Oaks Among Us and Other California Plants
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Join Canopy and Dr. Matt Ritter, botany professor and author of the new book
California Plants
, for a visual tour and celebration of California’s iconic native flora.
There are more than 5,000 native species in California—one in five of which are now rare or endangered. Author
Matt Ritter
, professor of botany at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, will take attendees on a visual “tour” through the state’s most iconic flora in a lecture based on his new book,
California Plants
. A richly illustrated field guide to the state’s spectacular native plants, the book also seeks to raise awareness of unique beauty that’s at risk.
He will also use his beautiful photographs, insight, and humor to share the natural history of California's fascinating plants. And in recognition of Oaktober, Canopy’s month of oaktastic events, Dr. Ritter will share stories of the state’s rich oak heritage.
A book signing will follow the presentation. Books available for purchase at the event.
Saturday, October 13
9:30 am -12:00 pm
Eastside College Preparatory Theater
1041 Myrtle St, East Palo Alto
Tickets are $15
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Community Forestry School
Engaging Youth in Urban Forestry
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Engaging Youth in the Urban Forest
Saturday, September 22
10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Peninsula Conservation Center, 3921 E. Bayshore Rd, Palo Alto
“In order to tackle complex environmental issues like climate change and drought, K-12 students in California must have access to high-quality learning experiences that build environmental literacy. Environmentally literate students are able to examine real-world issues, think critically about the relationship between humans and natural systems, and make informed decisions about the challenges affecting our world.” -
California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI)
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Session 1: Growing Environmental Literacy
10:00-11:30 am
In this session, we welcome guest speaker Karen Cowe, CEO of
Ten Strands
. Learn about the concept of “environmental literacy” and the landscape of environmental education in California, and hear about the role of Bay Area community organizations to support schools in expanding their environmental education curriculum to integrate across disciplines and align with the
Next Generation Science Standards
.
Session 2: Education Leader Training
11:45-2:00 pm
The second part of this workshop will prepare you to volunteer as an Education Leader with Canopy, exploring the wonderful world of trees through hands-on science lessons with elementary, middle, and high school students. This interactive training will cover teaching methodology, cultural sensitivity, and Canopy's education modules. Following the training, you will have a chance to sign up to help with Canopy’s lessons in the fall!
To support the cost of this workshop series, there is a suggested donation of $15. Canopy will provide lunch to individuals who attend both sessions. For questions, email
natalie@canopy.org.
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Other upcoming workshops:
Native Oaks & Citizen Science | October 6
Tree Planting Basics | November 3
Celebration for Community Foresters | December 8
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We need your eyes!
We're concerned that the trees along the East Bayshore soundwall might be illegally pruned. If you see any trees being pruned, immediately alert the City of East Palo Alto at 650-665-0482 and Canopy's Community Forestry Program Manager, Uriel Hernandez, at
650-521-7573
.
Menlo Park Heritage Trees
The City of Menlo Park is working on updating their Heritage Tree Ordinance and Canopy Executive Director, Catherine Martineau, is participating in this work as a member of the task force. If you're interested, the task force meetings are open to the public. More information available at the
City's heritage tree ordinance website
.
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Introducing Judy Sissener,
Canopy's Development Director!
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We're thrilled to welcome Judy to the Canopy team!
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Judy brings over twenty years of nonprofit experience to her role, with previous positions as development director and executive director with various environmental and youth focused organizations. So, without further ado, let's meet Judy!
How did you get into nonprofit development work?
Judy:
Fundraising found me! I started my nonprofit career with a large national organization focused on education for unemployed youth and young adults. The curriculum included general education and GED preparation, job-skill training and readiness, and job placement. I started as VP of Finance, and then became ED. At that time (and currently in many cases), those positions had primary responsibility for fundraising, and that was how I allocated most of my time. Also, as a volunteer with many organizations, I was usually part of or leading the fundraising efforts. It’s fun!
What were you up to before coming to Canopy?
Judy:
Immediately before Canopy, I was fundraising with Global Footprint Network, an international environmental nonprofit based in Oakland. The organization’s founder developed the footprint concept and the mathematical paradigm for calculating it – including the carbon footprint. Previous to Global Footprint Network I was fundraising for an international youth environmental-education organization called Trips for Kids. Kids/youth, and the environment have been a continuing, strong focus throughout my life.
What are you most excited about in your new role?
Judy:
I’m most excited to meet and work with all the wonderful people involved with Canopy. I love everything about Canopy, and the organizational energy is exuberant
–
quite unique in my experience. I feel very fortunate to be part of Canopy and have the opportunity to contribute to its continued growth and vitally important impact.
And what's your favorite tree?
Judy:
Ooo, tough question - I have so many; the question really is, are there any trees that I don’t love? (No) Favorites that immediately come to mind are from childhood. As a child, my family lived on the edge of a forest
in Illinois
, and I spent most of my daylight hours in the woods. So among the favorites are still the first trees I knew and loved as a small child: blue spruce, weeping willow, chinquapin oak, hickory (my job was to gather and help hull the nuts each fall!), tulip trees, and our beloved fruit trees – apply, cherry, crabapple (I also had to gather the rotten fruit). Once I got to California, oaks (of course), redwoods (of course), and ginkgos joined the “faves” list. Now, shall we discuss other flora?
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In this month's series, we're featuring Marty Deggeller, long-time volunteer since 1997, and Shelley Ratay, who joined the board in 2017.
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Canopy: What inspires you most about Canopy’s work?
Marty Deggeller:
Canopy does a great job of engaging the community in all our program activities and I love to work with the wide range of individuals that attend our planting events. Everyone participating seems to enjoy the activities and gets great satisfaction out of putting the trees in the ground and improving their community.
C: Why do you care about trees?
MD:
While I recognize the value of all the ecological benefits that trees provide, I’m really taken with the aesthetic impact trees have on an area, particularly those areas that have minimal green areas associated with them. There’s something about finishing a large school planting in East Palo Alto, for example, and walking away realizing the impact those newly-planted trees have on the ambience of the campus.
C: What is your favorite tree?
MD:
I grew up in the conifer forests of Washington so I’m partial to any type of conifer. However, we don’t have the opportunity to plant many conifers locally so my interests have shifted to the wide variety of oaks that we incorporate into our plantings.
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Canopy: What inspires you most about Canopy’s work?
Shelley Ratay:
The way Canopy engages the community in its tree planting and tree care efforts. It's beautiful to see people of all ages and backgrounds come together to volunteer at Canopy's work days. Digging in the dirt side-by-side with others to plant a young tree
—
that's the kind of meaningful connection to people and place that we could all use more of. It feeds the soul of the community.
C: Why do you care about trees?
SR:
So many reasons. They provide beauty, clean air, shade and habitat. They represent stability, hope and life.
C: What is your favorite tree?
SR:
The buckeye tree in our backyard. My husband planted it when our daughter was born. It started as a seed in a pot and we've watched it grow up alongside our children.
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Notes from the Young Tree Care Survey with Julisa Lopez
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She did a stellar job not only surveying trees, but also with transitioning the Young Tree Care Survey to our new online mapping tool,
Tree Plotter
.
With the help of over 120 volunteers, Elise and Julisa led the effort to scour Palo Alto neighborhoods to survey the health of 1,217 young trees.
In this post, Julisa shares about her experience working on the Young Tree Care Survey.
Julisa
: For most of the summer I spent my time working on the Young Tree Care Survey. With this project, I learned how to look at young trees differently. Although small now, the role that they are destined to play is huge. As they mature, not only will they provide shade, they will also help clean the air of pollution in our heavily populated cities.
What has interested me most about this project is its end goal. Not only do we want the public to be more aware about these trees and take care of them, but we also want to steer towards the direction of earth-friendly cities, and we can start this with having healthy trees. Urbanization in our current time is inevitable, but we can make a difference by taking care of our trees.
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Tree Spotlight: Monterey Pine
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The Monterey pine,
Pinus radiata
, is the most widely planted pine tree in the world. Although there are many similarities between this species and other pine trees, a key difference is that the leaves or “needles” of Monterey pines occur in clusters of three.
Additionally, this pine is noted for its many beneficial uses: to providing anti-microbial properties for medical applications, to serving as habitat and a nutritious food source for many animals, to
being processed into lumber or pulp for newsprint
.
Thank you to Ankush Bharadwaj of the Carnegie Institute for Science's
Rhee Lab
for contributing this story.
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Are you a Canopy volunteer or interested in volunteering?
We invite you to sign up to receive the latest updates from Volunteer Wire, a monthly email that shares upcoming volunteer opportunities with Canopy.
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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.
Canopy is proud to be affiliated with:
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