From the vault: Conan the Tree Planter
Conan Harmon-Walker is one of the pillars for Friends of Trees.
He recently celebrated his 251st tree planting event and has planted over 14,000 trees and shrubs as a crew leader (yes, he counts every tree). In recognition of this amazing achievement, Friends of Trees planted a grove of trees in Conan’s honor at our biannual Gift Trees planting March 28.
Here, we take a look back into our archives and republish the story that celebrated Conan’s 100th planting in our Summer 2002 edition of Tree Connections. Thank you, Conan!
Andy Meeks: 503-282-8846 ext. 24, [email protected]
By Teri Ruch
He’s been called Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Librarian and Conan the Unitarian. But at Friends of Trees he’s best known as Conan the Tree Planter.
On April 26, at Friends of Trees’ last planting of the season, Neighborhood Trees Manager Chad Honl presented Conan Harmon-Walker with a shovel inscribed with “Conan the Tree Planter” to mark his 100th tree planting with Friends of Trees.
Conan says his father first instilled a love of trees in him. Together they pulled ivy at Tryon Creek and around Cooper Mountain. A geology minor in college, Conan believes that by planting trees he can both “give back to the community” and “offset my own damage to the environment.” He also plants trees as a private memorial for the friends he lost to AIDS in San Francisco.
In addition to planting with Friends of Trees almost every weekend during the planting season, Conan refurbished Friends of Trees’ computers, built printers, and ran networks in the office years ago. And for many years in a row, he helped build the float for the Starlight Parade.
Conan is already passing on the legacy of tree planting to his sons. Both Taran and Gaelan volunteer for Friends of Trees. Conan’s wife, Lin, who was executive director of Friends of Trees from 1996 to 1999, is also carrying on the work of restoration. She recently cleared ivy from an area of forest that she sees from her office window at Lewis & Clark’s law school, where she’s assistant director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law program.
Conan especially appreciates “the tremendous opportunity to learn and meet with other people” at Friends of Trees plantings. “It brings me hope,” he says, “that so many other people care.”
Ruch is the communications director for Friends of Trees: [email protected]; 503-282-8846 ext. 17