Founded in the year 2000, CityTrees is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization that plants and cares for trees and advocates for the urban forest in greater Redwood City. For all of us, getting our hands dirty growing Redwood City’s trees and beautifying our neighborhoods is a way of returning the love we have for our wonderful community. To learn more about the Board, click here.
On many of our neighborhood streets, there is a strip of unpaved earth between the sidewalk and the curb. We refer to this as the “planting strip”, and the City has a legal easement on this property. CityTrees, in partnership with the City’s Public Works Department, plants and prunes trees in this strip and also in many of our City’s parks and on our school campuses. We do not work on private property.
If you own your property and would like a tree planted in the space between your sidewalk and the curb of your street (the “planting strip”), please call the Redwood City Department of Public Works (DPW).
Main Line: 650-780-7464
DPW will inspect the site, taking into consideration factors such as site conditions, proximity of underground utilities and hardscape, and will make a determination if the site is suitable for a street tree. DPW will also choose the species of tree that will be planted. DPW may (or may not) refer this planting opportunity to CityTrees who will incorporate your tree request into a future neighborhood planting day.
CityTrees shares your concern about the loss of healthy and mature trees, given their outsized contributions to our community in terms of shade, temperature, air purification and wildlife habitat. Citizens can help ensure that only damaged, diseased or unsafe trees are removed. Increased urban density means that some existing trees will be removed to accommodate urban renewal. Policies try to ensure that compensating replacement trees will be planted.
Here is information about the policies protecting trees in Redwood City.
Here is information about permits for tree removal that covers city trees and certain private property trees. There are provisions for the removal of trees “in order to construct proposed improvements to allow reasonable economic enjoyment of the property upon which trees are located”. You can confirm that the tree is being removed with a permit and that replacement trees will be planted.
Thank you so much for your interest in planting a Tribute Tree in Redwood City. Tribute trees are a great way to remember or honor someone important to you. CityTrees has a Tribute Tree program which you can learn more about here. Because we are a local organization with volunteers from the community, we feel honored to celebrate the life of special individuals.
The City Department of Public Works and the City Arborist have developed a list of trees that are suited to the climate and conditions in Redwood City. The City has a goal of planting the largest appropriate and desirable shade tree species, balanced with preserving the maximum use of available and safe space, while minimizing conflicts with nearby utilities. The City’s list consists of large, medium and small trees, so a tree can be selected that can thrive in a particular site. The tree list for Redwood City is currently under review.
CityTrees has strong partnerships with the Redwood City Public Works Department, the Redwood City Parks Department, and the Redwood City School District that facilitates relatively easy planting on their respective properties. Significantly greater planning and coordination is required for us to plant elsewhere. CityTrees has occasionally planted in unincorporated portions of San Mateo County that are near Redwood City, but this requires that the property owner advocate with the office of their County Supervisor for trees at their property or in their neighborhood.
At CityTrees, we love fruit, we love fruit trees, and we support the City’s efforts to establish a community garden. Fruit trees, though, are generally not appropriate for the locations where we plant as their fruit can fall on the sidewalk or cars and create quite a mess!
Bay Laurel “Saratoga” species is non-invasive, and is a miniature cultivar of the California Bay Laurel. CityTrees has planted many of these specimens over the last 20 years, and they are hardy, drought tolerant, and generally good performers in our area. In addition, they are evergreen and this cultivar is only male. This means while it flowers, there is no fruit produced to clean up. The biogenic emissions (pollen) rating is low, so it is not considered a strong allergen, but I sympathize with your concern as allergy sufferers.
Other Resources:
Sign up online! Our Events section lists all of our upcoming volunteer events. The window to sign up generally opens 2-3 months before the scheduled activity. There is a cap on the number of volunteers we can accommodate as all of our planting and pruning events require adequate supervision by one of our experienced tree captains.
CityTrees generally hosts 12-15 events per year, including both planting and pruning events. We typically plant trees on Saturday mornings during the months of October through May as planting during the hot summer months can be stressful on new trees. Our tree pruning events occur year-round on Saturday mornings or, during the summer months when the days are long, we also host pruning events on select Thursday evenings. To view our upcoming events, visit this page.
Official events organized by CityTrees have a minimum age requirement of 14+ (with parents attending) or 16+ (with parent signature). This is for liability reasons, and also because some of our planting work requires heavy lifting. However, we can always find jobs for those 14 years or older on our plantings.
Thank you for getting in touch with CityTrees about arranging a team volunteer work opportunity for your group, (group name). Tree planting is a great team building activity that can accommodate a range of physical abilities. Since we are a 100% volunteer-run non-profit where our members have full time jobs during the week, our planting events are on Saturday mornings from 9am-12pm between September and May, and would require at least 8 or more volunteers from your group to be able to complete a planting. If your group is made up of minors between the ages of 14-17, we need 1 adult to attend with each minor.
As a local non-profit community organization, we rely on grant funding, sponsorship, and community donations to fulfill our mission. To accommodate your request to work together, we ask for a $200 donation per person who plans to attend this event. Our events require use of tools and safety considerations, we cannot permit the consumption of alcoholic beverages at our events, or beforehand.
If this sounds like it is a good fit for your group, please send us approximately how many volunteers you think you could supply and the name and contact information of your volunteer coordinator. After we have more information from you, we can look at planning an event for your group, or add you to an existing event.
Thank you for your interest in working together to grow our urban canopy.
Sure! We’d be happy to! Please provide the appropriate form and a pen to your tree captain after your volunteer activities are complete.
During the first few years following a planting, the most crucial item to helping a tree become established is getting enough water. While both CityTrees and the Redwood City Dept of Public Works will provide water for the tree during the summer months, it’s possible that it may need more. If the tree seems dry or the leaves appear to be dropping or turning brown, please try and water the tree on a weekly basis with ~7 gallons of water. To report issues with the tree, please contact Redwood City by calling: 650-780-7464.
Water the Entire Root Zone: Keeping trees healthy involves watering in the root zone, deep enough so the roots have adequate moisture. For many mature trees, roots are located 2 to 3+ feet deep under the canopy. So you will need to make sure that water is percolating 2 to 3 feet deep.
Soak Deeply: Shallow watering encourages shallow root development and limits the volume of soil a tree uses for water and nutrient uptake, making a tree more susceptible to drought, disease, and uprooting during strong winds.
Simple Methods: If you don’t have a separate irrigation line for your trees, try other simple ways to water the root zone:
When to Water: Sun and wind increase evaporation. To reduce evaporation, apply water in the early morning, not during the heat of the day, especially if using a sprinkler system. With sprinklers, avoid watering during wind.
Frequency: Water mature trees every 1 to 4 weeks during the dry season, which is generally from May to November. If there is a lack of rainfall, you will need to extend watering into the winter months. Well-timed fall and winter watering may allow a tree to survive on less water than a regime of plentiful water during the growing season. Soak infrequently until the soil is moist, not mushy, allowing it to dry in between irrigations to prevent diseases that thrive in warm, wet conditions. Prevent mulch from touching the trunk of the tree, also, direct sprinkler spray onto
the soil surface and not at the trunk.
To ensure the optimum urban forest, CityTrees wants all trees to be compatible with their environment. We periodically return to the places we have planted to prune trees for the structural integrity and for sidewalk and street clearance. This allows trees to grow healthily, reach their full potential and helps provide a safe area for pedestrians. Our pruning volunteers work only with hand tools, and our feet never leave the ground. Pruning work that requires power tools and/or elevation above the sidewalk should be performed by a professional.
No separate training is required to participate in a CityTrees planting. One of our volunteer tree captains will provide all the training you need on the day of the planting event.
Before becoming a volunteer pruner, we ask that you participate in our annual Tree Pruning Workshop which is typically held in February or March. This Workshop lasts 2½ to 3 hours and includes 1 hour of classroom instruction followed by 1½ – 2 hours of practical, hands-on training.