Four plantings for the final February weekend

Friends of Trees volunteers plant trees on February 12th (Jesse Batty)
Friends of Trees volunteers plant trees on February 12th (Jesse Batty)

By Andy Meeks

It’s the last weekend of February, and Friends of Trees is gearing up for four more plantings around the greater Portland metropolitan area. With nearly 18,000 trees and shrubs planted this season, and all of March and April to go, we’re on a pace to break all of our previous planting season records. We can’t do this, however, without the passionate and dedicated volunteers that come out each weekend to help us plant. Please consider joining us this weekend at one of these four plantings:

  • West Vancouver Neighborhood Trees: We’ll be planting 139 trees in the neighborhoods of Arnada, Carter Park, Central Park, Edgewood Park, Harney Heights, Hough, Hudson’s Bay, Lincoln, Northwest, Rose Village, Shumway, and West Minnehaha.
    • St. Lukes Episcopal Church at 426 East Fourth Plain Blvd., Vancouver (map)
  • Neighborhood Greenway: We’ll plant 25 trees in NE Portland
    • Intersection of NE 58th Ave. and NE Everett St., Portland (map)
  • Green Space Initiative: Deerfield Park in Happy Valley will be the home of 600 new native trees and plants after we’re done there.
    • 11913 SE Hunter Dr., Happy Valley (map)
  • Green Space Initiative: We’ll be planting 1,100 native plants and trees in Memorial Park in Wilsonville on Saturday.
    • 8100 SW Wilsonville Rd., Wilsonville (map)

For all of our plantings, all you need to do is simply show up by 8:45 a.m. at the staging sites listed above. Please dress appropriately for the weather and wear sturdy shoes, and we’ll provide the gloves, tools, and guidance—as well as coffee and breakfast treats to get you fueled up.

Feel free to bring a friend (or three!) with you to the planting. There is no need to pre-register. Also, please note our youth waiver requirements if you are under 18 years old. You can find more information about being a volunteer with us HERE.

INCLEMENT WEATHER NOTICE:  The snow and cold weather that is forecast for Wednesday and Thursday could potentially impact our ability to get the trees from our nursery partners and/or create hazardous conditions for our volunteers. In either case, we may have to cancel some of all of these plantings. Please visit our web site for updates as the week progresses. You can also call our Tree Hotline at 503-284-TREE (8733) for updated information.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Andy or Andrew in the Volunteer & Outreach program. We look forward to seeing you at a planting soon!

–Meeks is Volunteer & Outreach Manager for Friends of Trees.