 You're tuned into the COVID-19 community report here on KDRT LP 95.7 FM in Davis, California. I'm Autumn Lab A Renault and today is Tuesday, January 19, 2021. We're sharing local news and resources focusing on what's impacting Davis and nearby cities in Yolo County during the COVID-19 pandemic. My guest today is Aaron Donley Marino, Executive Director of Tree Davis, which has a mission to enhance and expand our urban forest by teaching the people of our communities to plant and care for trees. We'll talk about the work Tree Davis does around our region and the various ways they've had to adapt due to the pandemic. And we'll get to that in just a few minutes. Reporting on the pandemic once a week as I do there are weeks that just make my head spin with the pace of developments. Last week we were under a stay at home order and then we weren't leaving even county health officials pondering the wisdom of the state's rapid shift as we are faced with viral mutations. And that has been the major discussion this past week emerging variants of the COVID-19 virus. According to the Centers for Disease Control information about the characteristics of these variants is rapidly emerging. Scientists are working to learn more about how easily they might spread, whether they could cause more severe illness and whether currently authorized vaccines will protect people against them. The CDC says that at this time there's no evidence that these variants cause more severe illness or increased risk of death. They constantly change through mutation and new variants of a virus are expected to occur over time. Sometimes these variants emerge and disappear other times they emerge and persist. Multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been documented in the United States and globally during this pandemic. In the United Kingdom, a new variant called B117 has emerged with an unusually large number of mutations. This variant spreads more easily and quickly than other variants. Currently, there is no evidence that it causes increased illness more severe illness or increased risk of death. It has been detected in September 2020 and is now highly prevalent in London and Southeast England. It has since been detected in numerous places in Canada and the United States. And as of this weekend, the CDC had identified 40 cases of the new variant in California and those are largely in the San Diego region. An important takeaway here is that scientists and public health experts agree that reducing transmission remains key and towards that end Davis Mayor Gloria Partida and UC Davis Chancellor Gary May wrote an op-ed in the Saturdays Davis Enterprise. In it they called for frequent asymptomatic testing via healthy Davis together as key to getting normal back to normal in our community. Last year at this time, it would have been hard to imagine how normal it would be to wear a mask every day that we could celebrate with joy, even when we're not together and that we could develop effective vaccines in record time. But here we are doing things we had never imagined we could or would. It's with that same sense of challenge and possibility that we tell you it's possible for Davis to be a town without COVID-19 in 2021. As in the coming weeks, not late summer when most of the country is expected to be vaccinated. A new weekly routine of regular asymptomatic COVID-19 testing can help us get there. Healthy Davis together as a joint project between the city of Davis and UC Davis I've talked about it many times on this program, and it provides free saliva based testing to everyone who lives or works in Davis. Frequent testing is the best tool we have to defect detect infection before it spreads. The point of this approach is catching the asymptomatic positive cases as soon as possible. That's what really makes the biggest difference partita and may note with every positive test result we can quickly provide the quarantine support a person needs and mobilize contact tracing efforts to find the people who might have been unintentionally and unknowingly infected. You can learn more at healthy Davis together.org, and I will share that I've had to test myself, and also to date the UC Davis labs have processed over 100,000 tests. I'm sure that's the, the sum total of answers for how we saw this pandemic, but I do believe that it is a key tool in this fight enforcement and people who don't want to comply are are a much bigger issue than I think is is really being acknowledged. Let's take a moment for music and we'll be right back with our interview. Well the world went on pause during the great interruption, the pandemic brought things like climate crisis and the need for mitigation work didn't just miraculously disappear. Joining me today is Aaron Donnelly Marino executive director of tree Davis, which works to caretake and expand our urban forest thanks so much for joining me today Aaron. I'm delighted to be with you autumn thanks for having me. So, next year will be tree Davis is 30th anniversary, which is really exciting. Let's start off. Tell us a little bit about yourself how you got involved kind of what called you to do this work. Sure. Absolutely. I'll tell you a little bit about tree Davis first. So, the mission of tree Davis is to enhance and expand the urban forest by teaching the people of our community to plant and care for trees. And as you mentioned, almost 30 years ago, tree Davis was created by a collection of very thoughtful and visionary people here in the city of Davis including at the time city forster Bob Cordray, Lois Wolk and city manager john Meyer amongst others. And it's a wonderful public nonprofit partnership where basically we help the city's dollars go farther to care for our green spaces across the city. And the mission of tree Davis really called out to me. I was invited to join tree Davis in 2017. And the reason I'm called to this work is because I believe inside of each one of us. Tree Davis is a really deep connection to our earth. And when we can find that stillness and that calmness and feel that connection with the earth. That's also a connection we can share with each other. So our motto at tree Davis is planting trees and growing community and my personal my life work is connecting people to natural resources and through that connecting people to each other. So I feel very, very fortunate to have this role at tree Davis and to have this opportunity to bring people together in appreciation of the really special green spaces that we have here in yellow county because it really is a very unique place both in California and across the country. I grew up in a very urban environment down in Southern California. And so in in seeking a place to call my forever home. I was really eager to find a place left this that has an abundant green belt system. Wonderful parks, open space agricultural land surrounding us. So yeah, it's my my personal connection to the earth and to the community called me to tree Davis, very nice. You know you, you and I share something in that we both run an organization that has Davis in the title and yet both organizations served the region. So tree Davis, tell us a little bit about the work you do in other communities to I know a lot of your projects are grant funded. I know you use volunteers extensively. And I know that there's had to have been a lot of disruption to your work during the time of the pandemic so tell us more about that. And that on all counts, autumn, even though our name is tree Davis we do work yellow county wide over the last few years we have implemented Cal fire grant programs in West Sacramento and in partnership with the Woodland tree foundation in Woodland. And historically we've also done a lot of work in winters and asparto. So really in the long run tree Davis is considering a name change. Because we don't just work in Davis we work all across the county and sometimes beyond the county. And but we're very, very lucky to have strong partnerships as I mentioned with other local organizations. David Wilkinson is the board president of the Woodland tree foundation and we really value our partnership with our neighbors to the north. We're also very happy to be connected with the Puda Creek Council, and really think about our urban spaces being nested in this larger yellow basin watershed in which we live. You know we've got this amazing resource in Puda Creek, and all of our urban spaces drain and connect to Puda Creek so thinking about how our urban forest. And across watershed boundaries, and, as I said earlier can access to each other. And in a normal year tree Davis would hold volunteer events, just about 40 weekends of the year most weekends of the year. Wow. Yeah. Saturdays are usually very, very busy days for us, and we would normally have a gathering of anywhere from 20 to 40 volunteers. We would fan out across our work area whether that was in Davis or neighboring communities, and work in implementing our own grants or working in partnership with municipalities planting city trees on behalf of the city of Woodland or the city of Davis, or the city of West Sacramento. And so that that was our bread and butter historically since 1992 that has been our model, and then 2020 came. And as with everyone else on the planet, we have had to take really necessary reevaluation of how we do things so in some ways you know this has been an extreme inconvenience. But it's also been a real opportunity for us to take a higher level view of what we do and think about what what our service delivery to our community can be beyond just planting trees. What does that look like what does that look like in the last year. Yeah. So we've tried to do more online engagement we've had some social media campaigns where we've encouraged the community to really take time to observe nature where they're sheltering in place whether that is their backyard whether that is the nearby or whether it's the park that they're spending time at. And we've encouraged the community to use the hashtag beauty in Yolo, and, and really just appreciate and delve into these natural spaces that we have we're so lucky. Have, you know your average Davis citizen has a park or a green belt or a green public space within a half mile of where they reside. And that's that's pretty special to be able to walk to a public space no matter where you live and enjoy greenery. And that's a really wonderful privilege that we have here. So anyway, we've really encouraged folks to be aware of that privilege and really appreciate the benefits of the natural spaces that are around us and that brings me to the mental health benefits of being connected to nature. So there are a lot of physical benefits you know people are more likely to be out and exercising and running and having cleaner air and things like that, in green spaces, but just the, the opportunity to have a reflective mental space is very restorative. It's very restorative, especially when, you know, we've got COVID going on we're all sort of in this cortisol fighter flights space a lot of the time wondering what is going to happen to me what is going to happen to my community. I think we're all sort of burned out in that adrenaline cortisol space, and being able to intentionally step out of that space, and be in nature, and breathe and be present is really one of the greatest gifts, we can give ourselves and getting through this tough time. And so that was sort of the aim of our social media campaign beauty in Yolo to get people to really lean into that space. And we've also found ways for folks to continue to connect in community virtually. And we were so honored autumn that you attended our art and sip in the fall. And I want to tell you I'd never done that before and and doing it virtually I thought how is this going to work but it was great art supplies and wine showed up on my doorstep and then I got to see you and other lovely folks online was fun. Yeah, yeah. So that was an opportunity to gather in community virtually and paint trees and have some conversation and appreciate the value of trees. And we're looking into doing more of these events as we move forward as more of a free benefit. And so being able to lean a little bit more into the arts space arts in connection with nature is a goal of ours moving forward. And I mentioned that we're considering a name chain. And so part of that is the geographic scope we don't just work in Davis, but we're also looking at reimagining the space in which we plant trees. And I say that what I mean is thinking about the opportunities for stormwater capture to be able to provide water for trees, thinking about the understory environment in which trees are planted. You know, turf grass is great for some park areas but we have a lot of opportunity in our public green spaces across town where we can provide pollinator habitat. We have native plants in the understory that are both more visually appealing and have much more habitat value than grass and turf. And it can also be cheaper from a maintenance standpoint. So tree Davis is looking to move into what we're calling climate ready landscapes, and so this is beyond. It includes trees but in addition to trees we're thinking about the space where trees will be planted and how we can better design and better plant and provide habitat in these areas. One of the problems, a big fan of trees, but one of the problems in public spaces with street trees especially is when the roots start to become invasive and can cause problems. I know that has a lot to do with proper tree selection, the first place and I know that the build out of a lot of the housing tracks and Davis from the 60s and the 70s didn't perhaps take that into account. So there's that piece. I've also heard you speak before about, and you just did a really good job and you were reading the benefits of trees and green space in our community and our, our good fortune at that. But when trees are absent. I know that the heat in the surrounding area can go up proportionally. And I know that trees are less prevalent in low income areas can you speak to that for a minute. Absolutely. So this ties to our program that we concluded year and a half ago in West Sacramento. West Sacramento is our wonderful neighbors to the east, but there are portions of the community that are under canopy. And there's definitely correlation, both with income level and with race. And it tends to be that these under canopy communities tend to have more folks of color, and they tend to be lower income folks. And so we worked really hard to come in and offer the benefits of canopy to this community in a really authentic and grassroots way. So we started in the public school system, teaching students about the benefits of trees, and then having students have the opportunity to bring that information home to their parents. And so instead of saying hey lucky you you get a tree now you have one more thing to do with your life and watering this tree and trying to keep this tree, folks were coming to us and requesting trees. We're making sure that we weren't pushing our services on anybody. And we were very, very fortunate that through our partnerships with the Washington Unified School District and the city of West Sacramento, we were able to plant 1000 trees in these under canopy neighborhoods and help folks deal with the urban heat island effect that is so very intense here in our Central Valley. You know the difference between a shaded hardscape and an unshaded greenscape can be as much as 60 degrees Fahrenheit. And that's the difference between being able to have your kids play outside and not play outside or being able to stand and talk to your neighbor or not stand and talk to your neighbor. And so, yeah, part of the idea is being able to mitigate the urban heat island effect and provide micro climates in these areas where people can more comfortably spend time outside and with each other. And I love your approach to that too because I think so often any of us who are doing social change work it's very careful that we not try to impose our agenda and our wishes on communities who may not want them or who may see them as as a burden so Absolutely. I really appreciate the sensibility you brought to that and 60 degrees that's a that's kind of a mind boggling statistic actually it is. I melt. I'll be perfectly honest past about 90 degrees I melt. And so when we get the really hot temperatures in the summer on indoors a lot and that's just how it is, but I have a 60 foot turkey oak in my front yard that share higher house. And it's kind of a pain during bird season but I I derive great benefit from it the rest of the year including that shade so Absolutely. Well, what so lots of pivots lots of things you haven't been able to do lots of ways you're retooling as you think about the months ahead as we continue to move through the pandemic. What do you see on the horizon for for Tree Davis. Yeah. So we're currently implementing a grant with the city of Davis that we call community canopy. And this is an effort to plant 1000 trees across the city of Davis, and also to work with the city in writing a 40 year urban forest management plan to make sure that these trees that are planted are cared for for the duration of their lives and beyond. So I described the program in West Sacramento and we're doing that very same program now here in Davis. So there's opportunity for all of your listeners if anybody would like a tree. Please visit our website of bww dot tree Davis dot org, and you can request a free tree for your front yard, and the city and tree Davis work together to provide establishment care for the first three years of that tree. And we also provide a lot of education on caring for that tree as it matures. So, even though we have not been able to hold the large volunteer events to plant these trees, what we've done is we've pivoted into a space where we're working directly with homeowners as volunteers. So if someone would like to obtain a tree they contact us, we set up a site visit at their home in a masked and socially distant Corvid safe manner. And we work with that homeowner to select the right tree for the right place, taking into consideration tree species that are going to be adapted to the future climate conditions of the Central Valley. And we work directly with that homeowner if they would like to plant the tree we instruct them in the process of doing that. If it's someone that doesn't have the physical ability to do that then we plant the tree for them. We moved from these larger scale events to working more on a one on one basis with homeowners and we're going to continue doing that throughout 2021, and in the first quarter of 2022. We have a little bit less than 500 trees left to plant so please call us today if you would like a tree. And what kind of trees are we are we talking about what kind of varieties of trees. So I worked with a panel of experts both from US Forest Service UC Davis and Arborists at the municipal level to provide a species palette of about 20 different species that are both adapted to the projected climate conditions of our region, and so fit the bill in terms of a good municipal urban fit. So earlier autumn you mentioned invasive roots and things like that so we've won our best to eliminate species that are liability trees, both in terms of roots and in terms of limb drop and branching So some of the species on our list include red push pistach, European hackberry which is not the same as the Chinese hackberry that's the one that the aphids like we're not planting that one. We're also doing Oklahoma redbud, White Shield Osage Orange and a suite of others we have the list on our website. And this is a good mix of large canopy shade trees that are from more in parks and larger wider open spaces, and also medium sized trees that fit well in the city's easement space on folks property next to the sidewalk. So we have a variety of sizes. Well, we are out of time I want to thank you so much for joining us today that I've been speaking with Aaron Donnelly Marino Executive Director of Tree Davis Aaron one more time let's give the website and maybe an email or a phone number where people can get those trees and get more information. Absolutely. So one more time, the website is www.treedavis.org and our our phone number is also on that website. So you can find the phone number there as well. Thanks so much for joining me today. Thank you so much, Autumn. It's been a real pleasure. I appreciate it.