My Nonprofit Reviews
Doris
Review for Our City Forest, San José, CA, USA
Actually, more than volunteers, we are now Tree Amigos.
We learned of Our City Forest when we were looking for an appropriate tree to plant in our parking strip. The magnolia related trees that had been in the neighborhood had been sick and weeping and dying for years and the tree my friend had given to me (specially bred by her son, the botanist) when my son died had finally succumbed to the same disease although it had rallied several times after many treatments.
We talked to the city arborist, Ralph Mize, about what kind of tree would be good for our area and he referred us to the Our City Forest site where we learned a lot about trees and were able to choose one we liked.
We took the Tree Amigo training through Our City Forest and have participated in several tree plantings and manned a table for OCF at a couple of neighborhood functions, which was actually fun.
Mostly, we learned a lot about trees, what kind of tree to plant where, how to plant a tree, and the great value of and need for a healthy and abundant city forest. Since we are fairly serious about recycling all sorts of things, taking care of our city forest goes well with the duties we choose to take seriously in our lives.
Plus, we get to meet a lot of great people from just about every age bracket.
More Feedback
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
...helping with tree plantings where we could see the results of previous plantings by OCF and how parks and schools were developing thriving city forests of their own.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
I don't know enough about the running of the organization to presume to suggest any changes in it, but I do wish they would offer some more advanced classes, even if they need to charge for them. There is so much knowledge in that group. We would like to know more about pruning, particularly for our fruit trees.
Great idea Doris! More advance classes would be great for any one who have already taken the Tree Amigo classes and want to be more knowledgeable and hands on with the urban forest! We will make a note of your wonderful suggestion.
