Reduce Pollution on Arbor Day!

Thank you to everyone who supported Arbor Day 2014 on March 8 as a donor or a volunteer!  Volunteers and our Community Forester will continue caring for the new Arbor Day trees planted on Millennium Row.  Here is a little background to inform how important your contribution was.

Tree Musketeers founder, Tara Church, represented America’s youth on President Clinton’s White House Millennium Council in 1999.  The prestigious group planned Millennium Green celebrations around the country to include tree-lining West Grand Avenue adjacent to DWP’s Scattergood plant.  The barren .35 mile street connects El Segundo with its beach although it is actually in the City of Los Angeles.  Initial resistance by the City to the Millennium Tree planting was based on belief that nothing would survive there since two previous City plantings had failed.  Finally a deal was struck that left Tree Musketeers responsible for both the planting and ongoing maintenance. 

On January 29, 2000, 330 volunteers planted 104 Melaleuca trees on the street now known as Millennium Row.  The property immediately to the north contains smokestacks and the heavy industrial facilities of DWP’s Scattergood plant, and an oil refinery borders the south side.  Industrial soil and air pollution coupled with the salty ocean environment makes the area inhospitable to green things and necessitates ongoing intensive care for these trees.  Tree Musketeers tall and small will continue to do their best to prove the nay-sayers wrong and maintain a green street to connect El Segundo with its beach. 

Looking forward to Arbor Day next year? So are we! Join us on March 7, 2015.

Links:

• Arbor Day 2015 Sponsor & Volunteer Sign Up

Thanks to your support and to the participation of close to 320 volunteers on March 8, our Arbor Day event was a great success!

Teams of volunteers gathered in the morning to plant 32 trees and care for 71 others. It was a joyful event with families and groups of friends working together.

We were honored to have officials come as well: El Segundo Mayor Bill Fisher and Los Angeles Chief Sustainability Officer Matt Petersen, among others, praised Tree Musketeers' efforts to sustain the urban forest.

As the event was organized by our team of young leaders, they of course got a chance to address the crowd: “At a time of dramatic drought, we thought it was important to expand and care for the tree canopy located on Grand Ave, a heat island. When it doesn’t rain, the shade that trees offer keeps the land from baking dry. Trees keep our city cool, but overall they keep our communities healthier and safer,” explained Julian Poyourow, our President.

The day ended with a prize drawing and lunch and we now have a long line of healthy trees leading to the ocean. Thank you so much for making it possible! We can't wait for Arbor Day 2015...

Links:

• Arbor Day on El Segundo TV