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Tree Planting Season: Off to a Great Start!
110 trees planted at Brentwood and Ronald McNair Academies
 Canopy launched its third year of the Healthy Trees, Healthy Kids! initiative with a 110-tree planting at Brentwood and Ronald McNair Academies on Saturday, October 6. Some 550 volunteers participated in this large-scale tree plating. Close to 600 trees have been planted through the initiative to date, closing in on the five-year goal of 1,000 trees.
Saturday's planting included: 16 fruit trees, 49 cork oaks, and six other climate appropriate species; 43 planting teams, lead by a Canopy Planting Leaders; nine staking teams; 188 wooden stakes; 73 shovels and 330 buckets of water.
 The tree planting coincided with October's National NeighborWoods Month, an annual celebration of trees during which thousands of volunteers plant trees inover 200 cities across the country.
 Canopy is deeply grateful to all the parents, kids, community members, and Microsoft volunteers for their hard work! Generous event sponsors include: Microsoft, Odwalla, Ca Fire, California ReLeaf, Alliance for Community Trees, Patagonia, Palo Alto Community Fund, Girvin Peters Landscape Management, Gachina, Arborwell, the Four Seasons Hotel, Collective Roots, and the Ravenswood City School District.
For photos of the event, click here, for information on Canopy's Healthy Trees, Healthy Kids! Initiative, click here, and to sign up for the next Canopy planting or tree care event, click here.
A New Crop of Planting Leaders
In preparation for this planting and the rest of the planting season, we welcomed 20 new faces to our planting leader volunteer group. The fresh recruits joined staff and a few seasoned planting leaders for a two-part training that included a brief introduction to Canopy, a very detailed planting demonstration, tips for leading volunteers, and a practice planting. Email Estefani Morales if you'd like to become a planting leader.
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Getting Trees Rooted in Local Schools' Curriculum
Canopy staff teach hands-on tree lessons
"When you hurt trees you hurt yourself," explained one thoughtful 4th grader from Addison Elementary. Canopy's Education and Community Outreach Manager, Estefani Morales, and Program Coordinator, Natalia Schoorl, visit local school groups regularly with hands-on tree lessons and environmental education demonstrations. Recently, they showed the class of 28 Addison students how to properly plant a tree. The students participated eagerly by loosening the root ball, shoveling dirt, and building the water basin for their Japanese maple. They learned the importance of the tree's roots, trunk, and leaves.
The class's homework was to observe a tree in their neighborhood, draw it, and label its parts. The results were wonderful. Some students noticed their tree's root flare, while others even drew cross sections of the trunk showing the cambium layer. Here's one student's detailed homework depicting a Gingko tree:
At Palo Alto High School, Canopy Board member, Carole Langston and Estefani recently taught two freshman Biology classes the importance of urban trees. They focused on proper tree identification using a simplified dichotomous key. By the end of the class, students were able to look up trees in the online Canopy Tree Library and discuss the many things they learned about identifying different tree species.
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Tree Care Work Day at Los Robles/Cesar Chavez Academy
Mulching, weeding and trimming: all in a day's work!
 On Saturday, September 29th, two volunteer groups, World Centric and Rotaract Club, joined a Canopy Tree Care Work Day at Los Robles and Cesar Chavez Academy. After listening to a demonstration about the importance of weeding, watering, and properly staking young trees, volunteers cared for 32 trees. The volunteers started by removing sod from the trunk bases of the Forest Green Oaks and Chinese Elms, and then placed mulch around the trees. Next they tackled weeding and vine control on some Catalina Cherries. By the end of the day, the trees looked great and were ready for a new season, thanks to our volunteers' hard work.
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Greenmeadow Neighborhood Tree Walk with Apple's Head Arborist Dave Muffly
Saturday, October 13th
10:00am to Noon
Join ISA Board Certified Master Arborist Dave Muffly for a Tree Walk in the Greenmeadow Neighborhood.
Where: Greenmeadow Community Center, 303 Parkside Drive
What: See the Chinese Tallow Tree, Sugar Maple, the River-she Oak and many others!
 Dave Muffly was the first Program Director for Canopy, and recently finished serving 6 years as a Canopy board member. Dave is currently the head arborist for Apple and is quite busy planting a forest for the new Apple headquarters in Cupertino. Dave is the brains behind the East Palo Alto Tree Initiative which planted 1200 trees along the HWY 101 sound wall in East Palo Alto and has done the planting designs for most of the Healthy Trees, Healthy Kids! school campus plantings.
Click here for map of Tree Walk.
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Only Two Remaining
Tree Walks in 2012
Monthly, Free, and Fun!
Join us every month on the second Saturday from 10:00am to Noon. Click here to sign up.
October 13th - Greenmeadow
(see above.)
Nov. 10th - Crescent Park
Click the links above to see the self-guided Tree Walks, or to request a brochure, email info@canopy.org
or call 650-964-6110 ext. 1
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Canopy is Hiring
We're looking for two talented and dynamic staff members to help us reach our urban greening goals. Click here to see the Development & Communications Director's position description and here to see the Administrative Associate's position description.
Please forward this information to any qualified candidates.
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THANK YOU To Our Planting Volunteers!
 Your hard work, time and energy truly benefit our urban forest.
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