To assist with seed collections, nursery operations, outreach activities, out-planting projects, and maintaining trees on government properties, removing invasive trees in urban and community areas,…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service awarded Friends Of Hawaii's Urban Forest (doing business as Smart Trees Pacific) a Project Grant of $220,118 under the Cooperative Forestry Assistance program (CFDA 10.664) on September 9, 2025, with completion anticipated by June 30, 2027. The grant funds urban and community forestry activities across the Northern Mariana Islands, specifically on Saipan, Rota, and Tinian. Deliverables include seed collection and nursery operations, outreach and educational activities, out-planting projects to establish trees in communities, and maintenance of trees on government properties and state forests.

The project addresses environmental management challenges by removing invasive tree species in urban and community areas while simultaneously building local forest capacity through hands-on programs. As a nonprofit organization specializing in urban forestry and environmental sustainability across the Pacific region, Friends Of Hawaii's Urban Forest will leverage this funding to advance forest health, ecosystem services, and community engagement in the Mariana Islands, consistent with the broader Cooperative Forestry Assistance program's focus on supporting forest management and conservation on nonfederal lands.

To assist with seed collections, nursery operations, outreach activities, out-planting projects, and maintaining trees on government properties, removing invasive trees in urban and community areas, and state forests on the islands of saipan, rota, and tinian.