ALTADENA RECIPROCITY PROJECT

Angel City Reciprocity advances community-based urban forestry and local wood reuse across Los Angeles. We develop and implement projects that: 

• Recover and process fire-damaged, hazard, and fallen trees into useful local lumber; 

• Reinvest proceeds and philanthropic support into tree replanting, habitat restoration, and ecological education; 

• Design and model circular systems where communities steward their own canopy, material resources, and watershed health. 

Our mission is to demonstrate that responsible tree removal, milling, and reforestation can exist in a single regenerative cycle — creating ecological, social, and economic value for the communities closest to the land. 

A resilient Los Angeles bioregion where every community manages its own living forest cycle — from planting and care, to responsible harvest and reuse, to renewed growth — ensuring that no urban or forest tree is wasted and every material becomes a story of renewal. 

Our inaugural effort, the Altadena Reciprocity Project, brings this purpose to life by: 

• Partnering with Las Flores Canyon Water Company to establish a temporary milling site for local fire and hazard logs; 

• Processing logs from Altadena and the Angeles National Forest (Eaton Fire, bark beetle mortality, hazard removals) into finished lumber for Altadena residents only; 

• Using project proceeds to fund replanting and community forestry within the same watershed. 

This place-based model turns environmental loss into local renewal and demonstrates a replicable path toward community-scale, closed-loop forestry. 

• Reciprocity: Restoration is inseparable from production. 

• Right Tree, Right Place: Guided by ecology, community, and long-term care. 

• Local Stewardship: Keep materials and benefits within the same watershed. 

• Transparency & Education: Every tree’s story is traceable and shared.

• Integration: Economy and ecology as one continuous, regenerative system.