Trees. They define Woodland: The City of Trees. Trees are in Woodland's DNA. In 1861 Woodland was given its name on account of the native valley oak grove that surrounded the small town. In 1858 when the federal government first mapped the Woodland area, the alluvial soils held tens of thousands of valley oaks. But over the arc of Woodland's long history, the native oaks and other large trees have steadily declined, victims of farming, development, old age, disease, wanton removal, and shifting design philosophies for public parks. Today, there are only about 900 oak trees over 12 inches in diameter remaining in the entire 15 square-mile Woodland boundary. Fortunately, as the oaks declined, the community planted other tree species to create a diverse urban forest.
Due to the decline in City of Woodland urban forestry budgets, the Woodland Tree Foundation was formed in 2000 by a group of Woodland citizens to educate the community about the value of its trees and to plant new trees for future generations. During its 22-year history, the Tree Foundation has mobilized volunteers to plant over 6,000 trees in and around Woodland. In addition to planting shade trees, one of the Foundation's key goals is to re-introduce and preserve native oaks in the Woodland landscape. This is consistent with the City's goal of increasing its tree cover from 15% to 25% by 2035, one of the pillars of its Climate Action Plan, which guides Woodland's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.
Woodland Tree Foundation has no paid staff. It relies on a very hands-on and engaged Board of Directors to organize and lead community plantings which tap the energy and enthusiasm of the community-at-large, including students, scouts, and service groups. Woodland Tree Foundation works collaboratively with other agencies, including the City of Woodland, Woodland Joint Unified School District, PG&E, Caltrans, and other nonprofits to achieve community environmental goals and to instill pride of place. Ongoing projects include:
•Planting shade trees for all residential property owners and renters through the "Neighborhood Shade Tree Campaign"; targeting lower income neighborhoods with relatively low tree coverage
•Planting oaks and other drought-tolerant species of trees at local schools and along the Highway 113 corridor, linking Woodland and Davis, an area once rich with valley oaks.
Woodland Tree Foundation is a local grassroots organization which mobilizes and trains volunteers to plant and care for shade trees to help Woodland reach its goal of 25% tree coverage by 2035 as per Woodland's Climate Action Plan. Our motto is: "Building Community Through Canopy."
Continuance of our highly successful Neighborhood Shade Tree Program. Any homeowner or renter in Woodland can request free shade trees for their property to reduce energy bills and beautify neighborhoods. Tree Foundation volunteers meet with customers to select appropriate trees and schedule volunteers to properly plant and mulch the trees. Customers are given written instructions on how to properly care for the trees. Historically, we have focused on lower-income neighborhoods which have less shade, but everyone is eligible.
Continuance of our partnerships with local schools and nonprofit-owned affordable housing and community facilities needing shade. We have planted extensively with students and teachers at several Woodland schools. We have also organized similar events at Head Start facilities, Yolanda Public Housing, Casa Del Sol Farmworker Housing Community, and the Yolo County Fairgrounds. We would like to continue donating trees to these worthy projects.
We will continue to partner with the City of Woodland to plant trees at municipal parks and fill in gaps along public streets.
In order to continue and build upon these successful programs at a high level, donations are needed for our overhead expenses for insurance, web hosting, and tree purchases. We do not have an office and will continue to operate these programs out of our home office to minimize overhead expenses.
The focus of our tree planting is in lower-income areas of the community with relatively low shade coverage. We distribute bilingual flyers about the program and our Spanish-speaking team meets with residents to help them select their tree.
Organization name
Woodland Tree Foundation
2000
Tax id (EIN)
68-0458437
Mission Category
Environment
Operating Budget
$0-$50,000
Organization Need
Funding: Unrestricted, Funding: Other
Demographics Served
Low-income individuals/families, General population
Local Counties Served
Yolo
Equity Statement
Equity Statement
Address
P.O. Box 8753Woodland, CA, US