Tree advocates return, as city of Pasadena considers litigation over school district’s soil cleanup
Protesters gathered outside John Muir High School Monday, July 13, as local advocates and the Pasadena Unified School District continue to clash on the controversial plan to remediate contaminated soil, which includes removing trees.
After meeting in a special closed session last, week, Pasadena City Council will once again be discussing the consideration of litigation Monday night related to the city’s Tree Protection Ordinance applying to the district’s work.
Protesters put up signs facing Lincoln Avenue in front of Muir that read “PUSD stop cutting trees,” and “Kids need trees.”
Tree supporters posted signs at John Muir High School in Pasadena on Monday, July 13, 2026, want the PUSD to stop cutting down trees. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
PUSD has claimed that the state-authorized remediation and removals are not subject to the city’s ordinance. Late last week, city inspectors were turned away by district personnel at John Muir High School before returning the following day with court approved warrants in hand.
Local tree advocate Jessica Richards said that as of Monday afternoon, no tree removals had been observed, just soil removal. Richards and other community members have been sitting in and with trees for the last month to try and stop trees from being cut down and raising awareness to the wider public.
Julia Butterfly Hill, who spent over 700 days in a 1,000-year-old coastal redwood in the 1990s, and John Quigley, who spent 71 days in Old Glory, a 400-year-old valley oak in Santa Clarita, look at a tree sitting student in a sycamore at Pasadena Unified School District where advocates are hoping to save trees from PUSD’s soil remediation plan on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The issue gained greater prominence last week when nationally renowned environmental activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill, famed for living in a California redwood for two years in the 1990s, visited Pasadena and stopped by a fundraiser event as well as multiple district sites.
For more information on the district’s plan, visit pusd.us.
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