Remember how the sun makes everything look beautiful? (FoT file)

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.

Neighborhood Trees Manager Whitney Dorer and Conan Harmon-Walker at the Friends of Trees anniversary party Nov. 15. (FOT file)

By Shelli Romero

March 20 marked the fifth in a series of community tree plantings along the I-205 Multi-Use Path. It also marked another milestone: the 249th tree planting at which Conan Harmon-Walker volunteered.

Born and reared in Oregon, Harmon-Walker is a network administrator for Legacy Health Systems and a 14-year volunteer with Friends of Trees. He participates in an abundance of Friends of Trees’ Neighborhood Trees (NT) and Green Space Initiative (GSI) plantings, setting milestone goals as part of his personal commitment to contribute to the community.

Harmon-Walker crew leading at the Nov. 21 NT planting in Sellwood . (FOT file)

“I was an earth science major in the seventies and studied global warming,” he explained. “Planting trees is something I can do that’s local and meaningful.”

On this particular Saturday, beneath the warm rays of the sun at Southeast 95th and Hawthorne in the Montavilla neighborhood, Harmon-Walker helped sign in volunteers and assisted with tree plantings throughout the morning.

Harmon-Walker is a trained Friends of Trees crew leader who has guided hundreds of volunteers throughout the years. The March 20 planting was part of a three-year partnership among Friends of Trees, ODOT and Metro to plant thousands of trees and shrubs along the path, which is used extensively by bicyclists, pedestrians and transit users.

“Improvements to the Multi-Use Path are important; and adding trees and shrubs is a wonderful follow-on improvement as it will help shield the community from I-205 and thousands of cars that go by,” Harmon-Walker said.

In addition to enhancing the path for bordering neighborhoods, the plantings will reduce air pollution, minimize storm-water runoff into streams and rivers, and provide habitat for wildlife.

When complete, ODOT will showcase the project as a statewide model for considering the greening of other transportation corridors.

“This project will improve air quality and livability for this area at the very least, and I would like to encourage more people to get involved and let our policy makers know that this project is important to the community,” said Harmon-Walker.

The next weekend marked Harmon-Walker’s 250th planting with Friends of Trees, equating to about 14,000 trees and shrubs in the ground.

In recognition of his amazing achievement, Friends of Trees planted a grove of trees in his honor at their biannual Gift Trees planting on March 28.

“I planted trees with my father when I was a boy, and my teenage sons have planted with me since they were boys,” explained Harmon-Walker. “It’s the best way we know to leave a legacy.”

Romero is public policy and community affairs manager, ODOT-Region I

Young planters take a break Saturday on the slope where trees were planted along the I-205 Multi-Use Path. (FOT file)

By Teri Ruch

Volunteers at the March 20 Friends of Trees planting along the I-205 corridor in Southeast Portland ranged from toddlers to retirees. They came from diverse backgrounds and groups, including nonprofits, regional and statewide agencies, nearby neighborhoods, high schools, and local businesses.

But all agreed on two things: Planting trees is good; and planting trees on a sunny first day of spring is even better.

“The variety of people and organizations involved is tremendous,” said Metro Council President David Bragdon as he paused next to a tree that he was about to haul up the slope to plant. Surveying the bustling volunteers from Friends of Trees, Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), East Portland Action Plan (EPAP) and elsewhere, he said, “When you put all those efforts together, you get a great result.”

Metro Council President David Bragdon, center with hat, spoke at Saturday's I-205 planting and stuck around to help. (FOT file)

The March 20 Green Space Initiative planting was part of a three-year project to green the 16.5-mile I-205 Multi-Use Path, which is funded by a $410,000 grant from Metro’s 2006 voter-approved Natural Areas bond measure. “What we look for is partnerships,” said Bragdon, “and projects that create lots of volunteer engagement and community ownership.”

The I-205 greening project, which involves a partnership between Friends of Trees and ODOT, is also funded by an $80,000 grant from the East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District (EMSWCD) and by Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) and local businesses, including Cantel Sweeping and Collier Arbor Care who sponsored the day’s event.

In addition to the diversity in volunteers and project partners, the benefits of the project are many and wide ranging. Planting trees along a path that crosses some of Portland’s most diverse neighborhoods and is used by pedestrians, bicyclers and transit users will encourage more people to use the path.

And given the path’s location next to a well-traveled freeway, Cantel Sweeping owner Michael Wagoner’s reason for planting was especially fitting. His company’s vehicles emit exhaust, and planting trees helps offset those emissions.

“Trees are also terrific stormwater management tools,” said EMSWCD Executive Director Jean Fike, referring to trees’ role in reducing stormwater runoff. “Planting trees helps keep our rivers, streams and watersheds healthy.”

Terrill Collier of Collier Arbor Care said the March 20 planting was especially meaningful to him because he grew up in the neighborhood. “So this is coming back to my roots and planting trees.”

“It’s building communities,” said EPAP member Vadim Riskin, equity coordinator for Portland Public Schools. “You meet people when you plant together, and you teach and learn from one another.”

Other planters on March 20 included ten high school students from Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center (Portland OIC), a local nonprofit that assists minority and under-served youth. The students’ jobs guiding planters along the I-205 path were created through a partnership among Portland OIC, Portland Development Commission, and Worksystems, Inc.

“I like the fresh air and the freedom,” said Portland OIC’s Pablo Juan Tomas. “I like making changes in the community, too.”

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

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 Trees Near You iPhone application is available free online. (treesnearyou.com)

The iPhone application for street tree lovers finally exists. Of course, presently, it only exists for New York City street tree lovers.

Trees Near You chronicles all of the 500,000 street trees in New York City, providing species type, size and the estimated environmental and economic benefits provided.

As shown on the application’s Web site, users can view specific trees or streets, identifying the trunk size and the amount of carbon or runoff absorption it is responsible for—all down to the dollar amount.

The application also links to Wikipedia pages, providing the characteristics of the tree species.

So, now for the real question: When is this street tree application coming to other cities, most notably, Portland, Ore.?

Any other tree-oriented applications worth noting?

–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

This new video created by long-time volunteer and former staffer Chris Runyard depicts the importance of keeping plastics out of waterways.

As Runyard will tell you, Friends of Trees and its Green Space Initiative (GSI) program plant trees and shrubs in restoration areas, responsibly using plastic tubes and tape to increase plant survivability.

This planting season GSI is experimenting with a biodegradable flagging tape to see how it holds up, said GSI Manager Logan Lauvray.

Also, in reference to plastic tree tubes that protect young saplings, GSI did not need to purchase any new tubes this season because of its policy of retrieving and reusing tubes from older plant sites.

Planting trees and protecting shared waterways is important work, as is educating us all on the best practices for doing so. Great video Chris!

–Toshio Suzuki

There are 32 plantings in the next three months. (FOT file)

Thanks to its two programs (Neighborhood Trees and Green Space Initiative), Friends of Trees has already planted 5,440 trees and shrubs this planting season. The same planting season that started Sept. 26.

With 32 plantings left, there is still plenty of time to roll up the sleeves and contribute to cleaning our communal air and water, in addition to increasing the tree canopy in Oregon. Here is a link to the planting calendar.

Some highlights so far:

• The first of two Gift Trees plantings this season at Collins Sanctuary in Forest Park
• The I-205 Multi-Use Path is getting trees, and community members are excited
• GSI already planted in Tigard, along the Willamette River, and at the Audubon Society this season
• Oh, and before we forget, for those who haven’t signed up for trees yet, a special discount for blog readers is available.

Thanks again—and let’s get to planting trees!

–Toshio Suzuki

Sheriff Bob Skipper, left, and Portland Mayor Bud Clark, beard, plant street trees at NE 8th and Burnside in 1989. (The Oregonian)

This blog posed an earlier question, “if a tree is cut down in the City, and nobody asks why, did it really happen?” The answer is an emphatic yes—and that particular tree was debated, considered, and permitted for removal under the watchful eye of Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) Urban Forestry.

The Portland Urban Forestry mailbox answers your questions, submit them to the blog! (FOT file)

DiSalvo is a Botanic Specialist II, Forestry, for the City of Portland’s Urban Forestry Division.

About 75 volunteers and community members gathered Saturday to plant over 160 trees with Friends of Trees via its Green Space Initiative (GSI) program.

The ceremonial planting—special dignitary shovels included—was the official start of a three-year project to plant along the I-205 Multi-Use Path.

Special representatives from the Oregon Department of Transportation, Metro and other elected officials and sponsors joined the customary Voodoo Doughnuts, Grand Central Bakery bagels, and Starbucks Coffee to make for a very special planting.

A hearty thanks to all who showed up at Heron Hill, which borders the Columbia River, just east of the airport.

Visit our online calendar to find out when the next I-205 planting will be—and read more about the GSI project by clicking one of the related tags on the right of the blog (Metro, I-205, ODOT…).

–Toshio Suzuki

These Director Park street trees, across from the Fox Tower theater downtown, will feature an innovative planting treatment. (FOT file)

Portland’s newest downtown park, Director Park, is getting some new street trees right now—about 15.

Situated one block from Pioneer Courthouse Square and the Park Blocks, the park’s innovative design has spread to its planting treatments.

Notice the steps below, which include layers of gravel and intricate stone placement on top of the typical planting height (pictures captured Jan. 4):

Do we like the finished product? (Fot file)

Is this a new way to allow for foot traffic and the planting of large diameter trees?

How well does this treatment allow for water absorption?

How new is this technique?

Who was the landscape architect?

Oh yes, and what are those blocks made of?

Let us know what you think…

–Toshio Suzuki

An intense storm makes landfall at Newport in 2007. (The Oregonian)

Every year during the rainy season, flooding on the Oregon Coast is a possibility. This letter to the editor published Friday in The Daily Astorian provides local insight in the cause and effect relationship cutting trees has with heavy precipitation:

Am I the only one who thinks it’s crazy for the county and the Oregon Department of Transportation to spend money to find out where the water comes from that floods the Necanicum River? Maybe I can help them out. I recommend getting a Metzker Map and Google Earth, so they can get the scope of the river’s drainage.

First off, it’s not where the water comes from (it rains hard), it’s how that water is delivered to the river. The biggest contributing factor is trees. When the rain hits the tree canopy it’s slowed down and dispersed over a greater area by the branches. The slower the water hits the soil, the slower it becomes saturated, the slower it erodes, and the slower the water runs off into the many tributaries of the Necanicum.

Read the remainder of the article here.

–Toshio Suzuki

(The Oregonian)

The Oregonian reports this morning that the Environmental Protection Agency is butting heads with Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality and Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services over the Big Pipe and additional Columbia River safeguards.

The EPA wants to expand secondary treatment of the sewage and rainwater mix before it joins the river, while the local agencies prefer investing in green projects like planting trees and implementing ecoroofs and street swales for absorption.

At issue here is hundreds of millions of dollars, on top of other hundreds of millions of dollars.

As mentioned often at this week’s Partners in Community Forestry National Arbor Day Foundation conference in Portland, local utility rates are already among the highest in the nation thanks to the Big Pipe and other sewer/runoff upgrades.

What do we think of the Big Pipe?

–Toshio Suzuki

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