More Trees Please Webinars

More Trees Please is Canopy’s adult education series of tree talks and webinars for residents, tree industry experts, community leaders, and decision-makers on the benefits of urban trees, with resources and practical tips to advocate and care for trees in their community to ensure the health and longevity of the urban forest.

Schools: The Lungs of Our Community

Thursday, June 12, 2025

10:00-11:30 a.m. | Zoom webinar

Schools and greenspaces are the heart of our communities and cities. Greening schoolyards can benefit students, their families, and the rest of the community. A well-forested campus improves the mental health of those who engage with those spaces and fights climate change, pollution, and heat islands. Transforming schools from asphalt to greenspace is a critical strategy for increasing our urban forest, cooling our neighborhoods, and improving access to open spaces — especially in dense urban communities like those in the Bay Area. But schools face complex challenges and competing priorities that can create barriers to this transformation.

Canopy invites you to Schools: The Lungs of Our Community to join the conversation about how we can work together to transform our schools into community greenspaces. Register for the 2025 webinar here.

Certified Arborists will earn 1.5 ISA CEUs upon attending the live webinar.

This program is made possible by a generous grant from the Santa Clara County Office of Sustainability.

The County of Santa Clara seal

Speakers

Elektra Fike-Data

Executive Director | Tree San Diego

Elektra Fike-Data is the Executive Director of Tree San Diego, a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to increasing the density and sustainability of San Diego’s urban forest. Overseeing an expert field team, she leads the organization in implementing projects that bring sustainable natural solutions to the urban environment. Prior to joining the nonprofit sector, Fike-Data worked as a sustainability associate in the environmental consulting industry, supporting projects in urban planning and design, sustainable business management, and climate adaptation strategy development. Elektra is an EcoDistricts Accredited Professional and holds a Masters in Sustainable Tourism.

Julia Gowin

Urban Forestry Supervisor – Northern California | CAL FIRE

Julia Gowin is the Urban Forestry Supervisor for Northern California for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and leads CAL FIRE’s Green Schoolyards Grant Program. Prior to working with CAL FIRE, she was an Urban Forestry Consultant. She is an ISA Certified Arborist and on the Executive Board for the Western Chapter ISA, holds her California Registered Professional Forester license, as well as a PhD and MS focusing on Urban Forestry. Julia is inspired by the way the natural environment impacts every part of our lives, and how our everyday actions impact our natural environment.

Milan Ninkovic

Facility & Construction Executive | Bridge Way

As an independent consultant with his firm Bridge Way, Milan provides facility & construction leadership and support to different clients throughout Northern CA. He specializes in successful delivery of client service needs within Facilities and Construction. Prior to starting his own firm, Milan was a Director of
Facilities & Construction for KIPP Public Schools Northern CA. He was responsible for delivery of Construction and Facilities Management across 21 schools in the Bay Area. Also in this role, Milan led critical project delivery including planning, design, and execution of new construction. Milan had oversight into budget development, public procurement, and implementing a CMMS system, and publishing statements of procedures.

Kira Maritano

Senior Program Manager | Trust for Public Land

Kira Maritano (she/her) is the Senior Program Manager for Bay Area Park Development at The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national non-profit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. With the belief that everyone should have access to the outdoors, TPL partners with schools across the country to transform schoolyards into vibrant green spaces for students and local communities. In addition to her work with TPL, Kira has extensive experience in landscape design and environmental education.

Facilitator

Jean-Paul Renaud

Executive Director | Canopy

Jean-Paul “JP” Renaud (he/him) was appointed as Canopy’s Executive Director by the Board of Directors in August 2023. JP has more than 15 years of public and nonprofit leadership experience at the local and international level, mainly in the communications sector. Previously, he served as Chief Communications Officer for TreePeople in Los Angeles, where he led a team that told the stories of trees and communities in order to build support for southern California’s largest environmental nonprofit.

JP graduated from the University of Miami with a double major in journalism and political science and later received his Master’s in Public Administration from FIU. After graduating from college, he worked as a journalist for more than 5 years, including at the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times.

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Event Archives

January 18, 2024 | Creating & Sustaining Denser, Greener Cities

Recordings and Resources

Speakers:

  • Dr. Erica Spotswood (she/her), Director of Science and Senior Ecologist, Second Nature
  • Paul Kephart (he/him), Founder, Principal Ecologist + Designer and ASLA, RANA
  • Alison Hicks (she/her), City Councilmember, City of Mountain View

June 13, 2023 | Growing Climate Resilient Urban Forests

Recordings and Resources

Speakers:

  • Dr. Erica Spotswood (she/her), Director of Science and Senior Ecologist, Second Nature
  • Dave Muffly (he/him), Former Senior Arborist, Apple
  • Dr. Dave Fujino (he/him), Director, California Center for Urban Horticulture

June 4, 2022 | Stewarding Trees Beyond Your Front Yard

Learn more about this in-person event (no recording available).

Speakers:

  • Mary Dateo (she/her), Canopy Board Member, horticulturist, and urban forest advocate
  • Matthew Feisthamel (he/him), City of Mountain View Forestry Coordinator

June 2, 2022 | Urban Forests: Maintenance and Management Best Practices

Recordings and Resources

Speakers:

  • Elise Willis (she/her), Master’s Student in Environmental Horticulture at the University of Florida, Graduate Assistant for the Urban Tree and Landscape Management Lab, Former Tree Programs Director at Canopy
  • Matthew Feisthamel (he/him), City of Mountain View Forestry Coordinator
  • Brittany Whitehill (she/her), City of Mountain View Associate Planner

May 20, 2021 | Greening the Outdoor Classroom: Bringing Nature to School Campuses

Recordings and Resources

Speakers:

  • Jaime Zaplatosch, Director of Green Schoolyards for Healthy Communities, Children & Nature Network
  • Lauren Freels, Landscape Architect, Bay Tree Design
  • Devon Conley, Board President, Mountain View Whisman School District

April 29, 2021 | Designing Biodiverse Urban Landscapes on Google’s Campus

Recordings and Resources

Speakers:

  • Erin Beller, Urban Ecology Program Manager for Google’s Real Estate Sustainability Team
  • Dan Stephens, Vice President and Principal of Restoration Design at H.T. Harvey and Associates
  • Drew Wenzel, a Real Estate Development Executive at Google

March 25, 2021 | Bridging Trees and Health: The Public Health Outcomes of Urban Tree Canopy

Recordings and Resources

Speakers:

  • Dr. Desiree Backman, Director of the Population Health Group within the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research at UC Davis
  • Dr. Neal Kohatsu, MD, MPH, FACPM; Chief Health Strategist of the Population Health Group within the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research at UC Davis
  • Ray Tretheway, Founder of the Sacramento Tree Foundation

October 15, 2020 | Save the Trees Please: Best Practices for the Development Plan Review Process

Recordings and Resources

Speakers:

  • Dave Dockter, Former Planning Arborist, City of Palo Alto
  • Alison Hicks, Council Member, City of Mountain View

August 20, 2020 | Landscape Resilience Lessons from the Facebook Bayfront Campus

Recordings and Resources

Speakers:

  • Lauren Swezey, Sustainability and Landscape Project Lead, Facebook
  • Rayna deNiord, Principal, CMG Landscape Architecture
  • Molly Batchelder, Consulting Arborist, SBCA Tree Consulting

July 16, 2020 | Resilient Trees for a New Climate

Recordings and Resources

Speakers:

  • Dr. Igor Lacan, Environmental Horticulture Advisor, University of California, San Francisco Bay Area Cooperative Extension
  • Dave Muffly, Former Senior Arborist, Apple
  • Dr. Erica Spotswood, Applied Ecologist, San Francisco Estuary Institute