Our work in Vietnam focuses on urban forests in DaNang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City. Degraded urban forests are critical to restore to invite public participation, provide green spaces for positive human-culture interaction, and to promote a growing country-wide conservation ethos. The diverse tropical forests of Vietnam were nearly entirely defoliated during the Vietnam War by agent orange, a defoliating chemical that is lethal to plants. As a result, millions of hectares of forests were converted to acacia plantations. Native trees are largely absent. However, in the city of Hanoi, many native trees were spared and they are celebrated in local Buddhist shrines as well as focal points in growing Plein-Air Painting and Urban Sketching. In order for the diverse country-side to be reforested with native trees, the conservation ethos will need to radiate from urban centers. Rural forests are managed mostly by federal government and private/community forest management is rare as most rural people were forcibly displaced by the government.