July 2026 Newsletter

Outstanding Oak Workshop

We had a spectacular time this past weekend at our native Oak workshop led by one of our wonderful California Climate Action Fellows, Becca!  Every attendee was engaged, contributing to the conversation and sharing their knowledge about these native trees that do so much for our wild spaces. We gave away 4 Oak trees to eager homeowners ready to support an entire ecosystem in their yards by planting an Oak sapling! Stay tuned for more Oak workshops on the horizon.

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EDI Team 🤝 Friendship

We love any excuse to get everyone from the EDI team together. 💚 Every other staff meeting, we make sure to meet in-person so we can see each other and connect on a more personal level! Earlier this month, our Executive Director, Ida, hosted a brunch and had the team over for treats and some quality time together. This photo is from our last staff meeting - if you ever see us together at a coffee shop, please say hi! It truly is invaluable to find friendship in the workplace. We love this team!!!

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Native Plant Sale on the Horizon!

We are a few months out but always get so excited to announce when our annual Native Plant Sale is officially on the calendar! Save the date for Saturday, October 10th, and join us at Crestridge Ecological Reserve to check some native plants off your wishlist! Don't forget, EDI members gain early access to the plant sale, 10% off their purchase, and volunteers receive 20% off their purchase!

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Growth Within EDI

You may have heard but we have a new Executive Director! Please join us in welcoming Ida! You may know and love her as our (now former) Conservation Director, and it fills us with joy to share she became EDI's Executive Director officially in June! Ida is dedicated and driven, inspiring us to do our very best to make a positive impact with everything we do for the betterment of our communities and our planet. We can't wait to see all the incredible growth that's ahead with her at the helm of EDI! (Photo credit to Tim Stahl of Stahl Photographics)

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Departments Collide

Continuing with highlighting growth within EDI, we are also thrilled to share that Erin Francisco (left), our Education Coordinator, has gained a second title as our Conservation Technician! Erin has been with EDI since 2023 and has been an incredible asset to our organization. We are so excited for her to be supporting both departments! She has already proven to be instrumental in the success of our education department, supporting our Education Director, Ashley (right), and we cannot wait to see how she excels within our conservation team, too!