SPOTLIGHT: Watsonville Wetlands Watch

Urban Forest

Watsonville Wetlands Watch adds greenery
to Pajaro Middle School and beyond.
By Erik Chalhoub

On a recent Saturday, more than 100 people, many of them children, gather at Pajaro Middle School to get their hands dirty.

The volunteers are there to add green to the campus by planting trees and other plants, as well as building garden beds and creating an orchard. At the end of the day, they are able to take a tree home to plant in their yard, stretching out the green canopy beyond the campus.

The work is part of the Watsonville Community Forest Project, organized by Watsonville Wetlands Watch. The project is an effort to plant thousands of trees throughout Pajaro and Watsonville to increase its tree canopy.

“Trees are a tremendous tool for climate adaptation,” says Watsonville Wetlands Watch Executive Director Jonathan Pilch. “It’s one of the best tools we have to create shade, improve air quality and beautify the community

in a way that makes it a much healthier place to live.”

Trees now taking root in the ground at Pajaro Middle School are ornamental and fruit varieties, including ginkgos, African fern pines and many different types of citrus.

Planting at Pajaro Middle began in late 2022. The trees and shrubs installed around the athletic field serve as a windbreak between the school and the adjacent farmland. That effort halted after the March 2023 flood washed

through Pajaro, forcing the school’s closure for more than a year.

Fortunately, many of the trees survived the disaster, Pilch says, and volunteers got back to work. Thanks to a grant from Cal Fire, Watsonville Wetlands Watch staff gathered input from students and their families, along

with school teachers and staff, to help design the next phase of the greening project. A grant from the Community Foundation for Monterey County then helped implement that design.

This project was also funded by Monterey County Gives! in 2024, which helped the nonprofit pay youth and young adult interns to maintain the trees and plants.

The Big Idea for MCGives! is to expand this project beyond the confines of the campus and into Pajaro’s neighborhoods. Residents and businesses are encouraged to adopt a tree and help boost the urban forest. For

information, visit Watsonvillecommunityforest.org.