-Nov. 5, Thu. 10-11 a.m., is Rally for the National Conference with Scott Fogarty
This webcast, sponsored by the Alliance for Community Trees (ACT), features Fogarty, executive director of Friends of Trees, who will discuss the upcoming opportunities at the National Arbor Day Foundation.
-Nov. 7, Sat. 9 a.m. -4 p.m., is Crew Leader Training with Friends [...]
Perhaps you’ve seen our crew leader training posters at your favorite coffee shop and wondered whether this is the year? Well, time is running out on registering for one of our (free) upcoming trainings!
Crew leaders are critically important to the success of our Neighborhood Trees and Green Space Initiative programs. They lead teams of volunteers, [...]
Tags: volunteering
What has a 5.4 liter V8 engine and is one of the newest editions to the Friends of Trees family? Formal nicknames are still pending (suggestions welcome), but it’s a big truck that Friends of Trees can use for hauling equipment and people to plantings.
With the largest and most ambitious planting season coinciding this year [...]
–President Obama planted a 25-foot Linden Tree today.
Well, kind of.
According to ABC and Reuters, the tree was already in the ground on the north lawn of the White House when the President approached in a full suit, grabbed a golden shovel and placed nine pre-piled loads of dirt into the massive hole.
“This is a little [...]
Tags: chestnut
Portland Parks & Recreation officially welcomed the planting season Saturday with its second annual Dig-It event, planting 28 trees at Mt. Tabor Middle School.
Organizer Karl Dawson of Portland Parks said the event was a success, thanks to the spectacular weather and great support from Portland Public Schools, Friends of Trees and Grey to Green.
“We were [...]
In an email to citizens today, Mayor Sam Adams unveiled Portland’s pending Climate Action Plan, which intends to increase urban forest canopy from 26 percent to 33 percent by 2030.
Other urban forestry goals outlined in the 70-page document include: protection against tree loss; tree canopy retention efforts; and the planting of large-species trees.
Also outlined is [...]
Tags: canopy, Mayor Adams, Metro, ODOT
Raise your hand if you know how to plant a tree.
Sounds simple, right? A lot of folk get it wrong.
Friends of Trees plants thousands of discounted nursery trees every year, and one of the common mistakes we see is improper planting depth.
“When planting trees, we want to see the flare: the transition from the stem [...]
In a continued effort to prepare for the planting season, late last month Friends of Trees staffers dedicated a work day to cleaning and organizing its parking lot.
The all-hands-on-deck event saw plenty of bushwhacking, dumpster trips and elbow grease, but it was also about organizing for the upcoming planting season, the biggest in 20 years.
As [...]
Tree seedlings, tree plantings, tree awards, tree advice … all of it is happening this Saturday at Dig-It.
The Portland Parks & Recreation event, with Friends of Trees and Bureau of Environmental Services, runs from 10 a.m. to noon at Mt. Tabor Middle School and is the city-wide start of fall planting season.
While the Green Space [...]
Last Friday Portland City Club members met at the Governor Hotel to learn the social, economic and environmental benefits of trees in cities.
What the crowd of about 150 received from Kathleen L. Wolf, research scientist in the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington, was an analysis of why the city of Portland [...]
Tags: G2G
Green Space Initiative kicked off its planting season this past Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Mary Woodward Wetlands in Tigard.
About 100 volunteers came out to help plant over 1,500 native trees and shrubs in the beautiful, sunny weather.
The City of Tigard and Clean Water Services partnered with Friends of Trees to plant Red Alder, Big [...]
Circa the 1990s, this video produced by PGE and featuring narration by the great James DePreist, outlines Portland’s street tree history from day one to the creation of Friends of Trees.
Watch our other videos on our Youtube page.
–TS
Tags: canopy, carbon, habitat, planting, runoff, Seed the Future, shade, street trees, video
Let’s face it, city lots are small lots, but that doesn’t mean large trees won’t fit. In fact, it means just the opposite.
The problem with small trees is that the top of the tree (the wide part) is close to the ground. With a large tree, the small part (the trunk) is close to the [...]
Tags: canopy, dogwood, Douglas Fir, maple, shade, street trees, yard trees
The City of Wilsonville is once again using an alternative route to control invasive plants… goats!
Yesterday the city hosted a ‘meet the goats’ celebration with sample cheese, milk and yogurt available; but the main attraction was the goats themselves, available for petting and demonstrating how 300 of them are eating their way through English Ivy, [...]
Tags: Douglas Fir, Wilsonville
–The Washington Post is dreaming about 300 feet tall Redwoods and reports the tallest in their area is this 107 feet tall White Oak.
–Thinking of cutting down some trees in Palo Alto? Not without a permit, or you may get a $142,500 fine like one resident did, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
–Documentary photographer, Joel [...]
Tags: oak
Twenty-nine days until the Neighborhood Trees planting season begins on Nov. 7 (see counter, right). Plenty of time to get your planting gear situated.
As a courtesy reminder to our veteran volunteers, and as a cautionary note to our rookies, Oregon in the fall and winter transitions to a damp climate—damp to very damp.
Good attire for [...]
–Metro announced it bought 20 acres of the upper Rock Creek Headwaters, according to The Oregonian.
The headwaters, which border Forest Park to the west, is part of the subwatershed boundary for the Tualatin River.
–The City of Vancouver announced this week it is seeking applicants for a volunteer position on its Urban Forestry Commission.
The seven-member advisory [...]
Tags: books, education, Forest Park, Metro, nursery, Vancouver
Let the countdown begin.
More trees. More volunteers. More communities…this 20th anniversary planting season is going to break all the records for Friends of Trees and its Neighborhood Trees (NT) program.
Here’s what the staffers are saying:
Mary Harrell. (FOT file)
–Mary, a veteran of 14 or 15 planting seasons, said she was just a city girl when she [...]
They’re always the first to arrive and they never leave a volunteer behind.
Friends of Trees’ Crew Leaders are an eclectic group with one thing in common: They put community first.
“I love to be able to get outside and plant for the positive way this helps our environment and community,” said Julian Lawrence, a crew leader [...]
Tags: volunteering
David Allen Sibley will speak at the original Powell’s Books tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. about his new Guide to Trees.
Powell’s event description: the man who revolutionized the field guide to birds now brings his formidable skills of identification and illustration to the more than 600 tree species of North America.
In his own words: “I tried [...]
Tags: books
As the weather gets cooler and the days get shorter, it’s time to think about planting trees. There’s no better way than volunteering with Friends of Trees. Sign up for one of the three Crew Leader trainings this fall and learn the skills you’ll need to make Portland a greener, healthier city. Crew Leader trainings [...]
Tags: training, volunteering
Dr. Tree tip of the day: remove suckers.
Suckers are adventitious shoots that develop from the roots of a tree, like a genetic clone. They are unsightly and divert important energy from the growth of your top stock.
Some nursery trees are seed grown, but most are grafted with a top stock and a root stock. In [...]
Tags: Dr. Tree
Tuesday evening the City of Gresham held an Urban Forestry Workshop to get public input and communicate the urban forestry plans for the city.
Discussion topics included: tree value to the community and as a natural resource; future infrastructure and maintenance plans; urban forest outreach; preservation of existing trees with city codes; and how to [...]