In 2019, Mayor Garcetti created the post of City Forest Officer within the Board of Public Works to ensure all of the City’s departments and external partners use an integrated and equitable approach to implementing the urban forestry goals outlined in L.A.’s Green New Deal (https://plan.lamayor.org/). These goals include planting 90,000 trees and increasing tree canopy by at least 50 percent by 2028 in areas with the least shade, which tend to be the City’s hottest, low-income communities. The Office of City Forest Management is responsible for spearheading the development of a citywide Urban Forest Management Plan, building on new data tools, the ongoing Street Tree Inventory and the 2018 report First Step: Developing an Urban Forest Management Plan for the City of Los Angeles.
About the City Forest Officer
Rachel Malarich has over 15 years of experience in Southern California urban forestry with a focus on urban forest management, strategic planning, and community engagement. Before her appointment as City Forest Officer, Rachel served as Assistant Director of Environmental Services for Koreatown Youth and Community Center (KYCC), where she oversaw planting of thousands of trees in underserved communities in central Los Angeles. Prior to that, she spent a decade with Tree People, including three years as Director of Forestry. She is a Certified Arborist and Tree Risk Assessor Qualified with the International Society of Arboriculture and serves on the Board of the Street Tree Seminar, the local chapter of the California Urban Forest Council.
“Trees do more than contribute to the look and feel of our neighborhoods — they are a key tool to protect vulnerable populations, improve public health, and enhance community well-being for all Angelenos. I am honored to serve our great city under the Mayor’s leadership to help manage and expand our urban forest and prepare Los Angeles to confront the rising crisis of climate change.”
Follow Rachel on Twitter:@LACityForest
Trees Planted Between January 1, 2019 - May 1, 2022:
65,000
Working towards Mayor Garcetti's Green New Deal Goal to plant 90,0000 trees!