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Photo: Community Garden Being planted in Echo Park, Los Angeles, 2011. Note the intensity of the shade in the left of the photo.
Before it was called Los Angeles, Tongvaar was a lush savannah with plenty of shade trees, especially along the riverbanks.
Of course, the Tongva people still live in Los Angeles, along with millions of others, but they have less shade than in the past. The poorer or less-white a Los Angeles resident is, the more likely they live in a sunnier, hotter neighborhood than someone with more money.
That’s because of a lack of shade trees. Palm trees look stunning and are a hallmark of modern L.A., but they provide little heat reduction. Fortunately, some agencies are addressing this.
Ethnic Media Services hosted a webinar, “How Green Is Your City? How Trees and Parks Add Years to Longevity” to present ongoing plans to “green” Los Angeles (on December 1, 2023)
UCLA Professor Michael Jerrett reported that having more trees correlates to a longer life, and not only because of fewer heat-related deaths. He showed satellite maps of LA, showing that longer lifespan areas were the same neighborhoods that had more shade trees.
Greenery can help people de-stress, absorb highway noise and excess carbon dioxide, all beneficial for a long life.
Rachel Malarich, LA City Forest Officer, said the Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) had four pillars for successful reforestation of Tongvaar. Those are 1.) planting, 2.) maintaining trees 3.) Preserving trees, and 4.) engaging with the public.
Ms. Malarich said that community involvement is necessary. Tree debris can be seen as a nuisance. Also poorer neighborhoods usually have less yard space available for tree-planting and there are concerns for root systems undermining street and sidewalk pavement.
UFMP is partnering with LA County and other organizations in pursuit of Tree Canopy Equity.
Tree People.org is one of those organizations. As a birder, Marcos Trinidad highlighted the increasing diversity of bird populations as an indicator of increasing tree populations. He said he has observed this himself with the increased variety of birds in his lifelong home community of Highland Park.
Bz Zhang, architect and Project Manager of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT), said her organization has created 30 parks and gardens, the largest being eight and a half acres in size.
As more people on Earth will be living in urban spaces, the re-greening of Los Angeles can serve as a showpiece and example for other urban areas worldwide.
