Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) is a cooperative program of the Forest Service that focuses on the stewardship of urban natural resources. With 80 percent of the nation's population in urban areas, there are strong environmental, social, and economic cases to be made for the conservation of green spaces to guide growth and revitalize city centers and older suburbs. Urban forests, through planned connections of green spaces, form the green infrastructure system on which communities depend. Green infrastructure works at multiple scales from the neighborhood to the metro area up to the regional landscape. This natural life support system sustains clean air and water, biodiversity, habitat, nesting and travel corridors for wildlife, and connects people to nature.

Each October, a request for pre-proposals for challenge cost-share grants is distributed nationwide. Brief proposals are then evaluated by the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (NUCFAC) on the basis of meeting the specified criteria and demonstrating merit relative to the other proposals. Selected applicants are then invited to submit full proposals for final judging in this competitive process. In all cases, project funding must be matched on at least a 50-50 basis from non-federal sources and the project must have national scope, application, and distribution of its findings. Projects that will only have a local impact (i.e. local tree planting projects) do not qualify under this program.