Looking forward to a sunny summer
By Andy Meeks
Last Saturday – the first beautiful day in weeks (and, so far, the last) – Friends of Trees hosted a Summer Festival Volunteer Training at the PCC Cascade campus. We were thrilled to have nine very enthusiastic people join us to learn about the different Friends of Trees programs, our past achievements and our future goals of growing healthy communities in the Portland-Vancouver region.
Some of many things they learned on Saturday:
- Friends of Trees planted almost 17,000 trees last season in our Neighborhood Trees and Green Space Initiative programs – over 4,500 of which were large street trees – all of which are loving this rain.
- The urban canopy in Portland intercepts billions of gallons of stormwater from entering the sewer systems that are already under heavy stress from this month-long deluge.
- For $35 to $75 – sometimes less – homeowners in Portland can receive an 8- to 12-foot tall tree, including: delivery, hole digging, planting assistance, utility locates, mulch, stakes, and first-year follow-up maintenance checks (approximately a $200 value).
- Friends of Trees just completed the first year of a three-year partnership with the Oregon Department of Transportation and Metro, during which community volunteers will plant thousands of trees and shrubs along the I-205 Multi-Use Path from the Columbia River south to the City of Gladstone.
Look for the Friends of Trees’ white canopy at many of this summer’s street fairs, festivals and Sunday Parkways events and you’ll have a chance to meet these Summer Festival Volunteers and many of our staff members and ask how you can get involved – whether by purchasing a tree for your planting strip, volunteering for one of many roles, or participating in our Gift Tree program.
Check out our calendar of events to see where we’ll be. We look forward to seeing you out there on one of the many sunny days we’ll surely be enjoying soon!
Meeks is the Volunteer & Outreach Specialist for Friends of Trees.