Blog

South L.A. Parents Learn to “Prune” Back Asphalt and Bring Nature to Urban School Yards

On a typical hot, smoggy Los Angeles school day, hundreds of children at South L.A. schools no longer have to broil in unshaded asphalt-covered school yards. Through TreePeople’s School Greening Initiative, South L.A. parents are being trained and supported to transform their children’s campuses into shadier, leafier, cooler—even food-producing—places to learn and play. In early…

Read more →

Visit L.A.’s first Tree Campus USA, December 16

Did you know the male gingko tree sprouts smelly fruit? Learn all about it and much more on our next Branching Out Community Tree Walk, as we comb the grounds of Los Angeles Valley College—the first college or university in the Los Angeles area to be recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree…

Read more →

Five Chances to Roll Up Your Sleeves for Trees, December 8

December 8 is a great day to volunteer! TreePeople invites you to pick your favorite among five rewarding opportunities to pitch in and make Los Angeles a greener city. If you feel ready for advanced tree care, join us at a school campus in Westchester to prune semi-mature trees. Coming from points north and east?…

Read more →

Vote for a documentary to make you fall in love with nature

Our founder Andy Lipkis is an expert in the extraordinary film Love Thy Nature and we’d like you to join TreePeople in helping the Director Sylvie Rokab take it to completion.  She launched a Kickstarter campaign (to raise finishing funds) where you’ll see a short video and info about the film. Watch trailer here Not…

Read more →

Help restore the Angeles National Forest as a volunteer leader

TreePeople and the US Forest Service are gearing up for our third season restoring areas within the Angeles National Forest that were devastated by the historic Station Fire of 2009. This is one of the largest volunteer efforts on National Forest land in the United States, and you can help by learning to supervise and…

Read more →

Would you eat your landscape?

As we near the Thanksgiving holidays, maybe you’re thinking about fall harvests.  But if the land around your house is covered in lawn, consider this: traditional turf uses the same amount of water as vegetable gardens. If you’re going to grow something that uses that much water, maybe you should be able to recoup some…

Read more →

Acorns for Thanksgiving dinner?

Back before pilgrims and celebrations of food and football, at least 12 native California tribes depended on the acorns of coast live oaks and considered them a staple. Beyond nourishing humans, California oaks are considered a keystone species, meaning that many other animals and plants depend on them and grow in relationship to them.  There…

Read more →

LEARN HOW TO MAKE EVERY DROP COUNT

Did you know unfiltered storm water runoff is the number one pollutant in our coastal waters? And in one inch of rainfall, that parched Los Angeles throws away 7.6 BILLION gallons of water into the storm drains? On Saturday, November 17 at 4 PM join me at the DIY stage at the Green Festival where…

Read more →

PUT ON YOUR TREE VISION

Could you tell a Leptospermum laevigatum from a Ficus macrophylla? One is familiarly known as a Moreton Bay fig. Still blanking? On Sunday, November 18, join TreePeople’s free Branching Out community tree walk in historic Palisades Park in Santa Monica to develop your “tree vision” and see your neighborhood’s urban forest through a whole new…

Read more →

Take A Water Quality Quiz

October 18th was the 40th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Did you miss it? Not me, I was celebrating with a couple of salt water taffies and my little kiddos. Since our family lives near the ocean, I am thankful every time we go to the beach and don’t come back with some really…

Read more →