Wildland Restoration: Our Work in San Francisquito Canyon

Since March 2018, TreePeople has been restoring a fire-damaged area of San Francisquito Canyon in the Angeles National Forest. The work is funded by a grant administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, from the money awarded to the USDA following the lawsuit brought against the construction companies responsible for the 2002 Copper Fire.

The work started by the removal of many invasive plants which had taken several areas adjacent to a creek feeding into the Santa Clara River. The invasive plant’s competition had led to the conversion of a once-beautiful chaparral landscape into a very thick mix of various non-native grasses, clover and mustard (Hirschfeldia incana, Centaurea melitensis, Erodium cicutarium, Medicago polymorpha, Melilotus indicus, Nicotiana glauca, Bromus diandrus, Bromus madritensis, Bromus hordeauceus, Avena fatua, Piptatherum miliaceum).… Read more >>

Empowering Teachers to Empower Students

On July 24 & 25, 2019 TreePeople held a super fun and successful two-day Professional Development workshop for Los Angeles County Middle and High School teachers interested in engaging their students to be an active part of the solution to environmental issues through hands-on service learning projects.

Through Los Angeles County Public Works Generation Earth program, TreePeople is able to offer teachers expert topic information, project ideas, resources, and toolkits that will guide teachers to implementing a campus or community eco-project from A – Z.… Read more >>

Good for the Environment: Inside and Out

It is one thing to talk your talk, it is another to walk your walk! In a unique partnership, BIO-K+, an international, family-run biotech company that specializes in the research, manufacturing and marketing of their Bio-K+ probiotics, is working together with TreePeople to take care of our environment – inside and out! 

With a goal to include their greater customer base, Bio-K+ is currently sponsoring four mountain restoration events in 2019 that not only brings their own employees out into the wildlands, but shares the experience by inviting employees of the stores that carry their product.  Participants, coming as far as Claremont, Valencia and Ventura have joined us in the Santa Monica Mountains for a morning of fun and good outdoor work.… Read more >>

Rotted in the Roots: Phytophthora 101

TreePeople’s gorgeous nursery is pristine. Its manager, Jack Smith, runs a tight ship in order to keep the plants inside safe and protected.  Those who enter must pass through a massive enclosure and wash their shoes in order to even go near the plants. This keeps deer, many herbivorous insects, and plant pathogens like Phytophthora from causing harm to our saplings.

Phytophthora (pronounced Fie-TOF-ther-uh) literally translates from Greek to “plant destroyer,” so we have good reason to do what we can to keep it out of the nursery.… Read more >>

Tips to Share with Your Gardener

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As your garden evolves from a typical lawn-centered landscape to one that is more sustainable and appropriate to our southern California climate, it is important that the maintenance of your yard shifts to accommodate the new landscape.  Sometimes this involves working with your gardener to better understand the needs of your garden.

Some helpful tips to consider:

1) Adjust Your Maintenance Schedule

The shift toward a more climate-appropriate garden encourages a shift in how to schedule gardener maintenance visits. Water-saving gardens don’t require quick, weekly maintenance, but rather more intensive maintenance on a monthly basis.… Read more >>

Getting Inspired by our Development Team!

We call TreePeople headquarters “Yurt Village” because it’s comprised of 7 yurts nestled together in a little corner of Coldwater Canyon Park at the very top of Beverly Hills.

Each yurt contains one or two different teams – a massive yurt at the front of the village houses the Forestry team; another holds the Environmental Education team, another Policy, another Park Operations and Grants, and one more large yurt contains Marketing/ Communications and Development.

The entire village works together like a machine to support the daily operations of TreePeople.… Read more >>

Weeds of the Garden

Love ‘em or hate ‘em they are hard to ignore – whether they are producing lovely flowers or taking over the garden!

What really is a weed?

Basically, it is a plant growing where you don’t want it to grow.  When caring for your low-water use, climate-appropriate garden, weeds can overtake a garden (especially after a good season of rain) competing with your plants for water, nutrients, light and dominating the space.  

At first, they seem harmless. However, left to grow, they continue to spread their seeds each year and can take over your sustainable landscape.… Read more >>

Celebrating our Urban Foresters

LA Times (Kathryn Welch Howe)

In cities throughout Los Angeles, where extreme heat marks the summer seasons, trees are a key component in creating safer, more comfortable neighborhoods. That’s why we’re so happy to see citizens taking the initiative to fill in the gaps in spaces that need these trees.

Take Holmby- Westwood, for example, where citizen foresters took it upon themselves to organize with us and create the beautiful green spaces they deserve. Their incredible project will include 300 trees and will take up to 10 years to complete.… Read more >>

Deadheading and More!

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…and we are not talking about Grateful Dead fans!

As we have learned, maintenance of well-planned, sustainable landscapes not only helps decrease your water use and the amount of green waste you create, but also decreases the time it takes to maintain your yard.

Here are some general plant maintenance tasks that don’t take that much time, and can really boost the look of your garden.

General Plant Maintenance

  1. Deadheading

Deadheading is the removal of dead flowers or flower stalks.  Doing this typically creates a longer season of bloom by encouraging more flower production.… Read more >>

Addressing Equity with TreePeople

TreePeople got its name because its founder, Andy Lipkis, recognized the interconnectedness between trees and people. We need each other to thrive in Los Angeles and we’ve made it our mission to care and fight for both.

That’s why a major factor of the work we do is improving equity in LA. We believe that people of all socioeconomic backgrounds have a right to beautiful green spaces, which have been proven to improve both mental and physical health.

Los Angeles is facing an Urban Tree Crisis due to climate change, droughts, extreme heat, emerging pests and diseases, and development, which can significantly impact Angelenos’ everyday lives as well as health and well-being.… Read more >>