Canopy reports surge in volunteerism and plantings while city contract trimmed for next year

Canopy, a community-forestry nonprofit, told the Mountain View Parks and Recreation Commission on June 11 that it exceeded its planting and engagement targets in the past year while city staff said budget adjustments cut next year’s planting target.

"This has been a banner year for our work in planting trees in community in Mountain View," Canopy Executive Director JP Renaud said, describing a rise in interest and volunteerism and a year when the nonprofit exceeded its contract target. Renaud and Canopy staff said the organization increased volunteer participation and community events sharply and that their approach ties tree survival to sustained local involvement.

Canopy said the city contract originally called for 65 new trees last year but, with city cooperation, the program expanded to plant 110 trees. Renaud said Canopy recorded a roughly 240% increase in the number of planting events in Mountain View and a roughly 226% increase in the number of trees planted in the city compared with the prior year. He told commissioners the group also saw a roughly 69% increase in people engaging with outreach and a 62% increase in volunteerism.

Renaud said Canopy’s model mixes tree selection, volunteer planting events, staff and city trainings and school partnerships. He introduced Canopy staff Emily Wang and Aubrey Kinnear, who described tree-walks, bilingual classroom visits and three city‑staff tree-care trainings that were followed by volunteer workdays.

Russell Hanson, Mountain View urban forest manager, said the city and Canopy have deepened a multi-year partnership dating to an earlier Mountain View Trees program that merged into Canopy in 2019. Hanson and Canopy staff described Canopy’s role selecting specimens at nurseries, tagging them for city purchase and helping deliver and establish trees.

Commissioners pressed for details about where to sign up for free trees and how the city and Canopy will coordinate existing programs. Renaud said the city currently runs its own Arbor Day free-tree giveaway and that Canopy provides an alternate pathway; he said the city is exploring a possible future contract so Canopy could administer the Arbor Day giveaway with added education and follow-up.

In a later budget presentation to the commission, Community Services staff said the recommended fiscal year 2025–26 budget includes the Urban Forest Outreach and Education contract with Canopy but as a limited-period (one-year) item at $100,000; staff noted the contract was funded at $125,000 in the prior year and that the recommended figure for next year was reduced during the budget process.

Public commenters including members of local advocacy groups praised Canopy’s education and plantings but urged the city to provide clearer guidance on which organizations handle specific tree policies and private‑property preservation questions. Bruce England of Green Spaces Mountain View and other residents asked the city to better explain roles among city staff, Canopy and community groups and to speed development of the city’s biodiversity and urban-forest plan.

Canopy said it is producing four educational flyers, expected in draft form by the end of the month, and that it will continue tree walks, school programs, plantings and volunteer training events under the city contract. The group also said it anticipates continuing partnerships with the Mountain View Whisman School District and corporate partners to plant additional campus trees.

Commissioners thanked Canopy for the presentation and emphasized the dual goals of expanding canopy and preserving mature trees already in the city.

Questions left open included whether and how the city will combine its free-tree giveaway with Canopy-led events, how mitigation or mitigation-fee funding will be used to expand plantings in-year, and whether the city will provide extra outreach and technical advice to private property owners seeking help with large or mature trees.