Friends of the Urban Forest

Friends of the Urban Forest We connect people with nature & each other by planting & caring for San Francisco’s trees & gardens.

We’re hiring two Tree Planting Managers! The Tree Planting Manager manages the full life cycle of neighborhood planting ...
08/27/2026

We’re hiring two Tree Planting Managers! The Tree Planting Manager manages the full life cycle of neighborhood planting projects from site evaluation and species selection to volunteer workdays and project closeout. This role is ideal for someone who is passionate about trees, environmental equity, and community-based work. The position combines hands-on fieldwork, project management, community collaboration, and technical arboricultural knowledge.

🌳 Link in comments for more info and to apply today!
💚 Please share!

Last week, our Tree Care and Tree Planting teams went on a morning Tree Walk in the Lower Haight with Mike Sullivan. Mik...
08/25/2026

Last week, our Tree Care and Tree Planting teams went on a morning Tree Walk in the Lower Haight with Mike Sullivan. Mike is the author of The Trees of San Francisco and a former Friends of the Urban Forest board president. Thanks, Mike!

Dogpatch has 41 new street trees! 🌳Huge thanks to all of our community volunteers and to the Dogpatch & NW Potrero Hill ...
08/21/2026

Dogpatch has 41 new street trees! 🌳Huge thanks to all of our community volunteers and to the Dogpatch & NW Potrero Hill GBD for their time, energy, and support!

🌿 Half of the trees planted are native to California. Here’s the full species list: blue oak, Brisbane box, California buckeye, Catalina ironwood, Chinese flame tree, coast live oak, European hornbeam, kanooka, lemon bottlebrush, strawberry tree, California lilac, and venus dogwood.

How much water does a street tree need? We’re so glad you asked! Young trees and established trees need different amount...
08/18/2026

How much water does a street tree need? We’re so glad you asked! Young trees and established trees need different amounts of water. 💧

🌳 Young Trees

The standard recommendation for young trees is 15-20 gallons per week, which means filling a green "gator" water bag once a week until the tree is about 3 years old.

Sandy soil, hot weather, infrequent rainfall, and strong winds are all reasons that a young tree could benefit from more water. Even in the rainy months, a 3x3 ft tree basin will get approximately 5 gallons of water per 1 inch of rain, which often doesn't add up to 15 gallons per week.

🌿 If you have a young street tree near you, adding extra water to the watering bag or directly to the soil once a week is a great way to help the tree establish a deep and stable root system. Just be sure that enough water is applied at a time so that the soil is moist a few inches below the ground (deep watering = deep roots), and that the soil has time to dry before you water again (watery swamp = root rot diseases.

Our tree care team, which includes community volunteers, makes about 3,500 tree care visits for pruning and health checks each year and waters on average 1,100 young trees every week.

🌳 Established Trees

After trees are in the ground for about 3 years, weekly watering is no longer needed, and the water bag may no longer be as effective.

Trees at this stage can benefit from a periodic deep soak (which you can do with a hose or a bucket a few times a year), so that water continues to reach far down into the root system, which at maturity is often between one to two feet below the ground.

Friends of the Urban Forest takes care of the trees we plant for the first 3 years of their life. After the first 3 years, San Francisco Public Works takes over.

💧What else would you like to know about tree watering?

Ready to chat about oak trees? We recently cared for some (mostly) oak trees we planted about a year and half ago near T...
08/13/2026

Ready to chat about oak trees? We recently cared for some (mostly) oak trees we planted about a year and half ago near Tule Elk Park Early Education School.

But before we dive into the oak trees, you’re probably wondering about the spiky tree trunk photo. So cool, right? That is a silk floss tree (Ceiba speciosa) that we planted near the school.

Ok, onto the oak trees! Along Greenwich Street we planted four evergreen oaks. Three are California natives. The coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) and the blue oak (Quercus douglasii) are planted close to the courtyard gate, inviting students to compare and contrast how the trees’ traits, like their structure and leaf shape, make them better suited for the state’s drier interior, or for the coast.

Planted at the far end of the property is a lovely East Bay native, an interior live oak (Quercus wislizeni).

The Webster Street side of the school has three species of evergreen oaks and one hybrid: holly oak (Quercus ilex), netleaf oak (Quercus rugosa), Mexican blue oak (Quercus oblongifolia), and the unique Compton oak (Quercus x comptoniae). The Compton oak is a naturally occurring hybrid between an evergreen and a deciduous oak. Its leaves turn yellow and purple until it loses them in the winter!

These oaks represent a variety of different habitats and ecosystems. Resilience is woven into San Francisco’s cultural fabric. Testing out different species helps us to adapt for the future. As San Francisco’s climate changes, we are planting trees that will grow and thrive now and in the world to come. We hope that the students of Tule Elk Park who helped plant these trees will visit them for decades. 💚🌳

Water temps in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are among the highest ever recorded, leading to super El Niño predictions fo...
08/11/2026

Water temps in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are among the highest ever recorded, leading to super El Niño predictions for California in late fall / early winter. Planting more street trees will help San Francisco prepare in three ways:

☂️ Tree Basins Soak Up Water

One of the best ways to limit flooding is to prevent storm water from entering the sewer system in the first place. Every time we plant a new street tree where one didn't exist, we cut and remove concrete, which reduces the amount of impermeable surface area on that street. Tree basins allow rainwater to soak into the ground rather than run directly into the storm drain.

☂️ Tree Leaves Slow Rain

Trees' leaves also help to slow rain from reaching storm sewers. Evergreen species help capture and slow raindrops as they fall. Leaves and bark retain water—in fact, a single mature tree can store up to 100 gallons of water!

☂️ Trees Filter Storm Water Pollutants

San Francisco faces an additional challenge when it comes to heavy rainfall. Our combined storm sewer system handles both storm water AND waste water from homes and businesses. When it becomes overwhelmed by heavy volumes of rain, untreated water is expelled into the Bay and ocean, including waste and sewage, which is harmful for our marine ecosystems. Trees filter pollutants from storm water and ensure that less makes it into the storm sewer in the first place.

🌳 The trees we plant today will help reduce flood risks on San Francisco's streets and protect our fragile marine ecosystems. Help us prepare for severe storms by being a tree planting volunteer! Link in the comments.

Volunteers planted 42 trees in the Mission! 🌳 It was the 1st community tree planting for our newest Green Crew cohort. I...
08/06/2026

Volunteers planted 42 trees in the Mission! 🌳 It was the 1st community tree planting for our newest Green Crew cohort. It was also our 1st time working with our community collaborators, Dream.Org. And one of our Tree Planting Managers, Geri, dedicated five memorial trees to their grandma, who passed away. 💚

A huge thank you to our Planting Leaders: Adriana, Anthony, Benjamin, Chris, Garrett, Edward, Ivan, Jacki, Joshua, Pete, Peter, and Stephanie. ⭐

And for folks who like to know the species we planted, here you go!: Catalina ironwood, Chinese flame tree, Chinese pistache, chitalpa, fern pine, kanooka, island oak, jacaranda, strawberry tree, sweet bay, sweetshade, trident maple. 🌿

We’re hiring a Development Director! 🌳 The Development Director is responsible for designing, implementing, and evaluati...
08/03/2026

We’re hiring a Development Director! 🌳 The Development Director is responsible for designing, implementing, and evaluating a comprehensive fundraising strategy that ensures the long-term sustainability and growth of Friends of the Urban Forest, generating between $1.5 and $2 million in contributed revenue annually. This includes oversight of all annual, major, and planned giving; foundation and corporate relations; events; and communications that support donor engagement.

🌿 Link in the comments for more info and to apply!
💚 Please forward to anyone who might be interested.

Have you ever been to the McLaren Park Native Plant Garden in Visitacion Valley? It’s a magical place! ✨🌿 Over the past ...
07/30/2026

Have you ever been to the McLaren Park Native Plant Garden in Visitacion Valley? It’s a magical place! ✨🌿 Over the past five years, Friends of the Urban Forest has planted many coast live oaks, buckeyes, and hollyleaf cherries there. Last week, a diverse group of collaborators gathered over two days to care for the trees:

🌳 Our dedicated tree care volunteers
🌳 Our newest Green Crew cohort
🌳 A board member
🌳 SF Environment's California Climate Action Corps Fellows
🌳 Visitacion Valley Greenway
🌳 Reimagining San Francisco

As our Tree Care Coordinator, Sole, said, “It’s amazing how much we can accomplish when we collaborate and this was a shining example of how many hands make light work!” 💚

Young street trees need pruning, health checks, and hardware checks. This lovely group of interns from Bloomberg recentl...
07/27/2026

Young street trees need pruning, health checks, and hardware checks. This lovely group of interns from Bloomberg recently visited and cared for 15 trees in Hayes Valley as part of Bloomberg's Intern Day of Service. We appreciate their generous support and boundless energy!

Photos by Jiu Jitsu Photography

Address

1007 General Kennedy Avenue
San Francisco, CA
94129

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+14155616890

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