Friends of Trees Planting -- Saturday, March 12 -- ORDER TREES / VOLUNTEER

It's time for the annual Friends of Trees Sabin Neighborhood Tree planting! The event is next Saturday on March 12, 2011 at Holladay Park Church 2120 NE Tillamook St at 8:45 am -1:00pm It's too late to order tree for this year's planting, but we would love volunteers. This is a really fun family event. The day starts at 9:00am with bagels, juice and coffee. You will join a planting team who goes through the neighborhood helping to plant your neighbors trees. And guess what? The holes for the trees are already pre-dug the week before. You will get a little dirty and learn the proper way to plant and stake a tree.

After wards there will be lunch provided to refuel you for the rest of your Saturday. This is a great way to get to know your neighbors and get dirty on Saturday morning.

How else can you help?

Volunteer roles include:
- Planting crews
- Help with food/refreshments. Help serve or contribute a crockpot of soup or chili
- Truck drivers (we need open bed trucks to carry trees to homes)
- Helping with registration

Please contact Lisa Johnston-Smith at sabin@plantitportland.org for more info.

Does Sabin need a street tree inventory?

Walking around your neighborhood, do you see areas available for tree planting, street trees in need of maintenance, and neighbors who are concerned but don't know where to begin? Urban Forestry is helping Portlanders take action to improve their community's street trees by conducting tree inventories and creating Neighborhood Stewardship Plans.

Active community groups interested in the cause begin by gathering volunteers to help conduct a street tree inventory. Volunteers are guided by Urban Forestry staff, who provide training, tools, and event organization. Together, information is collected on tree species, size, health, site conditions, and available planting spaces. Data is analyzed by Urban Forestry staff, and findings are presented to neighborhood stakeholders. Achievable strategies are set by the collective body to improve existing trees, identify opportunities for an expanding tree canopy, and connect the neighborhood with city and nonprofit resources. The result is a Neighborhood Stewardship Plan. The plan identifies the current status and health of neighborhood street trees and provides recommendations for neighborhood action. This final product serves as a catalyst for neighborhood implementation.

Why inventory your street trees?
There are many reasons why a group should consider inventorying trees in their neighborhood. Each tree inventory is customized to capture the requested data and to meet the goals of the group. While your group may already have a few goals in mind, Urban Forestry will help solidify goals early in the process to ensure that the appropriate data is collected, propose a practical timeline, and staff appropriately.

A tree inventory can help your group meet the following goals:

• Determine the location, species, size, and health of trees
• Identify locations to plant new trees
• Increase awareness of the important role trees play in making urban environments more livable
• Engage residents to help care for and protect existing trees
• Develop a Neighborhood Stewardship Plan
• Forge a partnership with Urban Forestry

Following a tree inventory, each requesting group receives the following:

• Custom site maps and excel sheets illustrating the findings
• Detailed analysis addressing the goals and recommended next steps
• Urban Forestry pledges to continue working with your group to meet their tree goals through the creation of a Neighborhood Stewardship Plan

Expectations
Tree inventories are designed to be fun and educational community events. Requesting groups are expected to recruit volunteers to help on the day(s) of the inventory. Most neighborhood tree inventories take place on Saturdays from 8:30 AM-noon. No experience is necessary. Volunteers are paired with a staff member, experienced tree inventory volunteer or Neighborhood Tree Steward.

How can I conduct an inventory in my neighborhood?
Interested in an inventory and Neighborhood Stewardship Plan? Urban Forestry is currently seeking communities interested in conducting their own project. In 2011, four communities will be selected to conduct an inventory. To apply, submit a short application by January 7, 2011. Find the application at Portland Tree Inventory Project.

Funding
This project is supported by a grant from the East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District and PP&R Urban Forestry.

Questions?
Contact Angie DiSalvo at angie.disalvo@portlandoregon.gov

Your Sabin Front Yard

In his remarkably rich first book, Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education, Michael Pollan offers the image that the plurality of grass lawns planted by the tens of millions across America in the last century congealed into the singular and became one vast lawn stretching coast to coast, with the concrete hardscape of our highways the heavily travelled paths in the awful sameness of it all. Well, that was then, and this is now: look around the Sabin community of beautiful Portland, Oregon, and you will see a wonderful variety emerging out of that sameness, with some front yards full of flowering plants and others sporting vegetables, tall grasses, herbs, impressive stones, sculpture, street trees, and native shrubs. In Sabin, you see people using mulch to control weeds and save water. You see gardens attracting bees and butterflies. Some front gardens are fenced for pets and children while others have the open character of Oregon beaches. Some are blank slates. Some bespeak neglect, in other words: opportunity, adventure.

This essay is written for those Sabin homeowners who don’t yet know what they want to do with their front yards. Whereas in the dismal past folks just planted grass and mowed it, now your options seem limitless and bewildering. How do you figure out what to do?