Gift Trees to restore local sanctuary

Gift Tree Planting, 12.14.08, Wilsonville
Melissa Pelletier plants a gift tree in Wilsonville, Dec. 14. (Chijo Takeda)

By Melissa Barber

Friends of Trees is proud to partner with the Audubon Society of Portland and Metro to help restore the Collins Sanctuary in Forest Park. Our restoration effort in this unique and beautiful area in Portland’s West Hills are made possible by generous donations through our Gift Trees program.

The Collins Sanctuary, a legacy of the Collins Family Foundation, was gifted to the Oregon Parks Foundation in 1976. This marked the beginning of the Audubon Society of Portland’s work to restore the natural landscape and provide habitat for wildlife.

Over the years, the English Ivy and other invasive plants grew quickly and overwhelmed the newly-planted natives, until Metro purchased the land from the Oregon Parks Foundation in 2008.

Metro and Audubon restoration scientists have been working together in a concerted effort to speed up the invasive species removal and plant natives, which will thrive in the environment and stabilize the slopes. Through a partnership with our Gift Trees program, Friends of Trees is now able to plant even more vital native trees to make this sanctuary whole again.

Your support of our Gift Trees program directly provides the structure and overarching canopy that is needed in this urban forest.
During our 2009-10 planting season we invite our Gift Trees donors and recipients to dig in and help plant the trees that will one day become an old-growth forest.

Unlike typical Green Space Initiative plantings, special Gift Tree plantings are not open to the public. Gift tree givers or recipients are invited to attend, with space capped at 100 volunteers.

The next Gift Trees plantings at Collins Sanctuary are Dec. 6 and March 28. To be eligible for the March planting, donate a gift tree or a grove between now and the end of February.

See video here of a GSI crew leader training at the Audubon Society, earlier this month.

–Melissa Barber is the associate director of membership services for Friends of Trees. She can be reached at 503-282-8846 ext. 23 and [email protected].