Friends of Trees presented before the Portland City Council Wednesday, detailing the increasing value of an urban forest.
“We know how many stop signs we have, we know how many miles of pipe we have, we know how many fire trucks we have, but how many trees do we have?” asked David Odom of Friends of [...]
This award winning short documentary, provided by the Washington D.C. nonprofit Casey Trees, highlights the impact environmental education can have at the elementary school level.
“Engage, Enlighten and Educate” was produced by George Washington University students Mark Abramson, Haley Lesavoy and Victoria Riess.
–Toshio Suzuki
The online ticket agent says there are only three seats remaining for this exciting event Saturday at the Mount Pisgah Arboretum in Eugene.
Two of the forest canopy scientists that contributed to last October’s National Geographic will be presenting on their latest research that pertains to some of the world’s largest trees.
The event, which starts at [...]
While it’s best to leave the tree-climbing to the professionals and children, sometimes it makes for humorous skits, too.
What species is late-night host Jimmy Fallon in with Twilight star Robert Pattinson?
–Toshio Suzuki
Tags: video
Tomorrow’s area plantings will be nothing short of spectacular.
Both programs will be operating at three simultaneous plantings with all the intangible elements working together: a great weather forecast; celebrity speakers; high-profile planting locations; and the typical laundry list of giving back to the community with a little exercise and free food thrown in.
The Neighborhood Trees [...]
Nature Night next Tuesday at the Audubon Society will feature two tree climbers that have ascended some of the largest trees in the world.
Brian French and Will Koomjain of Ascending the Giants will speak at the free lecture from 7-8:30 p.m. on their non-confrontational approach to Old Growth conservation and advocacy.
They are tree climbers, filmmakers, [...]
Ned Sodja, a 20-year veteran tree inspector with Portland Urban Forestry, talks us through a tree removal inspection in Eastmoreland during a Friends of Trees ride-along yesterday.
Check back with the blog on Monday for an in-depth feature on the ride-along that will include the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of residential tree removal in Portland.
–Toshio Suzuki
Several Disney music, television and film stars planted trees at a Celebrating Family Volunteers event earlier this month at Disney World.
Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato, among other Disney troupe members, planted while wearing aprons and implementing yellow hand shovels that normally could be used making sand castles or cleaning an incredibly large kitty litter box.
While [...]
Soccer hooligans? How about community-minded tree planters.
Thanks to long-time volunteer Irek Wielgosz, who initially posted an invite on an online forum, the Timbers Army annually volunteers at a Friends of Trees planting.
This year on Valentine’s weekend, about a dozen members affiliated with the Portland professional soccer fan club helped plant 178 trees in the Boise, [...]
Portland Nursery has several fruit tree weekend courses coming up this month.
An intro to fruit trees is offered at both their Southeast Portland locations, and a fruit tree pruning class is offered at their store on Division.
Intro to fruit trees info: Feb. 13, 1 p.m., 5050 SE Stark; and Feb. 20, 10 a.m., 9000 SE Division.
Fruit [...]
Tags: education, fruit trees, video
Besides being overtly appropriate for children, this fun video made by a longtime Neighborhood Coordinator chronicles the Jan. 30 planting in Arbor Lodge and Overlook.
Volunteers and staff planted 182 trees at the North Portland planting, which was sponsored by Adidas. Meanwhile, in the East Portland neighborhoods of Centennial, Hazelwood and Mill Park, 106 street and [...]
Tags: planting, street trees, video, yard trees
As usual, the multimedia team at Portland General Electric continues to create five-star content.
Similar to the ‘History of Trees in Portland‘ video they produced in the 1990s, this video provides context for the three-year partnership between Friends of Trees, Metro and ODOT, which is planting thousands of trees along the I-205 Multi-Use Path.
This video was [...]
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 [...]
Planting by bike is no small chore.
It’s an impressive feat to transport 12-foot tall street trees and all the tools necessary to plant them using only pedal power.
This is what Friends of Trees volunteers mean when they say ‘Plant by Bike.’
While volunteers are encouraged to bike to all Friends of Trees plantings, this Saturday’s Neighborhood [...]
Tags: bike, street trees, video
Anyone catch this CBS news video from late last year? Inspiring short piece about a man who took it upon himself to plant street trees in his L.A. neighborhood.
–courtesy Kris Day
Tags: canopy, street trees, video
Action star Liev Shreiber and his extremely well-known wife Naomi Watts planted a Pistachio tree in Israel recently on behalf of the Jewish National Fund.
This was a family affair, complete with a short prayer but no water for the young sapling.
If you missed other editions in the ‘How (insert here) plant’ series: How President Obama [...]
As part of a rotating installation art program at The Portland Building downtown, a local artist will introduce a life-size paper dress called the Mother Tree next month.
Helen Hiebert will work two hours every weekday, from Feb. 16 to March 12, until the installation funded by the Regional Arts & Culture Council is finished.
And she [...]
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 [...]
Tags: canopy, I-205, Metro, ODOT, planting, runoff, shade, Verde, video
This New York Times Op-ed decompresses Copenhagen and talks tree benefits and forest preservation.
In case you didn’t know why English Ivy and English Holly are enemies to the Pacific Northwest, the AP reminds us.
How a Florida mayor plants 10,000 trees: Be there for the last one.
Also from the New York Times, courtesy of their blog [...]
Tags: video
This classic story comes to video courtesy of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Merry Christmas and thanks for reading Growth Rings!
–Toshio Suzuki
Tags: video
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Can you name those sturdy, good looking Friends of Trees volunteers in the video?
Hint: Green Space Initiative program.
–Toshio Suzuki
Tags: video
The weather in the morning dipped below 32 degrees Saturday, Dec. 5, but the vibrant volunteers and home owners from the Buckman, Hosford-Abernethy and Richmond neighborhoods were not deterred.
For more photos of the planting, which warmed up later in the day, visit the Friends of Trees Flickr page.
The next Neighborhood Trees plantings are Saturday, Dec. [...]
Partners in Community Forestry 2009
National Arbor Day Foundation Conference: Nov. 10
Brighton and Toshio of Friends of Trees made a video presentation during their session at the Partners in Community Forestry National Arbor Day Conference ‘09.
The ‘mockumentary’ highlighted how simple it is to create and produce short videos via the tools already available in every office.
Special [...]
Tags: Arbor Day '09, video
Friends of Trees is proud to present its historic planting season!
The holes are dug, the trucks are loaded and staffers are anxious–Neighborhood Trees begins its planting season tomorrow morning in Vancouver.
On Monday begins the Partners in Community Forestry national conference in Portland. Check out the blog for full coverage and commentary from urban foresters all [...]