Mark Buscaino
Executive Director, Casey Trees
Member since: 2025
Proposed by: Green Spring Valley Garden Club, Zone VI
Seconded by: The Trowel Garden Club, Zone VI
The GCA's 2012 Margaret Douglas medalist for outstanding dedication to conservation education and for his role as a practical visionary in the field of urban forestry, Arborist Mark Buscaino has focused on forests since 1983 when he served as a forestry program Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, West Africa. His work since that time has largely concentrated on urban forestry in the Northeast, but in 2002 he became the national director for all 50 states and 9 federated states, islands, and territories of the US Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program.
Since 2006 he has served as executive director of Casey Trees and Casey Tree Farm, established in 2001 by Betty Brown Casey with guidance from the GCA, to reverse the decline in the tree canopy in Washington, DC. Under Buscaino's leadership, Casey Trees has planted more than 50,000 trees and has grown from 10 employees to more than 60 with an annual budget of over $7 million. With its partners and volunteers, the organization has plans to reach 40 percent DC tree canopy by 2032.
In an interview with Mark Buscaino in the Fall 2019 issue of the GCA's Bulletin, Buscaino noted the relationship between Casey Trees and the GCA. The association "has paid dividends from the very start. Casey Trees gained an immediate and large constituency of a venerable organization established over 100 years ago. From the GCA side, the Zone VI Fellowship in Urban Forestry, which Casey Trees has expanded over the years, is doing what both our organizations need for our continued long-term success--grooming young scholars and guiding them to be the urban forestry leaders of tomorrow. Casey Trees could not be more proud of our mutually beneficial relationship with The Garden Club of America."
