During Sun Valley resident Lionel Mares’ daily walk to his bus stop on the way to work, he sees concrete, cars and more concrete. For two years, Mares has been involved in environmental organizations who are promoting the importance of creating tree cover in underserved communities in Southern California.
He wishes his community had more green spaces, trees and other plant life like they do in heavily shaded neighborhoods like tree-lined Brentwood. “I’ve felt the effects of climate change here,” said Mares, who has lived in Sun Valley for 38 years. “There’s not enough shade, or trees, or biodiversity.”
Sun Valley resident Lionel Mares walks through his Sun Valley neighborhood on Friday, March 8, 2024. Mares walks to his bus stop every morning and, he sees concrete, cars and more concrete. He wishes Sun Valley had more green spaces and trees, like neighborhoods such as Brentwood. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Environmental Protection Agency agrees. Trees and even shrubs and tall grasses lower the temperature of urban surfaces — streets, sidewalks, buildings — and reduce heat islands by providing shade.
But they also cool communities through evaporation and “transpiration,” also called evapotranspiration. Unseen and silently, trees take in water through their roots — and then cool their surroundings by releasing invisible water vapor into the air through their leaves. Urban trees supports cleaner air; cooler sidewalks, homes and businesses; and several other health and environmental benefits.
Yet for many parts of Los Angeles, such green spaces are sparse.
A Department of Public Works report determined that roughly 20% of the city’s tree canopy is located in four neighborhoods in which just 1% of L.A.’s population lives. They include high-end Brentwood and Pacific Palisades on the Westside, historic Los Feliz which borders Griffith Park, and horsey Shadow Hills in the San Fernando Valley.
The report found that the areas in the greatest need of more trees include Southeast Los Angeles and the northern and eastern parts of the San Fernando Valley.
“I’ve grown to appreciate what trees do for us, especially not having that many in my area,” said Charlynne Moyer, a resident of South Central L.A and member of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance. “My concern, too, is what we’re doing with them once they’re planted. We need to maintain them.”
With goals such as improving the process for the upkeep and planting of public trees, as well as making the city’s urban tree canopy more equitable, L.A.’s office of forest management has embarked on the creation of an Urban Forest Management Plan — the first in the city’s history.
“We see the UFMP as an opportunity to develop a roadmap for the city trees that maximizes benefits for our residents,” said City Forest Officer Rachel Malarich, who is in charge of the plan’s development. “We want healthy trees that are supporting our communities.”
Part of Malarich’s focus with the plan is to make it easier for residents to get tree maintenance concerns handled by the city.
Tree activists weigh in
Some tree activists, like Ann Rubin, who lives in Carthay Circle and is also a member of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance, said the city’s current process for tree maintenance can be frustrating and fragmented, as residents sometimes have to go through multiple city agencies, such as Public Works or Parks and Recreation.
“There needs to be better coordination between departments,” Rubin said. “We need to save our mature trees and there needs to be enforcement of those protections.”
Living in a neighborhood with many trees and lush greenery, Rubin notices the benefits on a day-to-day basis. Rubin’s front yard is home to a massive, 50-year-old Chinese elm, and she said she hopes other communities can receive the support to cultivate adult, sprawling trees like hers.
According to a 2020 paper in the International Journal of Environmental Research, urban trees can help curb climate change and extreme heat, while also improving residents’ physical and mental health.
Joanne D’Antonio, chair of the city’s Community Forest Advisory Committee (CFAC) and founder of the Trees Committee in the Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance, cited a long list of issues that keep L.A. from tackling extreme heat by creating a robust urban tree canopy. In Santa Monica, trees can be planted next to bus shelters but not in L.A. she noted, and L.A. prunes its street trees on what she says is a too-long cycle of about 15 years — and then the city over prunes its overgrown trees.
“Repaving sidewalks at new projects or renovations should require space accommodations for planting large trees,” she cited as a basic rule hopes City Hall will embrace. “If we want shade for walkability, we need lines of canopy trees.”
Some activists including San Fernando Valley resident Jeanne McConnell, co-founder of the nonprofit Angelenos for Trees, say the city’s Urban Forest Management Plan is a step taken too late. McConnell pointed to the splashy 2018 report “First Step,” commissioned by the city and partners that called for a comprehensive and forward-looking plan.
The plan generated public meetings and widely attended discussions but six years later it is still in its early phases.
“I’m glad they’re doing it, but the city continues to slow roll any kind of green infrastructure,” McConnell said. “Trees always seem to be the last consideration.”
What the numbers say
In 2006, then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa famously announced that L.A. would plant 1 million trees. But seven years later in 2013 the city had planted only about 400,000. Villaraigosa was followed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, who launched an equally splashy effort to expand the tree canopy by 2028, calling for a huge 50% increase in low-income areas by that year.
Many of the hoped-for budget increases were never implemented by the city.
McConnell says that to reach any meaningful goals, the city must increase its funding for tree-related projects and management. The 2018 report recommended an increase in L.A.’s urban forestry budget by at least $40 million to put L.A. on par with the spending per tree in cities that are ahead of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles’ annual per-tree budget of approximately $27 is less than half of New York City’s and Melbourne’s $60 per tree, and one-third of the $78 per tree per year that San Francisco invests in its urban forest.
“The most important thing is funding, but there’s a culture of not prioritizing trees when it comes to funding,” McConnell said of Los Angeles.
As the city’s forest management office develops the Urban Forest Management Plan, it is working to collect community input. The office is hosting a total of 50 community workshops, which started in December 2023 and are finishing up in early spring.
Sorelena Gonzalez, a longtime resident of Panorama City, attended one of the workshops, held on Feb. 6 at Casa Esperanza in partnership with Pacoima Beautiful.
“Nature is very important to me, with the shade and oxygen,” Gonzalez said in Spanish. “It’s not always accessible near here, but it would be good if it was. This (workshop) was informative about what they’re doing about that.”
The workshop at Casa Esperanza attracted an interested crowd of about 40 residents, who discussed issues such as tree roots affecting sidewalk safety, places they want more trees and environmental health concerns they have living in a hot community like Panorama City.
“I love the trees and the flowers,” workshop attendee Margarita Michet said in Spanish. “But they’re hard to find. It worries me that I have to look for them.”
The city reaches out
Malarich said the citywide workshops vary significantly in terms of size and demographics, which allows the city to tailor its tree plans to the diversity of the communities.
“We’re trying to get that feedback, like if you think, ‘Oh, I really wish there was a tree on this block,’” Malarich said. “We want to engage and we want to hear what should be different.”
After the workshops wrap up, the city’s Urban Forest Management Plan will go through more phases of development and input, before an anticipated release in spring 2025.
“These issues are super pertinent,” Malarich said. “I originally joined the urban forestry world because of the tree canopy equity issue. I know what it’s like to walk down the street and there’s no trees. I want to bridge that gap.”
As the plan moves forward, communities across Los Angeles are getting involved. Lionel Mares in Sun Valley said he hopes the plan will have a tangible impact.
“We need to plant trees and not widen the streets,” Mares said. “We need to support the trees so they don’t die after a few years. And we need to fight climate change.”