American Forests was formed by horticulturist John Aston Warder in 1875 as the American Forestry Association. The association was formed in an attempt to alleviate some of the harmful affects of post-war development. 2
American Forests played a role in early environmentalist strategies in the United States, including the adoption of a National Arbor day, the passage of the Forest Reserves Act, wildfire education, and the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. 2
Activities
American Forests focuses on environmental conservation and advocacy through various tree planting initiatives. The group gives American cities a “Tree Equity Score” that assesses how evenly distributed forested areas are around cities, and whether or not certain communities contain less forested areas than others. 3
American Forests is partnered with the Girl Scouts of the United States of America for the goal of planting 5 million trees “in the next five years.” 3 The group claims to have planted 65 million trees since 1990. 3
American Forests also advocates strongly for the management, expansion, and conservation of national parks, forests, and wildlife. 4
Leadership
Hilary Franz is the chief executive officer and president of American Forests. Franz previously served as Washington’s commissioner of public lands from 2017 to 2025. 5
Chris David is the vice president of data, science, and innovation at American Forests. Previously, David led GIS development for the Trust for Public Land’s climate-smart cities program and worked with local and federal government agencies on planning and geographic data analysis. 6
Carlo Davis serves as chief operating officer of American Forests. Davis previously held leadership roles at the Washington Department of Natural Resources and Chelan Public Utility District. 7
Board of Directors
Chad Hesters is the board chair of American Forests. Hesters is the chief executive officer of the international advisory firm Boyden. 8
E. Zimmerman Boulos is the treasurer of the board. Boulos is also a member of Greenscape, America’s second oldest tree planting organization. 8
Nes Parker is the Secretary of the board. Parker leads the government and public services practice at Deloitte. 8
As of May 2026, other board members included Paul G. Boynton, Taldi Harrison, David Hunter, Richard Kabat, Michael Klein, Paolo Mottola, Sunya Norman, and Pamela Tate. 8
To support the launch of the Forest Innovation Platform, a new national information and technical resource ecosystem for climate-adapted forest planning, conservation and stewardship
To create a replicable national urban forestry pre-apprenticeship program that will create economic opportunity for people in need and address urban forestry’s labor shortage by generating a pool of diverse, skilled and job-ready people to help cities achieve Tree Equity.
$1,000,000
2023
The Coca-Cola Foundation Inc
Creating Fire Resilient Landscapes and Healthy Resilient Forests for the Future
$1,000,000
2023
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Inc
To support the Tree Equity program in providing data, information and technical assistance to enable urban communities to better protect forests and expand tree canopy as a way to enhance equity in communities
$1,000,000
2021
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Inc
To support a national Tree Equity campaign for expanding urban and community forest canopy, through an integrated health, climate, and environmental justice approach
To reforest wildfire-affected and degraded lands, expand tree cover in urban communities, and train early career professionals for forestry jobs. Grants monies from the Salesforce Fund may not be used to purchase products or services from Salesforce or any Salesforce subsidiary; or transferred to a 501(c)(4) organization or used for any lobbying purposes. By accepting this grant, your organization agrees to provide relevant reporting to Salesforce approximately 12 months after the receipt of funds. Reporting parameters will be mutually agreed-upon between your organization and Salesforce.
All-time grants given statistics from Candid dataset:
Total Grant Value:$20,022,721
Number of Grants:316
Number of Recipients:166
Selection of highest value grants given from the last seven years:
Amount
Year
Funder
Subject
$1,288,956
2023
The Greening of Detroit
Detroit tree equity programs
$798,962
2022
Oregon Department of Forestry
Post-fire Plantings with Oregon Department of Forestry-Support
$792,465
2023
USDA Forest Service
Eldorado King Fire Reforestation Project; Flathead Resilence Planting Project; Natural Regeneration Project at Wayne National Forest; Hoosier National Forest Prescribed Burn Project; Forest Soil Carbon Project; California Region 5 Fire Restoration Projects
$761,489
2022
USDA Forest Service
Various Tree Planting Projects
$614,834
2020
Usda Forest Service
Reforestation project
$396,685
2024
The Greening of Detroit
Detroit tree equity programs
$386,807
2022
Glide Revitalization
Glide Revitalization Project 2022 post-fire plantings in the Archie Creek Fire scar
tree planting on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation; purchase of seedlings, planting crews and inspectors
$149,000
2023
Natural Areas Conservancy Inc
Roots of Rock Nurseries and Plantings. grow 3,000 climate-adapted trees in the Greenbelt Native Plant Center and plant 3,000 trees in urban parks in New York City.
$145,360
2023
Speak for the Trees, Boston
tree equity & mobilization projects; training; tree plantings
$137,200
2022
Nature Conservancy Worldwide Office
The Next Phase for U.S. Climate Alliance States Leadership on Natural and Working Lands Project
$136,000
2024
University of Tennessee
Funding and technical assistance in permanently transitioning the national register of champion trees
$135,000
2021
Friends of the Wildlife Corridor
Reforestation/ Tree planting
$134,000
2023
Arizona Sustainability Alliance
Solano Park Tree Planting; Rio Salado Habitat AreaTree Planting; Leadership on Phoenix Metro Urban Forestry Roundtable; Plan/Implement tree planting Dysart Middle School and Dysart High School
$132,174
2020
Association for Computing Machinery
Quantifying the GHG Mitigation Potential of Natural Climate Solution
