1 Morning, 3 Records, 260 Trees

How many records can be broken at one planting? Three, at least!

Last Saturday’s Friends of Trees planting set three records in Vancouver. It drew more community volunteers than any previous Vancouver planting—233—and the volunteers planted more trees than at any previous neighborhood planting in Vancouver—more than 260! It was also the first planting in Vancouver with crews who carried their tools, stakes and trees to their planting sites by bicycle.

Below are photos taken at the planting by Bradley York, Eric Giacchino, Cynthia Thornton-Tang, and Rich McConaghy..

Friends of Trees is grateful to our planting partner, Vancouver Urban Forestry, and to the Vancouver Watershed Alliance and Vancouver neighborhood associations that helped make the planting a success. We also appreciate St. Luke’s Episcopal Church for hosting the planting and potluck celebration, and all of the volunteer groups that participated, including the Timbers Army, Evergreen High School Key Club, Camas High School AP Environmental Science Class, Clark College Environmental Club, Union High School Key Club, and Vancouver North Stake (Nehalem Ward) of the Church of Latter Day Saints.

In addition, the following businesses contributed to the planting: ACE Communities, Bleu Door Bakery, Burgerville, Domino’s Pizza, Fruit Valley Neighborhood Association, Grand Central Bakery, Julia Bakery, Subway, Sunrise Bagels, Torque Coffee, Vancouver Pizza, and Vancouver Vision Clinic.

The person at the center of all this planning, who was determined to make Feb. 23 a record-setting day, was Friends of Trees Neighborhood Canopy Coordinator Ian Bonham.

“All of our plantings [in Vancouver] 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!” Ian noted. “This is really a community effort. We’ve had amazing support from our neighbors, local businesses, and volunteers.”

Friends of Trees looks forward to our next planting in Vancouver on March 16. It begins at 8:30 am with registration and breakfast treats at LeRoy Hagen Memorial Community Park. Our calendar has more details.