Traveling banner inspires action to clean our river

By Brighton West

If you’ve walked, biked, or driven on SE Hawthorne this month, you’ve probably seen our Plant It Portland! banner overhead at SE 16th. It will be there a few more days before it moves to another part of Portland. The banner marks the start of the second year of our Plant It Portland! campaign, which is part of Portland’s Grey to Green Initiative. Portland General Electric is lead sponsor of the Plant It Portland! campaign.

When the City of Portland began installing the six-mile east side Big Pipe in 2007 to accommodate more stormwater during rainy fall and winter days, the City awarded 22 organizations Community Benefit Opportunity (CBO) funds to invest in stormwater reduction projects in the communities surrounding the Big Pipe construction area. Friends of Trees received $218,000 to plant more than 1,000 trees in neighborhoods where the Big Pipe was being installed.

As Friends of Trees enters the final stretch to complete our CBO plantings by December 31, 2011, we hope to engage more people than ever in planting trees this fall. Our banner over SE Hawthorne will remain in place until the end of June. Later this summer, the same banner will be moved to North Portland, where the Big Pipe terminates.

The Big Pipe will capture stormwater to reduce sanitary sewer overflows into the Willamette River. Trees help prevent these overflows by capturing rain water on their leaves and branches and giving the water a chance to evaporate rather than enter the sewer system. Trees’ roots also absorb rain water to keep it from flowing into the sewer system. Trees are an important part of the city’s stormwater infrastructure, and they work with bioswales and pipes to produce a cost-effective treatment system.

Check out the kinds of trees you can plant at your home this fall. You can be part of the solution to keep our rivers clean, and you can beautify your home and neighborhood, too.

–West is Program Director of Friends of Trees.