2020 Arbor Day Award Winners
The 2020 Arbor Day Awards honors five individuals and organizations for their outstanding contribution to tree planting, conservation, and stewardship.
The 2020 Winners Are
Lifetime Stewardship Award
Larry Biles, Kansas State Forest Service
Over the course of his 52-year career, including 11 years as Kansas State Forester, Larry Biles demonstrated a deep commitment to tree planting and conservation.
Key accomplishments include overseeing the Conservation Tree Planting program, which planted more than 2.5 million trees across Kansas, and securing a $13 million Regional Conservation Partnership Program grant for the Kansas Forest Service – the largest grant ever received by the organization.
The Trailblazer Award
Gabriela Lopez, Million Trees Miami
As the Community Image Manager for Miami-Dade County’s Neat Streets Miami board, Florida, Gabriela Lopez manages the board’s Million Trees Miami initiative, created to achieve a 30 percent tree canopy cover for Miami-Dade County. Under Gabriela’s leadership, Neat Streets Miami has directly planted more than 9,500 trees and given away 6,225 free trees since 2017. Previously, the initiative was planting fewer than 100 trees each year.
The Headwaters Award
Upper Susquehanna Coalition
A coalition of 22 soil and water conservation districts in New York and Pennsylvania, the Upper Susquehanna Coalition (USC) addresses water quality issues in the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. USC’s buffer team, which promotes the restoration and long-term functionality of the Upper Susquehanna’s riparian areas and riverbanks, planted more than 10,000 native trees in 2018 alone. The same year, USC engaged more than 100 student volunteers, ranging from elementary school to college, and educated more than 1,500 people on the importance of planting trees for water quality.
The Champion of Trees Award
City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The City of Toronto, Ontario, has one of the largest urban forestry programs in Canada, having planted more than 1 million trees since 2005. After undertaking its first tree canopy study in 2008, the City invested $605.6 million in its urban forest with the aim of increasing canopy cover and providing equitable access to trees to all Torontonians. Currently, the City engages residents, non-profits, and community groups through its community grants and volunteer programs to plant more than 120,000 trees and engage thousands of volunteers each year. In early 2020, the Arbor Day Foundation recognized Toronto as a Tree City of the World for its leadership in urban and community forestry.
The Friend of the Forest Award
Bank of America
Bank of America has long recognized the value of trees – from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and heat islands, to storm water management and traffic calming. In 2019 it partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to create the Community Resilience Grant program. This program aims to address tree equity and enhance community resilience in underserved communities. Bank of America is also a member of the Foundation’s Evergreen Alliance, a group of corporate partners dedicated to helping the Foundation plant 100 million trees and inspire five million tree planters by 2022.
Additionally, it has worked with American Forests’ Community Re-leaf program, supporting efforts to expand tree canopies, and has created consumer-facing tree planting campaigns in partnership with The Nature Conservancy.