CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards are seeking students for their Fall 2026 Training Class, with training beginning in August and ending in November.

The Stewards are a volunteer organization, one of around 12 tree steward chapters in Virginia, and are committed to preserving and promoting forests in the Charlottesville area.

Training for new stewards requires a variety of in-person and online courses running from Aug. 4 to Nov. 14, and once certified, stewards complete service hours as well as increase public education and outreach on the value of trees.

Barbara White, a current volunteer and former president of CATS, characterized the group’s work as taking the time to help trees thrive long after the planting process is over.

“A lot of organizations that plant trees, they plant trees and then leave,” White told Cville Right Now. “We plant trees and then we help to maintain them.”

CATS evolved out of the Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) tree steward training classes in 2003 and 2004, eventually coming into its own in 2008 as a nonprofit that encourages education and conservation of trees in Charlottesville, Albemarle and surrounding counties.

Now affiliated with the Virginia Department of Forestry and the Urban and Forestry Council, CATS often receives federal grants to support and pursue tree-planting projects in underserved areas.

Some of the benefits of CATS’ work include reducing heat islands, which are common in urban areas where green spaces are less present, as well as increasing oxygen and helping to protect wildlife, particularly in neglected public areas or neighborhoods.

Removing invasive species is also a common objective, as some particularly aggressive plant species threaten long term tree life in Charlottesville. As Virginia restricts the use of certain herbicides to those with a pesticide applicator certification, the work is often “perpetual” according to White.

“We could pull it and pull it and pull it, but it’s still going to come back,” White said.  “It just takes a lot of work.”

Additionally, the nonprofit also hosts tree walks, led by stewards, to highlight trees on public and historical sites and their significance in the ecosystem.

“They do everything from tree [identification] to the impact upon what that particular area has on the community,” Communications chair Mary Spear said. “They talk a little bit about the history, and they talk a little about the geography of the landscape as well.”

Some of CATS’ recent projects have been the Monticello Gateway on Route 20, Riverview Park and neighborhood tree planting in Belmont. A few upcoming projects include creating a Geographic Information System, a digital map where every tree planted by CATS is tagged and can be located by the public, as well as a new YouTube channel to post educational videos.

Although the group usually attracts older adults or retirees who want to volunteer and positively contribute to the environment, Mary Spear noted that classes have diversified after the implementation of online coursework and lower volunteer hour minimums, with college students and young adults joining the fray and expanding the range of activities.

The broadening demographics, Spears said, has given CATS a boost as they work towards their goals of making Charlottesville greener and connecting people interested in the environment around them and hoping to make change.

“It’s actually a very, very diversified crowd,” Spear said. “Being out in nature and around trees and being with people of a like mind, I think that keeps you young.”

Registration to become a tree steward is currently open on the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards website.