About ReLeaf

Our Story

In November of 2020, a group of dedicated native plant and urban forestry advocates began a conversation about how to get more native trees into every park, school, farm and yard in Petaluma. The group expanded and within 6 months coalesced around a name, logo, vision, and mission statement.

ReLeaf began developing ideas about where to plant trees and how to raise funds for them. Our volunteers created a list of local trees and shrubs from authoritative sources (Petaluma Planting Palette). Grants for tree planting were applied for, won, and successfully completed. In its first 12-month planting season, ended March 2023, ReLeaf volunteers planted 748 trees in parks and schools.

We presented the goal of 10,000 Trees to the community in fall 2021. This vision of an urgent, high-quality expansion of our tree canopy has become widely endorsed by the community and the city. Looking to the future, ReLeaf has created site designs to plant thousands of additional trees on public lands. It has also sponsored annual tree giveaways to homeowners, and plans to expand this program to include planting assistance. Our working partnerships with other Petaluma institutions have enabled our success and rapid growth, and we gratefully thank Rebuilding Together Petaluma, Daily Acts, Petaluma People Services Center, Point Blue Conservation Science, and especially the City of Petaluma.

ReLeaf continues to grow, as like-minded community members find that our mission resonates with them, and they find volunteer work with us rewarding. To all who support and wish to join this effort, we say: “Welcome to the Tree Tribe!”