How trees and community can work together in the face of climate change If you go to Nadaka Nature Park in Gresham, you’ll see plenty of trees. It’s an oasis of shade in East Multnomah County, where many neighborhoods don’t have much shade tree canopy. In June 2021, when the Pacific Northwest was embroiled in a heat dome effect, 72 people died in East Multnomah County. We’ve learned the hardest possible way just how valuable shade can be. For a lot of people, the Pacific Northwest conjures images of cool, rainy weather and towering trees. They might think of something like Nadaka Nature Park ..read more

72 trees planted for 72 lives lost in Multnomah County On March 16th at Nadaka Nature Park in Gresham, dozens of volunteers gathered on an especially gorgeous morning, eager to plant trees. While all of our events are climate action, this one had particular significance. All of these new community trees will serve as memorial to the lives lost to the 2021 Heat Dome. “The 2021 heat dome has brought us into stark understanding of the vulnerabilities of our neighborhoods, where the shade of trees is a precious resource,” says Yashar Vasef, Executive Director for Friends of Trees. It’s been nearl ..read more

What we can do in the face of an uncertain future When it comes to trees, there are so many layers to preparedness, from the near to distant future, from the next heat wave or ice storm to what the climate might look like in 25 years. So much of the future is uncertain, but there’s plenty you can do to prepare your trees for what they might encounter. “So much is unknowable,” says Eugene Director Erik Burke. “You won’t have the information you need to make your decisions when you make them. You just have to make your best guess.” The very first decision you’ll make is what tree to plant. Cons ..read more

POIC is part of the 11-member coalition for our IRA Community Forestry Grant On a sunny Saturday morning at Gateway Green Park, volunteers gathered to plant native plants on the wooded hillside of the park. Many of the volunteer crews were led by quiet but capable young folks from POIC. Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center (POIC) connects high school youth with career training, including partnering with Friends of Trees. POIC students train as crew leaders and lead Friends of Trees plantings throughout the season. Gateway Green was this cohort’s fifth event overall this season, and ..read more

Justice was top of mind for everyone at the West Eugene Martin Luther King Day planting on Saturday January 20th. The event had been postponed from earlier in the week because of the winter storm that brought ice, frigid temperatures, downed trees, and power outages. Luckily by Saturday, Eugene had thawed out enough for three crews of volunteers to plant 25 trees in their community. “It was cold, but everyone was so excited and kept up their spirits,” says Eugene Director Erik Burke. After a week of harsh winter weather, people were excited to get outdoors. The planting started at Berkeley Pa ..read more

On January 21st, The Oregonian published an op-ed written by Yashar Vasef, our executive director, and Litzy Venturi, our community tree care coordinator: “We must invest in tree care to protect trees and our communities.” Read the full piece below. Opinion: We must invest in tree care to protect trees and our communities Climate change and its severe impacts force us to live with dual realities: We need trees more than ever and we need to recognize that extreme weather can turn them into hazards. After hundreds of trees and large limbs fell around the Portland metro area during this historic ..read more

By Yashar Vasef, Executive Director, Friends of Trees The first planting event of the season always sets the stage for me and opens me up to all the connections that can happen when you bring people together. My first event this year drove that home and more. Friends of Trees helped put on a land tending event at Portland Community College – Rock Creek in partnership with Indigenous community groups and other local partners. Together, we worked to restore what had been a cow pasture on campus at PCC back to an oak wetland. Working with Wisdom of the Elders, the Five Oaks Museum, and Kimimela ..read more

Can I get a refill? Next month, volunteers will be planting trees, shrubs, and understory near a major intersection on the Bob Straub Parkway in Springfield. But they won’t be starting from scratch—this location has already been the site for four planting events in the past six years. You’ve heard us say it before at Friends of Trees, we don’t just plant and walk away. But what exactly does that mean? It means post-planting care, stewardship training, and in the case of many natural area plantings like this one, it means infill planting. Infilling is sort of like refilling, not that this site ..read more

This fall, 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 (IRA) 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 driving theme of the IRA Project is coalition building. Coalition building goes hand-in-hand with Friends of Trees’ mission to grow communi ..read more

Caring for trees of all ages creates the diverse urban forest we need! Sometimes trees need a little tree love + care. When we take care of our trees, we help them take care of us. This is the beautiful relationship between trees and community that is at the core of Friends of Trees. You can help foster and expand your community of tree stewards. Because we are a tree-planting organization, we usually focus on young tree care. As our Community Tree Care Coordinator Andrew Land puts it, “we’re really in the business of pediatric arboriculture stewardship training.” That mouthful of words aside ..read more