Planting again!

​Update, January 2022: We are planting again! New requests for trees can be submitted on line at https://goo.gl/forms/c7ara5FfZVm8U6593.    More information is available through the dropdown menu, "how to get a tree".

Now that we are able to organize safe outdoor events for volunteers again, we will be providing trees through our volunteer-based operations under the banner of Trees for Oakland (TfO) and the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation (OPRF).
 
Once your request has been submitted, one of our volunteers will contact you to set up an on-site visit to determine if a tree can be planted in your sidewalk strip.  If so, we will have the utilities located to make sure that we are not digging into a water or gas line, help you get concrete removed, if necessary, aid in the selection of a suitable tree for your site and work with the City to get a planting permit issued. The City’s permitting process is free, however, we ask for $ 110/ tree to cover its cost.  Although we will expect all property-owners to make some contribution, we want to be able to provide trees to everyone regardless of their ability to pay so please let us know if there are restraints to your budget.  
 
Once these steps have been completed,  we will schedule a day to plant your tree!

Calendar of Events
Check out our calendar for opportunities to help Oakland:

Older headlines:

Dormant but still alive!
We planted the last trees with our CalFire grant in January 2020, and wrapped up the record-keeping in March, but then the pandemic shelter-in-place orders prevented us from scheduling any more volunteer tree-planting events.  (The calendar below has been empty for a while, we know.)
We plan to get back into action with a 2021-'22 planting season.  We'll post an update here when we are taking on new requests and hosting new events.
In the meantime, some of us have continued volunteering as individuals or small groups, helping Oakland's neglected trees by watering, adding mulch, removing unneeded stakes, etc.   If you have time and energy to volunteer, please consider helping out at a park around town (OPRF has a list of parks at this page), or one of the Bay Area's other tree-planting organizations. 

We have reached the finish line!
Our grant officially expired on December 19, 2019, but we were able to buy some trees before the deadline, continue planting them in the subsequent weeks, and then compile our final list.  We went out with a bang on January 18, 2020, planting 51 more trees in a third round on Railroad Avenue in East Oakland.  (The first two rounds were on October 26 and November 2, 2019.)
Our final tally for the grant: 1,475 trees planted!  Most of them are large-stature species that will grow up to provide shade, cleaner air, and carbon sequestration in the neighborhoods that need them the most.

We have passed the 1,400-tree mark!
On Saturday, December 14, 2019, our volunteers planted 12 trees at Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline Park, continuing a successful year-long partnership with the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD).   One of these trees was our 1,400th tree funded by the CalFire grant.  Thanks again to the staff at EBRPD for inviting us to plant even more trees at this park.

We have passed the 1,200- and 1,300-tree marks, and broke our most-in-a-day record!
On Saturday, November 23, 2019, our volunteers planted 65 trees and broke our previous record of 57 trees planted in one day.  Sixty-four of the trees are around the former Pacific Pipe facility in West Oakland, and 1 more is at a house.   One of the 64 trees was our 1,300th tree funded by the CalFire grant.  Thanks again to the team at 11 West Properties for being so supportive of new trees, for coordinating this project with us, and for getting their staff to do most of the digging in advance.
We planted our 1,200th tree funded by the CalFire grant on Saturday, October 26.  It was one of the 45 London plane trees planted along Railroad Avenue in partnership with Alameda County's experimental project to discourage illegal dumping in East Oakland.

Our Fall 2019 planting season has begun!
We held our first public planting event of the season on the morning of Saturday, October 19.   With a total of 15 planters, we planted 14 trees at 9 houses around town.  We planted again on October 26, helping Alameda County and several partners plant 45 trees along Railroad Avenue in a pilot-project to discourage illegal dumping.
We are continuing to work on a few dozen open tree-requests, along with a few bigger projects.
We accepted new applications throughout October, but we are not accepting any more because we need time to resolve all open requests before our grant funding expires in December.  If you want to request a tree now, please contact us so we can refer you to another program.

The 2018-'19 planting season is over!
Our planting season began on Saturday, December 1, 2018, and our final event of the season was on Saturday, July 13, 2019.
We planted 466 trees this season, beating our previous season record of 453 trees.  Last season our total was 230, from December 2017 to July 2018.  Several big projects this season made us a lot more efficient.

We have passed the 1,100-tree mark!
We planted our 1,000th tree funded by the CalFire grant on Saturday, April 6, 2019.  Since a few small crews were planting trees for homeowners around town at the same time that morning, we're not sure exactly which tree was #1,000.
Several weeks later, we planted our 1,100th tree on Thursday, May 23, 2019.

We planted 57 trees in one day -- our biggest day ever!
On Saturday, February 23, 2019, we planted 57 trees at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, part of the East Bay Regional Parks District.   Together with more than 30 volunteers from Oakland and other Bay Area cities, we spent a productive morning planting, watering, and staking these trees.  Twenty-eight are coast live oaks (Oakland's namesake tree), twenty-six are Catalina ironwoods, and three are Fremont cottonwoods.  If you go to the Garretson Point Staging Area and walk/hike/bike along the trails, you will see the new trees.  Say hello and wish them well!
At three other events in March 2019 (3/02, 3/23, and 3/31), we planted 57 more trees around the park, for a total of 114.
Thanks again to the staff at East Bay Regional Parks District for coordinating this project with us.

---