For immediate release: March 15, 2018

Contact: Rachel Gordon, 415-554-6045 

CELEBRATE ARBOR DAY WITH TREE PLANTING AND A FREE FAMILY-FUN ECO FAIR

Annual Celebration Set for Saturday in San Francisco’s Richmond District;

Arbor Day Foundation Gives Award to Public Works, Friends of the Urban Forest

San Francisco, CA – Celebrate San Francisco Arbor Week 2018 on Saturday, March 17, when volunteers join City crews to plant 175 trees in the Richmond District and families take part in a free and fun Eco Fair.

To kick off the day’s festivities, the Arbor Day Foundation will present Public Works and Friends of the Urban Forest the national Champion of Trees Award for the implementation of StreetTreeSF, a voter-approved ballot measure that guarantees $19 million per year for street tree care in San Francisco – providing the City its first-ever sustainable funding stream to properly care for the urban forest.

What: District 1 Community Clean Team and Arbor Day Eco Fair

Date:  Saturday, March 17, 2018

Time: 9 a.m. – noon (registration for volunteers begins at 8:30 a.m.)

Location: Washington High School, 600 – 32nd Ave.

Who: Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, the Arbor Day Foundation, City officials and community volunteers

Photo opportunities at the Arbor Day festivities include:

• Planting trees along Anza, Balboa, Cabrillo, Clement, La Playa and Turk streets
• Restoring native plants at the Richmond/Senator Milton Marks Branch Library
• A petting zoo featuring a friendly herd of grazing goats
• Family activities, including face painting, planter box building, bucket truck rides

Since 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has recognized the inspiring and life-changing work of leading environmental stewards and tree planters through the annual Arbor Day Awards.

StreetTreeSF, approved by 79 percent of San Francisco voters in November 2016 and implemented last summer, will allow the City to professionally maintain and care for the 124,000-plus street trees that line our sidewalks and medians.

After the award ceremony, Public Works and Friends of the Urban Forest will join forces with District 1 Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, the Recreation and Park Department, SF Environment and hundreds of volunteers from across the City to plant trees in the Richmond District. Among the species to be planted are Southern Live Oak, Swamp Myrtle, Fruitless Olive, Primrose and Bronze Loquat.

The annual Arbor Day Eco fair also will start at 9 a.m. and will offer dozens of hands-on fun and educational activities centered on environmental sustainability and urban tree care.

It also will be packed with plenty of fun – building planter boxes and filling them with herbs and flowers, hanging out with a herd of sociable goats, riding sky-high in a bucket truck, making art with scrap materials and using pedal power to make a smoothie, plus a lot more.

Saturday marks the final day of San Francisco’s Arbor Week 2018. Spanning from March 11 to March 17, Arbor Week is the City’s salute to trees and the environmental benefits they create. The volunteer tree-planting day and Eco Fair will celebrate the importance of care and maintenance of our expanding urban forest and educate people on how to keep our street trees strong, healthy and beautiful.  

The Arbor Week tree-planting workday is part of Community Clean Team – Public Works’ largest and longest-running volunteer program now celebrating its 18th year. Since the program’s inception in 2000, we’ve planted more than 4,000 trees all throughout our diverse neighborhoods with the help of tens of thousands of volunteers.

Community Clean Team’s success relies on the many sponsors and volunteer organizations that pitch in. They include 76, Starbucks, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Friends of the Urban Forest, PG&E, Emerald Fund, Recology, Academy of Art University, United Playaz, Mission Neighborhood Centers, Walgreens, San Francisco Clean City Coalition, Local 261, Got Graffiti, San Francisco Parks Alliance, Port of San Francisco, San Francisco Housing Authority, San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project, San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, Community Youth Center San Francisco, San Francisco Unified School District, Tzu-Chi Foundation, SF GEO Care and SF Environment.

For more information about events and volunteer opportunities with San Francisco Public Works, visit www.sfpublicworks.org/get_involved.

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