By Alex Miller
It takes more work than you might think to help a tree survive.
It takes careful planning and selection of where that tree can have room to grow. It takes the TreePeople staff time and volunteers to help nourish the sapling, transport it and put it in the ground. It takes gallons and gallons of water and years’ worth of careful pruning and care.
It takes people.
This is the kind of work TreePeople has been doing in San Fernando since 2019. TreePeople works with community members to teach and facilitate the planting of trees on streets throughout Southern California. We coordinate with city officials and residents of cities like San Fernando to find out where we can have the most impact and increase our urban forest.
When we plant a tree, we take care of it for at least three years – this includes watering, weeding, pruning and doing everything we can to make sure these trees don’t just survive but thrive. We partner with volunteers to help us plant and care for these crucial resources that help reduce heat and provide critical shade in the summer months. We need particular help in caring for trees in the hot summer months, which includes watering and weeding to ensure these young trees can establish themselves and grow successfully.
We are pleased to report that of the 600 trees we have planted in the past three years, we’ve managed a roughly 90% survival rate. TreePeople’s planting efforts have focused on the residential neighborhoods and parks between Hubbard Street and Maclay Avenue throughout the City of San Fernando. Trees have been planted along parkways in front of homes that have opted to have a tree.
Additionally, we’ve worked to distribute over 500 fruit and shade trees to San Fernando residents for them to plant in their yards.
But even after all of that work, some trees unfortunately won’t make it due to circumstances beyond our control. Throughout the year, trees fall because of wind, become diseased, get struck by cars and more. On traffic-heavy thoroughfares like Glenoaks Boulevard, trees have to deal with increased pollution from automobiles and have been struck by vehicles.
It’s not an easy life. Newly planted trees can easily fail to find their footing. But after the first few critical years, mortality rates drop significantly and continue to shrink.
This is why tree care is so important and why TreePeople sticks with the trees for at least three years. TreePeople is going to assess the current state of the trees we’ve planted and is going to replace most if not all of the trees that have died.
While it may appear that a tree has died, this might not be the case. Deciduous trees drop their leaves in colder months, and while it may look dead, a simple scratch test can help determine if a tree is still alive. If you scratch the tree and it’s green inside, that means that the tree is alive. If you do this test on a branch, it might indicate that the branch has died but not the tree. Please do this sparingly, as each scratch can be an entryway for pathogens.
TreePeople wants you to know that while we are planting thousands of street trees, publicly-owned areas make up a small fraction of available space for canopy, and it is imperative that property owners plant trees in their yards to help sustain our urban forest. Plant a tree today and stay tuned to TreePeople’s updates for our fruit and shade trees at local distributions. We have so many resources on our website that can help to ensure that trees are planted in the ground the proper way.
TreePeople is incredibly proud of the work we have done in the City of San Fernando. We’ll continue to serve the San Fernando community to plant and care for trees over the next several years, so come join us and get involved in looking after our urban forest. Our Calles Verdes (“Green Streets”) project to plant 1,550 trees and distribute 1,500 more is well underway. The Calles Verdes movement was the vision of TreePeople’s late CEO Cindy Montañez. Thanks to her commitment to shade equity and environmental justice, TreePeople has been honored to partner with the City to plant and care for hundreds of trees.
As an organization, we are continuing Montañez’s legacy in many ways, and growing the urban canopy of her beloved city will always be near to our hearts.
Alex Miller is the director of Marketing & Communications for TreePeople.
For more information, visit treepeople.org.