City Lights:

I’m big on legacies. One of my favorite quotes is Jackie Robinson’s “A life is not important, except in the impact it has on other lives.” And it’s that yearning to make a difference, of course, that inspires me to write columns about funny cop logs and stores that sell dachshund merchandise.

All kidding aside, I’ve had the honor of spending a few hours in the last month with a woman who is truly leaving a beautiful legacy in Huntington Beach. Jean Nagy, president of the Huntington Beach Tree Society, has worked since 1998 to make Surf City greener, planting more than 5,000 trees.

Two weeks ago, Nagy took me on a tour of spots where her group has planted in the last decade. We started at Gibbs Park, which sports three concentric circles of eucalyptus trees intended to lure Monarch butterflies for the winter. Nagy got grants and donations for the seeds, which were planted by Boy and Girl Scouts and now sprout unevenly throughout the park.

“I’m determined to make this city gorgeous,” she said.

Judging from the tour, she’s doing exactly that. After Gibbs Park, she drove me down a portion of Edwards Street, where a line of still-growing trees sprouted from sidewalk planters. We ended at the Urban Forest at Edwards and Ellis Avenue, which the Tree Society founded in 2001. The grounds consist of 5 acres of mostly California native plants and, if plans work out, will soon feature a gazebo for memorial services.

Finally, Friday, I saw Nagy during an Arbor Day ceremony at Sowers Park, where Sowers Middle School students picked up awards for writing poems or drawing pictures about trees.

The kids ended the festivities by shoveling dirt around a newly planted pine, while Nagy handed out saplings, free seeds and potting soil to all present.

I suppose her work is never done.

While we’re on the subject of saving trees, I stopped last week at Beachside Recycling, which is hosting its second annual Phone Book Drive. The recycler at 8601 Edison Ave. invited residents to drop off their books in exchange for a raffle ticket, with dinner at Benihana and a stay at Embassy Suites among the prizes.

However nice the meal or hotel stay is, it couldn’t compare with the relief I felt clearing three years’ worth of phone books from my closet at home. And it left me wondering — in the Internet age, when nearly any phone number is a few keystrokes away, how many people use those old, heavy tomes? Do they have any advantages over the same information online?

Maybe they do. But if not, perhaps eliminating them will be one way to go green in the future — and to honor the efforts of people like Nagy, who know the value of a tree so well.

City Editor MICHAEL MILLER can be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected] .