Crews began trimming trees along a stretch of Sepulveda Boulevard on Thursday, but this wasn’t your everyday pruning.

It was part of an effort, backed by a new Cal State Northridge study, to curb human trafficking in the San Fernando Valley and to crack down on pimps that roam local streets.

Among those streets have been Sepulveda and Lankershim boulevards, longtime hubs of Valley prostitution.

On Thursday, Councilwoman Nury Martinez released the results of the study aimed at the problem.

The research, conducted by Henrik Minassians and David Lopez from CSUN, examined environmental factors that allow prostitution and human trafficking to take hold.

Cheap motels, industrial buildings, dark alleyways and heavy traffic line both streets. So do trees, which hide illegal activity.

• RELATED STORY: More than 200 busted in months-long Valley human trafficking sweep

Pimps and prostitutes use businesses, schools and churches that have parking lots that are open or not gated, Minassians said, referencing his study and east and west Sepulveda.

“What we did was follow the prostitutes and johns and found out where they went,” Minassians said. “They’re looking for places they’re not visible.”

From the study’s data, they found that in 35 to 40 locations streetlights could be installed. There were nine locations where trees should be trimmed, Minassians said. They found other environmental factors, including abandoned buildings and businesses that are focal points of illegal activity.

Martinez, whose district includes Van Nuys, Sun Valley and Panorama City, said in a Thursday news conference that last year, 22 pimps were arrested in the area. A billboard behind her said 386 johns were arrested.

As tree trimmers worked in the nearby distance, Martinez said prostitution in the area was “nothing new.” It had been in the area for the past three decades, but the age of prostitutes had dropped to as young as 12.

“If there is a woman who has made a decision that this is a lifestyle she wants to make, then there is something to be said about that,” Martinez said. “But when you are 12-years-old and you are being trafficked by grown men who are most likely gang members and are profiting from a 12-year-old being trafficked in these neighborhoods … that is just simply not OK.”

• RELATED STORY: Pimps and ‘Johns’ beware: The Valley gets its own human trafficking task force

But in trying to solve the problem, she said, law enforcement can only do so much.

“My job is to protect our children and our neighborhoods,” Martinez said. “We can never arrest our way out of the human trafficking atrocities. We must be creative and persistent and use all of our city resources to create a better neighborhood for everyone involved.”

And that’s where the studies came in, she said.

Martinez said that over $780,000 in funding has been identified to help implement some of the study’s findings, with crews starting Thursday to trim trees identified in the study. Light poles were also installed recently on some of the streets identified in the study.

Police said they were doing their part, and committed to measures that can help crack down on the problem.

“Our role in law enforcement is to arrest pimps and move toward prosecution to get them significant sentences and to keep them off the street for decades,” said Deputy Chief Bob Green of LAPD’s Operations-Valley Bureau. “Because these are violent gang members overall that commit these types of crimes and force these women into prostitution, these girls into prostitution. So we’re committed to our part.”

In 2016, officials said, a task force had made more than 500 arrests, issued more than 3,000 citations and rescued 10 victims in the area of Lankershim and Sepulveda corridors.

Authorities also were cracking down on 13 problem motels in the area, where they said prostitution takes place.

Motel representatives reached on Thursday, who were mentioned as being park of the crackdown and are being investigated by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, denied any problems with prostitutes, pimps or johns.

“We 110 percent don’t allow that,” said Townhouse Motel operations manager Mike Patel of his establishment at 6957 Sepulveda. “If we see them, we refuse to rent them a room. Last year, we installed lights on the side of the building facing to the street.”

Patel added he had worked with the LAPD last year as part of a prostitution sting.

Resident Tauby Ross, who has lived at a home on nearby Wyandotte Street for 34 years, said she was encouraged by the cleanup in the area.

“The reason I got interested in it is I have lived with street prostitution or sex trafficking for 34 years,” said Ross, 71. “More and more of the sex is happening in bushes and in cars. If you walk down our street, you’ll see used condoms and wads of Kleenex all up and down the street. So it’s disgusting. I’m a little concerned that since I live on a side street will that just move if off of Sepulveda and down. But I like all of this.”

Any prostitution-related activity may be reported to 647TIPS@lapd.online, authorities said.

City News Service contributed to this report.