Category: Neighborhood Trees
Vote for trees + community + kids!
We’re in the running for an Advantis GROW Grant to fund our educational work with young people & YOU have the power to decide!
How to vote:
EVERY DAY until July 10 visit Advantis and cast your vote for Friends of Trees.
Need a reminder? Email Tyler to join the list of folks who will get a daily VOTE TODAY email reminder.
Voting for Friends of Trees is the only way we can receive this $10,000 grant to help fund our work with young people in the classroom and in the field. We are getting youth outdoors and connected to nature, growing the next generation’s Tree Team, and you can help – THANK YOU!
Bingo! Fun with Friends of Trees
We love our volunteers, for so many reasons. Of course, reason #1 is that volunteers are key to getting 50,000+ trees and native shrubs in the ground every season. Another reason? Fun Bingo responses! At our recent volunteer appreciation party Friends of Trees Bingo featured factoids about FOT, trees and volunteering–and some of those answers were pretty fun. Check it out (“real” answers provided, too):
What is a tree’s favorite beer?
Lager | Root Beer | Rain-here/Rain-eer/Rainier
Is there a correct answer? This is actually a great opportunity to share important information about the water needs of newly planted trees: 15 gallons a week during the dry summer months for the first few years a tree is in the ground. This requirement has changed as our climate has warmed up, so be sure to water those thirsty trees! Find more tree care tidbits here.
Find someone who first started volunteering this season
Me! | Barry | Carmen
We LOVE that you, Barry, Carmen and so many other community members came out and volunteered with us this season! We hear all the time that a Friends of Trees planting event is the first time someone volunteered for anything; we also hear that one of our events is often the first time someone planted anything. What’s even better: So many first-time volunteers and first-time planters come back again and again for more. This is so special, and just what our community needs. Haven’t yet volunteered with Friends of Trees? Explore how.
What’s a tip for working with kids on a tree planing crew?
Plant the kid in the first hole | Have them look for worms | Snacks | Worms | Snacks
Friends of Trees engages more than 2,000 young people every season, through planting events and school-based partnerships. Our education programming for youth from elementary to high school combines classroom curriculum with field work, helping to grow the next Tree Team generation. Learn more about young people getting their hands dirty through planting trees.
What is the most common genus of tree planted in most major cities, including Portland?
Acer (Maple)
OK, so pretty much everyone had the correct answer without even a pun. But this is a great way to remind folks about the importance of planting a diverse variety of trees: Tree diversity helps protect against species-specific pests and diseases, which in turn helps ensure a healthy canopy. Tree diversity also supports a wide range of pollinators and other beneficial insects, and so much more, which is why Friends of Trees strives to provide a diverse tree selection list everywhere we plant. Interested in getting a tree from Friends of Trees? Here’s the first step.
Name two FOT planting partners
City of Tualatin | Verde | POIC | PGE | City of Portland | Portland Trail Blazers
We received lots of correct answers and maybe this wasn’t the most humorous category. But we want to use this apparently easy Bingo answer to share that partnerships are just as necessary to our mission as volunteers, and we have so many partnerships. The photo above represents a few:
- The planting is in Portland’s Cully neighborhood, where our planting partner Verde is based.
- All Neighborhood Trees planting events in Portland neighborhoods are in partnership with the City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services.
- Pictured in the photo are planters representing a couple of partners: Deward (2nd from left) is a POIC student and FOT Crew Leader, and Julieta (far right) is from David Douglas High School. Our POIC partnership involves student development, education and job training through students training and serving as FOT Crew Leaders; and, for more than six years DDHS students have volunteered at our outer-southeast Portland tree-planting events. (also pictured: Crew Leader Carmen, 1st on the left, and FOT staffers Manuel and Pablo, 3rd and 4th from left)
Further, sponsors such as the Portland Trail Blazers are also crucial to the success of our program, since their support is key to bridging funding gaps. In fact, Trail Blazers was the most common response to this question — #ripcity! (read about our 3s For Trees partnership below). We’d love for your business to join us as a sponsor!
There is so much more to know about trees and Friends of Trees, hone up here!
Get to know our partner: the City of Vancouver
“Friends of Trees does more than simply plant a tree at a Vancouver resident’s house. They plant the right tree, the right way, in the right location.” -Charles Ray, City of Vancouver Urban Forester
For 16 years Friends of Trees has been planting the right trees, the right way, for Vancouver residents in partnership with the City of Vancouver. Currently more than 500 trees are planted every year here, thanks to the help of hundreds of community volunteers.
Vancouver’s Urban Forester, Charles Ray, reflects on this long-lasting, impactful partnership, and the important role trees play in the community,
“Vancouver has a long history with trees and considers trees community assets that provide multiple benefits, including clean water. The simple truth is trees in the community have practical, quantifiable values and are not merely decorations. They provide essential benefits that we cannot live without.
“We are fortunate to have an organization like Friends of Trees that shares the same mission and helps us accomplish more. Most municipal programs across the country dream of having an opportunity such as this. Friends of Trees does more than simply plant a tree at a Vancouver resident’s house. They plant the right tree, the right way, in the right location.
“Friends of Trees engages that person several times through the process, enabling staff and volunteers to share the benefits of trees and educate them about the City’s processes and requirements around trees. It also offers them an opportunity to engage hands-on with the community asset, the tree that will be planted in front of their house. This often leads to stronger community connections and civic involvement, and knowledge of the benefits, how to care for and needs of the urban forest.
“Planting the right tree in the right place and giving it the right care and pruning make all the difference to ensuring a healthy urban forest today and for generations to come. It only takes a minute to improperly prune or remove a tree but a lifetime to grow one.
“We cannot do it alone. I am excited by Friends of Trees’ commitment to Vancouver and the community’s efforts to meet this need. If I could ask for one thing it would be participation from the business community to sponsor plantings so that we can increase our annual planting goals with Friends of Trees.”
Charles, we couldn’t say it better ourselves; Vancouver businesses, join us!
Pictured above: Far left, Jessica George, City of Vancouver; standing, third from left, UF Program intern Bruce
This is from the April 2019 edition of our e-news, Treemail; check out that issue of Treemail, and others, here.
Asociación para empleos y oportunidades en Verde ~ Partnering for jobs and opportunity with Verde
Asociación para empleos y oportunidades en Verde ~ Partnering for jobs and opportunity with Verde (English version here)
“Las asociaciones como la que disfrutamos con la organización Friends of Trees (Amigos de los árboles) son las que realmente han hecho posible el modelo de iniciativa social de Verde. Las asociaciones como esta han permitido que nuestro programa proporcione empleos con salarios dignos, que cuentan con beneficios y oportunidades de capacitación, a muchas personas de bajos ingresos y personas de color que viven en el área de Portland”. —Ricardo Moreno, gerente de Verde Builds, exgerente de Verde Landscape
Al celebrar 30 años de árboles + comunidad, también debemos homenajear a nuestros notorios socios que intervienen para brindar apoyo siempre que hace más falta contar con una mano amiga.
Durante esta época del año con presencia de nieve y hielo, mantuvimos la calma sabiendo que, incluso con las cancelaciones de los eventos, nuestros socios en Verde Northwest estarían ahí para sacarnos del apuro.
Verde brinda servicio a las comunidades al crear riqueza ambiental a través de iniciativas sociales, promoción comunitaria y defensa. Desde el año 2005, Verde aporta nuevas inversiones ambientales a los vecindarios de Portland, involucra a miembros de la comunidad en la planificación y el desarrollo de tales inversiones, y colabora para garantizar que las personas de bajos ingresos y las personas de color se beneficien directamente de las inversiones en espacios verdes, hábitat, eficiencia energética y energía renovable, calles verdes, instalaciones de gestión de aguas pluviales, educación ambiental, empleos verdes y empresas verdes.
“Cuesta creerlo, pero este año se conmemora el 10.º aniversario de la asociación entre Verde y Friends of Trees. Recuerdo vívidamente el invierno de 2009 cuando Verde Landscape recibió el primer encargo de Friends of Trees para plantar árboles en sitios comerciales Era algo realmente nuevo para nosotros y, personalmente, me sentí un poco intimidado, pero con la ayuda y la capacitación que recibimos de nuestros grandes socios y amigos de Friends of Trees, la plantación de árboles en el área metropolitana de Portland se convirtió rápidamente en una de las actividades favoritas de Verde Landscape, y, en la actualidad, estamos orgullosos de decir que Verde ayudó a Friends of Trees a plantar miles de árboles en toda el área de Portland.
“Las asociaciones como la que disfrutamos con la organización Friends of Trees (Amigos de los árboles) son las que realmente han hecho posible el modelo de iniciativa social de Verde. Las asociaciones como esta han permitido que nuestro programa proporcione empleos con salarios dignos, que cuentan con beneficios y oportunidades de capacitación, a muchas personas de bajos ingresos y personas de color que viven en el área de Portland. Nuestro programa también ofrece oportunidades para que los miembros de nuestro equipo hagan la transición a empleos mejor remunerados, no solo en Verde, sino también en otras organizaciones locales. Este programa también abre el camino a oportunidades laborales que los conectan con el ambiente natural y que restauran las áreas verdes en los vecindarios donde viven, normalmente los vecindarios que carecen de los beneficios ambientales de los vecindarios céntricos de Portland”. —Ricardo Moreno, gerente de Verde Builds, exgerente de Verde Landscape
Cuando cancelamos una plantación debido a las condiciones climáticas, ¡el impacto es inmenso! Debemos comunicarnos con los voluntarios, cambiar el destino de plantación de árboles, posponer las donaciones de alimentos, los anillos de riego se vuelven viejos… y la lista continúa. Deben hacerse cientos de llamadas telefónicas, y nuestro equipo trabaja con mucho esfuerzo para organizar todo, hasta el último detalle.
Algunos eventos pueden reprogramarse, pero otros son demasiado complejos para contar con esa flexibilidad. En tales casos, con el apoyo económico de nuestros socios de la Oficina de Servicios Ambientales de la ciudad de Portland, nuestros amigos de Verde plantan los árboles que, de lo contrario, no podrían plantarse en Portland. Ellos acuden a la oficina, recogen los árboles y se van. Esta asociación nos permite reenfocarnos en el próximo evento importante, mientras se plantan los árboles cuanto antes.
Otro aspecto notable de trabajar con Verde fue el proyecto conjunto A New Forest Grows (Nace un nuevo bosque) que permitió plantar más de 4,000 árboles a lo largo del sendero multiuso de la Interestatal 205 para crear un circuito natural verde para peatones, ciclistas y las comunidades vecinas. Verde trabajó con mucho esmero para mantener los árboles en estos lugares desafiantes, con agua y cuidados. Esta asociación entre el Consejo Metropolitano, el Departamento de Transporte de Oregon y Verde se ha convertido en un modelo para otros proyectos y continuará brindando beneficios durante muchos años.
Recientemente, Verde también se asoció con Friends of Trees para fortalecer nuestro Programa de capacitación en silvicultura urbana para adultos (que ha sido posible gracias al financiamiento del Distrito de Conservación de Suelo y Agua de East Multnomah). Verde nominó a cuatro personas de su red para que participen en nuestro programa de capacitación y pasantías durante el último período de otoño-invierno. Este programa ofrece la oportunidad de establecer contactos y de estar expuestos a empleos en el campo ambiental, especialmente en silvicultura urbana y trabajos de restauración. Mediante esta asociación, Verde también acoge a un pasante en su organización.
“Admiro realmente el trabajo que ha realizado Friends of Trees a lo largo de todos estos años al reunir a la comunidad y hacer que nuestros espacios sean más verdes, más saludables y más hermosos. Me siento honrado de haber formado parte de esta gran asociación y espero seguir trabajando y colaborando juntos durante muchos años más para el bienestar de nuestras comunidades y de nuestro ambiente”. —Ricardo Moreno
Partnering for jobs and opportunity with Verde
“It’s really partnerships like the one we enjoy with Friends of Trees that have made Verde’s social enterprise model possible. Partnerships like this have allowed our program to provide living wage jobs with benefits and training opportunities to many low-income and people of color living in the Portland area.” –Ricardo Moreno, Verde Builds Manager
As we celebrate 30 years of trees + community, we must also celebrate our incredible partners who step in to support wherever a helping hand is needed most.
During this season’s icy & snowy conditions we took a deep breath knowing that even with event cancellations, our partners at Verde Northwest would be there to save the day.
Verde serves communities by building environmental wealth through social enterprise, outreach, and advocacy. Since 2005, Verde has brought new environmental investments to Portland’s neighborhoods; involved community members in the planning and building of these investments; and has helped ensure that low-income people and people of color directly benefit from investments in greenspaces, habitat, energy efficiency and renewable energy, green streets, stormwater management facilities, environmental education, green jobs, and green businesses.
“It’s hard to believe but this year marks the 10th anniversary of Verde and Friends of Trees partnership. I vividly remember the winter of 2009 when Verde Landscape received its first tree planting assignment on commercial sites from Friends of Trees. It was all very new to us and I personally felt a bit intimidated by it, but with the help and training we received from our great partners and friends at Friends of Trees, planting trees in the Portland Metro area quickly became one of Verde Landscape’s favorite activities and now we’re proud to say that Verde has helped Friends of Trees plant thousands of trees all over Portland.
“It’s really partnerships like the one we enjoy with Friends of Trees that have made Verde’s social enterprise model possible. Partnerships like this have allowed our program to provide living wage jobs with benefits and training opportunities to many low-income and people of color living in the Portland area. Our program also provides opportunities for our crew members to transition to higher paying jobs, not only within Verde but also with other local organizations. This program also creates pathways to job opportunities that connect them to the natural environment and restore landscapes in the neighborhoods they live in, typically neighborhoods that lack the environmental benefits of Portland’s inner neighborhoods.” -Ricardo Moreno, Verde Builds Manager (Previously Verde Landscape Manager)
When we cancel a planting due to the weather, the impacts are huge! Volunteers must be contacted, trees re-routed, food donations put on hold, donuts grow old … the list goes on. Hundreds of phone calls must be made and our team works diligently until every last detail has been taken care of.
Some events can be rescheduled, but others are just too complex to allow us that flexibility. In these cases, with financial support from our partners at The City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, our friends at Verde plant the trees that were otherwise unable to be planted in Portland. They come to the office, pick up the trees, and off they go. This partnership allows us to refocus on the next big event, while getting trees into the ground as soon as possible.
Another highlight of working with Verde was the A New Forest Grows collaborative that planted more than 4,000 trees along the I-205 multi-use path to create a green buffer for pedestrians, cyclists, and the neighboring communities. Verde worked diligently to support the trees in these challenging sites with water and care. This partnership with Metro, ODOT, and Verde has become a model for other projects and will continue to provide benefits for years to come.
Recently, Verde has also partnered with Friends of Trees to strengthen our Adult Urban Forestry Training Program (made possible thanks to funding from East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District). Verde nominated four individuals from their network to participate in our paid training and internship program this past fall and winter. This program provides networking and exposure to jobs in the environmental field, particularly in urban forestry and restoration work. Verde is also hosting an intern at their location through this partnership.
“I truly admire the work that Friends of Trees has done through all these years by bringing community together and making our spaces greener, healthier and more beautiful. I’m honored to have been a part of this great partnership and I look forward to many more years of working and collaborating together for the well-being of our communities and our environment.” –Ricardo Moreno
photo credit: left and right photos courtesy of Verde, center photo courtesy of City of Portland, BES.
Do you have a tree story?
We’re looking for great stories about your tree or your tree planting experience
Thirty years = A LOT of trees, and a lot of tree stories. We’d love to hear yours.
Trees are often witness to or part of life’s milestones, such as anniversaries, births, proposals, commemorations. Trees are always there, growing and changing as we grow and change.
Do you have a tree at your home planted with Friends of Trees? How has that tree played a role in your family, during time in your home, in your life? Did you have an unforgettable planting experience with us, perhaps for a special occasion or in honor of a special person?
Trees are amazing and they are part of amazing stories. Do you have an amazing or heartwarming or special tree story about a Friends of Trees tree or tree-planting experience? We’d love to hear it, please contact Kathy Armstrong (kathya@friendsoftrees.org; 503-467-2512) with your tree story. Thank you!