Learn about this controversial spikey shade tree and TTF’s first board president.

Get involved this summer! The WSU Urban Forest Health Lab was awarded a Washington Department of Natural Resources Community Forestry Grant to coordinate urban tree inventory events over the next two years.

Trees provide oxygen and improved air quality through filtration; however, trees can only take in so much air pollution at a time and will need our help in order to stay resilient and healthy to support future air quality.

Washington is the second most dangerous state in the nation for indigenous women, where they have ten times the likelihood of suffering violence, murder or going missing than any other population. Our region has the lowest tree canopy coverage of Western Washington. Woods of Memory is a local project create to honor MMIW and grow trees. Learn more about it in this week’s blog post.

Your neighborhood needs trees! Players must collaborate to achieve the highest percentage of tree canopy coverage for their neighborhood and navigate challenges with utilities, buildings, space, weather, and community goals.

There is no tree more important to the history and culture of the Pacific Northwest, past and present, than the Western redcedar.

Did you know there are several varieties of willow in the Pacific Northwest, including the Pacific willow (Salix lucida), Hooker’s willow (Salix hookeriana), Scouler’s willow (Salix scouleriana), and the Sitka willow (Salix sitchensis)? In this blog post, we share why willows are so important for soil and habitat stability while we explore why this iconic tree is TTF’s Planting Coordinator’s tree of significance.

This year, we turned seven. Thanks to your support, we have been on a growth trajectory since our days as a seedling foundation!

The Tacoma Pierce County Climate Leadership Cohort Digital Exhibit showcases the Capstone Projects of the 2025 climate leaders. Visit to learn about their contributions to our region’s communities and from the research and relationships they built as part of the program.

Guest writer, Easton Umansky, a junior at the University of Puget Sound, shares his college research project to visually document low tree equity and high tree equity in Tacoma’s neighborhoods. Learn about the tool he produced and how you can support this meaningful research.

Home In Tacoma Phase Two was passed by Tacoma City Council on November 19, 2024. Almost a year later and trees on private property remain unprotected. What happened?

As Washington's State Tree, the western hemlock is a charming example of the Pacific Northwest’s ecological majesty.

Trees are incredible beings that provide countless benefits to our communities. From our air and water, to our energy and traffic, trees play a role in how we are affected by an abundance of elements around us.

Get to know TTF’s Planting Director, Jaala Smith, through the European beech tree. The tree that provided them with shelter and wonder while growing up, today is part of their efforts to support community healing through planting in historically underserved communities.

Trees are incredible beings that provide countless benefits to our communities. From our air and water, to our energy and traffic, trees play a role in how we are affected by an abundance of elements around us.

If you want to know more about how to identify trees, here’s how to ID two PNW superheroes: the Douglas fir and bigleaf maple.

Our partners at the WSU Forest Health Lab in Puyallup have organized a series of training events in Tacoma for volunteers interested in inventorying trees and plantable spaces. Attend one of the upcoming trainings to learn about the importance of Tacoma’s urban forest and the approaches for participating in the Grit City Tree Count.

Soil provides five essential functions in an ecosystem: water regulation, buffering against pollutants and pathogens, sustaining plant and animal life, cycling nutrients through the ecosystem, and providing physical stability.

In the summer of 2024, Pierce County conducted a community heat-mapping project to collect data on urban heat islands and produce a heat map. These are the results.

Some might say that sunflowers are the trees of flowers. For Claudia Linares, they are symbols of light and guides in her search to help people heal and come together.