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!”

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Our Vision

A Petaluma Valley and Watershed where: native trees and shrubs thrive, enriching our lives by providing native wildlife with shelter, food, and habitat; our ecosystems with greater biodiversity; our river and creeks with soil-stabilizing riparian plant systems, and our community with a cooling, cleaning, noise-blocking, biodiverse tree canopy.

Our Objectives

Over the next 3 years our primary focus will be planting and establishing large numbers of trees and shrubs on public lands in the watershed, especially the central heat island of our city along highway 101, and the disadvantaged areas. We will also perform outreach to our city government to help them plant more roadside trees, and to homeowners to plant more trees on private property.

Our Goals

In order to expand our urban forest, ReLeaf Petaluma will:

Promote native tree and shrub planting to restore natural, self-sustaining habitat
Expand the urban forest in public parks and other public spaces
Organize neighborhood tree and shrub planting to increase the aesthetic quality of life in our community and to combat our high level of air pollution and local heat islands
Collaborate on riparian planting projects to promote the environmental health and the stability of the Petaluma watershed
Foster habitat connectivity through the creation of native plant corridors
Establish a robust community outreach program to increase public understanding about native trees and how to obtain, plant and maintain them

Our Leadership

Staff

Carolyn LaCerra

Programs Manager
Carolyn develops new programs and executes on existing ones. She oversees communications and tree planting logistics at planting events and compiles data for grant reporting, working with the City Grant Manager to prepare quarterly reports.
Alice Frost

Programs Assistant
Alice is our administrator, keeping track of tree orders, sites, and volunteers among other things. She assists Carolyn and our volunteer management, and answers your emails.

Advisory Board

Wendy Jacobs

Chair
Retired Director at regional MD-DC CPA firm, CPA/MBA, Master Naturalist, volunteer leadership positions: over 10 years urban forestry and over 6 years social justice organizations
Scott Sullender

Vice Chair
Retired psychologist, professor and clergyman, with 40 years of leadership experience with nonprofit organizations
Barbara Taylor

Treasurer
Former Executive Assistant to CEO, Amy’s Kitchen, former Assistant to Senator Mitt Romney and 30 years Treasurer experience with nonprofit
Beverly Butterfield

Hospitality
Book Designer, expert home gardener
Eric Leland

Policy and Advocacy, Tributaries Co-Lead
Tech entrepreneur, Petaluma Ad Hoc Community Advisory Committee, board member Redwood Empire Trout Unlimited, co-founder, Deviled Eggery
Michele Loftin

Parks and Schools
Regional parks management, regenerative farming, teacher, Environmental Science major
John Shribbs

Tributaries Co-Lead
PhD Horticulture, Retired Environmental Science teacher, volunteer leadership positions: former President Petaluma Wetlands Alliance; General Plan Committee; Tree Advisory Committee; Current Petaluma City Council Member