{"id":16122,"date":"2026-06-18T21:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=16122"},"modified":"2026-06-18T21:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:34:11","slug":"meet-the-locals-sitting-with-or-in-pasadena-unified-school-district-trees-marked-for-removal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=16122","title":{"rendered":"Meet the locals sitting with (or in) Pasadena Unified School District trees marked for removal"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, June 15, Paloma Muniz-Ochoa spent all day sitting up among the branches of a coast live oak tucked in the corner of a Pasadena Unified School District main office parking lot.<\/p>

Read more Check out relics of saints, Abraham Lincoln\u2019s signature and more in the Diocese of Orange\u2019s new traveling exhibit<\/a><\/p>\n

Two days later, the Pasadena native sat at the foot of the same tree alongside fellow tree advocate Sabine Hoppner.<\/p>\n

Muniz-Ochoa, Hoppner and Hoppner\u2019s dog Fanny all sported red dots in solidarity with their arboreal brethren whose trunks have been marked with a similar dot denoting which trees will be removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s an activist,\u201d Hoppner said of Fanny.<\/p>\n

A \u201cNo trespassing\u201d sign that had been put up since Muniz-Ochoa\u2019s day in the tree stood feet from where they sat in the shade on a blistering Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Workers in orange vests and helmets walked around the parking as fences were being set up around other trees on the main office property.<\/p>\n

Late last month, district officials announced its plan to removal contaminated soil from 11 district sites in the wake of soil tests done after the Eaton fire. In consultation with the Department of Toxic Substances Control, it came to the decision that it would need to remove about 200 trees as part of the remediation. The plan is to conduct all the removal and remediation work over the summer before students return for the new school year.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for local environmental advocates to ask why no other alternatives were being used before leveling more of a local tree canopy significantly diminished by the Eaton fire and subsequent debris removal work.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

PUSD said it would be planting replacement trees for those removed during the work, but that answer did not satisfy advocates who said the new trees would take years to provide the benefits of their removed predecessors.<\/p>\n

Hoppner, a local arborist who has lived in the area for 30 years, got a call from Nina Raj, a fellow environmental advocate, who said tree removal had begun earlier than they expected. Hoppner joined Raj at the work site to prevent workers from leveling trees. Hoppner and Raj have returned multiple days to sit with trees, sometimes chaining themselves to the trunk.<\/p>\n