Filed under: Tree City Earth
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Tags: education, policy

By Kris Day

Big thanks to Collier Arbor Care for servicing tree care needs across the greater Portland area for 75 years! To celebrate crossing this significant milestone and to express gratitude to the company’s customers and partner organizations, Collier recently hosted an anniversary celebration at the Clackamas County headquarters complete with live music, a generous spread of hors d’oeuvres and refreshments, as well as free rides in a brand new bucket truck.

Bird's eye view (Kris Day)

To give back to an exemplary business that has been a longtime supporter of our work, Friends of Trees presented Terrill Collier, president and owner since 1981, with a beautiful six-foot tall Oregon White Oak tree to be planted next to the company’s new truck wash station.

Collier has gone the extra mile toward promoting sustainable development practices by installing permeable pavement under this facility, by installing vegetated rain gardens to treat all surface runoff from the parking lot, and by controlling weeds and replanting native plants along the creek behind the building. The business welcomes visitors who would like to learn more about these landscape management strategies. Just please call ahead to schedule.

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Filed under: Neighborhood Trees, Portland Canopy
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Tags: arborists, canopy, pruning

By Jeff Kisseloff, FOT Crew Leader

Continued from Part I yesterday

Planting day (Jessyca Burke)

The training session was a snap. Afterward, they asked us to sign up for at least four sessions, so I put my name down for four, then four more and four more, and four more. My wife hasn’t seen me on a Saturday morning since October (except for one morning in January. When we woke up, she took one look at me and asked, “Who are you?”)

She’s ok with it though because every Saturday afternoon, after I come home completely and gloriously filthy (I’m more of a hands-on type  CL) she gets to hear stories about the day: who was on my crew, the challenges we faced and, of course, my rating of the spread: the quality of the hot dishes and whether there were bagels and donuts, the two most important groups on my food pyramid. I’ve planted more than 200 trees these past six months, with the added bonus that I’ve apparently become infinitely more entertaining in the process.

How could I not? Over the last few months, I’ve worked with a surgeon (who could knot twine better than anyone I’ve ever seen), a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a professional songwriter, a novelist, a state senator and even a fellow who wore a kilt. Most of them, though, were just regular folks, young and old, who made the hard work a delight.

I’d encourage anyone reading this to think about crew leading. If you do, here’s some advice from a grizzled veteran of six months:

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Filed under: Neighborhood Trees
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Tags: crew leaders, volunteering

Jeff Kisseloff sports his orange vest (Susie Peterson)

By Jeff Kisseloff, FOT Crew Leader

People can say being a crew leader is all about planting trees and doing something good for the city and the environment, but the truth is it’s really about one thing: the orange vest.

The day you get to put on the orange vest your life changes. Suddenly people look up to you. They expect you to know stuff. They let you tell them what to do. They respect your opinion and even let you ride in the front seat next to the driver. Then there’s the sheer coolness factor of having all those pockets. And don’t forget the clippers. Being a CL entitles you to a pair of clippers. Hold one of those babies in your hand, and you’re a person transformed.

Ok, I’m lying. It has nothing to do with the vest, although the vest is way cool.

If you want to know what it’s all about (and no, the hokey pokey is not what it’s all about), let me tell you how I got involved with Friends of Trees, because my story is probably pretty typical. It began one day last fall when someone rang our bell and asked us if we were interested in having a tree or trees planted on our property by Friends of Trees. We had been in Portland only a little over a year then, having moved across the country from rural upstate New York. We missed the trees on our 40 acres, so the answer wasn’t just yes, it was “Hell, yes!”

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Filed under: Neighborhood Trees
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Tags: crew leaders, volunteering