The City of San Diego celebrated Arbor Day at Colina Del Sol Park in City Heights as part of its Urban Forestry Program’s “Ready, Set, Grow San Diego” initiative — a five-year effort to expand the City's urban forest through widespread tree planting and tree protection efforts. The program is supported by a $10 million grant from the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program.  

The event marks a significant milestone for the City’s Urban Forestry Program, which has planted 1,000 new trees so far through this initiative. The goal is to plant over 5,000 trees and protect an additional 600 existing trees by implementing sidewalk redesigns to promote tree health and longevity.  

San Diego’s Urban Forestry Program teamed up with San Diego FC this year in honor of Arbor Day. Team staff joined volunteers to plant more than 60 trees at the park and throughout the neighborhood. 

Urban neighborhoods with mature trees can be up to 11 degrees cooler in the summer than neighborhoods without trees. Trees also clean the air we breathe by filtering dust and can help remove toxic pollutants from the atmosphere. A healthy, growing urban forest provides many long-term environmental, social and economic benefits and is a key component of the City’s climate action goals.