JANUARY 2025: LIBRARY PLANTING | EUGENE TREE DATA | THANK YOU!
NEW TREES TELL A NEW STORY AT THE LIBRARY
Volunteers planted a model for a climate resilient urban forest at the Tigard Public Library.
There’s nothing quite like sitting under a tree with a good book. At the Tigard Public Library, there are 20 new trees for community members to enjoy, and the species were chosen to stand the test of time.
This month, volunteers gathered on a sunny Saturday morning to plant trees in an empty field right outside their library. The Tigard library had reached out to Friends of Trees to design a planting that would serve as a model for a climate resilient urban forest. The field was once an apple orchard, but has sat empty and unused for decades.
“We can change the story of this field,” says Library Director Halsted Bernard. “We can bring in trees to remediate soil and bring in wildlife.”
“Especially with climate change, we need to plant with a decades-long view,” says Mario Catani, our Neighborhood Trees Specialist for Washington County and a certified arborist.
“The trees that we plant now are going to be living in a completely different world. We’re already seeing certain species start to struggle with extreme summer heat and winter storms.”
When it came to tree selection, Mario looked south. Not just to our Eugene Branch and their work planting climate trees, but all the way to California, where species like the blue oak have proved their ability to withstand extreme temperature swings. These species are used to seeing temperatures of 110 degrees Fahrenheit or more, which is becoming more and more common here.
Volunteers also planted ponderosa pines, incense cedars, bald cypresses, quaking aspens, Oregon white oaks, blue oaks, and coast live oaks (a sentimental favorite of Mario’s). Library patrons will be able to watch them grow, and beyond that, engage with library programming around the new forest.
“These will be mother trees,” Mario says. “People can come and collect acorns and plant their own climate trees!”
We were overwhelmed by the tremendous support we saw at the end of 2024. Not only were hundreds of people showing up to events to volunteer their time and efforts, we had so many individuals and businesses choose to support our year-end campaign through Give!Guide or otherwise. Thank you from all of us on the Tree Team!
We are always grateful to see that so many people want to see their neighborhoods grow trees and green spaces. For the third year in a row, we led Give!Guide’s environmental category in donations by people 35 and under. It’s amazing how much young people care about taking climate action in their own communities.
Now we’re getting back to work and hope you’ll join us! We have a ton of awesome planting events in neighborhoods and natural areas throughout the region for the next few months, culminating in Earth Month, when we will celebrate planting our MILLIONTH TREE. You can be a part of this historic moment.
You often hear us say, Friends of Trees doesn’t just plant a tree and walk away. We provide tree care guidance to recipients, plus several years of pruning and inspection. We want to make sure a tree is given the best chance to survive and thrive. After the tree is established, the tree is free to do its thing.
Holden Marsh, a Field Technician on our Eugene-Springfield team, wanted to check on the very first trees that Friends of Trees planted in Eugene, back in the 2012-2013 season. And they knew just the people to partner with.
“I connected with an Applied Ecology professor at the University of Oregon,” Holden says, “and her students were looking for projects in the community. I thought that surveying our 10-year-old trees was a perfect fit.”
The survey began in Fall 2023, with a group of students checking on each of the trees planted in the 2012-2013 season. This year, another group continued the work and visited each of the trees from the 2013-2014 season. In addition to noting the species and its survival, they also took note of each tree’s height.
“Before this, we didn’t have a solid perspective on how these trees were doing,” Holden says. “It’s not a huge data pool, but it’s still useful. This is a project we wouldn’t have been able to do without the help of these students.”
The students found that 110 of the 150 trees planted ten years ago were still alive, a 73% survival rate.
“That’s really good,” says Eugene Director Erik Burke. “I think it speaks to our emphasis on providing treecipients with tree care support.”
Help us reach our 1 millionth tree this planting season!
We have such awesome planting events for you this season! Whether it’s in a neighborhood or natural area, we would love your help building community with trees and native plants. It’s a great way to take climate action, and as a volunteer named Caela puts it, planting trees is the “best reason in the world to wear rubber pants and play in the mud!”
We’re still looking for volunteers for these events:
February 1, Stites Nature Park natural area planting, Forest Grove
February 8, Gresham neighborhood planting
February 15, Cedar Mill/Cedar Hills neighborhood planting
February 15, Bybee Lakes Victory Garden natural area planting, North Portland
February 22, Westside Vancouver neighborhood planting
Crew Leaders and Assistants—watch your inbox for Crew Leader News on the first of the month! Trained Crew Leaders sign-up for events here.
A MILLION TREES*
This season Friends of Trees celebrates planting a million trees *and native shrubs with more than 75,000 community volunteers since 1989.
Think about the difference those trees and natural areas make in our lives; think about all of those volunteers, getting up on countless Saturday mornings over the past 36 years. That’s why we’re celebrating with tree walks, tree talks, and special events! This celebration is made possible by our Presenting Partner: Portland General Electric!
We want to hear your Friends of Trees story! Whether its a funny anecdote, a lovely little memory, or a longer tale, your stories will help us celebrate our Millionth Tree season! Read some stories or submit your own here.
