In a world that feels so divided, trees remind us that we are all connected — our roots intertwined, our futures bound together. This Earth Month, we felt this connection with you all as we celebrated our planet and National Arbor Day with community tree plantings.

Every tree we plant together tells a story — a story of hope, collaboration, and a shared commitment to a greener, healthier future. And the stories we share with you in Planting Hope: 2024 Canopy Impact Report celebrate your incredible strength and dedication. You are the beating heart of Canopy’s mission.

As we look ahead, Canopy continues creating spaces creating spaces where people can come together — to heal, to learn, and to take action. And together, we will keep growing, keep healing, and, most importantly, keep planting hope. 

Looking for a way to enjoy trees and plant hope in your community? Join us at an upcoming Canopy event!

Fruit Tree Grafting and Giveaway + Community Listening Session

Saturday, May 3, 2025

10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

1 Library Ave, Millbrae

Join us for a tree-filled day at the Millbrae Library! Share your thoughts on Millbrae's urban forest during a community listening session. Then, participate in our hands-on workshop to learn how fruit tree grafting can enhance your tree’s productivity or even produce multiple types of fruit. To top it off, you'll have the chance to take home one of fifty free potted fruit trees, available on a first-come, first-served basis! Please register for this event here.

Rooted in Communidad Lotería: East Palo Alto Edition

Saturday, May 3, 2025

11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Cooley Landing, 2100 Bay Rd, East Palo Alto

Join us to celebrate the launch of East Palo Alto's very own Loteria! This community-rooted take on the beloved game celebrates everything that makes East Palo Alto special. Each card lifts up the stories, history, and culture that define EPA from the legacy of organizing and resistance to the ongoing fight for environmental justice. Game prizes will include free fruit trees! Join us as we play, connect, and celebrate the community.

San Mateo Early Childhood Centers Campus Tree Planting

Saturday, May 17, 2025

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

1395 Bay Rd, East Palo Alto

Bringing shade and the power of trees directly to three early childhood centers in East Palo Alto will have a tangible and positive impact on the children, families, and staff. It's a concrete action that embodies the understanding that nature-based solutions are vital for early childhood health, well-being, and development for all children. Join us for a pilot ECE community tree planting with Izzi EPA, Izzi Magnolia, and Creative Montessori Learning Center (CMLC) in East Palo Alto.

Rengstorff Park Tree Planting

Saturday, May 24, 2025

9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Rengstorff Park, Mountain View

Join us to plant 20+ trees in Mountain View’s Rengstorff Park to help grow the City’s public trees!

Bubb Elementary School Planting

Saturday, May 31st, 2025

9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Bubb Elementary, Mountain View

Join us for our last tree planting event of this season as we plant 15 trees at Bubb Elementary School. You’ll help create a greener, healthier school campus to enhance student well-being and outdoor learning opportunities!

Serving on the Canopy Board of Directors is an extraordinary opportunity for individuals who are passionate about trees and the quality of life they bring to the local urban environment. The board establishes long-term vision and stability for Canopy—through strategic and financial planning, policy development, and fundraising—consistent with Canopy’s mission and vision. Board members serve a three-year term that begins on July 1 and are eligible for two consecutive terms. Meet our current board members here.

The board is actively seeking new members from our community with the vision and skills needed to address Canopy’s regional growth and long-term financial sustainability. To apply to join the board, please complete this form by May 2, 2025.

Are you passionate about relationship-building to support the growth of equitable urban forests for all?

Apply to join our team as the Donor Relations Coordinator! The Donor Relations Coordinator will work closely with the Deputy Director and the Communications and Marketing Coordinator to expand the organization’s donor engagement strategy. This role will focus on creating and nurturing relationships with philanthropic donors, contributing to the “Constituent Journey” through communication, engagement, and outreach. The ideal candidate is organized, entrepreneurial, and collaborative, with excellent relationship-building and communication skills.

In the latest episode of Canopy Roots, our Teen Urban Foresters share simple and effective ways to care for your trees at home, including watering, mulching, and pruning guidelines. You can listen to the episode on Spotify, Amazon Music, or iHeartRadio.

With Mayor’s Tree plantings and Tree City USA celebrations, Canopy celebrated Arbor Day with our city partners this Earth Month. Check out the celebratory tree plantings below.

April 12, 2025 | Palo Alto - Since our first planting of a pear tree with Mayor Lanie Wheeler in 1996, Canopy has planted trees with Palo Alto mayors annually in celebration of Arbor Day and the City of Palo Alto’s commitment to the urban forest. This year, Canopy honored Palo Alto Mayor Ed Lauing with the planting of a Southern Live Oak, a tree known for its strength, resilience, and deep roots — just like the Palo Alto community. Planted at Henry Seale Park, the tree is more than a symbol — it’s a living promise. It reflects Canopy’s long-standing partnership with the City of Palo Alto and our shared commitment to nurturing a vibrant, healthy urban forest for generations to come.

April 19, 2025 | Mountain View - In honor of Mountain View’s incoming mayor Ellen Kamei, Canopy continued a long tradition of planting a tree for each new civic leader — this time, a beautiful Engelmann Oak, symbolizing strength, vision, and a future rooted in service. And the celebration didn’t stop there. With the help of Canopy Planting Leaders and Teen Urban Foresters, 66 community volunteers – including Community Forestry School graduates, volunteers from Sewa, and youth from the community – planted 18 trees in Rengstorff Park as part of the Mountain View Earth & Arbor Day Festival!

April 25, 2025 | East Palo Alto - On April 18, 2025, the City of East Palo Alto was notified by the Arbor Day Foundation that they had earned their long sought after designation as a Tree City USA! In honor of this incredible achievement by the EPA community, Canopy gathered with City staff at Joel Davis Park to plant a ginkgo tree – one of the oldest living tree species on Earth and a symbol of East Palo Alto’s resilient spirit and deep-rooted care. In the words of our board co-chair and East Palo Alto native Uriel Hernandez: “This Tree City USA designation honors that spirit. It honors the strength and beauty of a community that knows its roots, and continues to grow, tall, proud, and together.”

Read more about EPA’s journey to become a Tree City USA in our 2024 Impact Report. 

April 25-26, 2025 | Menlo Park - Canopy celebrated Earth and Arbor Day with the City of Menlo Park by planting 4 trees with Mayor Drew Combs, City staff, and youth from local schools! On National Arbor Day, Drew Combs and the Public Works Tree team planted 2 Saratoga Laurels at Willow Oaks Park with Early Learner students from Silicon Valley International School. At the Love Our Earth Festival, Drew Combs planted 2 Catalina Ironwoods with students from Beechwood School near the school campus. These celebrations were a great opportunity to introduce the young students to the benefits of trees while getting hands-on planting experience!

April 4, 2025 | Palo Alto - 13 corporate volunteers from Tencent added 6 trees to the Hoover Park Neighborhood in Palo Alto with the help of Planting Leaders and Canopy staff. Thank you, Tencent, for supporting the South Palo Alto Tree Initiative!

April 9, 2025 | Palo Alto - Planting Leaders along with 15 volunteers from Amazon added 4 trees to the Palo Verde Neighborhood in Palo Alto. Thank you, Amazon, for supporting the South Palo Alto Tree Initiative!

April 12, 2025 | Palo Alto - 16 trees were added to the Ramos Park Neighborhood with the help of 14 Planting Leaders, Community Forestry School graduates, Teen Urban Foresters, Canopy staff, and 60 volunteers from the community and groups like Lockheed Martin, Sewa, Ivy and Pearls Foundation, NCL Edgewood Chapter, Universal Methodist Church, Church of the Epiphany, and YMSL Alpine. 

April 15, 2025 | Palo Alto - 11 Green Team members from grades K-5 planted two trees with Canopy staff at Ohlone Elementary School. Way to go, Green Team!

April 17, 2025 | Palo Alto - Much like the oak species, Hon. Joe Simitian and Hon. Anna Eshoo are keystone figures in our environment and the Canopy community, helping advocate for healthy, connected communities and ecosystems. In recognition of Joe Simitian and Anna Eshoo’s years of dedicated public service, Canopy presented them Canopy’s Oak Award at the Palo Alto Tall Tree Awards Ceremony. Canopy expresses our thanks and appreciation for their tireless work for our communities.

April 19, 2025 | Mountain View - Arborist Jeff Newborn guided a Canopy Tree Walk through Rengstorff Park as part of the Mountain View Earth & Arbor Day Festival. 

April 21, 2025 | North Fair Oaks - With the help of Canopy Planting Leaders and Community Forestry School graduates, over 50 students, parents and staff from KIPP Excelencia Community Prep and Connect Community Charter School celebrated Earth Day by planting 7 trees on their shared school campus in North Fair Oaks! Canopy recognizes and thanks Pacific Gas & Electric Company for its generous sponsorship of California ReLeaf‘s Growing Green Communities Grant Program, which made this school tree planting project possible.

April 22, 2025 | Palo Alto - In celebration of Earth Day, 10 volunteers from JLL Tech planted 4 trees in the Barron Park neighborhood along with Canopy Planting Leaders and staff.

April 24, 2025 | Palo Alto - Oliveseed Foundation, Neighbors Abroad, and Canopy Planting Leaders and staff planted 2 African Olives with 5 Kenyan delegates at Juana Briones Elementary School to commemorate the connection between Palo Alto and its new sister city Norak, Kenya!

Four Tips for Spring Tree Care

Looking for tips on caring for your trees this Spring? Check out our 4 tips for inspecting your tree’s health, watering, mulching, and removing competition.

After 3 years of intentional, inclusive community engagement and outreach, the City of Menlo Park adopted its first General Plan Environmental Justice (EJ) Element. The City worked with community members to identify three top priorities for advancing environmental justice in the community: 1) Provide Safe, Sanitary, and Stable Homes 2) Promote Access to High Quality and Affordable Food and 3) Reduce Pollution Exposure and Improve Air Quality. Learn more about the EJ Element, top priorities, and action-oriented plan that will help advance these priorities in the Menlo Park community.

Kajal Patel

in honor of Luca Hwang

Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund

Garden Club of Palo Alto

Palo Alto Community Fund*

Bosch Community Fund

*FY24 and FY25 recipient

Canopy's mission is to collaborate with communities to grow and sustain equitable urban forests for all.

We envision connected communities thriving within a vibrant urban forest.