For over a decade the Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter's Tree Team has planted trees in public and private spaces in Oakland. The program began in 2008 when the Oakland City Council reduced funding to the city’s Tree Division and suspended routine tree-plantings. To date our all-volunteer team has planted over 1,900 trees.
Now our program has been expanded to pay more attention to the trees after they go in the ground. Our newly launched tree maintenance group provides ongoing care to the trees we plant plus the 650 planted by the West Oakland Green Initiative (inactive since 2015) and the 1,100 trees planted by the group Trees for Oakland.
We need members of the public to tell us about trees that need care as well as volunteers able to help with watering and mulching through the summer season. Our immediate goal is to make sure that all of the 3,500+ trees under our care are getting adequate water and that there is sufficient mulch on top of the root ball to keep the tree from drying out too soon. Like people, trees without water will die, and a tree new in the ground takes 3-4 years to get its roots down deep enough to withstand our long dry summers.
To report a troubled tree or to volunteer, contact tree maintenance lead Arthur Boone: 510/910-6451 or arboone3@gmail.com.