At 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 –…
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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…
Volunteers Share Their Stories
June 3, 2014Here at TreePeople, we love our volunteers. We’re a small organization striving to make a big impact – from planting more than 2 million trees in our 40+ years as an organization to working with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on a Stormwater Capture Master Plan – and to do that, we…
Coast Live Oak Falls Prey to Gophers
May 28, 2014You know it’s dry when gophers start taking down trees. Why is that? Well, normally tree roots make up part of your standard gopher diet. They’ll tunnel down to a tree’s root ball, chow down for a little while, and then move on. But as long as they only eat part of the roots –…
1000th Tree Cared for in the Drought
May 26, 2014We’re in the middle of a drought, so to conserve water, we shouldn’t water trees, right? Actually, watering trees is one of the best things we can do while we wait for the rains to return. Keeping our trees healthy helps us maintain and build our water supply here in Los Angeles. When it rains…
TreePeople Satellite Nursery Sprouts in Inglewood
May 23, 2014Inglewood High School’s campus is located off busy Manchester Boulevard. In this urban setting, nestled beneath the hum of jets approaching LAX and behind the bustle of traffic on Inglewood’s streets, students are nurturing a baby forest. Inglewood High’s Green Club, advised by long-time TreePeople teacher Gail Atley, has become the latest TreePeople Satellite Nursery….
Big Sunday Means Big Volunteer Impacts!
May 20, 2014May 17th and 18th marked Big Sunday Weekend, a national weekend of volunteering. We were out at White Oak Farm in Calabasas on Saturday and Hansen Dam Recreation Center in Sylmar on Sunday. Throughout the weekend more than 100 volunteers assisted with vital restoration work and tree care, removing thousands of pernicious invasive weeds and…
Community Sustainability Workshop helps Angelenos respond to the drought
May 14, 2014The drought is here and with a heat wave to boot, Angelenos are starting to feel the effects of climate change. To help community members learn what they can do to create a more sustainable LA and help slow climate change, TreePeople held a Community Sustainability Workshop at our headquarters on May 3rd. Roughly 100 people…
Three decades of planting seeds: Curtis School first grade teacher celebrates her 30th Eco-tour
May 12, 2014The yellow school bus pulled up to TreePeople headquarters earlier this month, and beaming first grade teacher Donna Bernard stepped out along with dozens of excited children. Today was Ms. Bernard’s thirtieth anniversary: the thirtieth straight year she has brought her Curtis students to TreePeople for an Eco-tour field trip.
Climate Change, Trees, and You
May 8, 2014If you live in Southern California, you may have noticed that we are red hot…and not in a good way. We are one of the red-colored zones experiencing the most severe impacts of climate change on the map (above) of the lower 48 released as part of the recent National Climate Assessment. Not only have we…
Happy Earth Month: Tip #4 Adopt and Care for a Tree
April 30, 2014We’ve been celebrating Earth Day all month long right here on the blog with a few of our founder Andy Lipkis’ simple sustainable solutions — from his home to yours. So far, he’s shared his tips for installing rain barrels, his best practices for your sprinklers, and his passion for California native plant gardens. But now…