Plant It Portland! Timbers

More than a hundred volunteers sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Portland Timbers Alumni Ambassador Scot Thompson at the opening rally of the Friends of Trees Feb. 11, 2012 planting in NE Portland. The event, sponsored by the Portland Timbers, added nearly 200 new trees to the Boise, Eliot, Humboldt and King neighborhoods.

Joining Thompson at the planting were Timbers Alumni Ambassador Mick Hoban, Timbers mascot Timber Joey, and Timbers Army planters. This was the fourth year the Timbers Army has volunteered at the annual planting in the neighborhoods surrounding Friends of Trees’ office.

Before the volunteers headed out to green the neighborhoods, Friends of Trees board member Charlie Hales warned them that planting with Friends of Trees could lead to certain side effects. The planters could find themselves beginning to talk more with their neighbors, for instance, and they might develop the idea that they can make a difference.

Adding color to the morning were a whimsical billboard from Friends of Trees’ Plant It Portland! campaign, featuring a Timbers fan/FOT crew leader wielding shovels instead of an axe, actual crew leaders in orange vests, and planters in green and white “No Pity” scarves.

With the Feb. 11 planting, more than 6,000 street trees have been planted in Portland neighborhoods through the Plant It Portland! campaign, which Friends of Trees launched last year in partnership with the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services.

–TR