Get Ready to Get Greener, Vancouver!

By Ian Bonham

Get ready for a greener Vancouver! On Saturday, Feb. 23, ten West Vancouver neighborhoods will be buzzing with orange vests, pickup trucks, and volunteers planting over 260 new yard and street trees. If you haven’t heard, this planting is our biggest ever in Vancouver, and we need all the helping hands we can get!

Please join us from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm on Saturday at St. Luke’s Church, 426 E Fourth Plain Blvd, for breakfast treats and coffee. Then join a crew of neighborhood volunteers to plant a truck-load of trees! We supply the gloves and tools; you just need to bring yourselves and clothes for the weather. Afterwards, join us for a potluck lunch to celebrate the day’s work! Visit our Portland-Vancouver calendar or contact Andy Meeks or Jenny Bedell-Stiles at [email protected] for more information.

The 2013 West Vancouver neighborhood planting includes the Arnada, Carter Park, Central Park, Edgewood Park, Fruit Valley, Hough, Hudson’s Bay, Lincoln, Rose Village, and Shumway neighborhoods.

This neighborhood planting is the result of a beautiful partnership between our neighborhood associations, Friends of Trees, and Vancouver Urban Forestry. The city and Friends of Trees have a new contract to ramp up the number of trees planted each year in Vancouver, and you can already see the difference.

All of our plantings this season have had more trees and more volunteers than in past years, and we’ve more than doubled the size of last year’s record-setting West Vancouver planting! This is really a community effort; we’ve had amazing support from our neighbors, local businesses, and volunteers. Join your neighbors and give us a hand in growing a greener city!

-Bonham is Vancouver Neighborhood Trees Coordinator for Friends of Trees & Vancouver Urban Forestry.