TREE PEOPLE; VOLUNTEERS SPRUCE UP AREA IN SHERMAN OAKS.

Byline: Melissa Schmitt Daily News Staff Writer

Thirteen-year-old Shea Flynn and 82-year-old Edward Mazzarino feel a stronger bond with Sherman Oaks today.

Both left a little of themselves rooted under the Ventura Boulevard cement Sunday afternoon.

Shea gave her time and energy planting a Chinese tallow tree. Mazzarino gave another tree his time, energy - and his late wife's name.

For more than four hours Sunday, Mazzarino, Flynn and more than 100 other volunteers planted 15 trees along Ventura Boulevard from Woodman Avenue to Ventura Canyon Avenue as part of a community beautification and spirit-building project.

By day's end both felt a special bond to Sherman Oaks.

``I, like, helped out today and now there's a part of me in Sherman Oaks, and that's kind of cool,'' Flynn said Sunday afternoon.

Mazzarino, who has lived in Sherman Oaks about one block from Woodman since 1947, stuck around until the bitter end Sunday.

He fondly named the tree he planted Connie, for his wife of 51 years, who died nine years ago.

``I'll walk by her every night,'' Mazzarino said, explaining he walks home each evening after eating dinner and having a glass of wine.

Sunday afternoon's tree planting was organized jointly by the Sherman Oaks Town Council and TreePeople.

The planting was paid for by a grant from the state Department of Forestry.

Jim Summers, urban forestry manager for TreePeople, explained such projects are organized to strengthen communities environmentally and socially.

The 15 Chinese tallow trees planted Sunday were purchased and planted through an extensive communitywide effort, Summers said.

``This happened because the homeowners and business owners wanted it to happen.''

TreePeople organized 25 years ago to assist citizens in taking care of the environment.

The idea was to help citizens build an ``urban forest,'' said TreePeople volunteer Carli Simons.

All trees planted during TreePeople plantings are smog resistant and drought tolerant, Simons said.

Sandra Hoffman, an English teacher and adviser at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, a city magnet school in Reseda, brought 26 students to the planting.

``Not only do we have bright and willing students, we're also very concerned about keeping the world together past 2000,'' Hoffman said.

For three hours, Hoffman, Vincent Hua, 17, Roth Sam, 18, and 24 classmates dug up dirt, pounded stakes, planted trees and moved gravel. When they were finished there was cleanup work to be done.

But the boys said giving up their Sunday to work didn't seem like much of a sacrifice in the end.

``This is actually fun,'' Hua said. ``I liked it.''

The trees planted Sunday joined Mexican fan palms planted by the city of Los Angeles two weeks ago.

The palms and the Chinese tallows will be cared for by four residents who have volunteered their time and effort to water the trees and make sure their supports remain intact.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Volunteers young and old plant trees Sunday along a stretch of Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.

(2) Students from Notre Dame High School and Sherman Oaks property owners lower a Chinese tallow tree into the ground.

Terri Thuente/Daily News