Volunteers to plant 36 trees in downtown Fresno next Friday

Downtown Fresno is getting 36 new trees next Friday, and the planting comes with a bigger promise than a one-day volunteer photo op: a $3 million air-district investment meant to add shade, soften hard streets, and push measurable greening into Central Fresno.

Tree Fresno, the City of Fresno and the County of Fresno will host the Arbor Day planting at Fresno County Courthouse Park, 1100 Van Ness Ave., from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on April 24. Volunteers are being asked to arrive early. The event also falls during Tree Fresno’s 40th Anniversary Week, which runs April 18 to April 25, giving the downtown planting both a civic and milestone role.

The 36 trees are part of a broader funding stream from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. Valley Air District materials say Tree Fresno is working under two grants for Urban Greening and Vegetative Barriers totaling more than $3.2 million, with a longer-term goal of planting more than 2,500 large-canopy, drought-tolerant shade trees throughout South Central Fresno before April 2027. Earlier district materials show the project began with two $1 million proposals, and in 2023 the district said Tree Fresno had received $2 million for the South Central Fresno effort.

That makes the courthouse planting more than symbolic. In downtown Fresno, trees can do immediate work at street level by adding shade, improving walkability, and making a dense urban core more livable during hot stretches and poor air days. The location also matters: Courthouse Park sits in one of the city’s most visible public spaces, where a newly planted canopy will be seen by courthouse workers, park visitors, and people moving through the downtown corridor every day.

Tree Fresno says it has spent four decades planting, caring for, and inspiring a greener Fresno, and says it has planted more than 53,000 trees across neighborhoods, schools, parks, and busy roadways. The city’s Public Works Department also ties street trees and landscaping to neighborhood revitalization, economic development, public safety, sustainability, and air quality, which is why a 36-tree volunteer event carries more weight than its count alone. It is the first visible step in a larger plan to cool and green parts of Fresno that feel the heat and pollution most sharply.