... You could do what you usually do – stay hunkered down in the blue light of your computer. But Sustainability Director Lacey Raak has another idea: “Walk away from your desk, connect with your community, take a deep breath, and plant some trees!”

The Final Date of This very important project takes place This Afternoon, n Thursday, April 20th at 2:30pm on The CSUMB Campus. Since kicking off the project last year, volunteers have put more than 300 saplings in the ground, and they aim to add about 50 more trees during the planting event. Those coast live oak trees will one day provide the campus with shade, beauty, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration.

“You can immerse yourself in your community and the natural environment,” Raak says. “You give back, but it fills your cup too.”

Planting trees properly – and keeping them alive – requires planning. Graduate Student Filipp Kashirtsev, building on the work of former Grad Student California Biordi, has been helping by creating GIS (geographic information system) maps.

Working with his advisor, Fred Watson, Kashirtsev applied imagery from the 1920s and 1930s showing what the landscape looked like before military use or modern development. Much of it was covered with oak woodland and chaparral – primarily coast live oaks, the species the team is now planting.

The project is supported by two working groups of the President’s Sustainability Committee: the Habitat Working Group, which provides technical expertise, and the new campus chapter of Nature Rx, which promotes outdoor experiences to boost mental and physical health.

With the final date of Thursday, April 20th, Specific Information to include Registration is available on the following schedule:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17vD8RhnTkNFYBJ_0Xgqgb-DwtZkageQtJ7Jcejk7yKU/edit

Kashirtsev encourages the campus community to join upcoming work days, which he says are a lot of fun. “The more people come out, the more trees we can plant and the faster we can reach our goal,” he says. “Come help plant trees!”