Category: Earth Month
HAPPY EARTH MONTH!
In honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day, and in celebration of all we do together to make our world greener and healthier for all, Friends of Trees is celebrating for the entire month of April–and here’s how you can join in!
We have $17,000 in Earth Month Challenges from Portland General Electric, Laughing Planet Cafe, Cafe Yumm, Level Beer, Deschutes Brewing. Donate here, your donation will make 2x the difference!
JOIN US FOR A TREE WALK & TALK, PLANT GIVEAWAY, AND FUNDRAISER
Wednesday, April 26, 6-8p.m. ~ Level Beer, northeast Portland
Friends of Trees benefit night at Level Beer on April 26. On the 26th all Level locations are donating 100% of proceeds from their Earth Day beer to trees + community (that’s us ;). We’ll be on site at Level’s northeast Portland location from 6 to about 8 (we’ll be based in the Annex), we’ll host a tree walk among the trees and shrubs we planted there this season + we’ll have some trees & plants to give away.
- VOLUNTEER! Check out our event calendar for volunteer opportunities.
- Earth Month fundraisers for Friends of Trees!
- Until October 2023 Laughing Planet Cafe is donating $1 from every kids smoothie!
- On Earth Day, April 22, Cafe Yumm is donating 10% of all proceeds from ALL Oregon locations – WOW!
- Every Tuesday in April, Deschutes Brewery Portland is donating $1 per pint sold to Friends of Trees throughout the day. Thanks to Deschutes for being our Earth Day Oregon partners this year!
- And in Eugene, for the entire month of April Alesong Brewing will be donating 25% of all revenue from bottle and draft sales of Rolling Mist, a farmhouse ale made with Sitka spruce tips foraged from the coast – wow, what an ale!
TREE SALE & NATIVE PLANT GIVEAWAYS!
Earth Day, Saturday, April 22:
- Friends of Trees annual shade tree sale. Large stock trees at discounted prices! Learn more here.
- Native Tree & Plant Giveaway at Happy Valley Park. Are you a Clackamas County resident? Would you like a free native plant or two? Come visit us at Happy Valley Park (13770 SE Ridgecrest Rd, Happy Valley, OR 97086 ) between 9:30am & 12:30 pm – four plants per household and first come, first served! Thanks to our sponsors The Arbor Day Foundation and State Farm Insurance for the plants!
- Stay tuned to our social media channels for some EXTRA special content. (Instagram / Facebook).
- Visit our YouTube channel for some tree walks & talks with Friends of Trees staff + friends.
Check back, this page will be updated throughout April!
THANK YOU TO OUR EARTH MONTH SPONSORS!
This year during Earth Month, we’re celebrating Community Climate Action. What’s Community Climate Action? It’s planting trees, together, and so much more.
Tackling climate change goes hand-in-hand with community action. At Friends of Trees, we’ve heard from countless volunteers about how planting trees makes them feel more connected to trees, more observant of trees’ health, and more eager to care for them. We’ve witnessed time and time again how a volunteer begins with tree planting and goes on to engage further with environmental issues, including combating climate change. It’s a ripple effect that can begin with a single tree.
HAPPY EARTH MONTH!
Earth Month 2022
In honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day, and in celebration of all we do together to make our world greener and healthier for all, Friends of Trees is celebrating for the entire month of April – we’re back with another EARTH MONTH WITH THE TREE TEAM! Tune in on our social media channels throughout April for live tree walks, special content, and challenges to win PRIZES.
Plus, you can help us keep planting trees + growing community through donating! Donate here!
Please check this schedule of events regularly for additions and changes. | Live Facebook events will be immediately posted to Facebook and shared to Instagram within the hour.
Check out Instagram Earth Day highlights here!
Thank you for celebrating with us!
WEEK 1 ~ WELCOME TO EARTH MONTH!
April 2
Saturday, 10AM ~ LIVE from Oregon City ~ Facebook / Instagram
Live updates from our neighborhood planting event in Oregon City. Hear from volunteers, crew leaders, partners and planting leads, live and in real time.
WEEK 2
April 6
Wednesday, 10 AM ~ SCAVENGER HUNT CHALLENGE~ Facebook / Instagram
Take a selfie with a tree for a chance to win prizes! Each new challenge will ask you to find a particular tree near you—maybe by species or age or maybe just evoking a certain quality. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for posts on Sunday and Wednesday at noon. Tag us and use #FriendsWithTrees in a post or a story to get a chance to win special prizes like Friends of Trees gear and more. Learn more.
April 8
Friday, 4 PM ~ “Erik’s Block Party” ~ Facebook-Eugene
Every Friday, join Eugene Director Erik Burke for a LIVE Tree Walk down a different Eugene Block. Learn about unique species, tree care techniques, and how our Eugene Branch deals with issues like climate change.
April 9
Saturday, 10 AM ~ LIVE from Beaverton ~ Facebook / Instagram
Live updates from our neighborhood planting event in Beaverton. Hear from volunteers, crew leaders, partners, and planting leads, live and in real time.
April 10
Sunday, 10 AM ~ SCAVENGER HUNT CHALLENGE ~ Facebook / Instagram
Take a selfie with a tree for a chance to win prizes! Each new challenge will ask you to find a particular tree near you—maybe by species or age or maybe just evoking a certain quality. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for posts on Sunday and Wednesday at noon. Tag us and use #FriendsWithTrees in a post or a story to get a chance to win special prizes like Friends of Trees gear and more. Learn more.
WEEK 3
April 13
Wednesday, 10 AM ~ SCAVENGER HUNT CHALLENGE ~ Facebook / Instagram
Take a selfie with a tree for a chance to win prizes! Each new challenge will ask you to find a particular tree near you—maybe by species or age or maybe just evoking a certain quality. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for posts on Sunday and Wednesday at noon. Tag us and use #FriendsWithTrees in a post or a story to get a chance to win special prizes like Friends of Trees gear and more. Learn more.
April 15
Friday, 12 PM ~ “Erik’s Block Party” ~ Facebook-Eugene
Every Friday, join Eugene Director Erik Burke for a LIVE Tree Walk down a different Eugene Block. Learn about unique species, tree care techniques, and how our Eugene Branch deals with issues like climate change.
April 16
Saturday, 10 AM ~ LIVE from Columbia Slough Natural Area ~ Facebook / Instagram
Live updates from our natural area planting event at the Columbia Slough Natural Area. Hear from volunteers, crew leaders, partners and planting leads, live and in real time.
April 17
Sunday, 10 AM ~ SCAVENGER HUNT CHALLENGE ~ Facebook / Instagram
Take a selfie with a tree for a chance to win prizes! Each new challenge will ask you to find a particular tree near you—maybe by species or age or maybe just evoking a certain quality. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for posts on Sunday and Wednesday at noon. Tag us and use #FriendsWithTrees in a post or a story to get a chance to win special prizes like Friends of Trees gear and more. Learn more.
WEEK 4
April 20
Wednesday, 10 AM ~ SCAVENGER HUNT CHALLENGE ~ Facebook / Instagram
Take a selfie with a tree for a chance to win prizes! Each new challenge will ask you to find a particular tree near you—maybe by species or age or maybe just evoking a certain quality. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for posts on Sunday and Wednesday at noon. Tag us and use #FriendsWithTrees in a post or a story to get a chance to win special prizes like Friends of Trees gear and more. Learn more.
April 22 – EARTH DAY
Friday, 10 AM ~ LIVE from Happy Valley ~ Facebook / Instagram
Live updates from our neighborhood tree care event in Happy Valley. Hear from volunteers, crew leaders, partners and planting leads, live and in real time.
Friday, 6 PM ~ “Erik’s Block Party” ~ Facebook-Eugene
Every Friday, join Eugene Director Erik Burke for a LIVE Tree Walk down a different Eugene Block. Learn about unique species, tree care techniques, and how our Eugene Branch deals with issues like climate change.
April 23
Saturday, 10AM ~ LIVE from Wilkes Creek ~ Facebook / Instagram
Live updates from our natural area tree care event at the Wilkes Creek Headwaters. Hear from volunteers, crew leaders, partners and planting leads, live and in real time.
April 24
Sunday, 10 AM ~ SCAVENGER HUNT CHALLENGE ~ Facebook / Instagram
Take a selfie with a tree for a chance to win prizes! Each new challenge will ask you to find a particular tree near you—maybe by species or age or maybe just evoking a certain quality. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for posts on Sunday and Wednesday at noon. Tag us and use #FriendsWithTrees in a post or a story to get a chance to win special prizes like Friends of Trees gear and more. Learn more.
WEEK 5
April 25
Monday, 12 PM ~ LIVE Tree Walk with Vivek Shandas
Friends of Trees Deputy Director Whitney Dorer walks + talks with Dr. Vivek Shandas of PSU’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions about issues like climate change, shade, equity, and opportunities to grow the urban canopy.
April 26
Tuesday, 12 PM ~ LIVE Tree Walk with Depave
Friends of Trees Deputy Director Whitney Dorer walks + talks with Katya Reyna of Depave, an organization whose mission is to convert over-paved areas into community greenspaces.
April 27
Wednesday, 10 AM ~ SCAVENGER HUNT CHALLENGE ~ Facebook / Instagram
Take a selfie with a tree for a chance to win prizes! Each new challenge will ask you to find a particular tree near you—maybe by species or age or maybe just evoking a certain quality. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for posts on Sunday and Wednesday at noon. Tag us and use #FriendsWithTrees in a post or a story to get a chance to win special prizes like Friends of Trees gear and more. Learn more.
April 29 – ARBOR DAY
Friday, 11 AM ~ “Erik’s Block Party” ~ Facebook-Eugene
LIVE Tree Walk with Eugene Director Erik Burke. Learn about unique species, tree care techniques, and how our Eugene Branch deals with issues like climate change.
April 30
Saturday, 10AM ~ LIVE from Columbia Children’s Arboretum ~ Facebook / Instagram
Live updates from our natural area tree care event at the Columbia Children’s Arboretum. Hear from volunteers, crew leaders, partners and planting leads, live and in real time.
Take Tree Selfies for our Earth Month Scavenger Hunt!
#FriendsWithTrees Scavenger Hunt
This year for Earth Month, we’re going to play a little game and we want you to join in! It’s a scavenger hunt for some of our favorite tree friends. We’ll post the challenges—all you have to do is find the right tree and post a selfie with it!
Each new challenge will ask you to find a particular tree near you—maybe by species or age or maybe just evoking a certain quality. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for posts on Sundays and Wednesdays at noon, for all of April.
Tag Friends of Trees and use #FriendsWithTrees in a post or a story to get a chance to win special prizes like Friends of Trees gear and more. The very first participant wins a Friends of Trees hoodie. All other participants are entered to win a hoodie, Columbia Sportswear gear, and more. You get one entry for every post you make!
CHALLENGE #1:
Find a tree with a Friends of Trees tag on it! Take and post a selfie with your new tree friend. (If you can’t find a Friends of Trees tag in your neighborhood, no worries: just a post a young tree that’s got a lot of potential!)
CHALLENGE #2:
Flower power! It’s that time of year for trees to really glam it up. Take a selfie with a flowering tree friend. Bonus point if you ID it!
CHALLENGE #3:
Let’s live up to our Tree-Hugger name! Find a tree that you can’t quite wrap your arms around. Beyond showing love, it’s a good way to ballpark diameter at breast eight, or DBH, which can be used to estimate the tree’s volume, biomass, and carbon storage.
CHALLENGE #4:
“I planted that!” Who planted trees or native plants with us this year? Share one of your favorite pictures from a neighborhood or natural area planting. We love what we do because we get to work with community members like you!
CHALLENGE #5:
So much mulch! Find a tree with that picture perfect mulch job! Let this also serve as a reminder to replenish your mulch if you haven’t already. It will retain moisture and fend off trees and make your trees oh so happy!
CHALLENGE #6:
Sun’s out—throw some shade! Trees help lower the temperature as much as ten degrees. They keep your home cool and save on energy costs. Plant them now so they can provide shade for you later! Post a selfie from the shade!
Earth Month was amazing!
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTNG EARTH MONTH!
Recently during a staff planning session we talked a bit about community. We use this word a lot at Friends of Trees—we plant trees + grow community—and what struck me was that though there may be variations about the meaning of community depending on who is using it and when, the common theme was, essentially, community is all of us.
YOU are part of the Friends of Trees community. Volunteers, donors, partners, tree recipients … everyone who supports and benefits from planting trees in neighborhoods and natural areas is part of this community and I sincerely thank you for being a part of this incredible organization that, in spite of a pandemic and countless challenges, planted 21,000 trees and native shrubs this season.
We asked our community to generously support Friends of Trees in honor of Earth Month, and you really did! We successfully met our $25,000 challenge, and I promise you we will put this to good work planting trees + growing community.
If you viewed any of our Earth Month events (here’s the playlist) you probably noticed that we often talk about partnerships and climate justice. Friends of Trees’ community includes partnerships with a number of truly impactful local organizations that work with underserved communities. Underserved communities experience the worst effects of climate change and our partnerships that help connect communities to the benefits of trees play an important role in achieving climate justice.
I have a final Earth Month request of you: Support our community partners. Yes, Friends of Trees will always need you, but if we are going to achieve true climate justice we all need to support Black, Indigenous or People of Color (BIPOC) organizations that are part of the movement to ensure equitable outcomes around trees and the urban canopy.
These organizations are Friends of Trees’ partners and need your support:
Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO): Uniting Asians and Pacific Islanders to achieve social justice.
The Blueprint Foundation: Uplift, educate, and support the development of black-identified youth and other communities of color.
Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center (POIC): Committed to the success of underserved youth and adults.
Wisdom of the Elders: Native American cultural sustainability, multimedia education and race reconciliation.
If you’d like to learn more about how Friends of Trees partners with these organizations visit our website here.
Thank you for joining us during Earth Month, for supporting our work and the work of our partners, and for being a part of the Friends of Trees community.
April 22 Earth Day Party with the Tree Team – it’s virtual!
In honor of Earth Day’s 50th anniversary Friends of Trees is hosting a virtual, day-long celebration on our social media channels – it’s the virtual EARTH DAY PARTY WITH THE TREE TEAM! Tune in on Wednesday, April 22, beginning at 10 a.m. We’ll have Tree Talks, LIVE tree walks, and more! Here’s the schedule, and here’s the agenda for the virtual Earth Day party hosted by Friends of Trees Eugene!
| Time | Topic | Where To Join | ||
| 10:00 | Tree Talk: Friends of Trees Neighborhood Trees Specialist Andrew Lands talks about the European beech Sponsored by J Frank Schmidt & Son |  |  |  |
| 10:30 | Tree Walk LIVE: Andrew (who has TONS of tree knowledge!) talks about his favorite tree – and more! – with Corporate & Business Relations Specialist Sam Erman Sponsored by New Seasons Market | | ||
| 11:30 | Tree Talk LIVE with Timber Joey! That’s right, the Timbers’ beloved mascot Timber Joey will ask Sam his top tree questions. Not to be missed! Sponsored by the Portland Timbers | | ||
| Noon | Lunchtime Chat LIVE Learn about Friends of Trees’ EDI work and our Urban Forestry job training program. Sam joins Friends of Trees EDI Specialist Surabhi Mahajan for a Q & A. Sponsored by Portland General Electric | | ||
| 1:30 | Tree Walk LIVE Sam Erman visits some trees & talks about some of the many benefits of trees Sponsored by the Port of Portland | | ||
| 2:30 | Tree Talk Friends of Trees Green Space Specialist Hanna Dornhofer talks about the native Red flowering currant Sponsored by Oregon Soap Company and Cafe Yumm | | | |
| 3:00 | Tree Walk LIVE Hanna is joined by Sam at a restoration site as they explore some of the native trees and shrubs we plant, and more! Sponsored by Daimler Trucks North America / Portland Trail Blazers / Threes for Trees | | ||
| 4:30 | Tree Talk Friends of Trees Interim Executive Director Whitney Dorer visits some Giant sequoias Sponsored by the Portland Timbers | | | |
| 5:00 | LIVE chat with Friends of Trees Interim Executive Director Whitney Dorer. Whitney shares what she loves about trees + community. Sponsored by Portland General Electric | | ||
| 5:30 | We’ll recap Whitney’s chat in case you missed it Sponsored by Rigert Shade Trees | | | |
|
|
|
THANK YOU to the sponsors of the Earth Day Party with the Tree Team!
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
