Breaking records again in North Portland

Feb. 19, 2011 Cathedral Park, St. John's & University Park Planting
Trees waiting to be planted at last year's Cathedral Park, St. Johns & University Park Planting (Matt Krueger)

By Erica Timm

The North Portland Peninsula is about to get much, much greener. Friends of Trees is planting just over 700 trees in the Cathedral Park, Kenton, Portsmouth, St. Johns and University Park neighborhoods this year!

This is the second record-breaking year for these neighborhoods. Last year, they broke all previous neighborhood planting records by planting 533 trees. Now, over 700!

With so many trees to plant, we need as many volunteers as possible. If you’re interested in joining in the fun, please meet us this Saturday, February 18, at 8:45 am at one of our two staging sites:

  • Cathedral Park, St. Johns, University Park neighborhoods
    • St. Johns Christian Church at 8044 N Richmond Street (map)
  • Kenton and Portsmouth neighborhoods
    • Portland Village School at 7654 N Delaware Avenue (map)

No planting experience is necessary! We provide gloves, tools and trained guidance, as well as breakfast treats and coffee.  All volunteers are treated to a potluck lunch at the completion of the event around 1:00 pm.

Plant It Portland! Plant By Bike
Sign up here to Plant By Bike! this weekend (Art by Amy Ruppel)

This is also the first year we’ll have crews planting entirely by bike in these neighborhoods, so if you’re interested in planting by bike, sign up here.

A big thank you to Recology for sponsoring the Cathedral Park, St. Johns and University Park planting; we appreciate your partnership and support! We also appreciate our ongoing partnership with Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, which made this weekend’s plantings to clean our rivers and green our city possible. And a huge thanks to our volunteer Neighborhood Coordinators in all five neighborhoods. The plantings (and record-breaking) could not happen without you!

Lastly, I would personally like to thank everyone planting trees in the North Portland Peninsula this year. My birthday is this weekend, and the planting of over 700 trees in my neighborhood seems like a tremendous gift from all of my neighbors! I look forward to planting with you all very soon!

–Timm is a Neighborhood Trees Specialist for Friends of Trees.