Protests and lawsuits: Activists climb pine amid showdown over Pasadena school district's tree removals

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Set us as preferred Two teenagers, aided by an arborist, climbed a 100-foot pine tree outside a Pasadena high school Saturday to dramatize a campaign to stop a soil remediation project calling for the removal of nearly 200 trees at several school campuses.Friends of PUSD Trees, a group formed to oppose the tree removal, held a low-key protest in front of Muir High School, holding up signs that drew honks from passing motorists and chanting to the beat of two drums.But the central action was a quiet, largely out-of-view demonstration of positive human interaction with trees.

Several members equipped with climbing harnesses clambered up a small tree on the school’s front lawn and dangled from its limbs on climbing ropes.“It really gives you a sense of being one with nature even though Lincoln Avenue is right there,” said Friends co-founder Jessica Richards, interviewed by phone as she sat 25 feet above ground in the carob tree.“You feel like you’re far away from the urban environment when you’re up in a tree.

It’s really special.”The relaxed mood of Saturday’s event provided an upbeat counterpoint to a community uprising that has included the classic tactic of an activist chaining herself to a tree to prevent its felling and has now drawn the city of Pasadena and the Pasadena Unified School District into a legal dispute.The battle harks back to the January 2025 Eaton fire which spread toxic ash over swaths of Altadena and Pasadena.According to a timetable posted on the district’s website, following the recommendation of the city’s Public Health Department, the district conducted soil testing at its 34 campuses and restricted access to areas at several where excessive levels of contamination, principally lead, were detected.

The district entered into a voluntary cleanup agreement with the California Depart...