‘Planting trees for a better tomorrow’ | Future Forestry dedicated to restoring Cape’s canopy, creating natural ecosystems
A local non-profit that continues to bring the green to Lee County had a banner year in 2025, with plans to keep momentum rolling into the new year and beyond.
Future Forestry, which creates ecosystems for native plants and animals, planted 4,000 trees last year.
Dating back to 2004, Future Forestry has laid roots at the corners of Chiquita Boulevard and Veterans Parkway, Country Club Boulevard and Veterans Parkway, Santa Barbara Boulevard and Veterans Parkway, Skyline Boulevard and Veterans Parkway, and other locations throughout Lee County.
What started as a hobby for Executive Director Russ Ringland has turned into a blooming full-time job, as he leads the non-profit that has existed for more than 20 years.
A new year means new planting events, with an event taking place this Saturday morning at 2199 N.E. 15th Place at 8:30 a.m. Volunteers, which help Future Forestry in an abundance of ways, are welcome to join.
Ringland said his relationship with Cape Coral arborist Omar Leon, who has garnered many awards and recognitions and obtained grants since he began with the city, has played a large role in the plantings done in the city.
“I work closely with Omar on projects, and we get along great,” Ringland said. “And that’s a big change. His territory is the city properties and mine is still Veterans because it’s the county road. But also, I’m reaching out and working with the arborist in Fort Myers and officials in (Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District).
“In order to grow Future Forestry, I have to reach out to other cities.”
Ringland said he’s also working in the realm of land conservation, as he purchased a parcel in Charlotte County to rehab wetlands.
“The biggest part of the rehab is planting trees, which will hold more water on site,” he said. “As Future Forestry continues to gain momentum, we’ll develop a trust that can work on that.
“And the idea is that we don’t we don’t work on a short time frame. We work on a long-time frame, and if it takes 150 years, then so be it.”
Ringland said what the future looks like for the non-profit is focusing on quality, not necessarily quantity. Thousands of trees have been planted, and countless volunteers show up and dedicate their time and effort and energy.
“It also lent itself to the atmosphere of donors economy changing a little bit, and we lost a lot of federal stuff last year,” he said “As did all the nonprofits. It was all stripped away.
“We’re having to buy bigger, more expensive trees and having to make sure that they we get closer to 100% survivability.”
A focus area in the Cape moving forward is the Burnt Store Road area, Ringland said, working with the Lee County Department of Transportation.
“Before, if you came down from Punta Gorda on Burnt Store, you’d see all pines from the buffer preserve,” Ringland said. “The last 15 years they’ve been cleared for subdivisions and it’s the idea is to get more pines back up.”
Ringland also wanted to work more with water quality.
“We go in, we plat retention pond and what happens is that some of the retention ponds like along Veterans, they were built with base rock. So base rock is not really rock, it’s just a more stable soil with rocks and like it’s really hard to dig in,” Ringland said. “The water doesn’t absorb into it as well. When we start planting trees in there, it changes the soil and it starts absorbing more water.”
Having spent decades with Future Forestry, preservation and bringing new life to the city is in Ringland’s blood. He spoke with passion about an arborist conference he recently attended, and get fulfillment out of seeing the progress Future Forestry has made in the city as he drives throughout it each day .
“One of the things that I get a kick out of is going into a place where we planted trees 10 or 15 years ago, and it’s full of birds,” Ringland said. “So what happens is you walk around the area or something, and the little birds become still. If you walk in and sit down or be still for a few minutes, then all the little birds start moving around and all of a sudden you can tell that there are you know fifty little birds in twenty trees that forget about you. They go back to what they were doing. At Chiquita and Veterans that area is like a little forest now. That was a bare field with no life. You see one of those giant woodpeckers on the trees you planted years ago, that’s pretty cool.”
Future Forestry has a database of more than 300 volunteers that want to see the non-profit add value to their community. Ringland said volunteers have come from every walk-of-life imaginable.
“Our volunteers are simply amazing,” Ringland said. “The best part of working with them is that I have made great friendships that I hope will last a lifetime. All of the time and work put into Future Forestry are for the benefit of the community. They have moved past worrying just about themselves and the results are gorgeous.”
Ringland said he’s really been focused on the meaning of “hometown.”
“Kids are growing up here, this is their hometown, wherever they go in life, they say, ‘Cape Coral’ is my hometown,” he said. “And when they think of home, what does it look like in their head? Is a place that beautiful? A place that has, you know, equal people and wildlife? The other part of that is, if it kids are out there volunteering, working with other kids and improving the community when they have free time, they’re less, I think they’re more likely to respect it.”
Ringland also gave praise to local partners that have helped Future Forestry’s mission, in a variety of ways. Partners include: the Arbor Day Foundation, Crowther Roofing, Allyn International, HERC Rentals, LCEC, Kiwanis of Cape Coral, the City of Cape Coral, Lee County DOT, The VOLO Foundation, The Engstrom Fidangue Community Fund, and The Coastal and Heartland National Estuary Program.
“These partners have one thing in common — they want us to improve the value of our community,” Ringland said. “We do this by planting trees. That process can have a slightly different meaning for the partners. Most obvious so far is that we have improved the right-of-way on Veteran’s Memorial Parkway. This makes for a more beautiful drive and hopefully a calmer and more peaceful drive. The walking and biking paths are becoming more shaded. This allows us to use them during hotter times. There are a lot more opportunities for birds and other wildlife to find homes and comfortable surroundings. We use the trees to modify the soil so that it can hold more water. This helps to clean the water flowing off the highway, slow it down and regulate. And we are storing away an ever-growing amount of carbon.”
Future Forestry is always looking to add more allies to its volunteer base.
“With Future Forestry, it’s tangible,” Ringland said. “You get to come back and put your arms around the tree. And then the other thing is that we have fun. The people who have been coming around volunteering for a couple years are my friends that — they see past themselves. They have the availability to work on the community to improve the community.”
For more information on Future Forestry, to make a donation, or become a volunteer, visit futureforestry.org.