is
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What
Berkleaf is a tool to help students and faculty alike engage with the greenery found throughout the UC Berkeley campus. With 4,207 individual trees making up 205 unique species, Berkleaf makes it easy to identify and learn about a wide variety of flora. Whether you're a time-tested tree hugger or just a budding botanist (see what I did there?), Berkleaf possesses the tools and information to expand your tree-lined horizons!
Why
Because trees are awesome, and not enough people know that.
Also, despite being one of the top forestry schools in the nation, there is a shocking lack of available literature regarding UC Berkeley's natural ecosystem. Besides a 50-year-old book and a rudimentary "Tree Trail," information on Cal's flora has remained largely inaccessible to the general public. It pains me to say, but even Stanford has more comprehensive public documentation of their trees.
We can do better.
Where
Berkleaf charts trees found within the boundaries of the main UC Berkeley campus. The trees themselves, however, span almost the entire globe! From the New Zealand tea tree to the Canary Island date palm, there are plants from 6 different continents (sorry, Antarctica). Now, if we're instead referring to the location of Berkleaf's creation, that title is held by the infamous Unit 3 Dormitories, making its origin story quite akin to that of The One Ring. Although perhaps with a few less Orcs.
When
Berkleaf began in September of 2024 with the creation of a note titled "Potential Long-Term Project." The contents of this note described a low-poly Google Earth-style map containing the location of every tree on campus, as well as a small informative pop-up to showcase their various attributes. After 16 months of development, Berkleaf officially launched on January 25, 2026 and judging by the Home page, I'd say we got pretty darn close.
Me. Or-well, this guy. ----->
Tree-lover and UC Berkeley
student, Connor Gates.
Although Berkleaf has
remained an individual passion project since the beginning, it truly wouldn't have been possible without the support of UC Berkeley professor Maggi Kelly and GIS specialist Maianna Voge, as well as the data provided by the UC Berkeley arborist team. Also, a heartfelt thanks to my father for being there to help every step of the way.
Who
Born out of an innocent curiosity toward the trees found on campus, Berkleaf rapidly expanded into a multidisciplinary project that necessitated just as much time out in the field as behind the computer. Verifying tree locations, creating 3D models, assigning symbology, and importing across GIS software are a few of the more memorable/traumatizing tasks. If you'd like to learn more about the process of creating Berkleaf, feel free to shoot me an email, and I'd be happy to go more in-depth.
TL;DR: Hundreds of hours in ArcGIS Pro, Blender, and WordPress, several years' worth of YouTube tutorials, and a bit of trespassing for good measure.