Alliance for Cape Fear Trees

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Alliance for Cape Fear Trees We are the nonprofit that gives, plants, cares, and advocates for trees.

Our mission is to preserve, protect, and plant trees to enhance the quality of life and health for present and future generations in the Lower Cape Fear area. To Donate: https://allianceforcapefeartrees.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/allianceforcapefeartrees/donation.jsp?campaign=1&

Big news for the future of arboriculture in the Cape Fear region. 🌳Cape Fear Community College has launched a new Arbori...
10/16/2026

Big news for the future of arboriculture in the Cape Fear region. 🌳

Cape Fear Community College has launched a new Arboriculture Certificate program, developed in partnership with Bartlett Tree Experts, ACFT’s Preservation Partner.

We’re also proud to have played a small part in making this collaboration possible. The Alliance for Cape Fear Trees helped make the initial connection between CFCC and Bartlett Tree Experts, with the goal of expanding local access to arboriculture education and helping build the skilled workforce our growing urban forest depends on.

The 116-hour hybrid program combines self-paced coursework with hands-on field training in tree identification and biology, plant health care, equipment safety, climbing, knot tying, rigging, and more. No prior arboriculture or climbing experience is required.

As Bartlett’s Jeffrey Kish shared, this new program is part of a broader effort to expand arboriculture education across North Carolina, with community college programs now stretching “from the beach to the mountains.”

Students will also have the opportunity to visit the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories in Charlotte and explore career pathways ranging from climbing to tree preservation to municipal urban forestry.

Registration is now open. 🌱

We’re excited to see more opportunities like this take root in our region—and to see where they lead for the next generation of tree-care professionals.

Some haunted houses have ghosts. Ours has mulch volcanoes. 👻🌳Trees planted too deep. Girdling roots left to tighten. Top...
10/14/2026

Some haunted houses have ghosts. Ours has mulch volcanoes. 👻🌳

Trees planted too deep. Girdling roots left to tighten. Topping cuts lurking around every corner. An entire critical root zone crushed beneath construction equipment. And somewhere, in the distance, a newly planted tree waits through an August afternoon… with no watering plan. 😱

The horrors may be niche, but they tell a bigger story: urban forestry is about a lot more than planting trees.

It’s choosing the right tree for the right place. Planting it correctly. Watering it while it establishes. Pruning it properly. Protecting its roots. Planning for species diversity. And safeguarding mature trees from the many, many horrors that can befall them.

As the Cape Fear region’s urban forestry nonprofit, that’s the work we do every day—alongside local governments, schools, community partners, volunteers, and neighbors—to grow and protect the community forest we all share. Because getting a tree into the ground is only the beginning.

Enter the urban forestry haunted house… if you dare. 🎃

Send this to a friend who would rather see a ghost than a topped tree. 👻

We’re grateful to Balding Design Build (Balding Design Build) for investing in a greener, healthier future for the Cape ...
10/11/2026

We’re grateful to Balding Design Build (Balding Design Build) for investing in a greener, healthier future for the Cape Fear region and supporting the work of the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees.

For Balding Design Build, that commitment is closely connected to the work they do every day: “Supporting a greener, healthier Cape Fear region is integral to our company’s values because we not only want to build better homes for our clients, but a better future for the community. Just like our clients, Cape Fear is where we have chosen to call home.”

Balding Design Build spends its days building and renovating homes, but their vision extends beyond the walls of any one house. They understand that every home is part of a larger community—and that creating places where people can thrive also means investing in the health, beauty, and future of the Cape Fear region as a whole.

We’re proud to have Balding Design Build alongside us as we plant, preserve, and protect the trees that help make that future possible.

10/08/2026

When someone asks if you want to go get a FREE TREE… the answer is always yes. 🌳😉

And good news: you’ve got FOUR chances to say yes! Mark your calendars for our upcoming free native tree giveaways:

🌱 Murrayville Tree Giveaway
📅 Saturday, Nov. 7 | 9 AM–12 PM
📍 Murrayville Elementary School, 225 Mabee Way
🌳 1,000 native canopy trees
Murrayville residents get priority until 11 AM; then it opens to all New Hanover County residents.

🌱 Riegelwood Tree Giveaway
📅 Saturday, Dec. 5 | 9 AM–12 PM
📍 Riegelwood Baptist Church, 103 NC-87
🌳 200 native trees

🌱 Wilmington Tree Giveaway
📅 Saturday, Dec. 19 | 9 AM–12 PM
📍 D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy, 813 Nixon Street
🌳 700 native trees
Downtown, Northside & Southside residents get priority from 9–10 AM; open to the general public at 10 AM.

🌱 Soil-Mate Tree Giveaway
📅 Saturday, Feb. 13 | 9 AM–12 PM
📍 D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy, 813 Nixon Street
🌳 500 native trees
Downtown, Northside & Southside residents get priority from 9–10 AM; open to the general public at 10 AM.

That’s 2,400 trees looking for a place to put down roots. Will one of them be yours? 🌳💚

Save this post, send it to your favorite tree-loving friend, and get all the giveaway details at acftrees.org/giveaways.

Rock, paper, scissors… CANOPY. 🌳Some choices are simply better for trees. Here are a few we’ll pick every time:Native tr...
10/07/2026

Rock, paper, scissors… CANOPY. 🌳

Some choices are simply better for trees. Here are a few we’ll pick every time:

Native trees that support wildlife and thrive in this climate.
Root flares that can breathe.
Leaves left to return nutrients to the soil.
The right tree in the right place.
A diverse urban forest built to weather pests, storms, and change.

Good tree care isn’t flashy. It’s thoughtful, informed, and rooted in the long game.

Around here, we’re playing to win—for healthier trees, stronger neighborhoods, and a more resilient Cape Fear canopy.

At the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees, we try to be good friends to trees.We plant them. We water them through hot summers...
10/06/2026

At the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees, we try to be good friends to trees.

We plant them. We water them through hot summers. We mulch around their roots, prune when needed, and come back to check on them long after planting day is over. We speak up for the old ones when they can’t speak for themselves. And we teach people how to care for the trees in their own yards and neighborhoods.

If you’d like to become an even better friend to trees, we still have a few spots open for our Tree Stewards training, happening October 17 and 24. You’ll learn more about trees, tree care, and how to help care for our local urban forest. Learn more and register at acftrees.org/treestewards. 🌳

Trees give us an extraordinary amount over the course of their lives. The least we can do is return the friendship. 💚

Many thanks to the 27 volunteers who joined us to plant 30 trees in Leland’s Westgate District during the Lend a Hand Le...
10/05/2026

Many thanks to the 27 volunteers who joined us to plant 30 trees in Leland’s Westgate District during the Lend a Hand Leland service event. (Thanks for organizing, Town of Leland!)

This planting was funded by Brunswick County Association of Realtors (BCAR), and we were grateful that a crew of dedicated and tireless real estate agents came out to dig in with us for a greener future.

Want to get in on the planting action? Our next opportunity is November 14th and 15th, when we’ll be planting 130 trees in Wilmington’s Southside community thanks to funding from The Endowment. We’re thrilled to also be partnering with New Hanover County Schools, adding 62 trees to the campus of Lake Forest Academy.

Photo Credit: Jeff Hall

10/02/2026

Invasive trees have a hard pass. Others? We’d happily send home with you! 🌳

This fall and winter, we’re giving away 2,400 native trees at four free community events across the Lower Cape Fear region—including live oaks, elms, serviceberries, persimmons, river birches, red maples, black cherries, and more. 🌱

Every tree distributed at our giveaways is native, and every one is free.

📅 SAVE THE DATES:

🌳 Murrayville Tree Giveaway
Saturday, Nov. 7 | 9 AM–12 PM
Murrayville Elementary School
1,000 native canopy trees
Murrayville residents get priority until 11 AM; then open to all New Hanover County residents.

🌳 Riegelwood Tree Giveaway
Saturday, Dec. 5 | 9 AM–12 PM
Riegelwood Baptist Church
200 native trees

🌳 Wilmington Tree Giveaway
Saturday, Dec. 19 | 9 AM–12 PM
D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy
700 native trees
Downtown, Northside & Southside residents get priority from 9–10 AM; then open to the general public.

🌳 Soil-Mate Tree Giveaway
Saturday, Feb. 13 | 9 AM–12 PM
D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy
500 native trees
Downtown, Northside & Southside residents get priority from 9–10 AM; then open to the general public.

See full species lists and event details at acftrees.org/giveaways. 🌱

09/30/2026

Why does the replacement Cape Fear Memorial Bridge need to be 135 feet tall?

The answer starts with what happens north of the bridge.

Current federal navigation requirements assume that deep-draft commercial navigation must continue upstream. That assumption affects which bridge designs can be considered—and it also has implications for the future of the river itself.

Maintaining deep-draft navigation expectations can mean continued dredging and pressure for industrial development along a stretch of the Cape Fear River that includes sensitive wetlands and forests. 🌿 Research by UNCW scientists has also found evidence linking dredging to accelerated saltwater intrusion, wetland change, tree death, and the formation of “ghost forests.”

Now, Wilmington, New Hanover County, and Leland have asked federal officials to revisit those long-standing navigation assumptions and consider whether they still reflect present-day conditions.

That review matters. Decisions being made about this bridge could shape not only how we cross the Cape Fear River, but what the riverfront north of it looks like for generations.

Our Action Network page explains the issue and includes a form for contacting North Carolina’s federal delegation about a Section 216 review of the Wilmington Harbor Navigation Project.

A pre-written letter is ready to go—you can review it, personalize it if you’d like, and send it directly to your federal representatives in just a few clicks: actionnetwork.org/letters/cape-fear-memorial-bridge-replacement-request-federal-review. 🔗

Address

7 Beauregard Drive, Suite 2
Wilmington, NC
28412

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