A non-profit that helps plant trees in cities is celebrating a milestone in San Francisco today as it participates in its 1,000th local planting.
Friends of the Urban Forest will plant about 85 trees in the Western Addition neighborhood, according to the organization.
Families and community members raised about $5,000 for the trees, and Kaiser Permanente provided additional funding.
The organization has planted trees in San Francisco since 1981, and this weekend’s planting will be Friends of the Urban Forests’ 1000th event in the city.
Today’s event will kick off with a brief volunteer training at Rosa Parks Elementary School, which will receive 24 trees.
The trees are mostly California natives such as California Buckeyes, Coast Silktassels and Western Redbuds.
Trees cover about 12 percent of San Francisco’s total land area, compared to 14 percent of Sacramento, 15 percent of San Jose and Los Angeles, and 21 percent of Oakland, according to Friends of the Urban Forest.
Today’s event will begin at 8 a.m. at Rosa Parks Elementary School, 1501 O’Farrell St., when the trees arrive.
Opening remarks will be at 9:15 a.m., followed by tree planting at 10 a.m. and a potluck lunch for volunteers at 12:30 p.m.
