The Black Heritage Tree Project Guidelines to Protect Our Heritage Trees

Explore 12 Ways to Show Love to Nature’s Oldest Storytellers

These guidelines were created to help people across the globe honor, care for, and protect Black Heritage Trees—trees connected to Black history, historically Black places, and Black ancestors. Co-curated by The Black Heritage Tree Project and our cultural partners, The Black Earth Podcast, Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism (CHANT), Per Ankh, and the Virgin Islands Caribbean Cultural Center (VICCC); these guidelines offer practical and meaningful ways to build relationships with trees as living beings in our shared world, not inanimate objects.

The guidelines encourage approaching Heritage Trees with respect, gratitude, and reciprocity: speaking kind words, offering thanks, sharing water or nourishment, and recognizing the tree’s role as a historic witness, healer, protector, and community gathering place. They emphasize treating trees as living organisms with bodies above and below ground, honoring the land they stand on, and avoiding harmful actions that can leave lasting damage.

Visitors are invited to reflect on what the tree has seen, acknowledge the cultural and historical significance of the site, and consider the lessons trees teach about time, continuity, and interconnection. These guidelines also outline what to do if a heritage tree appears distressed, urging community members to take action and connect with local arborists, land stewards, or tree advocacy groups.

Ultimately, these guidelines offer a new way to practice care for the natural world—one rooted in Black placekeeping, environmental justice, ancestral remembrance, and love for nature’s oldest storytellers.