Our Team

The TreePeople team is made up of dedicated, passionate and veteran leaders in the environmental movement, committed to bringing research-based solutions to greening communities across our region. We represent the communities we serve, many of us raised in the same neighborhoods TreePeople works in. For this team, this isn’t just a workplace–this is our home.

Our Board of Directors

TreePeople’s Board of Directors is a passionate and dynamic group of leaders committed to protecting the environment and driving meaningful change. Their expertise and dedication help ensure that TreePeople remains one of Southern California’s most impactful environmental organizations, helping communities to create a greener, more sustainable future.

Our Mission

TreePeople’s mission is to inspire, engage, and support people to take personal responsibility for the environment, making it safe, healthy, fun, and sustainable. We share our process as a model for the world.

Our Work

Trees need People. People need Trees.

Born in 1973 from the hopes and dreams of a teenager, TreePeople is now one of the largest environmental organizations headquartered in Southern California. We have inspired, engaged, and supported more than 3 million people to take action for our environment by planting and caring for trees in forests, mountains, parks, and our neighborhoods. Our unique, engaging, and proven model empowers communities to plant a more resilient future and take personal responsibility for greening their neighborhoods. Through our on-the-ground research and educational programs, TreePeople shares knowledge with policymakers, students and educators, and communities around the world.

After fires burn, TreePeople reforests. When schools are covered in concrete, TreePeople creates green schoolyards. When communities experience food insecurity, TreePeople distributes fruit trees. When California is drought-stricken, TreePeople designs solutions to capture rainwater. As the world faces increasing threats from a more hostile climate, TreePeople helps create actionable solutions.

We do this through your involvement and support in:

Community Forestry

Through our urban planting and tree care events and tree distributions, we work with communities to increase tree canopy and green space where it’s most needed, building resilience in the face of climate change.

Restoration & Conservation

TreePeople trains and mobilizes thousands each year to increase the climate and fire resilience of Southern California’s wildlands. By cultivating native plants in our nursery, removing invasive species, prioritizing biodiversity, and providing long-term site management, our comprehensive restoration model helps facilitate long-term recovery for degraded sites and burn scars, assuring they are healthier and more fire-resilient for future generations.

School Greening

We create green learning environments that enhance academic achievement, support health and well-being, and create safe places to play in nature. Through partnerships with school communities and districts, we advocate for, implement, and manage school greening projects to protect students from extreme heat, air pollution, and polluted water.

Education & Outdoor Equity

Every year, TreePeople engages tens of thousands of students in parks and on campuses to teach environmental literacy and provide hands-on, actionable solutions to our climate crisis. We also offer tools to teachers so they can continue to deepen students’ understanding of our local ecosystems.

TreePeople Land Trust

We steward more than 3,000 acres of land in the Santa Monica Mountains–protecting these spaces for the benefit of future generations. Programs include public recreation, environmental education, scientific research, and more.

Policy & Advocacy

TreePeople works from the policy level to the grassroots level to facilitate science-based policies, incentives, and applicable demonstration programs to transform Southern California utilizing nature-based solutions.

Research

TreePeople’s Research Department has been at the forefront of urban environmental science for over a decade, producing scientific reports that inform and inspire action on issues like water security, soil, drought resilience, and urban heat.

Water

TreePeople supports communities in rethinking the way we manage water by modeling best watershed management practices and engaging people through education and participation in community retrofit projects. This demonstrates how our schools, homes, streets, and alleys can be transformed to improve water quality, increase water supply, and provide community benefits. We show how simple changes can protect our water, reduce pollution, and create greener spaces.

Coldwater Canyon Park

TreePeople’s 45-acre headquarters on Mulholland Drive in the Santa Monica Mountains offers nature trails, experiential education, and cultural programming and is home to TreePeople’s Native Plant Nursery.

Our Core Values

At TreePeople, we are....

Enthusiastic

Sparking joy is at the core of everything we do. Our work is fun, hopeful, and uplifting. We spread our passion to others and support them to change the world for the better.

Welcoming

We foster kindness and a culture that welcomes everyone. We center diverse voices to further equity in the communities we serve. Everyone has a place in our movement; we are all TreePeople.

Respectful

We actively listen to gain understanding and are courteous and mindful in our interactions with others. We show respect to the spaces where we work, to the people and cultures we work with, and to the history that precedes us.

Harmonious

We prioritize collaboration. We do this within the organization and the communities we serve. We are at our best when we work together and actively step up when one of us needs support.

Committed

We ensure the longevity of our work through lasting and meaningful commitment to the spaces and the communities we engage with. We strive to exemplify our mission not only through our words but through our actions. We are dedicated to learning and innovating as we strive towards a greener future for us all.