The Isla Vista Community Services District approved the budget for a new tree planting pilot program at their Jan. 28 meeting.
IVCSD approved a $7,500 budget for a new tree planting program. Nexus File Photo
Through the Isla Vista Tree Distribution Program (IVTDP), property managers can apply for trees to be planted in backyards on a first come, first served basis. The tree seedlings are managed by Isla Vista Beautiful, a division of the Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) that focuses on addressing environmental issues such as trash pick-up in I.V.
The IVCSD Board of Directors unanimously approved a $7,500 budget for IVTDP, including $5,500 for tree distribution and $2,000 for community tree education with help from Your Children’s Trees, a local nonprofit organization.
Regarding community education, Isla Vista Beautiful Program Manager Jenna Norton said Your Children’s Trees plans to host a meeting for I.V. property owners and residents to educate them on the importance and environmental benefits of trees. Norton said benefits include oxygen production and overall help combating climate change.
The $5,500 would pay for up to 44 trees in I.V. at $125 each, including tax and transportation. Norton cited the lack of trees in I.V. and the negative effects that may have on the community as their reasoning behind the project.
“We’re severely, severely lacking trees right now, and we need them for the purpose of shade and fighting climate change in general. Trees have many different benefits, which are all listed in our policy,” Norton said.
President of Your Children’s Trees Kenneth Knight said they’ve already received a separate $5,000 grant from California Relief, an extension of local power provider Southern California Edison. The grant is only available if they start the project before the beginning of May, meaning all of the trees need to be planted before May, according to IVCSD General Manager Jonathan Abboud.
Abboud said if all 44 trees are not planted before the May deadline, they will buy each tree as needed rather than buying all 44 up front.
“The date of May is independent of the access tree. So we [might] have enough money to give out that many trees, we might not. We might have 100% demand. We might have 10 people who want to spend less money. So we could spend less money, but we’re only going to purchase and get the trees that we actually [use], we’re not going to just buy all the trees at once,” Abboud said.
Knight further emphasized their goal to provide shade from the sun, saying trees planted won’t need “special conditional care.” However, community members could request fruit trees depending on the circumstances.
“Our effort is to bring shade, but we also want to have the right tree in the right place, and dealing with people in the community. If they want to have a fruit tree and are willing to take care of it from irrigation and fertilization, and it’s the right tree for the right place that is getting enough sun and [is] big enough to provide some shade? We can discuss it,” Knight concluded.
IVCSD Board President Spencer Brandt expressed excitement over the project, as trees removed during property development are often not replaced afterwards.
“This program hopefully will help to bring some of those trees back onto the private property areas where there is that dearth of shade, so I’m really excited for this collaboration,” Brandt said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 4 of the Feb. 6, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
CORRECTION [2/10/2024, 8:24 p.m.]: A previous version of this article referred to Spencer Brandt as an IVCSD. The article has been corrected to state that Spencer Brandt is the IVCSD Board President.
