
• Strengthen capacity across 140+ volunteer groups supporting local parks

Support from TD invests in the Conservancy’s expertise in land care, coalition-building, and neighborhood-based park stewardship.

Philly Tree Plan

The Conservancy is a founding partner in the Philly Tree Plan, a 10-year collaborative strategy to expand and protect Philadelphia’s tree canopy while emphasizing equitable investment, wellbeing, and community engagement.

With 10,000 acres of park land in Philadelphia, park trees are essential to the city’s canopy. Unfortunately, a large number of our park trees are approaching the end of their lifespan – requiring proactive planning and widespread planting of new trees.

The Conservancy plants over 1,400 new trees in Philadelphia parks each year, and provides critical maintenance through invasive plant management, watering, and planting of native vegetation. With support from TD, the Conservancy’s land care work in Fairmount Park, FDR Park, and Cobbs Creek Park will continue to preserve and strengthen the ecology of Philadelphia’s urban forests and natural habitats.

Continued support from TD for TreePhilly’s Community Forestry Partnerships will also provide vital resources to community groups and individuals co-leading tree planting, maintenance, and education efforts and events in Philly Tree Plan priority neighborhoods.

Neighborhood Park Stewardship and Love Your Park

For more than 30 years, volunteer-led community groups in Philadelphia have organized park events, volunteer days, and even fundraising efforts to ensure that Philadelphia neighborhood parks are vibrant, safe, and welcoming. There are now 140 Park Friends groups across Philadelphia, which make up the Park Friends Network that is supported by the Conservancy and Parks & Recreation.

Park Friends lead volunteer projects for the annual Love Your Park Week and Love Your Park Weekend citywide activations, which engage thousands of residents in park maintenance and beautification each year. This year, TD is a returning sponsor of Love Your Park Week (May 9-17).

Year-round, Park Friends are key to Philadelphia’s ecosystem of park maintenance and activation and draw on their love of green space, hyperlocal expertise, and block-by-block community building to care for and activate neighborhood parks.

The Conservancy and Parks & Recreation support these small but mighty groups – mostly all-volunteer – through Love Your Park coordination, grant opportunities, network convenings, and workshops. Thanks to the latest support from TD, the Conservancy will expand the support for Park Friends groups through training and capacity-building opportunities to amplify their local impact.

Park Trees of Tomorrow

A new initiative led by the Conservancy, Park Trees of Tomorrow advances the Philly Tree Plan with help from selected Park Friends groups in the Tree Plan’s priority zones with the lowest tree canopy. Every park – and its tree canopy – is unique, and nobody knows that better than local volunteers. This project gathers community input to understand how neighbors use their park and how trees shape their park experience. The result is a tree succession plan with recommendations for future tree plantings including new tree locations, suitable tree types, and guidance for care and maintenance.

Five neighborhood parks are participating in a pilot planning process this spring. Thanks to the TD grant, the implementation phase of the project is expected to bring 150 new trees to parks in high priority areas of Philadelphia.

TD is a long-time supporter of the Conservancy and an early funder of the Philly Tree Plan. With this new grant, TD continues to enable the Conservancy and partners to test ideas, pilot projects, and strengthen key partnerships – building resilience in Philadelphia by getting trees in the ground and developing a robust network of community partners to care for those trees. Thank you, TD!