If you live near San Francisco or plan to visit the city, you need to know about the Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF). Why? Because on any typical Saturday, joining a free FUF excursion is the most rewarding fun you will find anywhere in the city.

FUF plants trees in San Francisco, and you can plant with them. To date, they’ve planted over 40,000 trees and counting. They’re also the only NGO of their kind in the city. That means no FUF, no trees. Generally, FUF teams meet every other Saturday to plant. Get on FUF’s mailing list to find tree planting locations and times.

You can just show up to one of the plantings with no reservation. There, you’ll meet other volunteers of all ages, some experienced arborists along with many first-time volunteers. These folks are always fun, always friendly, and share an interest in the keeping the environment healthy and beautiful. Come for the chance to plant some trees, stay for the fun potluck lunch that usually follows a planting!

If you’ve never planted a tree in San Francisco, you don’t know what you’re missing: history, excitement, community, fun, and the chance to tell your friends, “hey, I planted that tree!” whenever you go by it. You will also get to know a district of the city like you’ve never known it before. If you have more money than time, you can also donate to this very deserving organization. You can even buy a live Christmas tree (before Dec. 19)through FUF to be planted somewhere in the city.

My first tree planting with FUF took place in the Tenderloin, SF’s seedy, crack-addled, and perhaps poorest downtown neighborhood. I arrived at 9 AM, in time for the morning motivational pep talk and instructions on how to plant a tree. Then, we grabbed shovels and gloves and hit the streets. Our goal: to plant 80 trees in one day and make the city’s poorest area more beautiful.

We split up into teams and went to different locations throughout the neighborhood. The sidewalk had already bee cut for us and next to the exposed dirt stood fast-growing Brisbane Box trees, ready to be planted. We sank our shovels into the city’s sub-pavement dirt. Guess what we discovered? It’s sand! In such an earthquake-prone area, I would never have guessed it, but the entire downtown area, as far as I could see, was built on very sandy soil. Digging, we also got a glimpse of SF’s history; we pulled up at least one old piece of water pipe that had probably been buried there since the great 1906 fire!

By this time, everyone was laughing and having a good time getting to know one another. We had an experienced tree planter with each group who gave us useful tree planting knowledge, like how much of the tree’s base should be showing after it’s planted. As we were working, people walking by stopped to ask what we were doing. A couple even wanted to know if they could help, so we put them right to work. We also received such kind thanks from the neighborhood’s residents and business-owners. It was an extremely heart-warming time and it gave me a whole new reason to love the city. Find out why urban trees are so important here.

In addition to planting trees, FUF also helps to care for the trees. After the trees are planted, the residents or business owners who requested trees take responsibility to water them. However, twice while the trees are still young, FUF visits them again to trim away unnecessary branches and offer support where support is needed. They also check in with the tree’s owner to ask how things are going and answer any questions. Tree care days happen every other Saturday, interspaced with the tree planting days.

Some volunteers (like me) love the tree plantings; others prefer the tree care days. Try both and see which suits you best. Volunteers on tree care days get their hands a little less dirty since there’s no digging to be done. They also learn a lot about how to check trees for health and how to prune trees. Whichever you prefer, no Saturday morning in San Francisco could be better spent than by joining the Friends of the Urban forest in planting or caring for the city’s biggest treasure, it’s trees.

References and Resources:

Benefits of Urban Trees | South Carolina Forestry Commission

Home | Friends of the Urban Forest

Volunteer | Friends of the Urban Forest

Donate | Friends of the Urban Forest

Buy a Christmas Tree | Friends of the Urban Forest

Mailing List | Friends of the Urban Forest

Bay Area, California, and US-wide resources for tree planting | Friends of the Urban Forest

Photo Source:

FUF Planting Volunteers | Flickr