The Safe Arborist Techniques Fund (SATF) is a joint program of Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund (TREE Fund) and International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), established in 2015 to support research and development into the techniques and equipment that arborists use in climbing, rigging, and working on trees, and the means of identifying potential hazards, to provide a safer working environment. Grant-funded projects are expected to be completed within two years of initial fund disbursement. The maximum award value of SATF grants is $15,000.
TREE Fund welcomes research proposals and applications from a wide range of academic and technical disciplines, of both a qualitative and a quantitative nature. TREE Fund does not fund the following types of projects, and will not accept applications for such work:
- Grants to individuals;
- Projects that are primarily municipal tree surveys or assessments;
- Tree planting programs;
- Studies focused on traditional forestry and timber production, agroforestry, and ecology and conservation of forested and other natural areas,
- Product testing primarily for the benefit of the company that manufactures the product.
APPLICATION PROCESS
| August 1, 2026 | Letter of Intent (LOI) open |
| September 1, 2026 | Letter of Intent (LOI) submission due |
| September 15, 2026 | Notification of proposals advancing to full submissions |
| October 15, 2026 | Full submissions due |
| Mid-to-late December 2026 | Notification of selected grant recipients |
TREE Fund will accept LOIs only between August 1 and September 1, 2026. To apply, fill out an application on our online portal – by clicking here.
Letters of Intent (LOI) need to be completed before September 1, 2026. Your LOI must clearly identify the Principal Investigator and Institution who will be contracted for the work should your application be approved.
TREE Fund will evaluate whether your LOI concept meets all of our application criteria and is deemed to have a reasonable possibility of success given the year’s research priorities. If and only if your LOI is approved, TREE Fund will send you a notification and open the application to you beginning September 15, 2026. TREE Fund determinations on whether an LOI meets the application criteria are final and not negotiable. Full submission is due October 15, 2026.
An instructional video on our Grants is available on our YouTube Page.
PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
Application Requirements can be found here.
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
It is TREE Fund’s explicit desire that research findings eventually be freely and widely available to any and all parties who may benefit from the author’s work. At the same time, TREE Fund recognizes the importance of academic and professional journal publications and will work with grant recipients to ensure that findings are disseminated in a manner that is cognizant of all parties’ schedules and needs. Recipients should inform TREE Fund when funded research findings are published or presented at conferences so that these accomplishments can be widely publicized. Recipients should also recognize the support provided by TREE Fund in their articles or presentations related to the funded project. Recipients are strongly encouraged to publish findings to relevant professional journals, i.e. Arboriculture and Urban Forestry, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Arboricultural Journal, Trees: Structure and Function, Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, Plant Pathology, HortScience, Horticultural Science, Sustainable Development, Landscape and Urban Planning, Journal of Urban Health, Environment and Urbanization, Urban Ecosystems, etc.
Past Safe Arborist Techniques Fund Grant Awards
2025 was awarded to Leonardo Bianchini, PhD with University of Tuscia Department of agriculture and forestry sciences on project, “Tree Risk during rigging operations: identifying biomechanical risk factors for Arborist Safety – TRIAS”
2024 was awarded to Lawrence Kahn with Tulane Law School Utility Vegetation Management Institute on project, “Enhancing the ANSI Z133 Safety Standard’s Effectiveness with Case Studies”
2023 was awarded to Lawrence Kahn with Tulane Law School Utility Vegetation Management Institute on project, “Can Mandatory Minimum Clearance Requirements Between Trees and Powerlines Successfully Reduce Injuries and Death to Workers and the Public?”
2022 was awarded to Dr. John Ball with South Dakota State University on project, “Evaluation of Efficiencies Among Climbing Systems and Rope Diameters.”
2019 was awarded to Matt Follett with Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) on project, “Evaluation of load distribution in removal operations: a comparison of techniques and equipment.” Matt presented a TREE Fund Webinar in March 2024. See Research Report Here