Dear TreePeople Community,

April was a powerful reminder that when people come together around a shared vision for a healthier, greener Southern California, meaningful change happens. From community plantings and tree giveaways to Pollinator Palooza—where more than 200 volunteers helped plant 300 milkweed—we saw people of all ages showing up for nature, for one another, and for the future we are building together. Thank you for being part of this growing community and for believing in the power of people and trees to create lasting impact.

I was also honored to speak at the launch of the LA Mayor’s Climate Plan, which reflects many of the values and solutions TreePeople has championed for decades—from urban greening and water resilience to nature-based climate solutions that improve everyday life for Angelenos. We are proud to help shape this vision and even more proud to serve as an implementation partner in bringing it to life. And as more people continue joining our Canopy monthly giving community, I’m deeply inspired by the growing number of supporters who want to be part of this work alongside us. Earth Month may be over, but together, we continue showing up for our communities and our environment every day.

With gratitude,
Cassie Rauser, Ph.D.
CEO, TreePeople

Supporting Local Pollinators

Pollinators play a vital role in sustaining our ecosystems and supporting biodiversity. On April 25th, more than 200 volunteers joined us at our Pollinator Palooza resource fair and planting event to celebrate and support SoCal’s beloved butterflies, birds, and bees. We planted more than 300 native milkweed plants, gave away more than 300 more, and even had a pollinator fashion show!

Read all about it!

Engaging Our Youth

Each year, our Environmental Education Coordinators work alongside middle and high school educators in LA County to help students explore environmental topics in the classroom and beyond. At the Fourth Annual Generation Earth Environmental Youth Summit, two hundred middle and high school students from six schools across Los Angeles County gathered to share their environmental action projects and to attend workshops, green career panels, and a resource fair that will help them serve as environmental leaders and better steward their campuses moving forward.

See some summit highlights!

Stewarding 3,000+ Acres

TreePeople’s Land Trust oversees more than 3,000 acres of land in the Santa Monica Mountains, protecting these spaces for the benefit of future generations. In March, our Land Trust team began hosting volunteer oak restoration events at a burn scar in Tuna Canyon Park, and this Earth Month the project reached an exciting milestone—it's now fully planted! And, in addition to the hard work of fire restoration and mitigation, the month was also filled with exciting nature sightings, including a young, untagged male mountain lion casually strolling through the canyon near Cold Creek.

Check out the trail cam pics!

Giving Trees with Heart

The Canoga Park community never fails to come out for the much-anticipated Follow Your Heart Earth Month Festival and tree giveaway! For the fifth year, TreePeople collaborated with the Follow Your Heart Market & Café team to distribute 300 fruit and shade trees. Nearly 400 residents lined up around the block, waiting for their chance to adopt a tree and learn tips from us about how to help them thrive.

Learn about this heartwarming day!

Bringing Out Our Corporate Partners

This Earth Month, our corporate partners showed up in meaningful and inspiring ways. More than 250 volunteers rolled up their sleeves to volunteer at 15 different Teams for Trees events, where they spent nearly 800 hours helping us expand our urban canopy and restore our wilderness areas. And hundreds more attended lunch and learn sessions that helped deepen their engagement with our local ecosystem. Their support goes far beyond participation; it directly fuels our ability to bring TreePeople’s mission to life by caring for the environment and strengthening the communities we serve.

Here’s how they gave back!

Investigating Our Water Systems

Drought and flooding often have the same root cause—improper management of the water cycle and the ecosystems that surround us. So in areas with historic water supply challenges, how can we do a better job capturing stormwater where it lands? This Earth Month, TreePeople’s Research and Watershed Health teams teamed up to release a new report that explores this question in Northern LA County.

Dig in to the full report!

Greening Our Schools

We want more students to explore learning gardens and sit amongst trees instead of playing on overheating asphalt. With this goal in mind, our Green Infrastructure team made significant progress across our school greening and green alley projects this Earth Month.

See the progress we made!

Documenting our work

As you can tell, we have a lot on our plates during Earth Month…and it takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make it all happen! This April, we gave each TreePeople team a film camera, so our staff members could document what goes into making our busiest season a success—and some of the fun they had along the way.

Take a peek at what they captured!

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass released a new plan for the city to combat climate change and adapt to a warmer future. The plan recognizes a need for urgent, nature-based solutions, which Cassie Rauser, CEO of TreePeople, says “depends on designing our neighborhood with the principle of right tree, right place, thoughtfully integrating the green infrastructure where it can deliver the greatest benefit to people and planet alike.” Read more in the Los Angeles Times and La Opinión.

Passionate about pollinators! Alyssa Walker and Vicky Phan of TreePeople’s Conservation team welcomed Spectrum News into the field to see how we’re expanding pollinator habitats by planting 6,000 milkweeds and bolstering the landscape against climate change, drought and wildfires. Watch on Spectrum News 1.

Drawing volunteers and families to scenic Castaic Lake to plant milkweed, TreePeople's Pollinator Palooza was a resounding success! The palooza was one of the top three things to do in the Los Angeles Times and also highlighted by KCRW and Discover LA.

Within the first four years, TreePeople planted 50,000 trees! From our 1970s origins to educating the public on how to plant and care for trees, CBS News explored highlights from our new exhibit “History in Bloom” at the Schuman Family Foundation Conference Center in Coldwater Canyon Park.

Why are you seeing purple blooms early this year? Lora Hall, our Community Forestry Senior Program Manager and certified arborist, helped LAist answer this question by discussing why jacarandas are putting on their annual show of blooms a little early.

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