Tag: Vancouver
Garry Shows Up Early in Vancouver
Dear Diary,
I showed up early to the Vancouver planting event last week. Like, really early, almost two hours before all the planting volunteers showed up! The sun had barely come up when I got to the church where the event was being staged. There were just a handful of Friends of Trees staff and a few staging volunteers in the parking lot, moving tools to parking spaces for each planting crew.
Then I met Adam. Adam was about to make my day. He’s a special volunteer, a “superstager.” When general volunteers show up on a Saturday morning, trees are already sorted by crew, ready to be loaded into a pickup truck and make their FINAL journey to their forever home. Adam knows this process like the back of his hand.
It turns out that sorting those trees is quite a task. You start with 80 trees, all sorts of different species. We were setting up for a dozen crews, and each one would plant about 7-10 trees at different homes in their assigned area. Of course, treecipients signed up to get a particular tree, so we had to make sure that the right trees went out with the right crews.
I’d ask Adam, “Where does this Golden rain tree belong?” “Crew J,” he’d respond after checking his clipboard. “J as in Joyful.”
“A is in Awesome.” “H as in Hippo.” “D as in Donut.” And on and on he went. Every time, Adam would come up with another random word. I started to try to come up with words too. It’s the perfect game for 7:30 A.M.
Rolling these trees to their dedicated parking spaces had me thinking about all the work that goes into preparing for an event. Outreach to community members about signing up for a tree, sourcing those trees from a local nursery, partner coordination, volunteer recruitment and communication, crew leader training. Even hole digging! And then there’s the physical logistics of getting all the tools, vehicles, trees, canopies, snacks, and most importantly, coffee—all to the same place at the same time. Wowee, it’s a lot!
When you think about it, it’s a bit of a miracle that we bring it all together. But it’s what Friends of Trees does best. We do it dozens of times a year. And it’s not a miracle when you think about all the people power behind the scenes that make it happen. So that when 100 volunteers show up at 8:45 A.M., it’s not long before they’re planting trees in the community. And after just a few hours, 80 new trees are in their new home soil.
Adela, the Neighborhood Trees Specialist leading this Central-South Vancouver event and famous from our social feeds, was all smiles as she welcomed the volunteers to the parking lot we prepared. “How many of you are here for your first ever Friends of Trees event?” she asked the crowd. About half the people cheered. I love to hear it.
We do it for the people who are joining us for the first time or the fiftieth time. For the people getting their first tree or their fifth. Saturday morning events don’t always run perfectly—how could they, with so many moving parts?—but they’re always meaningful and impactful
After we finished staging, I asked Adam over a donut and a coffee if he was headed home after he got such an early start.
“I’m going planting!” he said joyfully. “Me too!” I said.
Tree-mendously yours,
Garry
P.S. There are a bunch of different ways to volunteer besides planting! Stager, crew leader, summer inspector, and more. Learn more here.
P.P.S. You can support these good vibes and good trees by donating!
Trees & Bees? Yes Please!
We partnered with Vancouver Bee Project to add pollinator plants alongside new neighborhood trees.
An urban tree doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As soon as it’s planted, it interacts with the soil and air, with people and wildlife. Our neighborhoods are their own ecosystems. At a recent planting in Vancouver, Friends of Trees leaned into that idea, incorporating native plants alongside new trees to attract pollinators.
We’re in our second year of partnering with a local organization, Vancouver Bee Project, to bring pollinator plants to our communities. Last season, we shared a vision to pilot a pollinator “guild” component within a planting event. This month, we had another co-planting that added 150 pollinator plants like yarrow, wild strawberry, lupine and aster alongside new neighborhood trees in the Central-North/Fourth Plain neighborhoods. We also gave away another 150 plants for volunteers to take home.
“Partnering with Friends of Trees was a natural fit because we share the same vision of creating healthier urban ecosystems,” says Kyle of Vancouver Bee Project. “Trees and pollinator-friendly plants complement each other beautifully, enhancing biodiversity and strengthening our community’s environmental health.”
“It’s great that the trees get buddy plants,” says Adela, the Friends of Trees Neighborhood Trees Specialist in Vancouver who helped organize the partnership with Vancouver Bee Project. “Trees are part of a larger ecosystem, even in an urban environment, and so are pollinators.”
The life of an urban tree is a hard one—they are subjected to all kinds of pressure from their environment. Planting companion plants around the base of an urban tree, or creating a plant “guild,” creates the opportunity for synergetic plant relationships: Plants provide the tree with extra nutrients and trunk protection, and the tree provides plants needed shade and support. These guilds also provide high quality forage and habitat for native pollinators, who could really use our support.
“When I inspected the trees we planted last season this past summer, it was so exciting to see how these little plants took off,” Adela says. “Each tree with a guild was buzzing with bumblebees, and I even saw a butterfly or two.”
Vancouver Bee Project and Friends of Trees selected the Central-North/Fourth Plain neighborhoods to pilot this initiative. We wanted to make the social, ecological, and aesthetic benefits of these plants available to a part of the Vancouver community that experiences high health disparities and includes historically underserved communities.
“Volunteers were so excited about adding pollinator plants,” Adela says. “Neighbors in this area were so on board and happy to help. Everyone who received a tree also participated in the planting in some way.”
Vancouver Bee Project joined in at the crew leader huddle to demonstrate proper planting, and crew leaders reported that it was a positive and easy addition to the planting day.
“The event was fantastic,” Kyle says. “There was a palpable excitement among volunteers as we introduced pollinator plants alongside the trees. People loved learning about how these plants directly support local bees, butterflies, and birds.”
These plants will serve to maximize urban pollinator habitat connectivity—these little havens along our streets and in our yards help pollinators move throughout the urban landscape. Our native pollinators are increasingly threatened by human caused changes in the environment, such as climate change and habitat loss from development, so helping them out in these ways, by providing refuge and forage, can make a huge difference.
“As a kid, I only thought of bees as something that could sting me,” Adela says. “One time I sat on one! Now I recognize them as super important. Now there’s a unique joy when I find a pollinator guild buzzing with bees.”
Friends of Trees hopes to make this partnership with Vancouver Bee Project a fixture of future seasons, and to continue to think about how we can care for our pollinators throughout our programming.
“By protecting pollinators, tree lovers support the overall health and sustainability of our urban forests and community green spaces,” Kyle says.
“To expand what we can offer our communities and our ecosystem at large, and to dream up new possibilities—How exciting is that!” Adela says.
Check out all the fantastic work Vancouver Bee Project is doing! Vancouver, WA, is on its way to receiving a Bee City USA designation – learn more about that here.
Get To Know Vancouver
Our 22-Year Partnership Continues to Grow!
Our thriving partnership with the City of Vancouver shows how committed the city is to trees and community. Since we started planting in Vancouver in 2001, we have worked with their Urban Forestry team to grow tree counts and volunteer engagement.
“It’s great to work with a city that’s investing in trees to be proactive about climate change,” says Neighborhood Trees Senior Specialist Ian Bonham.
“It’s a really great partnership, working with a nonprofit to get trees in the ground and engage homeowners in stewardship,” says Jessica George, the City of Vancouver’s Urban Forestry Outreach Coordinator. “Friends of Trees really helps grow the understanding of how trees are important.”
With our new contract, the partnership has grown from 400 trees planted each season to up to 700 trees, and from 200 trees pruned to 300.
“Pruning is an important part of it,” Jessica says. “We need to make sure that the trees are cared for so that they can provide their benefits.”
“More investment means more results,” Ian says.
Friends of Trees has five planting events in Vancouver this season. That extra capacity has allowed us to give more attention to the Fourth Plain Corridor, a diverse, historically underserved community in need of canopy cover.
“The Fourth Plain Corridor has become a priority area for trees and engagement,” Jessica says. “Awareness of the importance of trees has really grown. We appreciate the Friends of Trees model of working with volunteers to grow the knowledge base.”
We still have room for volunteers if you want to sign up!
“We have awesome support from neighborhood coordinators,” Ian says, “and so many longtime volunteers do a lot to make it happen. It’s very collaborative, and we love to welcome new volunteers into the fold, too!”
“We’re really looking forward to it,” Jessica says. Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle and City Councilmember Sarah Fox will be in attendance.
We’ve also partnered with Vancouver on workforce development. They have hosted an AmeriCorps member since 2007 to work on community tree planting. In fact, both of our dedicated Vancouver staff came to us from the AmeriCorps position. The position was created to give capacity to both Friends of Trees and Vancouver as a sort of Super Neighborhood Coordinator. The position has morphed as the partnership has grown, but still supports Friends of Trees work in Vancouver. Vancouver Urban Forestry also hosts interns from our Adult Urban Forestry and Restoration Workplace Training Program.
The City of Vancouver is in the process of updating its Urban Forestry Management Plan, and is looking for public input. If you want to see more trees in your community, fill out their community survey.
Get To Know Our Planting Partners
Our municipal relationships are key to our regional growth
This Earth Month, we are celebrating how we are expanding our impact throughout Western Oregon and Southwest Washington. We couldn’t do this without the municipal partners that are investing in their communities by supporting community tree planting as a way to increase their cities’ canopies.
Yesterday, Wilsonville residents celebrated Earth Day with a city-wide tree planting event. This year we celebrated 20 years of partnership with the City of Wilsonville, where we have held annual plantings in parks and natural areas. It all started in 2002 when we partnered to create native plant areas in Memorial Park. In recent years, we have expanded this successful partnership to include neighborhood tree plantings, with an annual goal of 200 neighborhood trees per year.
Vancouver is another city where the community continually shows up to make an impact. We had four incredible plantings this year to meet our goal of adding more than 400 trees to Vancouver’s urban canopy Friends of Trees has been planting trees and growing community in Southwest Washington since 2003, and we’ve engaged local volunteers to plant nearly 8,000 trees here.
“Planting trees is one of my favorite things to do when it comes to volunteering,” said Vancouver Councilmember Sara J. Fox at a Friends of Trees planting event this year. “Even if it’s not your tree, it’s all of our trees.”
Our Eugene Branch continues to grow their work in both Eugene and Springfield, expanding beyond street trees to include yard trees as well, in addition to continuing with natural area restoration events at sites like the Northwest Expressway. The City of Eugene has been a valuable partner, and we continue to work closely with them to grow a vision together.
“Springfield is an important geography for our equity work,” says Eugene Director Erik Burke. “We are looking to more than double our annual tree goal there.”
This is just a taste of the growth we’ve had throughout the region. We continue to make strides alongside our municipal partners in Gresham, Oregon City, Milwaukie, Salem, Tualatin, Tigard and Beaverton. We’re excited to be expanding our planting events in Hillsboro, too, where after years of restoration work, we’ll be adding street trees events to our calendar.
A lot of trees and tree stories – 16,000+ trees planted so far this season!
“It was an amazing day, perfect weather, awesome people and healthy trees! Couldn’t ask for a better planting day, truly.” Alex, volunteer tree planter (above photo taken at our Gresham planting event)
So far in our 2019-20 planting season we’ve planted more than 16,000 trees and native shrubs! Here are some highlights from some amazing days this season:
Neighborhood Trees Program: 820 trees planted
“It was wonderful to plant in our neighborhood! I look forward to checking up on all of our trees over the next few years.” -Neighborhood Trees volunteer planter
Green Space Program: 15,800 trees planted
“The team created a warm and welcoming environment. It was a lovely event that we truly enjoyed!” -Green Space planting volunteer