With tree canopy shrinking in Portland, some residents may be curious about the best way to increase leafy foliage around their own home.
The city offers several options.
FREE TREES
Portland Parks & Recreation has recently embarked on a street tree planting program. The city has identified more than a dozen priority neighborhoods in need of increased canopy with plans to plant roughly 1,200 street trees in parking strips during the upcoming planting season.
Residents in those neighborhoods who are selected to receive trees will be notified by postcard in October and can opt out if they don’t want a tree. City workers will plant trees in parking strips, the area between the sidewalk and the street, and maintain the trees for three years.
The city also offers free trees to residents who want to plant in their own yards. The trees must be planted within city limits, must be planted on private property and there is a limit of two per household, but each one comes with a bucket of mulch and care instructions. Delivery and planting services are available for residents needing assistance, but you have to register for the giveaway, which usually occurs in September.
Residents are also free to apply for a permit to procure and plant their own trees, so long as they meet all the requirements.
FRIENDS OF TREES
The Portland-based nonprofit, which has led large, volunteer-based community plantings of street trees, is no longer able to offer its services to residents as its contract with the city is ending, with one exception. Friends of Trees is offering free street and yard trees for next season to residents of the Argay, Cully, Parkrose, Sumner and Wilkes neighborhoods through a program with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Residents of those neighborhoods can request a tree on the organization’s website.
Previously, Portland residents could request a tree from the nonprofit and have it planted along the street or in their yard. While most of the organization’s services have ended in Portland, for the moment, Friends of Trees continues to operate in numerous cities and towns throughout the Pacific Northwest and their executive director, Yashar Vasef, said the group is looking for ways to restore services in Portland.
– Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale