Don’t look now interstate highway, trees are coming

It has been four months since Metro unanimously approved the largest capital grant in its history to plant more than 2,000 trees along the I-205 multi-use path.

Now the planting sites are secure.

This three-year partnership, which involves Friends of Trees, Metro and ODOT, is worth over $400,000 and stems from the 2006 voter-approved measure 26-80,  also known as the Natural Areas Bond Measure.

The program will be carried out by Friends of Trees’ Green Space Initiative, with about 150 four- to six-foot trees planted at each site.

The highly-anticipated plantings begin this month and run through March of next year. Here are some ‘before’ photos (to view more, visit our Flickr site):

Dec. 19, SE Yamhill & 94th

Finalized I-205 planting sites
Finalized I-205 planting sites

Jan. 9, 2010, NE Marine Dr. & 112th Ave.
Finalized I-205 planting sites

Finalized I-205 planting sites

Jan. 23, 2010, 10600 NE Holman St.

Finalized I-205 planting sites

Finalized I-205 planting sites

Feb. 20, 2010, SE Pardee & 94th Ave.

Finalized I-205 planting sites

Finalized I-205 planting sites

March 6, 2010, SE Flavel & 92nd Ave. (Johnson Creek)

Finalized I-205 planting sites

March 20, 2010, SE Hawthorne & 95th Ave.

Finalized I-205 planting sites

To learn more about volunteering opportunities for these plantings, visit the Friends of Trees Web site. More information regarding the history of how the I-205 plantings came about and our online calendar are also available.

–Toshio Suzuki