The Pasadena Unified School District said on Wednesday that community and city pushback over the district’s efforts to remove trees on ground contaminated by toxins from the Eaton fire could delay ‘critical timelines’ to fully restore campuses by the start of the school year.
Local advocates say more than 70 trees at PUSD sites have been cut down in the first month of what is the district’s summer-long plan to remove trees. Removals are part of the district’s effort to remediate soil contaminated by last year’s disastrous fire. The initial plan to remove 193 trees was reduced after action by the PUSD Board of Education.
- Also see: She lived in a redwood tree for 738 days. Pasadena Unified’s tree removals have her attention
But local advocates say that step was not enough to address the environmental disaster playing out in a region whose tree canopy was comprehensively destroyed by the Eaton fire and subsequent debris removal and rebuild work. A group of advocates have tied themselves to and sat in trees to try and stop the removals.
The city of Pasadena has posted stop-work orders, citing the district’s “continued removal activity” at seven district campuses. The city’s Tree Protection Ordinance requires a permit to remove a protected tree.
“The city notified PUSD that they are subject to our Tree Protection Ordinance, which requires a permit to remove a protected tree,” city of Pasadena spokesperson Lisa Derderian said in a statement on Tuesday. “PUSD continued removal activity at various sites which has resulted in the posting of stop work orders. The city must conduct inspections to determine what trees are protected and therefore subject to the ordinance. The city has not been granted permission to conduct the inspections, and the stop-work orders remain in effect.”
District officials said Wednesday that removal and replacement of the impacted soil is needed to ensure safety at campuses, and wrote in a letter to the city that the project is on a “critical timelines” for the start of the 2026/27 school year.
“PUSD is committed to preserving as many native and mature trees as possible, and has been working with arborists and environmental consultants to identify trees that can remain in place throughout this process,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, in some locations, affected infrastructure, trees, and vegetation must still be removed and replaced as part of protective actions in order to safely remove the contaminated soil during our limited timeframe.”
That led to the district’s suggestion of a potential delay.
“Every day this work is delayed is a day our children and staff remain further from safely returning to fully restored campuses that must reopen for the 2026-2027 school year,” according to a statement from a district spokesperson. “We understand and share our community’s love for these campuses and their trees, and we do not take any tree removal lightly.”
In the district’s letter to the city, district attorneys representing the district in the removal project, said the city’s stop-work orders “do not identify what the specific violation purportedly is, when the specific violation supposedly occurred or who observed the alleged violation. This deprives the District of its due process rights to be specifically notified of what the District is claimed to have done.”
District leaders first announced the tree removal effort in May, citing a project mandated by the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control, while students are out of school, and seeking to be done by the time school begins again in the fall, officials said, looking to reassure concerned neighbors about the project.
“Any time we’re moving toxic waste there is concern from the community on how we do that,” Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said at the time. “We want to reassure the community that it’s totally safe and regulated and nothing will be flying out of the tucks on the truck routes.”
District officials couched the $6.6 million effort in terms of “restoring outdoor learning spaces” at 11 campuses and other sites impacted by the Eaton fire in January 2025.
Testing last year found fire-related toxins in soil at the sites, which exceeded state screening levels; a finding that prompted the district to close off the areas where the contamination was found.
The substances detected in these initial tests included lead, arsenic, chromium, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and dioxins/furans.
The sample collected with the highest level of lead was taken from Blair High School at 253 milligrams per kilogram. That sample was taken from next to the tennis courts near Garfield Avenue, next to the 110 Freeway.
Blanco noted in May that it would take ingestion of the toxins to be the most hazardous.
oil issues have become a point of concern in the area, not just at schools but in residential areas, as parcels and lots are cleared from the ash and debris left in the wake of the fire, which destroyed more than 9,000 structures in Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre.
That concern fueled concerns over how much soil the Army Corps of Engineers was removing as they cleared sites, and in how much was being removed under this summer’s project at the district.
Michael Dunning, director of Facilities, Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation, said the project this summer would remove up to 4 feet deep of soil.
Work over the summer was planned at:
Work over the summer will be at:
• Blair High School.
• Former Cleveland Elementary School site.
• Field Elementary.
• Franklin Elementary site.
• Jefferson Dual Language Children’s Center.
• John Muir High School Early College Magnet.
• Longfellow Elementary Magnet, Octavia E. Butler Magnet.
• San Rafael Elementary.
• Washington Elementary STEM Magnet School.
• PUSD Education Center.
All told, 5,000 trees are on district sites. Blanco said the goal is to replace the trees with new shaded canopies.
The suggestion of a delayed school year over the tree issue comes as Julia Butterfly Hill, a nationally renowned environmental activist, will be headlining a community fundraiser event, Wednesday, July 8, as local advocates continue to fight the district’s tree removal plan.
In response, crews have set up fences around trees marked for removal to prevent incursions by advocates. Hill gained national notoriety when she lived in a California redwood tree for 738 days between 1997 and 1999.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.