Dane County Tree Board
Trees are an important component of Dane County’s infrastructure. At this time, the health of many trees in Dane County is threatened not only by disease and insects, but by the effects of community growth. To ensure the future health of our trees, more management information and public education is needed. The Dane County Tree Board is committed to bringing information to the citizens of Dane County about one of our most treasured resources: trees.
The Board’s Mission, Vision, Goals and Objectives
Mission Statement- Advocating for equitable healthy community forests in Dane County
Vision Statement – Increased canopy cover and healthy community forests for all
- Goal: Increase/promote equitable tree canopy: Objective: support IRA grant for tree planting.
- Goal: Support tree preservation: Objective: Develop tree preservation resolution for county properties, that can be used as a model for other communities
- Goal: Support forestry careers and opportunities: Objective: Collaborate with community organizations to support forestry careers. Support county relationships with vocational training programs. Add an advisory Tree Board position for student member.
- Goal: Advocate and support Dane County Forestry Programs: Objective: Advocate for funding levels that meet Tree City USA requirements, $2 per person in the county
- Goal: Increase education/knowledge about trees: Objective: Coordinate with communities and the Tree Canopy Collaborative on educational materials for children and adults. Objective: Develop a tree related educational network to explore opportunities, and leverage support for tree related education
The Dane County Tree Board has been partering with schools throughout the County to grow acrons colleced from the oldest living organisims across our landscape - oak trees. Learn more about collecting and growing oak trees here.
Learn More About Collecting and Growing Your Own Oaks
Use this tool to discover some of Wisconsin’s last remaining bearing trees from the original General Land Office (GLO) Survey. Bearing trees stood as “witness” to a corner monument when they were set between 1832 and 1866 by the GLO.
How Many Remaining Original Witness Trees Are There?
Perhaps these trees deserve a bit more thought or recognition. Just think what our daily routine and lives would be without them. Trees are living artifacts, witnesses to historical events, as well as inspirations to poets and architects.
Nominate Your Own Remarkable Tree of Dane County
An interactive tool to assess, preserve, and expand tree canopy in Dane County, Wisconsin. Growing Shade is a unique tool that and allows users to create custom reports to inform tree canopy enhancement and preservation in Dane County.
Compare Canopy Cover in Your Neighborhood With Other NeighborhoodsDane County Vegetation Maps
A 50 year inventory of Heritage Oaks (oaks older than 200 years) in Dane County. In 1976 Walter Scott initiated an inventory of all oaks greater than 200 years old. These same trees were inventoried in 2001 and then again in 2023. This was a crowd sourced project involving the public, anyone can contribute to the project and add a tree.
Heritage Oak Web Map
Map your progeny oak received from the Dane County Tree Board. in 2024 the Dane County Tree Board gave away 650 heritage oak seedlings and initated enviornmental education curriculem through growing trees at 5 school locations in Dane County.
Heritage Oak Progeny Map
Dane County Old Growth Forest (> 100 years old). Data was created using data from the 1939 Bordner Survey and recent vegitaion mapping.
Dane County Old Growth Forest
Dane County 1834 Historic Vegetation and Original Witness Trees. This map represents what the landscape looked like prior to Euro-American arrivals to Wisconsin
1834 Historic VegetationAccomplishments
Partnerships
- Cambridge Tree Project
- Capitol Area Regional Planning Commission
- Dane County Extension
- Operation Fresh Start
- Tree Canopy Collaborative
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
- Wisconsin DNR Nursery
- State Cartographer’s Office
Tree Board Members
- Tree Board Chair - Matt Noone, Senior Environmental Resources Planner, Capital Area Regional Planning Commission
- Tree Board Vice-Chair - Jay Weiss, Cambridge Tree Project
- Tierney Bocsi, UW-Madison PhD student
- Cathy Brodbeck, Certified Arborist
- Tedward Erker, Citizen
- Cory Rich, Operation Fresh Start, Legacy Construction & Conservation Manager
- Michele Ritt, Dane County Board Supervisor
- Laura Wyatt, Horticulturist, Certified Arborist
- Kate R Kendziora, Madison Gas and Electric
Advisors
- Adam Alves, Dane County Parks
- Brian Wahl, Wisconsin DNR
Tree Board Staff
- Lisa Johnson, Dane County Extension Horticulture Educator
Two year old bur oak seedlings
Wilson Nursery in Boscobel seedlings for sale through Heartwood Tree CompanyWilson Nursery in Boscobel seedlings for sale
Seedlings purchased here will be available for pickup at 2106 W Badger Rd, Madison, WI 53713 in the spring.
You will be notified via email of pickup dates and times for Heritage Oak seedlings.
Madison resident and tree advocate Matt Noone collected thousands of acorns in the fall of 2020 from heritage oaks (250+ years old) within 8 miles of the capitol. Now we are lucky enough to have them to plant. This seed collection and subsequent planting throughout Dane County and beyond is one way to ensure that the local genetics are carried forward into the future.
The seedlings were grown at the Wilson Nursery in Boscobel. This nursery grows thousands of trees for all manner of planting projects, private and public. The trees have been trimmed down to 12-16” for ease of harvesting and packing into boxes. Before their haircut they were around 2’ tall and ready to hit 2-3’ the next growing season. These sleeping giants are ready for your yard.
The seedlings are being sold for $15 each and 100% of the purchase price will be used to purchase more trees for planting projects at Devils Lake State Park and/or Blue Mounds State Park. Every Arbor Day, Heartwood Tree Company and Devils Lake Climbing Guides organize volunteers and plant trees (larger ones than these). It is our hope that proceeds from these Heritage Oak seedlings will allow us to expand our volunteer planting efforts to additional parks.
Cambridge Tree Project
2024 Cambridge Tree Trials
2024 Cambridge Tree Trials - explore the results of the most detailed Tree Trials experiment in Wisconsin!
When the Cambridge Tree Project launched nearly 20 years ago, urban tree growth and survival data was nearly impossible to find. In response to this, Jay Weiss began tracking the trees he his non-profit donated to the Village of Cambridge to assess their performance.
To date, Jay has records for 1375 trees planted throughout Cambridge and has taken nearly 9000 annual tree growth measurements. His dataset, known as the Cambridge Tree Trials, is openly shared for educational purposes in the form of annual updates emailed to over 450 forestry professionals across America. To be added to Jay’s distribution list you can email him at jay@cambridgetreeproject.org.