We're making great progress on the Young Tree Care Survey! But there are still more trees to visit. In this training and survey session, you'll learn how the survey works and complete one survey route.

This is a fun volunteer opportunity for all ages, and a great way to help keep the Palo Alto urban forest thriving. Learn more about the survey or sign up to volunteer.

Saturday, July 30, 9am - 12pm

Costaņo Elementary School, 2695 Fordham St, East Palo Alto

Help care for young school trees! Trained Canopy pruning volunteers are especially encouraged to join, and will prune Southern Live Oak, Silver Linden, Multi-stem Crape Myrtles. Other volunteers will weed, mulch, and adjust tree stakes.

Saturday, August 13, 10am - 12pm

Begins at Johnson Park in Palo Alto

Join Canopy, expert arborist Herb Fong, and Slow Food South Bay Chapter President and local personal chef Joni Sare for a special tree walk from Johnson Park to Gamble Garden. We'll explore a great variety of trees, and learn about fruit and other edible parts that trees provide.

This is a one-way tree walk. The Canopy van will be available to shuttle 7 people at a time the 1-mile walk back to the starting point. Full details on Canopy's calendar.

This month, construction began at last on the Palo Alto Golf Course Reconfiguration Project.

As the Palo Alto Weekly reports, "The project includes modifications to all 18 holes; restored wetlands areas; a shift away from irrigated turf and toward natural Baylands landscaping; [and] expanded recreation areas[...]."

The project will expand marshland habitat around San Francisquito Creek, providing greater flood protection, and incorporate more native Bayland vegetation.

The plan also includes the removal of about 650 non-native trees, which will be replaced with 300 native trees, and supplemented with additional mitigation off-site.

When the time comes, Canopy will work with the City to involve community members in planting and mitigation plans. Stay tuned!

On June 28th, the Palo Alto City Council voted to maintain the city's 7-year pruning cycle, rather than switch to proposed 10-year or 15-year pruning cycles.

The pruning cycle determines how often city trees are pruned, and it's important for several reasons. Firstly, trees that are regularly inspected and pruned are safer, with less risk of limb-drop or interference with infrastructure. Secondly, when trees are pruned more often, they don't need to be pruned as aggressively. Removing less of the canopy results in fuller, healthier trees.

Former Palo Alto mayor Karen Holman and Canopy advocated strongly for the city to maintain its 7-year pruning cycle, and we applaud the Council's decision. We will also continue advocating for a more dynamic approach to city pruning, especially for young trees.

Looking for a way to engage your students or youngsters outdoors this summer? Look no further than Green Schoolyards America, and their recently released Living Schoolyard Activity Guide 2016. This resource offers  147 hands-on activities to get kids outside, including Canopy's Sense-sational Tree Tour.

This awe of exploration and discovery, commitment to service, and desire to strengthen our sense of community is what I will take to my new role as Program Assistant at the Peery Foundation, where I'll continue serving youth and families in the Bay Area and beyond.

Thank you to everyone who helps plant and care for the trees, and to all those who support this important work and advocate for more greenery in our cities.

To me, planting trees together will always represent the best in humanity.

As Kahlil Gibran wrote, "Work is love made visible," and planting trees is our work done with love, our hope for the future set in motion by the actions we take today.

Best wishes,

Natalia Schoorl

I'm excited to get outside to plant and care for trees with community members, starting with pilot neighborhoods in south Palo Alto!

See you soon,

Elise M. Willis

A recent study by the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station found California's street trees provide over $1 billion in benefits to the state.

Using i-Tree, an online analysis tool, scientists plotted street trees across the state and used the information gathered to calculate the value of services provided by trees, including carbon storage ($10.32 million), air pollutant filtering ($18.15 million), energy savings ($101.15 million), and boosted property values ($838.94 million).

Lead researcher Greg McPherson explained that "for every $1 spent on planting or maintaining a street tree, that tree returns, on average, $5.82 in benefits."

The research data will continue to help scientists better understand how resources can be allocated across the state, and whether to increase tree planting in areas with low tree canopy density.