The Weekly Newspaper of Manhattan Beach Herald Publications - El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 Vol. 9, No. 1 January 1, 2015 Inside This Issue Certified and Licensed Professionals...................6 Classifieds............................3 Community Briefs...............2 Finance..................................2 Food.......................................5 Looking Up...........................4 Pets........................................7 Politically Speaking............4 Seniors..................................2 Women at Work..................3 Weekend Forecast Friday, Jan. 2 Sunny 59˚/42˚ Saturday, Jan. 3 Sunny 62˚/44˚ Sunday, Jan. 4 Mostly Sunny 67˚/45˚ Catch of the Day at the Pier A family of fishermen gather at the end of the Manhattan Beach pier with coolers and lawnchairs in hand to relax as they catch dinner. Photo by Osvin Suazo, ozzy.suazo@gmail.com. Tree Musketeers Still Growing After All These Years By Brian Simon The concept that time flies truly hits home when one realizes that the group of El Segundo eight-year-olds who founded Tree Musketeers back in 1987 are now in their mid-thirties. The then-third graders had just planted a sycamore that they named “Marcie The Marvelous Tree” and came up with the seed of an idea that would eventually lead to the formation of the world’s first youth-led environmental organization. Yet while those original 13 eventually moved on to careers and families, Tree Musketeers continues to thrive in its quest to ensure a healthy future for the planet with a new generation of youths taking the helm. While supported by a small professional staff of adults, the Tree Musketeers still remains firmly under the control of its enthusiastic young leaders. The current six-member Youth Management Team meets weekly to oversee all program activity from inception to completion. “The leadership ladder at Tree Musketeers begins with LEAD [Leadership, Education and Action Development] courses,” said Lina McDermott of Manhattan Beach, one of the Youth Management Team members. Tree Musketeers President and Youth Manager Samantha Cano of South Gate added, “You read often about Tree Musketeers’ young executives going off to prestigious universities because this level of leadership and community service is the stuff great college portfolios are made of.” General LEAD classes, which take place during the summer, educate the youngsters in personal, people, management and public speaking skills. Youth Tree Planting Supervisor LEAD classes are also on the calendar for January and February. The South Bay is the focal point of the organization’s Hometown Program—with the idea that local kids can implement urban forestry, youth leadership and public education projects that can serve as models for other communities not just in the area but across the country and ultimately internationally. Central to this effort is the Partners for the Planet 3x3 campaign that aims to engage three million young people worldwide in fighting global warming by planting three million trees. “We are about one-third of the way there,” reported Youth Manager Talia Gerard from Manhattan Beach, adding that nearly one million trees have been planted so far in 25 states in America as well as 15 countries over five continents. Among the projects is the ambitious planting of 4,000 trees in Zimbabwe by the end of this month. In the home base of El Segundo, upcoming activities include new plantings on January 24 and February 28 on Memory Row—the area of West Imperial Avenue between Main and Hillcrest streets. The trees serve as living tributes to people or events. The annual Arbor Day event, which draws hundreds of volunteers into the community to plant trees along the south side of Imperial Highway and care for the Trees to the Sea in the median, will take place on March 7. Looking after the Trees to the Sea remains a high priority not just for the organization, but for local residents. “El Segundoans care deeply about the Trees to the Sea and many call or drop in at Tree Musketeers [the headquarters are on Richmond Street just north of Grand Avenue] to voice their concerns at the trees’ decline,” said Youth Manager Utsa Parikh of El Segundo, who lamented that donations to the cause are few and far between. “As a result, we’ve had to scale back maintenance activities to focus on trees in El Segundo.” In using the term “trees in El Segundo,” it’s notable that the Trees to the Sea are technically located in the City of Los Angeles. Despite the fact that the section of West Imperial serves as a crucial gateway to El Segundo, making headway in beautifying the area continues to be a major logistical challenge. “It took 17 years and three generations of youth leaders to take the dream of a green Imperial Highway off the shelf and set it in motion,” said Tree Musketeers founder Tara Church. “Acting as a nonprofit liaison between the two cities of Los Angeles and El Segundo, Tree Musketeers’ young executives of 2004 secured permission to plant trees on the barren median strip that separates the airport from the South Bay.” Initially, the City of Los Angeles agreed to care for the trees, but then reneged on the deal shortly before the first planting. That left maintenance duties to Tree Musketeers with limited financial means. Extensive fundraising provided a recycled water irrigation system and three years of care resulting in 500 trees planted between 2005 and 2008. But the money ran out in 2011, leaving the area in jeopardy not only due to lack of resources to continue to fill in vacant sites with new trees but also hampering the ability to properly care for the larger mature trees that are most instrumental to the environment--but are in dire risk of dying. Inadequate care can shorten the life span of such trees from over a century to under a decade. To address the issue, a GlobalGiving campaign is underway to raise money for Trees to the Sea care. As of press time the organization remains short of the $12,500 goal, but hopes to make a final push as the year wraps up. Also critical to Tree Musketeers’ cause is to engage young students. “There are opportunities for any school service club to get involved with Tree Musketeers by scheduling to volunteer with us during our regularly scheduled events or to schedule a volunteer day specifically for their group,” said Youth Manager Raquel Gerard of Manhattan Beach. “All of that is handled by our Volunteer Manager.” As an example, the DaVinci Innovation Academy--a Wiseburn Unified School District school located in Hawthorne--recently held a volunteer day for a first grade class and a few of the room moms reportedly got their hands dirty taking care of trees. “Our Urban Forester Luke Midura taught the class about tree care activities such as watering and mulching and said that the group was enthusiastic and hard-working,” said Youth Manager Fernando Aguilar (Gardena), who added that several Torrance schools also hosted volunteer events with West High School students digging in See Tree Musketeers, page 2
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