Monrovia nonprofit partners with county to plant 500 trees

A local nonprofit has partnered with Los Angeles County to plant up to 500 trees in unincorporated areas of Monrovia, Arcadia and Duarte.

Grow Monrovia with support from LA County Public Works will plant a shade tree in parkways or properties’ “public right of way” sections, Monrovia City Manager Dylan Feik reported.

Funding from grants and the county allows Grow Monrovia to acquire and plant the tries at no cost to residents, said Rosemary Gavidia from the nonprofit. Some available species are valley oaks, California sycamores, Engelmann oaks, cork oaks and California native ash trees.

Grow Monrovia’s “goal is to create much-needed habitat for our wildlife throughout the city through community involvement, further expanding our urban forest while fulfilling our commitment as a Tree City,” according to the organization. “Expanding our forest will create a denser canopy over the city to combat the effects of climate decline and the hotter temperatures that come with it. The resulting benefit of this is making Monrovia more walkable, improving our community’s health and happiness.”

Among Grow Monrovia’s objectives is to add more shade trees to the city’s canopy.

“The city of Monrovia has a habit of planting fast-growing, short-lived, compact trees, like crepe myrtles and carrotwood,” according to Grow Monrovia. “In fact, Monrovia’s tree canopy is made up mostly of crepe myrtles.”

While crepe myrtles are inexpensive to purchase, plant and maintain, they don’t provide adequate shade cover “to make up for the concrete and asphalt that fills our city,” according to Grow Monrovia, which promotes large shade trees with an emphasis on native species.

For shade tree planting, email info@growmonrovia.org with contact information and the property address.  

More information on events and other Grow Monrovia projects are on the internet at www.growmonrovia.org.

Updated March 23, 2024, 1:50 p.m.

More from Monrovia Weekly