Dear [XXX],

In the wake of the wildfires that devastated our local mountain forests, communities, and neighborhoods in years past, we asked you for help and you came through for trees. With your donations to the California Emergency Fire Recovery fund (CEFR), we will be able to continue the process of preparing for the restoration work that will take place in the fire-scarred Santa Monica Mountains as well as in the Angeles National Forest – which covers the San Gabriel and Sierra Pelona Mountains. 

Our ecological restoration work in the mountains is a long-term commitment and process that assists ecosystem recovery. Controlling invading plants and removing flash fuels like non-native grasses protects against ember ignition and reduces competition for resources like water. In damaged lands, we plant site-specific native species and reinforce surviving native plant populations. 

The process of growing these young natives begins in the wild, where we harvest the seeds that will be propagated in TreePeople’s well-regulated nursery. This keeps out destructive animals and insects as well as diseases like Phytophthora (whose Greek origins translate literally to “the plant destroyer”). 

In addition to your kind donations, we received a generous grant that allowed us to purchase and start building a much-needed new greenhouse, which will make it easier to keep clean, irrigate, and ventilate the saplings within our nursery facility. It will be used to support and protect plants being raised for mountain restorations, allowing for a quarantine zone where plants can be monitored and determined viable for growth. Only two years ago, the nursery was producing around 100 plants per year – with the new greenhouse, we can produce more than 1,000 plants annually!  

We’re also investing in a steamer to clean our own soil in a pasteurization-like process that would help ensure pathogens cannot spread to or from our nursery stock. It’s a requirement of growing plants for the Angeles Forest -– managed and maintained by the US Forest Service – which has high standards and a strict benchmark for the quality of plants that are allowed to be planted, especially in wildfire-ravaged areas. We are dedicated to meeting those standards and being a continued partner to the Angeles National Forest!

Watch a video on our harvesting, growing, and planting process here. 

TreePeople’s restoration work is especially timely in response to the Woolsey fire and the 100,000 acres that will need to be restored in the Santa Monica Mountains. The ongoing improvements to our nursery facility have increased our capacity to raise much-needed seedlings. But there’s more to be done. 

Please help us to share our growing and mountain restoration processes in order to educate others about our efforts to rebuild communities and our mountain forests. And thank you for your ongoing support and donations to TreePeople. Without you, our work, our growing facilities, and our mission would not be possible. 

With Gratitude, 

XXXXX

P.S. For further information, please contact XXXXXX at XXXXX.

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