California Tree Palette for Schoolyard Forests

This tool provides a tree palette (selection of trees) and is intended to help school districts, landscape architects, and school communities easily select trees that are appropriate for their schoolyard setting and will thrive as temperatures rise over time. The master tree palette includes all tree species suggested for California, along with detailed positive and negative attributes. In addition, a simplified tree palette for each Sunset Climate Zone is provided. Schools and districts are encouraged to use the tree lists and the included design considerations to ask informed questions as they reach out to local landscape architects, arborists, horticulturalists, and other experts to provide additional appropriate tree choices.

The tree palette draws from many sources, including local experts, agencies, and academic institutions, and was developed by Bay Tree Design and Green Schoolyards America and reviewed by Matthew Ritter, Ph.D., Professor in the Biology Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; staff at the Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute at Cal Poly; and Joe McBride, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley.