TreePeople
Park operations director Jim Hardie calls it the “grasscrete circle”—also known as the TreePeople cistern, a 216,000-gallon underground storage tank, where we save rainwater filtered and collected from rooftops and the Parking Grove. The stored water irrigates TreePeople’s grounds in the warm months. For the past four years, the circle has been planted with wildflowers,…
Soil is as vital to environmental health as the plants that grow in it. If you watched the latest Ken Burns documentary, The Dust Bowl, or if your forebears settled in California because they had to flee the ruined soil of the Midwest, then you know what Burns means by “the worst man-made ecological disaster…
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…
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…
Launching a community greening project but don’t know how to start? Looking for help with a plan that’s ready but needs guidance? Join us for breakfast at TreePeople’s hilltop headquarters on December 15 to get connected with a Citizen Arborist who can help make sure your project succeeds. Citizen Arborists are highly trained, volunteer leaders…
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?…
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…
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…
Dedicating a tree – or grove of trees – that will be planted by TreePeople in the Los Angeles area mountains and parklands is a meaningful gift this holiday season. TreePeople renews the urban landscape through the life-giving power of trees. The gift of a tree dedication expresses your esteem AND helps restore our local…
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…
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…
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…