Chicago’s tree canopy is in decline and ranks far below the national average, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which also indicates a disparity in trees on the city’s South and West sides.

The local conservation organization Openlands has been working to reverse these trends with its TreeKeepers Program. More than 2,400 TreeKeepers have been certified since the program launched in 1991, and in 2022, Openlands began offering a Spanish version of the course, which will be held this summer starting July 9. 

“It's a very intensive course,” said Openlands community arborist Tonatiu Rodriguez, who is running the Spanish TreeKeepers program. “They learn all about tree biology, tree identification, how to plant trees, how to prune trees, how to advocate for trees. Everything tree-related is something that we train them in. And then once they're done with the training program, they're then able to come out and volunteer for us.”

Recent Northwestern University graduate Pablo Rodriguez completed the Spanish TreeKeepers program and is certified with Openlands as TreeKeeper No. 1905. Rodriguez helped plant the organization’s 10,000th tree in the Little Village neighborhood this past Arbor Day and said he’s also interested in becoming an arborist.

“Openlands has an arborist program,” Pablo Rodriguez said. “I haven’t done it yet, so I’m interested in eventually doing it myself … just to know how to advocate for trees and learning how to talk to your alderman, to your neighbor: ‘Oh, there's this tree that's not getting taken care of. What can we do to support it?’”

Registration is open for the free, eight-day Spanish TreeKeepers course, with classes held twice each week between July 9 and Aug. 1.