TreePeople Branch Out at Christmas

He thinks that he will never see a sight so unlovely as a tree . . . stripped in an alley or slumped in a dumpster awaiting city mulchers that will gobble most of the 4 million Christmas trees to be bought and abandoned in California this season.

“But I don’t take it personally,” Andy Lipkis said. He should. He is executive tree person of the TreePeople, an environmental group committed to the planting and preservation of trees, not to their execution and mounting as baubles.

“I’m of two minds,” he continued. “The rational mind knows that there are Christmas tree crops--like pumpkins or turkeys--that are grown with the intention of being cut down. And they give pleasure.

“Yet it is a waste and that’s a bridge to the other part. A tree is a life. Cut it down and you kill it. I think there should be a greater appreciation of that.”

Peace on earth, as it were, and good will to all trees?

“Sure. I’d like to see a bit of the Christian spirit and Christmas spirit hooked into the sacrificial spirit. I’d like to see acceptance of the world need for trees and that they really are unconditional givers.

“You pick a place and I’ll tell you how they give. As shelter and providers of shade. As homes for animals. They hold soil, moderate weather--even better, they produce food and feed people directly.”

Lipkis’ passion was the acorn from which the TreePeople grew.

In 15 years, his nonprofit group has greened Los Angeles with 1 million trees for the 1984 Olympics; reseeded residential canyons scarred by mud or fire; donated and planted 5,000 fruit trees in five African nations, including Ethiopia; put trees back into Arbor Day with plantings in state forests; restored the Valley Oak to Cheeseboro Canyon; inaugurated a program of tree sponsorships as gifts or memorials . . . .

And as part of his dedication to replacing urban concrete with growing woods, Lipkis would like more people to buy living Christmas trees. But the right trees. For as environmental awareness has grown, so has the tendency of growers to produce Christmas trees that look good but grow feebly.

The problems, he said, are multiple. Chemical force-feeding for color and growth. The sale of root-bound saplings. “They (growers) are selling Monterey Pine that grow fast and look good,” Lipkis said, “but the city doesn’t prefer them as donations because the Monterey Pine isn’t smog-tolerant.

“You should be aware that a living Christmas tree can’t survive inside for more than two weeks . . . so it must be taken outside every couple of days, which is unpractical--or you use a grow light.”

The ideal, suggested Lipkis, is to buy wisely, tend a potted tree well for five Christmases, then plant it outdoors or donate it to a city or county parks department. Such gifts, he added, are tax deductible.

Monterey Pine is suitable for home replanting “except in smoggier parts of town.” Deodar Cedar and Italian Stone Pine are preferred as donations to parks. And if a transplanted Christmas tree is mulched, fed, staked, guyed and pruned correctly, Lipkis said, it should survive the house.

Feel free, he invited, to call the TreePeople for advice. Or attend Sunday’s tour of their acres above Studio City.

Lipkis might even tell his Christmas tale.

Once upon a time, when the TreePeople were seedlings and hungry for funds, Lipkis was invited to a party. Here was an opportunity to meet the moneyed and to be greeted by the socially attached.

Dress would be black tie, said the invitation. Or Christmas costume.

Lipkis chose costume. He went as a Christmas tree. In brown sneakers. With green poncho and sweat pants. Wrapped in lights and dripping tinsel and glass balls.

“We entered the house and I plugged myself in,” Lipkis said. Taraaaa! He turned to the packed house. “And everybody was in black tie and evening dress.

“Every time I moved, an ornament fell off and shattered. So I just unplugged myself, got a drink and tried to forget the whole evening.”

Tour with the TreePeople, 12601 Mulholland Drive, Coldwater Canyon Park; Every Sunday at 11 a.m. (213) 273-8733. (818) 769-2663.