Bob Skiera Memorial Fund Building Bridges Initiative and John P. White Grant Program

The Bob Skiera Memorial Fund Building Bridges Initiative honors Bob Skiera, an urban forestry pioneer known for building bridges between urban foresters and other urban planning professionals, and John White, an arborist and urban forest influencer in Florida. The Initiative provides financial support to help arborists and urban foresters communicate the value of trees and urban forests through collaborative research and projects with public works officials, risk assessment professionals, civil engineers, wildlife researchers, soil scientists, and others. The 2026 Building Bridges Initiative Grant(s) focus on research to facilitate or engage interactions between urban forest managers, arborists, and other professionals committed to maximizing value and use of the urban forest resource. Suggested areas of investigation include quantitative and qualitative analysis of urban forest benefits to humans and communities, policy formation and program implementation, nature-based solutions, and ecosystem services. TREE Fund welcomes research proposals from a wide range of academic and technical disciplines, both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The program does not fund grants to individuals, municipal tree surveys or assessments, tree planting programs, traditional forestry and timber production studies, or product testing primarily for manufacturer benefit. The maximum award value is $30,000, with $25,000 provided annually by the Bob Skiera Memorial Fund and $5,000 provided annually by the John White Memorial Fund.