|
Thursday, June 12, 2025
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.
Zoom Webinar
Schools and greenspaces are the heart of our communities and cities. Greening schoolyards can benefit students, their families, and the rest of the community. A well-forested campus improves the mental health of those who engage with those spaces and fights climate change, pollution, and heat islands.
Transforming schools from asphalt to greenspace is a critical strategy for increasing our urban forest, cooling our neighborhoods, and improving access to open spaces — especially in dense urban communities like those in the Bay Area. But schools face complex challenges and competing priorities that can create barriers to this transformation.
Join us for our 2025 More Trees Please webinar “Schools: The Lungs of Our Community” where speakers will discuss how we can transform our community schoolyards into thriving greenspaces. We encourage you to register in advance!
| | |
Certified Arborists will earn 1.5 ISA CEUs upon attending the live webinar.
This program is made possible by a generous grant from the Santa Clara County Office of Sustainability.
| | Plant seeds of hope with us at summer tree care, survey, and giveaway events! | | | | |
Tree Care Workshop
Saturday, June 7, 2025
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Terman Park, Palo Alto
Are you interested in learning the best techniques and tips for caring for your trees? Join us for a tree care workshop at Terman Park on Saturday, June 7! In this 3-hour workshop, you'll learn and practice watering, mulching, and pruning techniques with the guidance of Canopy staff. Sign-up for the workshop here.
| | | | |
Schools: The Lungs of Our Community
Thursday, June 12, 2025
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.
Online Webinar
Join us for our 2025 More Trees Please webinar to join the conversation about how we can transform our community schoolyards from asphalt to thriving greenspaces for all! Register for the webinar.
| | | | |
EPA Library: Summer Kickoff Party
Friday, June 13, 2025
2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
East Palo Alto Library
Join us for the library's biggest event of the summer! At the Summer Kickoff Party, Canopy will be distributing fruit trees to EPA households. To reserve a free fruit tree for your household ahead of time, you can get a ticket at the front desk of the EPA Library and bring your ticket to Canopy's table at the event. Tickets to claim a free tree are also available for seniors at the EPA Senior Center. The celebration will also include free food, community resources, and performances.
| | | | |
Young Tree Care Survey Trainings
June 14, July 19, and August 2, 2025
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Palo Alto
Interested in expanding your tree knowledge and protecting the urban canopy? Participate in our annual Young Tree Care Survey (YTCS)! Every summer, YTCS volunteers and Canopy staff survey young trees in Palo Alto to assess if trees are getting the proper care they need and to note any damage. Three trainings will be offered throughout the summer starting Saturday, June 14. Sign-up to participate in YTCS or contact evany@canopy.org with questions.
| | Become a Climate Action Fellow with Canopy! | | |
Want to be a climate champion and cultivate change? Apply to be a Climate Action Fellow with Canopy through the California Climate Action Corps!
Canopyʼs Climate Action Fellows will play a key role in expanding community-based urban greening efforts in East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and North Fair Oaks. Through tree planting, tree care, volunteer engagement, and educational outreach, Fellows will help close the “green gap” in historically under-canopied communities that have been impacted by systemic environmental injustices. Collaborating with Canopyʼs Volunteer Engagement Manager and Trees Team, Fellows will mobilize local advocates for nature-based climate solutions, recruit and support volunteers, and integrate culturally relevant climate education into community programming.
Read the position description and apply online!
| | | | Canopy is thrilled to welcome Elizabeth Robles (she/they) to our team as the Community Forester for San Mateo County. With an impressive background in landscaping, arboriculture, water conservation, and community work, Elizabeth will work with volunteers and Tree Stewards to care for Canopy-planted trees and support the fruit tree distribution program in San Mateo County. Say hi to Elizabeth at one of our fieldwork events! | | Calling all Canopy volunteers! If you volunteered with us this planting season and have yet to complete our volunteer survey, please share your experience and comments about the volunteer event in our 5-minute survey. This feedback is greatly appreciated, as it helps Canopy better understand our community of volunteers and improve our programs. | | Planting Hope: Community Recap | May 1-2, 2025 | Palo Alto - In collaboration with Stanford Beyond the Farm Project, Canopy hosted 2 tree plantings in the Midtown and Green Meadow neighborhoods of Palo Alto. With the help of Canopy Planting Leaders and staff, Stanford alumni added 6 trees to the neighborhoods. | | May 3, 2025 | East Palo Alto - Community members joined Canopy staff and Teen Urban Foresters at Cooley Landing to connect, celebrate, and play Rooted in Communidad Lotería – East Palo Alto’s Lotería! This community-rooted take on the beloved game celebrates everything that makes EPA 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. Thank you to everyone who helped create this card deck by submitting a design and those who joined us for the Lotería reveal! | | May 3, 2025 | Millbrae - In partnership with San Mateo County Libraries, Canopy hosted a community listening session and fruit tree grafting workshop at the Millbrae Library. Community members from 8 Bay Area cities came out to share their perceptions about urban trees and to learn how to graft fruit trees using the ‘V’ grafting technique. After the workshop, Canopy distributed 50 free fruit trees to community members to plant or pot at their home. Thank you to the Millbrae Library for hosting us and Nuestra Casa’s Promotora Imelda Rodriguez and her father Javier for leading such an engaging fruit tree grafting workshop! | | May 5, 2025 | Mountain View - In celebration of Affordable Housing Month and Cinco de Mayo, Canopy and Alta Housing hosted a tree planting at the Mariposa Apartments in Mountain View. Families and residents of the apartment complex planted 4 trees along the outdoor walkways and pool. In addition to the planting, kids enjoyed creating tree crafts and getting candy from a piñata. | | May 10, 2025 | Palo Alto - Members from Stanford Leaders of the Built Environment joined Canopy Planting Leaders and staff to plant 4 trees in the Barron Park neighborhood. | | |
May 17, 2025 | East Palo Alto - Families and students of Izzi EPA, Izzi Magnolia, and Creative Montessori Learning Center planted 7 trees and 2 potted vines on their preschool campuses with the help of Canopy Planting Leaders and staff. Students also engaged with tree topics by creating tree booklets at our education station. This early childhood education planting pilot is funded by Measure K and launched in partnership with Build Up San Mateo County as part of its initiative to highlight the importance of climate resilience in child care settings.
Canopy wishes to thank Izzi EPA, Izzi Magnolia, CMLC, Ravenswood Early Learning, and Build Up for their commitment to building climate resilience for our community youth. We also wish to thank EPA Councilmember Ruben Abrica for highlighting the importance of community forestry and healthy trees in schoolyards.
| | May 22, 2025 | North Fair Oaks - Community members joined Canopy and the North Fair Oaks Library to unwind and connect at our first yoga session in Friendship Park! Led by arborist and yoga instructor Vanessa Ruiz, participants took a wellness walk throughout the park before setting down their mats on the grass for a relaxing yoga session. | | | | |
Opinion: Schools can be solutions to growing our urban forest
By Jean-Paul Renaud
In densely populated areas, finding accessible and suitable spaces to plant trees can be a challenge. Streets are crowded, development is constant, and preservation of open space is at a premium. Yet, in all communities, there is one consistent public good that presents a powerful greening opportunity: our schoolyards…Read more in Palo Alto Online
| | | | |
Árboles para una escuela: combatiendo el calentamiento global y la injusticia social en North Fair Oaks
By Raul Ayrala
En un mapa de la zona que circunda a North Fair Oaks, es posible notar que dicha área del condado es la que tiene menor cantidad de árboles frente a ciudades limítrofes como Redwood City, Atherton o Menlo Park. La llamada “brecha verde” (green gap, en inglés) separa a comunidades más pudientes de los vecindarios con recursos modestos…Read more in Peninsula 360 Press
| | |
This is the final month of Canopy’s spring fundraising campaign, and we’re close to reaching our goal. But close isn’t enough, not when our urban forests face mounting challenges from climate change, growing inequity, and national headwinds affecting the work of community-based organizations like ours.
Will you make a gift today to help us finish strong and plant hope for tomorrow? Your support today ensures we enter the new fiscal year with the momentum and resources to deepen our impact.
| | |
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.
| | | | |
