Thursday, October 15, 2026

Altadena’s TreeFest Returns With Free Citrus and Native Saplings

Organizers say the 2025 debut at Odyssey Charter School sent more than 330 trees home with residents

Last November, more than 330 young trees left an Altadena schoolyard with the residents who came for them, according to organizers. 

On Saturday, November 7, the ReGreen Altadena TreeFest returns to the same school, Odyssey Charter School, with free citrus trees and California native saplings, according to the event’s flyer. The giveaway is part of ReGreen Altadena, an effort to replant tree canopy lost in the January 2025 Eaton Fire. In a news release last year, CSUN described the initiative as combining workforce training for would-be arborists and naturalists with community education about trees after the fire. 

This year’s flyer lists free saplings and native plant seeds, expert advice on tree health and care, and information on firescaping and California native plants. Landscape design consultations will also be offered, and the flyer tells attendees to watch for a chance to sign up. Local organizations will set up exhibits. 

The flyer directs readers to AltadenaWILD’s website and carries the logos of Altadena Green and California State University, Northridge’s Urban Forestry Project. 

The first TreeFest, held November 8, 2025, was co-hosted by CSUN, AltadenaWILD and Outward Bound Adventures, according to a CSUN news release. Fire-affected residents could take home free two- to five-gallon saplings, seedlings and seeds. In a December update on its fundraising page, the CSUN project reported that more than 330 trees went to Altadena residents that day. About 100 residents also requested larger trees, which were delivered to their properties over the rest of the month, the update said. 

AltadenaWILD is also among the 2026 recipients of AARP Community Challenge grants. AARP, which announced the grants June 24, describes the Altadena project as community workshops, tree care and planting support to restore the local canopy. AltadenaWILD’s website says the grant project was set to kick off July 18 with a community workshop on choosing trees. 

“The Altadena Wildfire Tree Recovery Program combines local knowledge with university expertise,” Crist Khachikian, then a CSUN civil engineering professor and Altadena resident who helped organize the 2025 event, said in last year’s news release. 

“We are taking the first steps in rebuilding our lost tree canopy,” Michael Bicay, then identified as AltadenaWILD’s president, said in remarks published last fall in a column by Altadena resident Ellen Snortland.

Snortland wrote that her property once held orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit trees, among others. “I hope to get a three- to five-foot-tall, 15-gallon lime tree from ReGreen Altadena,” she wrote. 

The ReGreen Altadena 2nd Annual TreeFest takes place Saturday, November 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Odyssey Charter School, 725 West Altadena Drive, Altadena. The citrus trees, saplings and native plant seeds are free, according to the flyer. For more, visit altadenawild.org or follow @altadenawild. 

Snortland wrote that she had come to accept that she would not live to see Altadena’s canopy fully restored, but could picture “enough trees to provide shade and fruit within my lifetime.”