City Forestry Program Celebrates Arbor Day at Local Schools
The City of Santa Barbara’s Urban Forestry program celebrated Arbor Day with hundreds of students across multiple elementary schools this year, making 2025 the City’s largest Arbor Day planting effort to date.
The events provided an interactive learning experience to educate students about the importance of trees while encouraging them to take an active role in caring for the environment. Students from kindergarten to sixth grade heard from the City’s Urban Forestry team before helping plant new trees for current and future students to enjoy. More than 20 trees were planted with the help of local students this week, including new street trees on Calle Rosales, Calle Vista de la Cumbre, Calle Noguera, and Calle Granda.
“Our Arbor Day events are more than just planting trees. They’re a chance for kids to get their hands in the soil and feel connected to our urban forest,” said Nathan Slack, City of Santa Barbara Urban Forest Superintendent. “When kids have real experiences with nature, they begin to understand its value and how important it is to protect.”
Nonprofit organization Santa Barbara Beautiful funded the purchase of the new trees and copies of The Tree Lady and Twelve Trees for the libraries of all local elementary and secondary schools so that students can continue their learning.
About Santa Barbara's Urban Forest
The City of Santa Barbara’s Urban Forestry program operates within the Parks and Recreation Department and manages approximately 75,000 trees, 35,000 of which are street trees. With over 450 tree species, Santa Barbara has one of California’s most diverse urban forests. Santa Barbara has held the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA ® designation for 45 years, making it one of the longest-recognized cities in the country. To learn more, visit SantaBarbaraCA.gov/UrbanForest