Highlights From the Field
Teams of Great Oak Count volunteers have taken to the streets these last six months—equipped with reflective vests, maps, tote bags, door hangers for absent homeowners, a digital mapping tool, and more.
Over many miles and months, volunteers make big progress on Great Oak Count
Canopy’s ambitious project to survey Palo Alto's venerable oak trees made great headway in 2021, despite the pandemic. Last spring Indira Selvakumaraswamy, Canopy’s volunteer engagement manager, assembled 21 mostly two-person teams to cover routes across the city. Undertaken in cooperation with the City of Palo Alto, Canopy’s Great Oak Count is documenting the city’s four native oak species. The data will help scientists evaluate ecosystem changes over the last two decades by comparing the findings with a survey of the native oaks that Canopy conducted two decades ago, between 1997 to 2001. 

“Pairing two surveyors, an oak spotter and oak plotter, has worked well to ensure COVID safety and help teams cover more routes,” Indira says. The teams surveyed 145 routes from May through early November. “It’s so nice to see the volunteers’ enthusiasm and motivation continuing all these months.”  
Community Forestry School attracts large class
Our two-month Community Forestry School filled this fall with 45 students attending weekly lessons via Zoom and four fieldwork sessions on weekends. The students will graduate after volunteering at least 15 hours with Canopy in the field. â€œIdeally they will continue to volunteer, finding their niches as planting leaders, pruning leaders, or some other specialty,” says Vanessa Wyns, education director. 
 
“I signed up mostly wanting to do volunteer work with like-minded people who love trees,” one student wrote in an evaluation, “but the course really opened my eyes to so much about the urban forest. I’ve learned a ton and will never look at our city trees the same way.”
Fun in the dirt: Preschoolers help plant trees
After many months of distance learning, we had great fun recently at our first in-person classroom lesson since the pandemic started. Canopy Education Director Vanessa Wyns and education volunteer Stephanie Enos offered the "Planting Trees is Fun" interactive lesson at All Five Preschool in the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park. After learning about tree parts and soil, the kids broke up into groups and planted 4 new trees with the help of Canopy staff and planting leaders. The little ones especially loved exploring soil samples, looking for critters like worms and ants, jumping in the planting holes (to compact the soil beneath the root ball to prevent settling), and working the root ball with their fingers to loosen the tree roots before planting.

Canopy returns to the school on November 20 for a larger community day to plant 10 more trees. We’re grateful for a longtime partnership with All Five: Planting leader Marty Deggeller helped with Canopy tree plantings there a number of years ago, when the school first opened. Those trees are tall enough now to provide shade to the front of the school.
All Five Preschoolers getting their hands dirty at recent tree planting. Top photo by probonophoto.org
From the Blog
Expanding Palo Alto's laws to protect more trees
As Palo Alto leaders consider how to strengthen the city’s laws to protect more trees, they are turning to Canopy’s advocacy committee for advice. Canopy Executive Director Catherine Martineau and Holly Pearson, a board member and advocacy committee chair, are consulting with an ad hoc committee of residents as well as city staff who are working to update the tree ordinance. 
 
Catherine and Holly joined several dozen community members at an October 18 meeting of the Palo Alto City Council to discuss updating the ordinance. Expanding the number of tree species that the city protects is one proposal. Currently Palo Alto protects just three native species—the coast redwood, coast live oak, and valley oak—while neighboring communities protect all tree species once they reach a certain size. Other proposed changes address the permit process for removing a protected tree and requirements for replacing trees that are removed. 
Celebrating Native American heritage, this month and beyond
November is National American Indian Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the many contributions of the Indigenous peoples of the United States. At Canopy, we are building our practice of land acknowledgment to teach and promote greater consciousness of the colonial legacy and Native sovereignty. Join us on this journey by checking out some of the resources we are studying.
Do you have other resources or practices to share related to honoring and supporting Indigenous people? We'd love to hear from you. Write to Special Projects Director Natalie Brubaker, natalie@canopy.org.

Celebrating California Native Oak Day

Who knew?! Thanks to an on-air essay by naturalist Michael Ellis on KQED, we learned that Friday, November 5 was California Native Oak Day. In 1990 the California legislature declared that we should honor the native oaks each year—noting how they define our landscape, ‘golden hills dotted with deep green trees’—on the first Friday in November. Mark your calendars for 2022 
From Our Tree Partners
Oak Trees as a Keystone Species
Our friends at California Native Plant Society - Santa Clara Valley Chapter are offering a free online talk for tree lovers of all ages, especially middle school and high school students. Author Kate Marianchild, an expert on the wildlife and ecology of native oak trees, will discuss the vital role that oaks play in food webs during a presentation filled with wildlife––from spiders and lizards to woodpeckers, woodrats, and bears. Kate will take your questions live after her talk. Please spread the word to educators, family members and friends. 
 
Tune in: Wednesday, November 17, 7:30 pm
Recent Tree Gifts and Grants
Tree Gifts
Susan R. Mendelsohn and Robert J. Flanagan
in memory of David Hettig

Jeannie Siegman
in honor of Marj Pitchon
Tree Grants
Community Benefit Programs
for Canopy's Tree Champions project

for general operating support
Thank you and congratulations to
the Garden Club of Palo Alto!
A big “happy birthday!” and “thank you!” to the Garden Club of Palo Alto, which is celebrating its centennial by contributing to planting 100 trees with Canopy this season. The special $10,000 grant will go towards Canopy tree plantings in Palo Alto, Mountain View, and East Palo Alto.
Interested in giving a Tree Gift? Your special gift creates a lasting legacy by planting and caring for new trees and growing a vibrant urban forest for future generations. A special thank you to everyone who has given the gift of trees.
Did you miss our last TreEnews? Catch up here.
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ï»żCanopy'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.