Associates

Raquel Falco is our newest associate and a returning one since she worked part-time with FNA many years ago when Fleur, Kelly, and Raquel attended Mt. SAC together. Raquel is an ISA-certified Arborist, TRAQ-qualified, and a licensed pesticide applicator. She has been in the green industry for over 15 years and has varying experience working in the municipality, non-profit, private sector, and for herself.

She is a native of Michoacan, Mexico, and has been in the United States since she came over at a young age, where she rooted herself throughout Los Angeles. She is passionate about learning about the local flora, the natural environment, and how to preserve it. She volunteers in her free time to be a positive change. She chairs the Western Chapter ISA Spanish Education committee to encourage tree workers with language barriers to maintain and become certified to elevate their careers and lives. She also chairs the Inland Urban Forest Council committee to ensure that the general public, such as homeowners, knows about the benefits of trees and is educated on proper tree care. Her main goal is to help preserve tree canopy by preventing poor tree care practices and targeting the knowledge of the tree worker and the homeowner.

Outside of work, she enjoys hiking in the trails of the San Gabriel Mountains while pulling invasive plants growing in wild habitats. She also enjoys spending time in her garden in West Covina, focusing on planting natives and edibles where she can. She believes that if critters are not eating out of her garden, the space she has created does not serve its purpose of creating an ecosystem.