You can see Plant It Portland signs in yards across Portland as people sign up for bargain trees.

Did you read this story, “Tree Planters Tout Shade and Beauty,” in Saturday’s Oregonian?

Friends of Trees has launched a media campaign featuring whimsical posters and door hangers with a “Where’s Waldo?” aspect to them—the more you look, the more you see.

“The old signs were a little wonky,” said program director Brighton West, explaining the switch.

According to West, while the signs listed the benefits of planting more neighborhood trees, such as carbon sequestration and stormwater capture, they didn’t reflect what Portlanders really love about them.

“When we did a survey to find out why people planted trees, most of them said for shade and beauty,” West said. “You can’t disagree that those are good things, so we decided to go with a ‘beautiful’ campaign.”

Local marketing firm Frank Creative, which came up with the the graphics, creates ads for companies such as Teva and Spyder. The company felt unususually qualified because the active, outdoorsy people who buy those products are the same kind who plant trees.

Friends of Trees planted 2,500 trees in Portland last winter, West said. Their goal this year is 4,500. Homeowners pay an average of $45 a tree, and neighbors pitch in to get them in the ground.

To find out if a tree planting is planned in your community, contact Friends of Trees at 503-282-8846 or visit FriendsofTrees.org.

–Anne Laufe

Did you see this OregonLive video of the Hawthorne Bridge brunch? Be sure to check the two-minute mark.

Want your own Plant It Portland sign? Just ask for one when you find your tree online.

–TR

Thirty-eight trees will add shade this summer around the PGE-Pacific Power joint substation at SE 8th Ave. and Harrison St.

On May 26, Friends of Trees joined PGE, Pacific Power, Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services and Verde to plant Rocky Mountain Glow Maples, Hawthorns, Prairiefire Crabapples, and Flowering Pears as part of the city’s Grey to Green Initiative.

Pictured in the slide show below are the planting team from Verde and (from left to right) Debbie Castleton of BES, Larry McDowell of PGE, Sheila Holden of Pacific Power, and Brighton West of Friends of Trees.

–Teri Ruch

Members of last season's urban canopy outreach team, clockwise from top-left: Tom Cogswell; Elizabeth Wren Shiffler; Gehron Burkholder; and Dimitra Giannakoulias. (FOT file)

The city of Portland is looking for up to 10 new employees to work on increasing the area’s tree canopy on behalf of the Grey to Green (G2G) Initiative.

As a G2G partner with the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), Friends of Trees works closely with these city staffers to get the right street and yard trees planted in the right spot.

The part-time positions average between 25-30 hours a week, and pay $14.98 an hour.

Read a complete description of qualifications and how to apply below:

We are developing innovative ways to grow and document Portland’s urban forest and to educate citizens about the importance of planting trees.  Outreach staff are the public face of our effort, providing extensive face-to-face and telephone contact with residents as we offer them new tree-planting opportunities.

Ideal candidates will be personable, creative and adaptable, comfortable with door-to-door canvassing, community outreach and education, and enthusiastic about planting trees as a means of improving Portland’s environment.  This announcement will be used to fill up to 10 part-time, summer positions.

Required Qualifications:

• Excellent people skills, a positive attitude, and self-motivation
• Previous experience in canvassing, customer service, or other outreach work
• Experience representing a governmental or other organization to the public
• Strong awareness of and commitment to environmental restoration
• Willingness and ability to work full shifts on foot, in the field, in varying weather conditions
• Ability to work successfully with others in a team environment
• Applicants must be able to provide their own transportation to and from field work in neighborhoods across North, Northeast, and Southeast Portland.
• Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and have a valid driver’s license accompanied by an acceptable driving record.

Desired Qualifications:

• Knowledge/experience of stormwater management and/or urban forestry issues
• Previous experience with detailed data entry, database software, and GIS software
• Ability to speak a language other than English

Duties will include, but may not be limited to:

• Contacting property owners, primarily door-to-door as well as over the telephone, to provide information and promote participation in tree planting initiatives
• Recording and maintaining accurate field data of potential tree planting locations
• Entering field data into GIS software
• Supporting community outreach programs, including tabling at events
• Attending staff meetings and training sessions

Work will begin in early June and will continue through early September, with a possibility of a few outreach staff staying on until the end of the year.  The work schedule will generally be Tuesdays to Saturdays, mid-afternoons to early evenings, with occasional Sunday shifts, for an average of 25-30 hours per week. Approximately 75% of this time will be spent in the field, with the remainder consisting of office work and tabling at outreach events.  Pay is $14.98 per hour with no additional benefits for these seasonal, part-time positions.

Please apply with a brief, relevant resume and cover letter by e-mail or US Mail to the address below.  Please limit your combined resume/cover letter submissions to a total of three typed pages.   All materials must be received by 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 21.  Interviews will be held during the second full week of May.  We look forward to your application.  Please submit materials to:

Kenneth Carter, Sr. HR Analyst
Portland Bureau of Human Resources
1120 SW 5th Avenue – Room 404
Portland, Oregon 97204
Phone: 503-823-4217
Kenneth.Carter@portlandoregon.gov

Contact Matt Krueger (503-823-2978) or Jennifer Karps (503-823-2263) with questions. The City of Portland is an equal opportunity employer.

Calling trees just as important as big sewer pipes, Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman helped Friends of Trees kick off its largest Neighborhood Trees planting of the season Saturday.

Thanks to more than 200 volunteers who participated in the first-day-of-spring planting, 300 large street and yard trees were planted in the neighborhoods of Cully, Madison South, Rose City Park and Roseway—an over 100 percent increase from the number planted last year.

“It’s important to have trees that capture storm water and keep it from getting in our sewer system—to beautify neighborhoods, enhance property values, and to provide cooling in the summer time,” said Saltzman, who oversees the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), a Friends of Trees project partner via the Grey to Green (G2G) Initiative. “Planting over 300 trees is a remarkable accomplishment.”

Included in the volunteers figure were about a dozen employees from the Port of Portland, the sponsor of the community planting.

The Port of Portland has provided financial sponsorship to Friends of Trees for several years, but this year the employees were excited to enhance the partnership by planting in the neighborhoods, said Director of Aviation Steve Schreiber.

“We decided we need to dig in and kind of get our hands dirty,” said Schreiber, who also mentioned he grew up in the neighborhood, and that his father and grandfather actually helped build the church that staged the Northeast Portland planting.

While such a dramatic increase in trees planted requires a lot of preparation for things like trucks and tools, volunteer neighborhood coordinators like Jillian Miller faced the logistical challenge of feeding all those volunteers breakfast and lunch.

“We needed to ramp it up this year,” said Jillian Miller, who volunteered for the second year as a neighborhood coordinator.

All around, Friends of Trees is seriously ‘ramping’ up its numbers. Prior to this record breaking planting, the 20-year-old Northeast Portland nonprofit already planted 13,587 trees and shrubs in the metropolitan area this season alone.

With a few Saturday plantings remaining through April 10, this guarantees the figure will be well over 15,000 for the year, and close to 400,000 trees and shrubs planted in two decades.

“Friends of Trees is a great organization—they’ve proven they can organize—getting people out today,” said Saltzman.

“The city of Portland, particularly the Bureau of Environmental Services, is really pleased to be able to have a partnership with Friends of Trees to meet some ambitious objectives the city wants to see—which is more trees planted in the city because they’re part of our infrastructure.”

A group of coworkers from GBD Architects pose for their 'victory shot.' (Craig Norman)

To view more images from the planting, visit the Friends of Trees Flickr page.

–Toshio Suzuki

Tree, stakes, mulch, tools and even his son Rhys fit into Richard Greensted's bike cart Saturday at the Neighborhood Trees planting. (Renee Garrels)

By Teri Ruch

Mix about 20 bicycles, a dozen carts and trailers, 190 big trees, planting tools, the perfect pre-spring morning and 75 volunteers—from babies to boomers—and what do you get?

A fun planting day that ended with a community potluck and new trees to clean our rivers, add shade to neighborhoods, and make our air healthier. Forty of the 190 trees planted Saturday, many weighing 200 pounds each, were carried by bicycle along with tools, stakes and mulch.

“It shows that Portland is a great city when people roll up their sleeves to plant trees together,” City Commissioner Dan Saltzman told Friends of Trees volunteers before they set out in teams to plant. “You are in the frontline of the effort to clean our rivers. We need trees to keep stormwater out of our sewer system.”

The Friends of Trees planting in the Montavilla and Mt. Tabor neighborhoods was part of two Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) efforts to curb stormwater runoff: the Tabor to the River project, with a goal to improve the Brooklyn Creek Basin from Mt. Tabor to the Willamette using sewer enhancements, green stormwater management and tree plantings; and the five-year Grey to Green Initiative (G2G), launched last year to green the city’s greyscape by adding more ecoroofs, bioswales, restored natural areas and trees.

As a partner in G2G, Friends of Trees is helping the city reach its goal of planting 83,000 street and yard trees in five years. Last year the nonprofit planted more street and yard trees than in any previous year of its 20-year history, and this year Friends of Trees hopes to double that number.

From left, Naomi Tsurumi of BES, Commissioner Saltzman, Nancy Buley of J. Frank Schmidt Nursery, and Friends of Trees Executive Director Scott Fogarty. (FOT file)

Friends of Trees’ model offers homeowners both quality trees at affordable prices and organized community plantings, which give people a vested interest in their trees and ensures that two things grow at the same time: the city’s tree cover and its corps of tree-planting citizens.

Friends of Trees Executive Director Scott Fogarty emphasized this point when he told the planting volunteers on March 6, “You’re making a statement today by planting trees for the greater good.”

Friends of Trees board member Nancy Buley, who directs marketing for J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co., which sponsored Saturday’s planting, encouraged the planters to “pick up a pen” as well as a shovel. She’s been advocating in D.C. for more funding for trees. “We need to get political about trees,” she said.

Some of the younger planters, however, seemed happy just to be outside planting.

“Rhys and I had an amazing day,” said Richard Greensted, who carried mulch, stakes, tools and his son Rhys by bicycle to the places where his bike team planted.

“Spending quality time with my son, getting some exercise, and helping keep our rivers clean—what a great way to spend a day,” he said. “Before I had a chance to ask Rhys what he thought about the tree planting, he was asking me about when the next planting was!”

–Ruch is the communications director for Friends of Trees: terir@FriendsofTrees.org; 503-282-8846 ext. 17

Street swales, like this one on Southeast Division, have been going in for several years all over Portland. (sierraclub.org)

It has been a few years now and Portland continues to develop its infrastructure of street swales and curb extensions.

The Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) developed and is implementing these runoff-collecting tools along Portland’s streets in an effort to keep the Willamette River cleaner.

Runoff collects in a swale in the Hollywood District. (The Oregonian)

Street swales and curb extensions are also the next generation of street tree planters, combining both the tree-planting and storm water initiatives of the city’s Grey to Green (G2G) initiative.

On Southeast Ankeny Street—the popular east-west bike avenue—BES is about to finish the Oak B Sewer Project, which saw Queen Elizabeth Hedge Maples, American Hornbeams and Black Tupelos planted in the next generation planters.

The bureau works off of an approved tree list when planting in swales or extensions, but everything’s on a trial basis, said Jeremy Person of BES who worked on the sewer project.

“We’ve been doing sewer pipes for 100 years now,” said Person, “We’ve been doing swales—big time—for maybe two, three years now.”

What types of trees do you think would be best for Portland urban street swales or curb extensions?

–Toshio Suzuki

The new Web site from the Bureau of Environmental Services offers many layers of interaction for homeowners.

A new interactive landing site for the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) informs residents of runoff management options and monitors results for any specific property in the city.

A Portland home owner can type in their address and find out how much their average monthly stormwater bill is and how many thousands of gallons a year flow from their property into the  sewer and river system.

For example, one of Mayor Sam Adams’ properties on N. McClellan St. has a monthly stormwater bill of $19, with over 95,000 gallons a year left unabsorbed.

From there, users are allowed to consider projects that will increase stormwater absorption and lower their monthly bill.

A list of local vendors is even provided for each particular project type, which include downspout disconnects, rain gardens, tree plantings and ecoroofs, among others.

This new landing site, created by ProjectDX, is an online homeroom for all of the city’s efforts via the five-year, $50 million Grey to Green (G2G) Initiative.

Included in this effort is a partnership between BES and Friends of Trees that has the goal of planting 83,000 street and yard trees over the course of G2G.

New culverts, ecoroofs and green streets around town are all a part of the same G2G effort to absorb our runoff and minimize the overflow damage to the local river system.

–Toshio Suzuki

Friends of Trees staffer Elizabeth Elbel describes proper planting depth to the crew leader trainees. (FOT file)

By Whitney Dorer

Each year, the Neighborhood Trees program starts the planting season off with a training for new crew leaders coupled with a planting in the neighborhoods of Sellwood-Westmoreland and Brooklyn.  Last Saturday, it was a full house with over 50 volunteers learning what it means to be a crew leader.  These individuals will teach homeowners and other volunteers how to plant trees, talk about the urban forest, all while building community in our neighborhoods.

(FOT file)

The morning was filled with presentations from staff and partners such as the City of Portland’s Grey to Green Initiative, Bureau of Environmental Services, and long term volunteers.  Volunteers filled up on soup and topped off their cups of coffee before heading out to plant 121 street and yard trees.

Among the large array of trees were the Cascara, Grace Smoketree, Magnolia ‘ Butterflies’ and the Fuyu Japanese Persimmon.  Each tree is now happily planted and tagged – so take a trip down to Sellwood – Westmoreland and Brooklyn and check them out!

Whitney is the Neighborhood Trees Manager and can be reached at WhitneyD@FriendsofTrees.org or 503-282-8846 ext. 21.

Naomi Tsurumi of BES, left, after her session, with Whitney. (FOT file)

Partners in Community Forestry 2009

National Arbor Day Foundation Conference: Nov. 9

With an emphasis on combining both ‘grey’ and ‘green’ approaches to improving storm runoff control, the Bureau of Environmental Service’s Tabor to the River (T2R) program hopes to plant 3,500 trees by 2023.

That is, of course, if the funding becomes more secure, said BES Environmental Specialist Naomi Tsurumi at the National Arbor Day Conference.

Program facets range from replacing structurally deficient pipes (grey) to strategically planting trees where they will provide maximum benefit to sewer problems (green).

Working together on the river basin program that runs from Mt. Tabor to the Willamette River, T2R and Friends of Trees are able to offer significantly discounted trees to pre-identified home owners.

“It can’t be stressed enough that this program couldn’t exist without partnerships,” said Tsurumi, who added that Friends of Trees’ plantings are great events with enthusiastic neighbors.

“It’s really an honor for the city to be a part of that,” said Tsurumi.

With a target area that is 37 percent impervious surface, BES canvassers created detailed maps that identified over 5,000 potential spots for street trees.

Last year, T2R planted 150 trees via the Neighborhood Trees program.

–Toshio Suzuki

Friends of Trees volunteer Brian Symes sings a familiar song to city councilors this morning. (The Portland Mercury)

The Portland City Council approved ‘Treebate‘ today, the Bureau of Environmental Services’ (BES) latest effort to entice more home owners to plant trees on their property.

Through the program, Portland residents can fill out a short form and send in their tree purchase receipt for up to $50 off a future utility bill.

Similar to the BES partnership with Friends of Trees, Treebates will count towards the city’s Grey to Green (G2G)  goals (83,000 trees in five years) and stress the importance of planting native species.

Residents who choose to purchase and plant via Friends of Trees are not eligible for the additional sewage stipend because G2G subsidies have already heavily discounted the price of their tree.

Additionally, Friends of Trees’ Neighborhood Trees Program plants street and yard trees via community plantings, using volunteers and insight from professional arborists to plant properly. This nonprofit service also includes tree storage and transport, hole digging, placing, and even mulching.

Rumor has it that Voodoo Doughnuts and Starbucks Coffee are plentiful at our gatherings, too. Check out our planting schedule here and then look over our species list–over 120 different species purchased from 12 Willamette Valley nurseries.

–Toshio Suzuki

Portland State's club soccer team planted at Dig-It on a game day, Oct. 24. Go Vikings! (FOT file)

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 able to transform the school yard into a learning arboretum that students and neighbors can use to learn about tree varieties,” said Dawson.

Chad Honl, former Friends of Trees staffer and a volunteer since the beginning of the organization, received the Bill Naito Community Trees Award from Anne Naito-Campbell, in what he described after as a family centered event.

“The first tree I ever planted was with my father when I was six years old on a planting strip,” said Honl, “And it actually was a tree that my grandma had started from seed.”

“That was also a really inspiring thing,” added Honl, “(His grandmother) has passed since but this tree lives on in a planting strip over in North Portland.

The urban forestry award dates back to 1997, when Friends of Trees founder Richard Seidman received the first honor.

The current graduating class of the Neighborhood Tree Steward Program was also on hand to receive certificates of accomplishment. Friends of Trees was proud to participate in this valuable program, with our own David Odom and Greg Tudor doing guest lectures.

A special thanks to the Portland State University Men’s Club Soccer team, who volunteered to plant trees despite having a road game that evening at Lewis & Clark.

–TS

Kathleen Wolf and Brighton at Friday's luncheon. (FOT file)

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 and Friends of Trees are making urban foresters across the nation take notice.

“‘Oh, you’re from Seattle, well that’s near Portland; they’re doing some great things there,’” said Wolf, admitting that is a common comment she gets when giving speeches in other cities.

While some cities make broad proclamations, like New York’s effort to plant one million trees, Wolf said what Portland is attempting with its Grey to Green initiative (83,000 trees in five years) is a much more “reasonable and strategic approach.”

“The City of Portland recognizes just putting in those trees and walking away is not sustainable …”

While most cities in America are losing urban forest canopy, some at dramatic rates, Wolf said Portland has gained coverage in the past 30 years.

This was her lead-in for crediting the work done by Friends of Trees, which she called “a remarkable group, known not only regionally but nationally for what they do,” and they type of organization that is missing from Seattle’s urban forestry scene.

In particular, she noted the 375,000 trees planted by thousands of volunteers as a prime example of citizen ecology, something that her studies have shown is “profoundly important to our health.”

“The way individuals relate to nature is very important,” stressed Wolf in her closing remarks, “It’s not just about the trees, it’s about the people.”

–Toshio Suzuki

Map represents all target area home sales between July 2006 and April 26, 2007. (Butry & Donovan)

In a study of sold homes on the east side of Portland, a new report says street trees add an average of $8,870 to sales prices and reduce time-on-market by almost two days.

The report, which will be published in Landscape and Urban Planning, is the first of its kind to examine the “effect of urban trees on the housing market” by explicitly focusing on street trees. Co-authors, Geoffrey Donovan of the Portland Forestry Sciences Laboratory and David Butry of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, also published a valuation report on street trees last year with the  east side of Portland as its test sample.

Both reports used data collected during the summer of 2007, when 3,479 single-family homes—every home sold in a 10-month period—were visited for detailed evaluations.

Algorithm factors gathered include: sale price; distance to downtown; distance to nearest park; house age; tree type; tree size; and many more.

While the equations include a swath of data variables for each home and street tree, the concluding message is singular: “In Portland, the benefits of street trees significantly outweigh their maintenance costs,” wrote Butry and Donovan.

How much is this street tree worth to you? (FOT file)

In dollars and square footage, the average canopy coverage of 904 square feet found at a home created a resale value equivalent to an additional 129 square feet of finished house, according to the report. Applying that average effect to the 126,176 east side houses yields a total value of $1.12 billion.

With the return of investment on street trees comes the responsibility of Portland home owners to plant and do maintenance. Planting with Friends of Trees, a city of Portland partner with the Grey to Green Initiative (G2G), lessens the burden on home owners via discounted nursery prices and community planting practices.

In an effort to enhance Portland’s urban canopy and simultaneously absorb carbon emissions and storm runoff, G2G has a goal of planting 83,000 street and yard trees over five years.

According to the report, there are approximately 236,000 street trees in Portland, with a 26 percent canopy cover.

–Toshio Suzuki

(The Joinery)

The Joinery—a long-time Friends of Trees partner and local maker of exquisite wood furniture (see left)—was recently honored with a Green Power Leadership Award from the Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA Green Power Partners use 100 percent green power and demonstrate a dedication to environmentally sensitive business practices.

“We like to be on the forefront of new ideas and ways to be kind to mother earth,” said company founder Marc Gaudin on the EPA Web site.

Congratulations to The Joinery and the dozens of other Oregon institutions already on the Green Power Partner List.

The rain garden at Glencoe Elementary School. (BES)

Also, in recognition of its Grey to Green program, Portland was recently named by American Rivers as one of the nation’s top ‘Water Wise‘ communities. The report outlines its case study on Portland, which is implementing ’small-scale green techniques’ that reduce the amount of storm water entering sewers, limiting the potential for overflows.

From the report: “Furthermore, unlike traditional approaches, green infrastructure provides a host of additional benefits such as groundwater recharge, improved air quality, lower temperatures and more beautiful neighborhoods. They are also more cost effective; in one project, Portland saved $63 million by incorporating swales and trees into a sewer rehabilitation projects.”

A thanks to American Rivers for the notice.

–TS