Joining forces with 120 students from University of Oregon

By Jennifer Killian

When these students put their mind to something, anything is possible! Friends of Trees was fortunate to partner with the University of Oregon to plant 35 trees for the University of Oregon’s fifth annual Day of Service! This incredible planting, which was generously sponsored by Eugene Water & Electric Board and the UO Government and Community Relations, was just one of four amazing events. Other events included neighborhood litter pick up, a community food drive, and a tree inventory.

Led by eager crew leaders, teams of students and public volunteers split into six teams to plant trees in the West University Neighborhood, an all-rental area occupied primarily by UO students. All the trees were mulched by a bike team that used trailers to haul mulch to the newly planted trees! Hummingbird Wholesale’s co-owner Charlie Tilt personally rode one of the amazing Hummingbird large capacity bike trailers on the mulch team.

For the second year in a row, Friends of Trees selected “adaptive management trees” – species we believe are likely to thrive despite climate change. These drought tolerant trees include valley oak, blue oak, Oregon white oak, silver linden, California black oak, and red horsechestnut. Students learned the importance and value of planting and caring for trees in their community, and got a little muddy while doing so!

Despite the cool weather and on and off rain, over 120 students showed up to the event ready to work to make their community a better place! The experience was very rewarding for everyone involved. The event wrapped up with a catered lunch from Qdoba and a special thank you to all participating groups by Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy. It was another incredible event and Friends of Trees is looking forward to participating again next year!

This annual service project was a collaborative effort of the University of Oregon (Office of the Dean of Students, Government and Community Relations, the Holden Center, UO Student Alumni Association), the City of Eugene (Parks and Open Space, Neighborhood Services, City Manager’s Office,) and near campus neighborhoods (South University and West University neighborhoods).

A special thank you to New Day Bakery and World Cafe for providing the hot coffee and delicious breakfast treats that fueled our volunteers during the planting! FOT is very grateful to EWEB and the UO Government and Community Relations for their sponsorship of FOT’s work on this project. The project continues with work to engage UO students to water, weed, mulch and prune these trees to help them establish and thrive.

See coverage of the event from local news channel KMTR HERE.

– Jennifer is the Volunteer & Neighborhood Trees Specialist with Friends of Trees Eugene