Thank you to all our riders, volunteers, staff, supporters, and sponsors!
The 2024 Tour des Trees was a wonderful celebration and it was great to see all of our riders- both veteran and first-timers- conquer the roots and routes of New England. The fundraising has wrapped up for this year and we are very thankful to all of you for what you have done to help TREE Fund continue in its mission to fund projects that discover and disseminate new knowledge in arboriculture and urban forestry.
This year’s event featured 79 riders traveling over 430 miles in five days, and it all kicked off with a celebration, tree dedication, and dinner at the Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens in Stamford, CT helping the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) to celebrate their 100th anniversary right where it was founded.
This years’ ride featured stops in Stamford and Middletown, CT; Smithfield, RI; and Falmouth and Providence, MA and included a ferry trip and a day spent riding around Martha’s Vineyard island for an experience no one will soon forget. Along the way, we met with tree enthusiasts from several local groups, planted trees in several parks, worked with high school students to plant a tree on their campus, enjoyed Professor Pricklethorn’s wonderful children’s presentations, and planted a final tree at Roger Williams Memorial, a national park, to help with their efforts to recreate the park’s original planting plan.
When all was said and done, our riders- in addition to the help from 38 participants that participated virtually from home- were able to raise over $335,000 for TREE Fund!
We would not have been able to put this event together without the support of the TREE Fund’s Partners and we would especially like to recognize our Crown and Platinum Partners; Asplundh, Bartlett Tree Experts, Corteva, The Davey Tree Expert Company, International Society of Arboriculture, SavATree, and FirstEnergy. We would also like to give an additional special mention to the following groups for their support at this year’s ride: Vermeer and Vermeer All-Roads, Stanley Tree Service, Jeffrey Hamilton Certified Arborist, Indiana Arborist Association, KASK, and West Coast Arborists. Finally, we would like to thank New England Chapter ISA for being such wonderful hosts and for all their help in putting together a great event.
The planning of an event like this is typically a year-long process and our planning committee took multiple hours out of their already busy schedules to help put this year’s event together and make it the best it could be. We’d like to thank the following individuals from that committee for their time and hard work: Steve Geist, Thom Kraak, Jeff Iles, Laura Iles, Ben Rickenbacker, Don Roppolo, Cindy Schwab, Laurie Skul, Sam VanMaanen, Warren Hoselton, Beau Brodbeck, and Pete Smith. We would also like to extend a special thanks to our New England area representatives, who put so much work into making the route just right: Clem Desjardins, Paul Sellers, Jeff Hamilton, Joe Fischer, Jacques Brunswick, Louise Desjardins, and Linda Nanni. We would also like to thank our great Tour Manager, Paul Wood, for creating a beautiful and safe route.
Of course, there is also a little friendly competition that goes on during the ride and we would like to recognize our top fundraisers:
Fundraising Top 10
Jeff Calvert- $12,580
Bill Spiewak- $8,648
Dick Rideout- $8,620
Paul Sellers- $6,846
Steve Geist- $6,145
David Gorden- $5,860
Dave Leonard- $5,825
Randy Miller- $5,530
Jason Kruegel- $5,495
Ben Rickenbacker- $5,312
Fundraising Top 10 Teams
Team Rocky Mountain Chapter- $24,652
Team New England- $23,315
Team Wisconsin Chapter- $20,804
Team SavATree- $17,070
Team TCIA- $16,160
Team Ohio Chapter- $13,557
ECI- $10,720
Team Canada- $10,000
Team Southern Chapter- $9,486
Team Eocene- $8,651
Photos:
See the link to our 2024 Photo Gallery HERE.