Bicycles + Trees: A match made in Portland

By Ian Bonham

Bike planting: it’s carbon-negative!
(photo: Greg Raisman)

We ride our bikes a lot here in Portland.

You ride your bike to work. You ride your bike to the grocery store. You ride your bike while eating a vegan donut with cereal on top. You even ride your bike in a sea of naked people.

So it only makes sense that, here in the Pacific Northwest, you also get to ride your bike while planting trees on Saturday morning (fully clothed, of course–it’s cool out there!).

Here at Friends of Trees we’re snapping our rain fenders back on, refreshing our rain gear, and pumping up the tires on our trailers in preparation for another season of planting trees–on our bicycles!

Sign up here:
Join a bike planting crew this season!

We need your help!  Let us know what role works best for you: tree planter, tool carrier, tree chauffeur, or some combination of the three. Meet your neighbors, get some exercise, and beautify Portland & Vancouver neighborhoods all at the same time. And let’s not forget the breakfast coffee and treats, as well as a potluck lunch to fuel you up!


Bikes, Trees, and happy planters. (photo: Greg Raisman)

Bicycling crews transport all of the trees, tools and people to various homes in the neighborhood to plant trees that will ultimately absorb CO2 and mitigate stormwater runoff—as well as a host of intangible benefits.

2015 Neighborhood Bike Plantings (sign up here):

  • 1.24.15 :: Laurelhurst, Kerns, Sunnyside, N. Tabor (SE Portland)
  • 1.31.15 :: Piedmont, Woodlawn (NE Portland)
  • 2.14.15 :: Boise, Eliot, Humboldt, King (NE Portland)
  • 2.21.15 :: West Vancouver Neighborhoods

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Jenny Bedell-Stiles or Ian Bonham at [email protected] or use our volunteer hotline: 503-595-0213.

—Ian is the Volunteer & Outreach Program Specialist for Friends of Trees.