Two teenagers, helped by an arborist, climbed a 100-foot pine tree outside a Pasadena high school Saturday to dramatize a campaign to stop a soil remediation project that called for the removal of nearly 200 trees on several school campuses.
Friends of PUSD Trees, a group formed to oppose tree removal, held a low-key protest in front of Muir Middle School, holding signs that drew honks from passing motorists and singing to the beat of two drums. But the central action was a silent, largely out of sight, demonstration of positive human interaction with trees.
Several members equipped with climbing harnesses climbed a small tree on the school's front lawn and hung from its branches with climbing ropes.
“It really gives you a feeling of being one with nature even though Lincoln Avenue is right there,” said Friends co-founder Jessica Richards, interviewed by phone while sitting 25 feet above the ground in the carob tree. “You feel like you're away from the urban environment when you're up in a tree. It's really special.”
The relaxed atmosphere of Saturday's event provided an upbeat counterpoint to a community uprising that included the classic tactic of an activist chaining herself to a tree to prevent it from being cut down and that has now dragged the city of Pasadena and the Pasadena Unified School District into a legal dispute.
A person who gave only the name “Chungus the Squirrel” and Rob Wadleigh protest at a community event against the Pasadena School District cutting down nearly 200 trees.
(Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times)
The battle dates back to the January 2025 Eaton Fire, which spread toxic ash over swaths of Altadena and Pasadena. According to a schedule posted on the district's website, following the recommendation of the city's Department of Public Health, the district conducted soil testing at its 34 campuses and restricted access to areas in several where excessive levels of contamination, primarily lead, were detected. The district entered into a voluntary cleanup agreement with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Ahead of the 2025-2026 school year, it cleaned eight campuses, leaving 11 more, including Muir and Blair high schools, to clean.
In February, the district notified DTSC of its plan to remediate the contaminated soil, during which its contractor would cut down 193 trees, including some that fall under the city's tree protection ordinance. The district said it provided plans to the city and received assurances that the project would not require permits to remove protected trees.
That collegial stance changed when residents noticed trees falling.
Nina Raj, one of the founding members of Friends of PUSD Trees, said she saw three coast oaks and one sweetgum tree cut down on the Muir campus and stopped the work by chaining herself to the next in a line of four sweetgum trees scheduled for removal. That tree is still standing with its main branches and half of its trunk cut off.
The Friends group reviewed the district's plan and found it misleading.
“It's appropriate if you want to clean up quickly and don't care about the trees,” said arborist Nick Araya. “From the beginning, they should have said that these trees were worth having around and that we should find an alternative solution.”
1. Dey De Guzman helps Sabine Hoppner attach her climbing harness at a community event Saturday in Pasadena.. (Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times) 2. Humberto Mojica speaks to people at a community event advocating against the Pasadena School District felling nearly 200 trees. (Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times) 3. Trees marked to be cut down stand at Muir High School on Saturday in Pasadena. (Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times)
Critics point to a quilt-like pattern of toxins, rather than widespread contamination, as evidence that the lead was likely present before the Eaton fires and could be treated with less urgency.
The Friends group prepared its own counterproposal. It would involve continued isolation of contaminated areas to prevent student contact and the removal of toxins through phytoremediation, an emerging technology that uses plants known to absorb toxins from the soil.
Under pressure from the community, the city reversed course, notifying the district on June 25 that the project would be subject to the tree protection ordinance and permits would be required.
City inspectors posted stop-work orders at several campuses. According to members of the Friends group, district officials took down the notices and then blocked inspectors from school property. On July 10, the city obtained a warrant in Los Angeles Superior Court to inspect district property.
Six days later, the school board voted unanimously in closed session to initiate litigation to protect against “interference” on school property and, in open session, voted 5-2 to adopt a resolution “rendering Zoning Ordinances of the City of Pasadena Inapplicable to School Sites.”
Meanwhile, the district produced a modified plan that would spare some — either 57 or 47 — of the 84 remaining uncut trees, Friends member Jennifer LaPlante said.
The Friends are not mollified.
“Fortunately, what remains are more of the large, more mature trees,” Richards said. “The ones left are worth fighting for.”
Rather than fuel the animosity, the Friends made Saturday more of an awakening than a protest.
“It’s an opportunity to come together for a celebration of trees and engage the community in experiencing trees in new ways,” Richards said.
1. Trees set to be cut down stand at Muir High School in Pasadena. (Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times) 2. Nick Araya and Paloma Minuz-Ochoa climb a tree at a community event advocating against the Pasadena School District felling nearly 200 trees. (Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times)
The ascent of a towering Aleppo pine — not one of the trees slated for removal — was a quiet and slowly paced piece de la resistance.
Araya, the arborist, outfitted Paloma Muñiz-Ochoa, 17, and Maia Atkinson, 17, then, one by one, taught them the leg technique to ascend prepositioned ropes to a branch 50 feet above ground. From there, the three continued, one branch at a time, to a vantage point within feet of the crown.
Flowers and other personal items placed by citizens who protest the removal of trees decorate a tree stump at Muir High School on Saturday in Pasadena, Calif.
(Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times)
Having achieved their goal, Muñiz-Ochoa, Atkinson and two other climbers who followed them slid down the ropes to solid ground. But they were prepared to stay overnight, or whatever it would take, to stop the removal of any more trees, Muñiz-Ochoa said.
She had already spent eight hours atop an oak tree in the district headquarters parking lot on the day she thought it might be cut and came down only when she was assured the contractors would not return.
“It took a lot of convincing to get me down, “ she said. “I’m willing to stay as long as it takes. I’m willing to keep fighting as long as it takes to ensure the safety of the trees.”
