Trees for Missoula seeks to improve our City’s environment, build community and connect Missoulians with the natural world and each other through a wide variety of projects.
Current Projects
Trees Equity Grant and Trees Ambassadors
In the Spring of 2024, Trees for Missoula received a grant from the Department of Natural Resources & Conservation (DNRC), made possible with federal Inflation Reduction Act funds. The goal of this funding is to enhance relationships with and services to underserved residents, increase tree access and grow an equitable, robust, and climate-resilient urban forest. This has been done through having conversations with residents, launching our Tree Ambassadors, and ultimately getting trees planted in two underserved neighborhoods in Missoula ( Northside and Franklin to the Fort).
In the Summer of 2024 ( Year 1), we developed a survey to understand the barriers to tree care and to gauge interest in the adoption of public trees. Staff and two interns canvassed residents in the two neighborhoods and collected responses. Additionally, we shared a request for residents to respond online, resulting in over 90 surveys collected!
In the Spring 2025 (Year1), planting locations were solidified based on planting feasibility and resident engagement. Staff went back out to canvas residents in the Northside neighborhood to confirm they would still like to adopt the tree and to sign tree care agreements.
On June 5th, 2025, with help from the City of Missoula Urban Forestry Department and a wonderful group of neighborhood volunteers, we planted 10 trees in Missoula's Northside neighborhood! These residents not only get their free tree, but we also have funding to reduce the barriers they may face in caring for a tree! These 10 trees and relationships with residents are a first step in building a tree canopy in the under-treed parts of our city. In the fall, we'll be planting 20 more trees in the Northside and Franklin to the Fort.
In the following year (Year 2), we will continue to work with our community Tree Ambassadors to provide more education to residents who have adopted trees and offer additional care for the trees as needed.
Look out for the next opportunity to support this project in our newsletter or join our Trees Ambassador initiative now!
Shade Missoula Project - S. 6th St. W. and Bitterroot Trail (Native Plant restoration)
Build it, and they will come.
More people will get outside and exercise if there is easy access, places to rest and pleasant destinations to reach.
With these factors in mind, Trees for Missoula (TFM) with partners Climate Smart Missoula and Missoula InvestHealth began looking for a location, and found it along the Bitterroot Trail at S. 6th St. W.
In 2017, TFM received a Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) Program Development Grant for a shade project that includes the installation of a shade shelter built from reclaimed lumber, large shade trees, native grasses and an irrigation system.
With TFM partners City of Missoula Parks & Recreation, Climate Smart Missoula, MMW Architects and HomeResource, the shade shelter was instilled in 2019 and is undergoing native plant restoration efforts. See the Climate Smart Missoula website for more information regarding shade shelters!
If you are interested in assisting with our native plant restoration work at this shade shelter visit our Volunteer form!
Past Projects
Missoula Art Park Suspended Pavement System
In December 2015, Trees for Missoula (TFM), the City of Missoula Urban Forestry Division (UF) and Missoula Art Museum received a Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) Program Development Grant to install a suspended pavement system at the Missoula Art Park.
October 2016, Montana’s first suspended pavement system was installed along with a Pacific Sunset Maple. The following graphic and text describing the system are on the sign adjacent to the tree at the Missoula Art Park.
Under this concrete is Montana’s first suspended pavement system. Unlike traditional tree wells, this system provides space for non-compacted soil, which gives roots the necessary room to grow, along with oxygen, water and nutrients vital to support a large and healthy tree.
Every tree that takes root carries with it a myriad of benefits to our health, quality of life and well-being – locally and globally.
Missoula Public Tree Inventory
“How can we help our urban forest?”
When Trees for Missoula (TFM) started meeting in 2011, it was soon realized that there was no easy answer to that question.
It was estimated that the City of Missoula Urban Forestry Division (UF) had 30,000 street trees to care for with limited staff, equipment and resources. However, with only a partial inventory from 2003, there was insufficient information to garner city council support.
In 2012, TFM and the UF received a Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) program development grant to pay for two interns and TFM donated two Trimble GPS units to UF for the inventory.
For 14 weeks in 2013, three certified arborist UF staff, 24 TFM volunteers and two interns walked, mapped and evaluated over 24,000 public street trees.
Since then, UF staff have continued to inventory Missoula’s trees. As of May 2018, almost 29,656 public trees within city right-of-way and in parks have been mapped, evaluated and inventoried.
In 2018, TFM and UF are planning a 5-year inventory update. If you are interested in volunteering for this project, please fill out the volunteer form.
Missoula Urban Forest Gravel Bed and Bare-Root Tree Nursery
An answer to two different needs.
Need One: Trees for Missoula (TFM) volunteers and other local groups wanted to plant trees, but planting trees in the Missoula valley can be difficult – from glacial rock to clay. Because larger trees are required to be planted on streets and in parks, they usually came in large containers or ball and burlap (BB) requiring large equipment to dig the holes.
Need Two: The City of Missoula Urban Forestry Division (UF) needed to find a more cost-efficient supply of trees, since thousands will need to be planted in the coming years.
The Answer: Bare-root trees heeled into a gravel bed. Bare-root trees do not require huge, machine-made planting holes and are about ¼ the cost of traditional containerized or BB trees.
In 2016, TFM and UF partnered to build a gravel bed to hold bare-root trees at Missoula’s Wastewater Treatment Facility (MWTF). It began with one gravel bed and 60 trees that arrived in early April. By late September, the trees’ fibrous root systems had fully developed and were ready for the volunteers to plant.
Missoula Urban Forest Gravel Bed is funded by:
TFM-donated gravel, sand, equipment rental and irrigation materials
MWTF-provided space and water
MDT-donated decommissioned jersey barriers
UF-purchased bare-root trees