Bruce Nelson and Save Our Elms receive Bill Naito Community Trees Awards

At this year’s Dig-It event to kick off the planting season, Portland’s Urban Forestry Commission presented the 2010 Bill Naito Community Trees Awards to Bruce Nelson and Save Our Elms.

A professor at Clackamas Community College and a Friends of Trees Volunteer of the Year, Bruce Nelson has contributed regularly to Friends of Trees’ leadership trainings for nearly a decade, using stories, skits, jokes and songs to make learning fun. Bruce also volunteers for Portland Parks & Recreation and helped create a community garden and an arboretum with 40 species of trees at Rigler Elementary School.

Save Our Elms has rallied citizens for 15 years to inoculate Portland’s majestic elms against Dutch Elm Disease. Over the years, the group has raised $200,000 for inoculations and planted more than 200 Homestead and other Dutch Elm Disease-resistant varieties, trees that are now over 40 feet tall. The group has six affiliated organizations that work to save elms in Portland.

The Bill Naito Community Trees Award was created in honor of the late community leader Bill Naito, who helped found Portland’s Urban Forestry Commission in 1974 and served as its chair for 22 years. You can read about past winners here.

Dig-It was held at East Sylvan Middle School, where several trees were planted as part of the event. Read more about Save Our Elms and Bruce Nelson on Oregon Live.