Episode 39: Friends of the Urban Forest

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Friends of the Urban Forest Staff and Volunteers replacing cement with plants and trees to increase our green infrastructure

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“We have to be hyper-aware of social justice and environmental justice”

In this episode our featured voice is that of long time Executive Director of Friends of the Urban Forest Dan Flanagan.

This past summer and fall we experienced the triple threat of a global pandemic, economic meltdown, and catastrophic wildfires that blanketed the San Francisco Bay Area in deadly smoke and toxic air. Our urban forests are one of the most important green infrastructures we can have to help us deal with climate change and the hottest years on record. Trees in our city help us address the social and environmental justice issues facing our fellow community members in low-income neighborhoods.

The city trees help filter the air pollution, retain rainwater, provide shade and their very presence helps reduce our stress levels, blood pressure and increases our mental engagement and happiness. And trees may help lower property and violent crime. In a 2010 USDA Forest Service Study research forester Geoffrey Donovan found that "large street trees can reduce crime by signaling to a potential criminal that a neighborhood is better cared for and therefore, a criminal is more likely to be caught"

Dan Flanagan

Dan Flanagan is a seasoned leader, team-builder, fundraiser and fiscal manager, with more than two decades of service in the non-profit world. He is Executive Director of Friends of the Urban Forest. Previously, he held leadership positions at the San Francisco Urban Forestry Council, Frameline, Yosemite National Institutes, and the North Carolina Outward Bound School. Dan’s earlier career in the private sector included the position of Chairman and CEO of the Wall Street investment firm of Josephthal and Company, Inc. He earned bachelor degrees in History and French at Middlebury College and a Degree Superieur at the Universite Aix-en-Provence. He and his husband Geoff live in San Francisco.

Friends of the Urban Forest

Friends of the Urban Forest started with five men: George Williams, Brian Fewer (who had recently retired as San Francisco’s superintendent of trees), Keith Davey, Jack Spring, and Fred Smith. After the City and County of San Francisco cut funding to urban forestry in the late 1970’s, they decided to take matters into their own hands. With some leftover funding from city grant money, George Williams hired Michelle Anderson to “get something going” by organizing neighborhoods to plant and care for their own trees.

Ms. Anderson asked Isabel Wade, the Urban Forestry Consultant for the California Department of Forestry at the time, to join the five original founders and form a dedicated board. They immediately voted for officers and elected Ms. Wade as the first board president.

The newly formed organization reached out to community members to organize their neighborhoods and start planting trees. FUF’s first tree planting took place on March 7, 1981 – California’s Arbor Day – in Noe Valley. Relying entirely on volunteers, FUF planted approximately 50 trees that day in empty street-tree-basins. A Glossy Privet (Ligustrum lucidum) at 3909 24th Street was the first one planted. Celebrity Eddie Albert participated, as well as State Senator Milton Marks, Jr. whose son, Milton Marks III, later became FUF’s executive director. Please read more about the history of Friends of the Urban Forest and subscribe to their e-newsletter https://www.fuf.net/news/newsletters/#subscribe

Donation/Volunteer

You can bring more trees to our neighborhoods through supporting the Friends of the Urban Forest. By becoming a member you are helping to champion the San Francisco Urban Forest and bring more green infrastructure to our city. Help plant trees in your neighborhood and city by becoming a volunteer. For more information about volunteering please email volunteers@fuf.net

Videos

To find out more about Friends of the Urban Forest check out their videos:

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“I’ve always considered ourselves as the Lorax of San Francisco we’re the only entity that actually speaks primarily about the trees. And we’ve always focused on street trees, but we’re trying to talk about all the trees now, we really care about the whole urban forest.”

— Dan Flanagan, Executive Director, Friends of the Urban Forest

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