ReLeaf Petaluma has made steady progress in expanding Petaluma’s Urban Forest since it planted its first 150 trees in April 2021. We celebrated our 1,000th tree in December 2023, which was a wonderful milestone. We finished the 2023/24 planting season with an additional 900 trees, bringing the total number planted by ReLeaf as of April 2024 to 1,643. All but 4 of these trees are native to the Petaluma area because ReLeaf is attempting to address the precipitous decrease in biodiversity as well as the climate crisis. We hope to create a native oasis, leading with the trees, to benefit people and our planet. Currently, we are working under the City of Petaluma’s $1 Million Canopy Grant, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program, to place 2,600 new native trees, deployed through exciting new programs developed by ReLeaf.

ReLeaf’s new Residential Program concentrates on low-income neighborhoods with low canopy cover. We provide free trees, installation, and three years of tree care consultations to get the trees off to a good start. We kicked off our pilot program last season, for the first time learning to work with individual homeowners and just a few trees at many locations as opposed to mass plantings in one location, such as a park.

The intricacies of residential plantings are indeed different, and we learned what worked and what parts of the program needed adjustments. Our Re-Oaking program will lead volunteers who will collect 2,250 acorns in the hopes of starting 750 successful native oak trees to plant in Petaluma’s city-owned open spaces. Our ambitious goal is to recreate the oak savannahs that are native to our area. We are working with our partner, Point Blue Conservation Science, to learn best practices for acorn harvesting, treatment, and planting, and we are excited about starting acorn collecting this fall.

We are also thrilled to be able to offer canopy shade to semi-public properties such as places of worship, hospitals, and daycare centers. We installed our first trees funded by the grant at the United Church of Christ, Petaluma property, which also houses a Montessori preschool and hosts other nonprofits that serve the community. Their 4.25-acre property is now sporting 53 new trees, and we look forward to finding more opportunities like this which provide shade and habitat in highly frequented urban areas.

Thank you to our partners Rebuilding Together Petaluma, Petaluma People Services, Daily Acts Organization, Cool Petaluma, Point Blue Conservation Science, Trees Foundation, and of course the City of Petaluma who work hand in hand with ReLeaf to expand Petaluma’s tree canopy and work towards a future where nature is right outside our front doors.

For more information go to releafpetaluma.org