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HELPING CANOPY'S STREET TREE PROGRAM
Canopy has three street tree activities: consulting, planting, and tending. You can volunteer for any and all of them. [name; mail to link?] heads the planting activities; she'll be glad to answer questions not answered here.
Consulting
Choosing the right street tree and the right place to put it aren't as simple as they might seem. Both are important. The right tree will make the house and neighborhood more attractive, and will fit its "owner's" preferences and abilities. The right place will provide the conditions the tree needs to thrive without interfering with infrastructure such as water and power lines. Canopy consultants investigate prospective tree sites, and interview the prospective tree's "owner" and neighbors. It's a people kind of job with a bit of investigative work thrown in. You can work by yourself or with a partner, and choose your hours, though you may need to visit City Hall during business hours to review the locations of utility services.
Consultant training takes four hours, and you'll be accompanied on your first assignments by an experienced Canopy consultant.
Planting
During the rainy season (to get the trees off to a good start) Canopy plants street trees under contract to the City of Palo Alto. Canopy planters can expect the satisfaction of making a visible and long-lasting improvement to the liveability of their city. Five, ten, and twenty years later, their pride will grow with "their" trees. New planters are often surprised to discover the social aspect of street tree planting. Meeting a few dozen other planters on a cool Saturday for hot coffee and a preview of the morning's work is itself fun. Working in a small team on a common physical effort is a great way to get to know people quickly. Many retired people have formed their own teams that convene every other week for our midweek planting sessions.
Planter training takes four hours. You need to wear old clothes and bring gloves. Your first planting day will be closely supervised, and even after you've put a lot of trees in the ground, experienced help is always just phone call away.
Tending
Year round, Canopy volunteers care for the young street trees we've planted, watering, pruning, and adjusting their stakes. This follow up work is the key to growing attractive healthy trees. Some tenders prefer to work alone, others with a partner. You can choose trees in your neighborhood, or venture into areas you may rarely otherwise visit.
A feel for gardening is the best qualification for a tender, but all it really requires is a commitment to visit "your" trees monthly, observe them, correct what problems you can, and relay any others to Canopy. Before you take the half-day tender training, you can tag along with an experienced tender for a preview of what the work is like.
Volunteer Here
I'd like to train as a planter I'd like to train as a tender I'd like to train as a consultant
Name Address City State/Province Postal Code Phone number
