How did Sacramento come to be known as the City of Trees, and what's in store for our urban forest?

Find out in the first story in Capital Public Radio's new series, "Great Question!"

Trees witness everything from little everyday moments to the milestones that define our lives. When they have to be removed, it can be a painful loss for a family that shared so many memories under those branches. Read about why one family chose to donate their tree to Urban Wood Rescue.

Sacramento, the City of Trees. Our streets canopied by that signature tree. The stately…“birch”? The stately…“poplar”? No, stately only comes to mind to describe the elm!

A huge thank you to our volunteers who came together from all over Sacramento to plant 100+ trees at Stone Creek and the Bear Hollow Reservoir in Rancho Cordova earlier this month! Catch the recap here. 

After another hot summer, we are now facing winter storms. The precipitation is certainly welcome to our region, but harsh storms can damage our trees. Many trees stressed by recent drought have decaying or dead branches that could fall during a windy storm.

How can we protect our trees and ourselves during the stormy months? Now is the time to examine your trees and prune if needed! Take a walk outside and really inspect your forest. Look for broken, dead, or diseased branches that could be a hazard and need to be removed. Excessive amounts of fungal growth on a branch could also be a sign of decay. Or, you might have entire dead trees that need to come out for safety. Strong, well-maintained trees should weather the season just fine.

This month were talking about the top 5 evergreen trees!

On a cool, sunny morning in late September, members of our team of volunteer Citizen Scientists, SacTree’s staff, and the City of Sacramento’s staff gathered for delicious brunch under the oaks and elms in Land Park to celebrate another successful year of our Save The Elms Program (STEP). It had been exactly a year since we last met for the purpose of discussing the overall impact of our team’s efforts to monitor Sacramento’s public American and English elms for the pervasive Dutch elm disease (DED), a fungal disease with no known cure which has ravaged our city’s elms since the 1990’s. As our monitoring season wasnearing its end, everyone was anxious to find out how we did this time around

Thanks to the Sacramento Tree Foundation, SMUD, The Growing Company, and all our community volunteers, the Sacramento SPCA now has a beautiful, shady place to walk the dogs they're sheltering. Building it was a blast too!

Can you feel it? Fall is in the air! Crisp mornings, leaves changing colors, and the ubiquitous flavor of pumpkin spice have arrived. Living in one of the most diverse urban forests in the world (Sacramento boasts more than 100 different species of trees), we are fortunate each Fall to watch as our trees prepare for Winter and our urban forest becomes a wild expanse of color. Here are a few of our most favorite colorful trees available through our Sacramento Shade Program.

On Tuesday evening, the Sacramento City Council voted to implement a plan to encourage residents to conserve water regardless of yearly rainfall. The ordinance makes sense considering that droughts are a frequent occurrence in the region.

Check out our recent progress on our NeighborWoods initiative in South Sacramento!

Summer has officially arrived, and all of us here at SacTree are already busy preparing for another exciting planting season to begin in October. In the meantime, we thought this would be the best time to reflect on all our volunteers’ accomplishments over the last 12 months (July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017). Since there are many to consider, we’ve decided to share just the top 5 with you.

Sadly, Dutch elm disease (DED), a fungal disease with no known cure, claimed its first two casualties of the year in Curtis Park at the corner of 26th Street and Marshall Way in late April.

In case you hadn’t noticed, March and April were busy, tree-filled months in Rancho Cordova!

Winter has come and gone and provided our region some much needed rain. However, as summer and dry weather approach, continued cautious and careful water conservation will be necessary. Preserving our trees will be continue to be critical, and so we are asking you to Save our Water and our Trees.

Temperatures are climbing and spring is in the air! Welcome the warmer weather and beautiful blooming season with these stunning trees.

More than 130 people attended our Greenprint Summit, Restoring Nature to our Neighborhoods. One participant shared that their favorite things about the Summit included, "The MULTITUDE of excellent speakers. The gathering of like-minded people learning about resources. Learning what works. It was a great day!" We couldn't agree more! It's was a great day. Here's why...

Beginning in mid-September, Sacramento Tree Foundation staff, interns, and volunteers were busy locating, learning about, and carefully harvesting this years nuts that will become next years seedling trees. Because of everyone’s hard work we met or exceeded most of our goals during this challenging harvesting season.

On a fine sunny fall day, a group of staff from the Fulton - El Camino Recreation and Park district, local community members, and an STF arborist met together at Howe Community Park -- all to learn more about pruning young shade trees and to care for tree planted through our Tribute Tree Program. It was a huge success!

"Dear Arborist: My young tree is growing crazily. I know I should trim it, but I have no idea where to start. Help!" -Branchy in Sacramento

Matt Buland, one of our incredible NeighborWoods Coordinators suggests, "There should be no marathons, only short sprints to the next shade tree. BANG!!! We're off." Read more to see what he means...

Would you like the opportunity to grow and protect the forest in your very own neighborhood? Here's some advice from Kate Riley an outstanding volunteer committed to making her community greener and healthier. Fall is the best time to plant a tree and October is NeighborWoods month, so today is the day to get started in your community, learn how Kate and her neighbors got started!

Dear Arborist,

I have a flowering pear tree in my yard that a lot of brown leaves on it. I haven’t stopped watering it, what is going on? What can I do to help it?

- Browning in Citrus Heights

Every Community Shade project starts with who, when, what, where and why. A great deal of thought goes into who needs to be at our initial meeting. When we work with schools, that group usually consists of the principal, a teacher and/or a parent volunteer. Community Forester Matt Buland's first meeting with Riverview STEM Academy, an elementary school in Rancho Cordova, was quite different.

Community volunteers are the heart of the work undertaken by the Sacramento Tree Foundation and the Bear River Habitat Trail in Plumas Lake is no exception.

We compiled a list of the best 80+ trees for our region! Find ideal trees for your space by searching our Shady Eighty tool for tree characteristics you’re most interested in!

For nearly a decade, the Sacramento Tree Foundation has been working with SMUD to provide valley oak trees to residents of the City of Elk Grove Rural Community. This program, called Folks for Oaks, was established in 2007 thanks to the gusto and dedication of two community members, Leo Fassler and Nancy Myers. Since the inception of the program, about 1,400 valley oaks have been planted in this community.

The acorn harvest is coming to a close early here on the valley floor. Beginning in mid-September, Sacramento Tree Foundation staff, interns, and volunteers have been busy locating, learning about, and carefully harvesting this years nuts that will become next years seedling trees. So far 4,500 acorns have been collected - and our volunteers will keep collecting to reach our goal of 5,000!

SMUD and the Sacramento Tree Foundation recently celebrated 25 years of partnership with the planting of a ceremonial willow oak at the southeast corner of SMUD’s Headquarters building. The partnership—known as the Sacramento Shade program—has delivered more than half a million free shade trees to residences and businesses since 1990.

With funding through Cal Fire’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Fund, Sacramento Tree Foundation is preparing to rescue and reuse urban trees that need to be removed due to disease, pests, or safety issues.

Over 20 new trees were planted at the Wildlife Care Association on June 13th. With the help of volunteers and expertise from Sacramento Tree Foundation, these new trees will grow to provide shade, shelter, and habitat.

In partnership with the City of Sacramento volunteers completed the last of three Climate Ready Trees planting events on Saturday March 14th.

Del Dayo Elementary School is determined to provide a bright green future for its campus. With dedicated parents, teachers, students, and principal, this school took full advantage of the free Community Shade Program to make sure their trees stay healthy and strong.

Winter is a great season to prune your young trees. Good Day Sacramento joined us at the Folsom Library for one of our free pruning clinics to learn about the importance of pruning and how to keep young trees healthy and safe. Register for our last pruning clinic of the season or download the Pruning Guide for more information. 

Cheryl Dell of The Sacramento Bee recently joined our Board of Directors. She writes about her experience on the board and her new love of Sacramento's tree planting history in this Op Images article published on December 30, 2014.

On November 22nd, volunteers removed 250 pounds of garbage from the Stonelake Community detention pond. Through our Watershed Wise Neighborhood project and volunteer events like this, the Stonelake community is learning how to use water wisely and keep our watershed healthy and clean.

Our community would look barren if not for mature trees. Canopies that create shade and cool the air help humans to withstand summers in Sacramento’s hot Mediterranean climate.

Everyone knows the basics – trees clean our air and give us shade. It’s common knowledge that trees are good. But, we’re really just beginning to learn how good they truly are. In January, Greenprint Summit 2014 brought together some of the most advanced research from all over the country to connect the dots between trees and public health.

The Sacramento region has experienced a record number of days with no rain and our water supply is alarmingly low. But what about the trees in your yard and the trees in our community? How do we keep young and mature trees healthy while also being water wise?