SEPTEMBER 2023: VOLUNTEER THIS SEASON | BIG FUNDING NEWS
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
JOIN US THIS PLANTING SEASON!
Our 35th planting season calendar is full of opportunities to volunteer for Trees + Community
There is nothing we love more than seeing your shining faces on a Saturday morning. We have dozens of incredible volunteer planting events in neighborhoods and natural areas this year, from Eugene to Salem to Vancouver, and so many places in between. We invite you to join us!
By bringing together thousands of volunteers every planting season, we create a community of stewardship and protection for the trees and native plants we plant. Together, we help tree knowledge spread throughout our communities, and more and more people become invested in the health of the trees. We don’t just plant the trees and move on. We work together to do everything we can to make sure that trees and native plants survive and thrive. Community support makes that happen.
Why not sign up to volunteer RIGHT NOW? This is your way to take climate action in your community, to make our neighborhoods more livable, and to make new friends—with people and trees alike!
We’ll officially begin the planting season on October 7th with a brand new planting event in Salem. We’ll be at the beautiful Bush’s Pasture Park, enhancing a natural area through native-scaping a pollinator habitat. It’s a perfect taste of what our Green Space program is all about. And of course, we’ll have plenty of neighborhood tree plantings coming up, too.
We’ll need your help and enthusiasm to get 30,000+ new trees and native plants in the ground. You can sign up as a planter, a truck driver, or take the next step and train to lead other volunteers (and learn lots more about trees and native plants!)—Crew Leader registration is open now!
Coalition Led by Friends of Trees Awarded $12M Community Forestry Grant
An 11-member coalition led by Friends of Trees was awarded a $12 million Urban and Community Forestry Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of the Inflation Reduction Act grants. The grant will fund the engagement of low canopy neighborhoods included in the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 initiative, which will bring resources to communities most impacted by climate change, pollution, and environmental hazards.
The partner coalition includes APANO, Black Parent Initiative, City of Gresham, City of Portland, Columbia Slough Watershed Council, Connecting Canopies, Depave, POIC, Verde, and Wisdom of the Elders. The $12 million award will direct funds to these partners and Friends of Trees across five years.
“This award is a validation of community tree planting as a model. Especially in the face of intensifying climate change, authentic community partnerships have a huge part to play in growing and maintaining our urban forests.
-Friends of Trees Executive Director Yashar Vasef
The coalition’s proposal includes funding for community forestry work including tree planting, natural area restoration, post-planting care, community education, opportunities for direct community input and participation, and workforce training. Read our press release here.
THE EUGENE BRANCH
How the Eugene-Springfield team is starting the new season
The Eugene-Springfield team will kick off their season as they always do with another planting along Northwest Expressway on November 4th. This year will be the monumental Phase 10 of this planting project. It’s a prime example of putting trees in places where there’s plenty of room for trees and the benefits they provide.
In recent months, we’ve been growing a robust community of tree stewards through community pruning events in Eugene and Springfield. We’re about halfway through their slate of seven pruning events, each one with a small but mighty crew of pruners. By keeping these events intimate, each pruner gets plenty of hands-on experience.
One of the most exciting things happening in Eugene this season will be the expansion of our equity work into high priority neighborhoods. With funding from an EWEB Greenpower Grant, the Bethel, Trainsong, and Far West neighborhoods will each get planting events, increased engagement, and more trees!
“We want to continue focusing our urban tree planting work on equity, sustainability, and resilience. The Greenpower grant has allowed us to do even more.”
This season is all about how trees and communities take care of each other. Join us in celebrating!
As we enter our 35th planting season, we’re focusing on how we set up our trees and native plants to survive and thrive. Healthy communities support healthy trees, and vice versa, which is why The Friends of Trees Way centers community in everything we do.
We love to kick off our seasons with vim and vigor. We want folks to come out to events and get their hands dirty. We want people to expand their knowledge and share it with neighbors. Your active support for community + trees is what keeps us going.
We have a special event to celebrate the start of the planting season!
Join us atLevel Beer’s Northeast Portland Locationto talk about tree care, the right tree right place approach to planting, and how community involvement is key to all of it. The brief program features Executive Director Yashar Vasef and Neighborhood Trees Senior Specialist Andrew Land, with plenty of time for Q&A. You’ll also get a chance to tour the trees and shrubs we planted at Level last season.
Registration is limited to 50 people. The first 50 guests get a beverage on the house! Door prizes! Register here.
JOIN OUR STAFF!
We’re hiring a Systems Administrator at Friends of Trees
Friends of Trees is hiring for two full time positions based in Portland! If you or someone you know will be an excellent fit for our awesome team, please apply!
The Volunteer & Outreach Specialist is responsible for recruiting and retaining the tree-planting and stewardship individuals and groups without whom the advancement of our mission would not be possible. Deadline: 10/11.
The Green Space Program Specialist will foster community stewardship through the successful design and implementation of natural area enhancement projects in urban green spaces. Deadline: 10/15
Our first bilingual planting ~ El Primer Evento Bilingüe de Plantar árboles de Friends of Trees | Get to know our partner: Sandy River Watershed Council
