Simi Group Hopes to Plant Trees Near Riot-Scarred Area in L.A.

A Simi Valley group formed last year to honor war veterans by planting trees is turning its attention to a forestry project near one of the Los Angeles neighborhoods hit by April’s riots.

The Freedom Tree Organization won a $100,000 grant earlier this month under a post-riot federal initiative to rebuild urban Los Angeles.

The group, which must raise another $100,000 in matching funds and services, wants to use the money to plant 3,800 trees in the Baldwin Hills area and provide forestry training for 50 local residents.

Mary McCurdy, founder and chairwoman of the organization which has already planted 2,800 trees in Simi Valley, said she discovered the grant was available during an August trip to Washington, D.C.

She thought the money could help her group toward a goal of planting 10,000 trees in every state and also benefit the riot-scarred area, she said.

“We’re very excited that we were given the opportunity to work with the people of Los Angeles and to create for them an environment that is so needed in that area,” McCurdy said.

If matching funds are raised, the trees will be planted in the Kenneth Hahn Recreation Area under the supervision of the California Department of Forestry and the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which have helped McCurdy’s group.

Under terms of the grant, Freedom Tree will have to match the federal funds with $100,000 of its own cash or in-kind donations. Between $50,000 and $60,000 of that will probably come in the form of in-kind administrative assistance from the forestry department and Los Angeles Fire Department, said Dave Neff, regional forestry resource manager for Southern California.

McCurdy said her group will meet Thursday to discuss the tree-planting project and begin the fund-raising effort for the matching funds. She said the project offers an opportunity for Los Angeles and Ventura County residents and businesses to contribute to their communities.

Neff said planting the drought-resistant trees could begin by January.

“It’s more than just planting trees,” Neff said. “It’s going to offer employment and it’s going to train those people in entry-level skills so they can go back into the landscaping and urban forestry fields, where there are jobs.”

Under preliminary plans, groups of 10 or 20 Los Angeles residents will be hired for a series of two-month stints spent planting and learning the basics of forestry. The hope is that after their training is complete they can use the skills to find jobs.

The recreation area, located south of the Santa Monica Freeway off La Brea Avenue, spans 700 acres and could be expanded to 1,300 acres by the year 2010 after adjacent oil fields are closed, Neff said. The trees will be planted over a 15-acre parcel, he said.

Forestry Director Richard Wilson said Tuesday that the tree-planting project is an aesthetic and economic windfall, creating a beautiful environment and teaching local residents how to make it work.

“The ability to go into a forest that’s a natural environment in the middle of an intensively built-out area like Los Angeles, this is like having an enormous oasis in the desert,” Wilson said.