Whereas, if you go to areas that are historically underserved, or some BIPOC communities, or lower income areas, there's a lot less green space, and there's a lot less tree cover. “Generally, that's because their canopy is more developed and well maintained. “If you've ever walked into an affluent neighborhood, what's the first thing you noticed? It feels cooler it feels safer it feels nicer,” he says. An abundance of trees, he notes, leads to feelings of relaxation and decreased stress. Vejar says there exists a well-researched positive correlation between the tree canopy, social health, and mental health. Trees also filter out air particulates that can cause pollution and sequester carbon, slowing climate change. This effect makes the area around them more hospitable for humans and other species. Trees retain a large amount of water and transpire that water into the air, thereby cooling it. Trees offset the urban heat island effect, created when the sun radiates off hard surfaces such as pavement and increases the ambient temperature.
“If trees did nothing else but give us shade, they'd still be worthwhile,” he says. Most obviously, the shade of Caltech’s 3,000-some trees protects the community from the unrelenting California sun. There is certainly a valuable role for non-native species in and around our campus and, honestly, anywhere in California.”Īsk Vejar to name the benefits of planting and protecting trees and he will provide a long list. We have a lot of species from the more arid Mediterranean climates-Australian trees, Southeast Asian trees, trees that would do well in our climate as it worsens, as it gets hotter and as water becomes more restrictive. “Having said that, I've come around on the idea that there is a role for non-native species that are climate-adaptive, as long as they are non-invasive. They're little oases for our native urban wildlife that has been here far before us, and hopefully will be here long after us,” Vejar says.
“I used to work for a native landscaping company, and that galvanized me toward planting natives all around us, because natives are so important for our local ecology, our local pollinators. Alongside them grow imports like the iconic towering palm trees that have come to symbolize Southern California, the ubiquitous and fast-growing eucalyptuses, and the South American jacarandas that litter campus with purple springtime confetti. Other native plants, like the coast live oak, offer habitat for an array of other local species. (See all of them on Vejar’s interactive map of every tree on campus, and find him as on Instagram.) Giant Engelmann oaks, such as the one just northwest of the Red Door Cafe, have stood over this land for centuries. Like so much of greater Los Angeles, Caltech is an amalgam of imported trees and native flora. Laboratories of Applied Physics, Vejar invites a group of about 20 students to see Caltech through his eyes. On an arid May afternoon, in the broad shade of a coast live oak that stands next to the Thomas J. If there was a giant whale next to you, you'd be saying, ‘Oh my God, what an amazing thing.’" “You can be walking under the trees but not even notice them, which is crazy because there are these gigantic, living, dynamic life forms all around us that are tremendous.
“There's this concept called ‘plant blindness,’” he says. Through outreach efforts like the newly formed Caltech Tree Corps (CTC), Vejar also promotes the value of trees to the greater community and helps everyone see the majesty all around them. For the past three years, he has been Caltech’s arborist, the person charged to care for Caltech’s distinct population of trees and plan for the future campus treescape. These days, Vejar can still be found in the trees, but those next to Moore Walk rather than the Mad Tea Party. “It's quite a surreal thing to be climbing in the middle of Thunder Mountain at midnight, with all the rides going around and all the animatronics going off,” he says. All the while, empty rides kept on running so technical crews could ensure they were safe for the next day’s guests. In places that could not be reached by platforms or lifts, he climbed trees by hand. In the dark of night, when the paying customers had left the happiest place on Earth, Vejar and the rest of the arborist crew pruned trees around the park and checked for hazards like limbs about to fall. Here is one of the first things you’ll learn about Bryan Vejar: he used to climb trees at Disneyland.
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