TreePeopleJim Hardie was a full-time actor when he became interested in TreePeople after reading about our weekend plantings in the newspaper. Shortly after he started volunteering, Jim took TreepPeople's first-ever Citizen Forestry training in 1986 and began leading and training our growing volunteer base. A TreePeople board member since 1994, Jim has also donated his time to produce our summer benefit entertainment series for the past decade. Jim currently serves as TreePeople's Director of Park Operations.
We call her Big Mama Oak. Most hikers in Coldwater Canyon Park probably don’t know her by name, but I am well acquainted with her. She has likely been a resident of our park for somewhere between 200 and 300 years. Coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia), like Big Mama Oak, can live to be 850…
I’m a very lucky guy. Every work day I get to escape LA and head on up into the Santa Monica Mountains to Coldwater Canyon Park, TreePeople’s home and campus above Studio City. In my “office space” I help manage a uniquely beautiful 45-acres of tree-lined trails, quiet picnic areas, benches with wonderful views of…
This year, several scientists intend to make history by declaring that our planet has officially entered the Anthropocene. What is the Anthropocene? We’re currently in the Holocene–a period where Earth’s patterns have been influenced by natural events. Unlike the Holocene, which began about 12,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age, the…
In these recent unseasonably hot days, have you noticed the heat radiating off blacktop? Black asphalt traps heat and releases it back into our cities. “But who said streets had to be black?” asked Ben Schiller, staff writer at Co.Exist. They pointed to Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s showcase of alternative paving surfaces to demonstrate how a…