

On July 29, 75 intrepid cyclists embarked on a seven-day, 585-mile trek through the Buckeye State. The riders are participants in the Tour des Trees, an annual biking adventure that is the primary outreach event of the Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund.
This was the fourth tour for J. Eric Smith, TREE Fund’s president
The Tour des Trees was founded in 1991 by a few arborists who wanted to use their passion for cycling to promote their love of trees — and create a source of funding for tree research. The first tour was a grueling 900-mile adventure, cruising the West coast from Seattle to Oakland. Some of the 13 riders that made the inaugural trip still take part in the tour 26 years later.
Ward Peterson was one of the three arborists who hatched the idea at an International Society of Arborists conference in 1991. He looks back fondly at the first tour.
“Between the route, the amazing scenery, the startup and the friendships that were formed, that first ride was my favorite,” he says. “It was an unknown frontier.”
He says the event has grown from those early days, but the principles have stayed the same.
The Tour des Trees has dual purposes: fundraising and community engagement. Each full-time rider commits to raising $3,500 for research and education programs. Tour expenses, like meals and
Jeff Edgar, owner of Silver Creek Nurseries rode his fourth Tour des Trees in 2018. He has been involved in two research projects which were funded in part by the TREE Fund. The first dealt with shipping B&B trees —
“Many tree health issues can be addressed in the beginning, at the nursery, such as planting depth, growing methods, initial trimming
Edgar believes the Tour is a strong catalyst for fundraising. During the Tour, riders meet with groups of state and local dignitaries for tree dedications, educational programs
“With funds raised by the tour, TREE Fund researchers have discovered better ways to propagate, plant, and care for urban trees, making them more resilient, more resistant to pests, and less prone to failure,” Smith says. “The tour also funds programs to connect young people with the environment and foster careers in the green industries.”
Educating the public
That need for community engagement is one reason the Tour moves around the country.
“We're an organization that funds research internationally from a small office in the suburbs of Chicago,” Smith says. “And every year we take the Tour des Trees to a different part of the country. It gives us a week of literally taking our show on the road. I'm going into schools, going into municipal spaces, going into libraries, meeting people along the road to talk about the importance of tree research.”
The
“Everybody understands, on a very obvious basis, the benefits of having trees within the cities that we live,” Smith says. “I think sometimes people are somewhat surprised to learn how much it costs to keep them healthy and how difficult it can be to keep them healthy. Trees didn’t evolve to live in cities with us, and there’s a lot of science behind making sure that we get all the benefits that trees have to offer us when we live with them in our cities and our suburban spaces.”
One of the big events that took place on this year’s Tour was the planting of a Liberty Tree at the Columbus

Not every rider makes every stop, and riders spread out according to their abilities. To make sure everyone is in the same zip code, tour support team members in vehicles help riders who stopped for an event to catch up with the main group.
“It really is like a big sort of rolling family circus,” Smith says.
Edgar stopped this year to make several tree dedications for trees he had donated to the 2018
“Seeing that John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) spent many years in Ohio, and most of that time in areas where we traveled, I thought the tour would offer a golden opportunity to donate some of my trees for these dedications,” he says.
Johnny Appleseed trees were dedicated at three sites:

Riding into the sunset
Tour riders come from all areas of the green industry and several allied industries, as well. They ride for different reasons. Edgar started training for the tour in early
“The tour riders have become a second family to me,” he says. “There are so many people associated with this group who are the ‘cream of the crop’ in the green industry.”
Peterson recently retired from The Davey Tree Expert Company, but still makes the tour a priority. And Davey has done the same, pledging $250,000 in 2018 as
“Over time it has attracted a lot of people and it’s built a really strong fraternity,” Peterson says. “There are people out on this year’s ride that

by Jason Miller
“You’ve got a mixture of people that have ridden together for a long time, look forward to getting together with old friends every year and the other half are people looking for a challenge and seeing this ride and saying ‘what’s this about? What are these guys doing? Could I do that?’ For
If either of those sounds like you, here are the details on the 2019 Tour.
TREE Fund plans to host the 2019 Tour des Trees Sept. 15-21, 2019, with a planned hub in Nashville, Tennessee. The route will take riders through Kentucky and Tennessee.
The International Society of Arboriculture’s Southern and Kentucky chapters will be jointly collaborating with TREE Fund on the 27th annual Tour des Trees event next year.
After three particularly long tours in a row, future route designs will have a target distance of about 425 miles over five full days of riding, slightly shortening the travel commitment required to participate in the event.
Love the mission and want to help, but not sure you’re ready to take on a 425-mile bike trip? Part-time and virtual tour options are also available.
Next year’s opening check-in and dinner will take place Sept. 15,
For more: www.treefund.org
Get curated news on YOUR industry.
Enter your email to receive our newsletters.
Explore the September 2018 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.