concerned,” Richards said. “It didn’t look like a dead tree to me. That’s how I got involved. I am sympathetic to concerns of public safety, but I didn’t believe it was either/or. I believed we could be collaborative and have a solution that both protected the public and preserved the tree.”

At the end of 2024, Richards mobilized fellow concerned residents, including members of the Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood Association, of which she is a member, in advocating to preserve the McDonald Park oak tree. These rallies drew attention from city officials and prompted a second arborist report, which found the tree was healthy and removal was not necessary.

On March 12, Pasadena’s Urban Forestry Advisory Committee will confirm the fate of the oak tree.

While the city has increased funding for the planting of new trees for 2025, Richards seeks to turn attention to preserving mature trees and the climate benefits they provide, such as removing carbon dioxide and pollutants from the air and providing natural shade and cooling.

Richards and fellow oak tree defenders believe the city should focus on preserving the health of protected trees instead of bulldozing them, bringing to light the number of protected trees removed in recent years. A newly formed ad hoc urban forestry task force is working to implement these changes and revise the city ordinance to ensure the majority of removals are not protected trees.

The community organizing gained support from Pasadena City Councilmembers Rick Cole and Jess Rivas, who spoke at Saturday’s rally.

“There’s clearly much room for improvement and things we can do,” Rivas said. “… We shouldn’t have to do this every time to save every tree. We’ve got to have better processes for this. I want to thank Jessica for her advocacy and really shining a light on the city’s processes.”

Rally attendees entered ideas for naming the oak tree into a raffle, which is planned to be announced at the Urban Forestry Advisory Committee’s March 12 meeting. A drum circle underneath the tree’s canopy paid tribute to the tree, honoring nature and humans’ connection to it.

Former Pasadena Beautiful President Emina Darakjy stated she attended Saturday’s rally because she is “passionate about trees” and has been planting trees in Pasadena since the 1990s.

“The single best investment a city can make is planting a tree,” Cole said. “This tree will not only be an asset to this park in this neighborhood. This tree will stand as a historic monument to a new era of taking care of our trees in Pasadena.”