Each week, TreePeople is out in the neighborhoods and surrounding mountains of Los Angeles, planting and caring for trees and native plants to ensure that our city has a growing, thriving urban ecosystem. But that’s not all we do – every day, we’re also working with agencies and policymakers at the city, county, state, and…
News
How to Kill Your Lawn
July 16, 2014Things are dry out there. Drought conditions are currently battering California and our changing climate only further puts us at risk when it comes to water security. Across the state, an average of 50% of residential water use goes towards landscaping, killing your lawn and replacing that non-functional turf with native plants is one of…
TreePeople Volunteer Takes on the Drought
July 14, 2014This past Sunday, TreePeople staff and volunteers participated in a special tree care event in North Hollywood. One of our enthusiastic Volunteer Supervisors, Vahagn Karapetyan, had noticed that the trees in his neighborhood were suffering, so he decided to take action. Vahagn Karapetyan has been volunteering with TreePeople for the past two and a half…
AB 2403 Sets the Stage for Stormwater Capture
July 9, 2014It doesn’t rain much in Los Angeles, but it does rain: in an average year, enough rain falls throughout Los Angeles County to supply 650,000 families with enough water to live off if we captured it. For this reason, for more than twenty years TreePeople has been championing rainwater harvesting as a key part of…
Fighting Drought One Lawn at a Time: LADWP’s Cash In Your Lawn Program
July 2, 2014One hundred percent of California is now in a severe drought, and Los Angeles County is even worse off, classified by the United States Drought Monitor as in “extreme drought” conditions. Now, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is calling on Angelenos to do their part to conserve water—and as an incentive,…
TreeMapLA: The Key to LA’s Urban Ecosystem
June 30, 2014As you may have already heard, TreePeople is really excited about TreeMapLA, a tool that will allow Angelenos to map trees and watershed solutions–like rain barrels and rain gardens–to help all of Los Angeles learn just how valuable our urban forest and watersheds are!
Volunteers in Action: Topanga Creek Restoration
June 27, 2014Nearly every weekend, TreePeople and our volunteers head up into the Santa Monica Mountains to restore the natural landscape. Through our Mountain Restoration programs, we revegetate the ecosystem—planting a full spectrum of native plants from wildflowers to trees in order to restore the biological function of the land—and remove invasive species so that plants, animals, and…
5 Ways to Help Trees Out This Summer
June 18, 2014Summer is here! The June solstice occurs on Saturday at 3:51am, ushering in a season of celebration, relaxation – and heat. The next few months are likely to be some of the toughest of the drought, so it’s important that we take care of our trees so they’ll make it through this season.
The Importance of Environmental Education
June 13, 2014Earlier this week, The Nature of Cities held an online roundtable about the importance of urban environmental education and what makes an effective educational program. Featured in the roundtable was TreePeople’s Senior Manager for Environmental Education, Candice Russell. The Nature of Cities has allowed us to repost Candice’s essay here, so read on to learn…
Transforming Upstream Landscapes for a Healthy LA River
June 11, 2014At the end of May, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to recommend approval for a $1 billion proposal to restore an 11-mile stretch of the Los Angeles River. According to the Los Angeles Times, the plan, which is supported by Mayor Eric Garcetti and a number of elected officials and advocacy groups –…
Wildfire Season: How It’s Changing & What You Can Do
June 9, 2014As the San Diego fires raged this May, the Los Angeles Times reported that this year California had so far seen twice as many brush fires as is normal. This trend is likely to continue: the past three years of below-average rainfall have left plants dry and brittle, so it doesn’t take much to spark a…
Celebrating Trees on World Environment Day: A Guest Post by Michael Zucker
June 5, 2014Today is World Environment Day, designed by the United Nations to encourage “worldwide awareness and action for the environment.” Here at TreePeople, we strive daily to create spaces and programs in which Los Angeles community members can participate in creating a sustainable, thriving city. Last month, Michael Zucker, author of the “A Sustainable Conversation” column…