The Malibu Times reported on Pepperdine's announcement of a $750,000 effort to plant trees to beautify the Malibu campus. The chairman of the Trees for Pepperdine Malibu Committee was Leo Hirsh, who urged donors to sponsor a tree, a grove, or an entire forest.¹

The campus had been stripped of its native chaparral by extensive earthwork in preparation for construction and was in need of landscaping for aesthetic as well as practical purposes like erosion prevention. One brochure said, "Only God can make a tree, but you can plant a tree at Pepperdine Malibu."²

The project saw some success: in the fall of 1973, the Graphic reported that over a thousand donated trees had been planted around campus, including some 200 Monterey pines between the theme tower and the chapel.³