‘Tree Musketeer' Named Woman of Worth by L'Oreal

At age 8, Tara Church, along with her Brownie Troop, planted a tree on a barren strip of land separating her small Southern California town, El Segundo, from the Los Angeles International Airport. As the tree took root, so did an idea shared by Ms. Church and her friends: They promised to plant more trees, founding what soon became a national youth-led nonprofit called the Tree Musketeers.

Ms. Church, now 29, lives in New York and is the winner of a Women of Worth award for her work with Tree Musketeers. The organization has led 1 million children in planting more than 1 million trees across America, and Ms. Church, who graduated from Harvard Law School and is the executive director the Wealth and Giving Forum, is chairwoman of its board of directors.

L'Oreal Paris is giving the award, worth $2500, to nonprofits affiliated with 13 women. The woman to receive the most votes on the award Web site, womenofworth.com, will be named the national winner and her organization will be given $25,000.

Planting a tree is "one of the most simple solutions we have to a wide variety of problems," Ms. Church said. "We were children and it seemed to us the best, most effective, and easiest way we could make a difference."

Ms. Church lives in the West Village, but other than window boxes outside her apartment that hold miniature pine trees, she has yet to plant a tree in New York. She is, however, supportive of Mayor Bloomberg's plan to plant 1 million trees in the city by 2030, she said.

Tree Musketeers are planning to launch a nationwide tree planting campaign with the goal of putting 3 million new trees in the ground and Ms. Church said she wants her organization to do a lot of its planting in New York.

"There are so many streets in the city and so many areas of open space that would benefit from more trees," she said. "I think we are in a special time for environmentalists right now."