Every year on March 7-14, California Arbor Week works to unite community members, cities, and businesses to educate Californians on the value trees provide to building successful, healthy cities and neighborhoods.

Join us at one of our upcoming community events or tag us on Instagram (@canopytrees) or Facebook (@CanopyTreesForAll) while you’re outside enjoying everything trees have to offer!

Thur. 3/7: East Palo Alto Movie Night (The Lorax), Platt Family YMCA

Sat. 3/9: Palo Alto Mayor’s Tree Planting, Eleanor Pardee Park

Sat. 3/9: Belle Haven Movie Night (The Jungle Book), All Five School

Thur. 3/14: North Fair Oaks Movie Night, Hoover Elementary School

Tickets are now on sale for this benefit celebrating Canopy’s expansive urban forestry work and the community-centered efforts to foster a green solution movement through the power of trees. Please join us to experience the “behind the leaves” impact of urban trees. 

The Mitchell Park Community Center will be transformed into a tree-filled “behind the leaves” experience that will showcase their power to build and change our communities for the benefit of all.

On Saturday, February 24, 2024, Canopy lost a friend and champion. Urban Cummings, a long-time volunteer, former Canopy Board Member, and dear friend, passed away after a fearless and enthusiastic life well-lived. In his passing, the Canopy community finds great joy in reclaiming his long and colorful contributions to the organization. Always active in his community, Urban joined Canopy’s Board of Directors in 2007 to share his love for trees.

Canopy Co-Founder Susan Rosenberg remarked on Urban’s kindness and how by the power of his wonderful personality, he attracted friends and supporters to Canopy. Often wearing his trademark tree hat as a volunteer and leader, Urban enthusiastically shared his many talents (and there were many) with Canopy staff, volunteers, and colleagues. 

Michael Hawkins, former Canopy Program Director, recalled how after Urban’s time on the board, you could still count on him to show up at the most unexpected times with a small gift, a sweet treat, or even just a newspaper clipping. Something which showed he’d been thinking about you, and that, along with his buoyant and, yes, boyish charm left you feeling a little brighter than you did before. 

We will miss these visits from Urban. To his beloved spouse, Chris, and his children and grandchildren, we extend our gratitude and love for sharing Urban with Canopy for so many years. We look forward to joyfully planting trees in his honor.

Since Canopy’s start, education has been core to our work. Tree stewardship of a newly planted tree comes with the investment of space and resources for the tree, as well as access to new information and a chance to learn and observe as the tree flourishes. When Canopy plants trees, the community is always an active participant by informing where and what we plant and learning the skills needed to ensure the trees we install together grow to their full potential. It takes thoughtful coordination and tremendous effort to provide these kinds of inclusive, meaningful experiences in forestry. 

This symbiosis of collective action and the broad implication of accessible environmental education is explored in Agency in the Anthropocene: education for planetary health, published last month in The Lancet. Although Canopy’s mission and work focus on Midpeninsula communities, we are grateful for the educators and scientists who are thinking globally about how to bring all communities to the table to advocate for planetary health.

JP (right) at a volunteer tree event at Hoover Community School in North Fair Oaks, December 2023.

As I reflect on my first six months as the new Executive Director of Canopy, I am filled with a sense of excitement and purpose. Canopy's mission to foster urban forestry and community engagement resonates deeply with me, and I am thrilled to be leading efforts to ensure that the communities of Palo Alto, Mountain View, East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, and the Belle Haven neighborhoods of Menlo Park thrive under the shade of healthy trees.

Six months ago, I joined a team committed to transforming this region’s canopy and addressing the green inequities that have historically kept many in our communities from enjoying the benefits of trees. I have found a home among a dedicated group of professionals and volunteers who find this work not only meaningful, but also personal. 

I grew up in a Cuban household where English was not our primary language; in a mobile home park where the lack of trees and green spaces affected our physical and mental wellbeing; where healthy and affordable food was unnecessarily difficult to find; where education and career training were essential to accessing economic prosperity. 

And like everyone at Canopy, I find joy in working alongside new neighbors and friends so that everyone in the midpeninsula can benefit from healthy trees and green schoolyards, have access to robust environmental education programs, and a chance at benefitting from the green economy of the future. That’s why Canopy’s three core components resonate with me personally, and why I believe our future is strong as we set out to grow, deepen and expand our impact.

Susie Richardson and Hal Luft

in memory of Ruth Soforenko

Karen Loden

in memory of Urban Cummings

CalFire Childcare Grant in partnership with All Five School 

Mountain View Kiwanis Foundation

Palo Alto Kiwanis Foundation

Peninsula Open Space Trust

Rotary Club of Palo Alto 

When Do Flowering Trees Bloom in Spring, Including Fruit Trees (Davey Tree)

This building made of growing trees could change the way we think about architecture (Fast Company)

Spring in Bloom: Flowering Trees Around Palo Alto (Canopy’s blog)

Four Tips for Spring Tree Care (Canopy’s blog)

Canopy's mission is to grow the urban forest in Midpeninsula communities for the benefit of all.

Our vision is a day when every resident of the Midpeninsula can step outside to walk, play, and thrive under the shade of healthy trees.