students build – In Pacific Palisades, students repot native trees into new nurseries as part of TREEAMS, a program aiming to plant 5,000 trees over the next 3 to 5 years in areas hit by the 2025 Palisades and Eaton wildfires—turning a difficult loss into hands-on community re
Their small hands, in garden gloves, move with practiced care under the late-morning sun in Pacific Palisades.
Tyler and Cora steady a western redbud sapling as Atticus holds up a bag of soil and Eliza shovels out the fragrant earth. Sarai Woodard. 17. is there from EF Academy in Pasadena. guiding second- and fifth-graders as they transfer the native tree from a five- to a 15-gallon container. “We’re gonna put the dirt in … let’s pat it down now.”.
Last year, the Palisades fire destroyed their elementary school, Seven Arrows. The charred campus sits around the corner. Nearby, the blaze lapped at the back of a chapel and blackened towering redwoods at the Aldersgate Retreat Center, where a new nursery is taking shape.
Soon. about 30 trees will be repotted there—30 western redbud. toyon. California sycamore and other native species—feeding into a larger effort: TREEAMS. short for trees and dreams. which aims to plant 5. 000 trees in areas affected by the destructive 2025 wildfires. Students will tend the roughly two-year-old trees until they are ready to be replanted in schools. parks and homes affected by the Palisades fire. as well as the Eaton fire.
The vision was conceived by Jane Goodall. the late. famed chimpanzee expert. and Margarita Pagliai. who founded Seven Arrows and Little Dolphins Preschool in the Palisades. Students in those places. Pagliai said. “have lived through something very difficult.” At Tuesday’s planting event. she added that many are still hurting and that many families are still rebuilding. and that TREEAMS gives students “a way to act now. to give back and to help their communities heal with their own hands.”.
Goodall was scheduled to plant the first tree at the initial TREEAMS kickoff last October at EF Academy. Then, just 15 minutes before the event began, organizers learned she had passed away. “Instead, we planted it in her honor,” said Shawna Marino, vice president at EF, a private high school.
EF took in kindergarten through sixth-grade students from Saint Mark’s. an Episcopal school. after it burned down in the Eaton fire. Marino recalled telling 1,000 students that their hero was not coming—and that she had passed away. She described it as a “pretty big moment.” Losing Goodall and the visibility she brought was a blow. Marino said. but students were eager to act.
Originally, the plan was straightforward: acquire trees and move them quickly to their new homes. But TREEAMS team members soon found many of the places weren’t ready for planting. In some instances, the soil was contaminated; in others, a home or structure was being rebuilt. The team had to rethink the approach.
Marino said they kept the goal of 5,000 trees and the timeline, but shifted to on-campus nurseries so the trees could grow safely until they were ready to be transferred.
There are benefits to the change, she said. Caring for the trees for one to two years can provide valuable environmental science education. Small trees are also cheaper and more likely to be donated. UCLA and EcoRise, a nonprofit that integrates environmental education into schools, developed a curriculum for the effort.
Last month, the first nursery launched at EF with 30 trees—coast live oaks and sycamores. TREEAMS is now in talks with public and private schools to host nurseries on their campuses, and it is hoping to line up more.
Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit focused on inspiring people to plant trees, praised the project. His group is also helping reforest Altadena as well as fire-seared parts of the Angeles National Forest.
Lambe’s remarks echoed wider research the Arbor Day Foundation has supported about the psychological benefits of greenery. Nearly 9 in 10 Americans say trees and green spaces have a noticeable impact on their mental well-being. and an overwhelming majority agree that spending time in nature brings hope and optimism about the future. For many people, trees in their yard and local parks provide that green space.
“I’m thrilled to hear what they’re doing. so there are trees available when the time is right. ” Lambe said. He stressed that planting the trees correctly—putting them in the right place and caring for them—is crucial for their survival. “And then making sure those trees are planted the right way. in the right place and cared for. so that they do survive for decades and decades — it’s really important work.”.
At the planting event, photos of Goodall amid trees and greenery sat on a table near the entrance. Her name was on the tip of many tongues. “She was so powerful that she’s within us,” Pagliai said.
When students moved through the nursery launch—patted soil, staked saplings, carried young trees—smoke from the wind-driven Sandy fire threatening Simi Valley billowed in the distance. It was one of several fires rampaging through Southern California.
For students and educators, the work carried a double purpose. It wasn’t only meant to rectify what was lost. It was also meant to prepare for what could come next.
Jackson Von. a sixth-grader at Seven Arrows Elementary. which has temporarily moved to a campus in Santa Monica. said he learned that many trees in his community are invasives. They were brought in by European settlers and aren’t equipped to handle fire. “So the more we plant native trees. the more we’ll be resistant to things like the events of 2025. ” Von told attendees. “It’s really hard to think about it, but we’re all thinking it.”.
Some students credited the oaks and redwoods at Aldersgate for saving the property from the Palisades fire. Next door, an empty lot marks where a beloved playhouse stood before flames destroyed it.
For many of the students, the fire followed another disruption—what they lived through during the pandemic. Then came fractured politics, the Iran war and other difficult current events.
Experts said planting a tree can offer a tangible way to help, and a sense of agency when life feels hard to control.
Sarah Bang, director of public school partnerships for UCLA School of Education & Information Studies, helped develop the curriculum for TREEAMS. She said the students at the planting event had gone through trauma and that incidents like the Simi Valley fire can re-trigger it. “How amazing and timely and absolutely wonderful that they were able to come and actively participate in this healing. ” Bang said.
Pacific Palisades TREEAMS Jane Goodall Aldersgate Retreat Center reforestation 2025 wildfires Palisades fire Eaton fire native trees school nurseries UCLA EcoRise Arbor Day Foundation Altadena