11/06/2025
It’s Richmond Tree Week! 🌳
Held citywide Nov. 1–8, the annual autumn event celebrates Richmond’s urban forests, ongoing greening efforts, and commitment to expanding the city’s tree canopy and cooling neighborhoods.
Now in its sixth year, Richmond Tree Week 2025 features more than 30 free events, including volunteer plantings, tree giveaways, walking and biking tours, and educational workshops.
On Saturday, Nov. 1, Richmond Tree Stewards helped kick off the week with their Annual Tree Giveaway at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where city residents could choose from 16 species of trees suited for a variety of landscapes on a first-come, first-served basis.
On Monday, activities continued at Blackwell Park’s Charlie Sydnor Playground, where volunteers planted 83 saplings in a high-density “mini-forest” hosted by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and the City of Richmond’s Parks and Recreation Department. This style of reforestation helps combat climate change by increasing biodiversity, acting as a “carbon sink,” and reducing stormwater runoff.
On Wednesday, the Greening Bus Stops Alliance hosted a bus stop tree-planting demo with support from Groundwork RVA at stop #3667 at Fairfield Avenue and Kane Street. The Shade the Stop event highlighted the importance of trees in urban areas and how public transit plays a key role in building a more sustainable and climate-resilient city.
Environmental data analyst and volunteer Melanie Del Pozo found that 403 bus stops have at least one vacant tree well, and 227 bus stops have no trees at all — many in formerly redlined neighborhoods where riders already face higher heat exposure. That’s why the Greening Bus Stops Alliance — a partnership between RVA Rapid Transit, Cool the City Coalition, GRTC, and the Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility — is working to “shade the stop” where it’s needed most.
Tree Week continues through Saturday with more plantings, giveaways, walks, and even a tree-hugging competition on Saturday morning. 🌳 Visit reforestrichmond.org for more info.
Photos by Julianne Tripp Hillian (.t.h.photos) / Richmond Free Press
