Washington Tree Stewards Online Training

While there is an abundance of information available to the public and Master Gardeners on trees for the private residence, there is very little on the stewardship of, and advocacy for, community trees. WSU Extension partnered with WA State Department of Natural Resources (WSDNR) to develop online trainings on this topic to fill this need. The main objective of the training is to teach people to become educated advocates for trees and tree care in their communities.

A statewide team of WSU Extension faculty and staff was formed to produce the training. The team met monthly via Zoom Video Conferencing. The course was designed in Blackboard by Global Campus (WSU’s distance learning center) in collaboration with the Tree Stewards Team. Quizzes were included to insure a basic level of knowledge would be acquired by the student. Upon successful completion of the training, students receive a certificate acknowledging they’ve taken and passed the training.

WSU Extension now has a noncredit peer-reviewed online course available to those who want to learn more about tree stewardship and how to be an advocate for trees in their community. These advocates can play an important role in urban and community forest health management. Master Gardeners who have taken the training record the volunteer hours they spend on tree stewardship education in the WSU Online Volunteer Database. Other evaluation tools to be developed will show the impact of the training. The training is available as a self-paced course that does not require instructor facilitation.