See some of what they’ve accomplished during this multi-year project …
Many volunteers come out to help plant trees, along I-205, continuing the project begun by Friends of Trees.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
A couple of years ago, the local non-profit “Friends of Trees” hooked up with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), which eventually led to the “I-205 Multi-use Path” being lined with trees.
> See our coverage of this project’s beginning in 2010: CLICK HERE.
Volunteers kept showing up for “planting parties”, and a soon-to-be green canopy spread from the northern Oregon border in outer East Portland, southward to Gladstone, along the path.
> See the article about last year’s last planting season wrap-up: CLICK HERE.
And, for at least two Saturday mornings this April, more than fifty folks came out to finish up this year’s effort – this time, in the Lents neighborhood.
Friends of Trees Green Space Initiative Senior Specialist Kris Day, Green Space Manager Logan Lauvray, and Andrew Pike of Portland Opportunities and Industrialization Center, get ready to carry more trees over to be planted.
“We are along the Interstate 205 Multi-use Path, just south of SE Holgate Boulevard,” explained Friends of Trees Green Space Manager Logan Lauvray.
“Today, we are planting more than 100 native trees,” Lauvray told East Portland News. We are near the end of this for the 2013 planting portion of this project. This is has been a partnership among Friends of Trees, ODOT and Metro.”
Volunteer Crew Leader Tricia Sears shows how to plant trees.
He pointed to volunteers, atop the high berm, and said they were planting trees, facing the MAX Light Rail line and the freeway.
“We’ve been putting in few replacement trees over the last three years,” Lauvray described. “And, we re-mulch trees that were planted three years ago.”
The project seemed like a logical idea, Lauvray commented – planting trees along our transportation corridors. “We were excited, because it is the first time we’ve been able to work with ODOT on a project.
Cleveland High School volunteer Sarah Stone says she enjoys planting trees.
“It’s a real opportunity, because we all use vehicles of some kind – goods are transported into the city, and those trucks, as well as personal vehicles and those cars, all put out pollution. Trees help intercept the particulate matter and the other gases coming off the freeway. They help sequester carbon, and also intercept storm water right at the source of the pollution.”
And, added Dale Hindelman, thanking the organization for its work as he passed on his bicycle, “This will really help beautify this pathway.”
At the planting, Angelina Bonomarev and her grandfather, Igor Bonomarev, help out by mulching a tree.
Lauvray agreed, “We hope this will help make this multi-use path a ‘destination’ where people will want to come and stay – not just ride through. Between SE Schilling and Pardee Streets, we have rows of elms that will eventually create a nice shaded area which people can pull over and enjoy during the summer.”
Stay in touch with Friends of Trees through their website: CLICK HERE to open their homepage.
© 2013 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News
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