Tree Giveaways Set for April 5 & 19

Apr 2, 2008

Contact: Cain Allen & Chad Honl
caina@friendsoftrees.org; chonl@pps.k12.or.us

Friends of Trees will host a tree giveaway with Vestal Elementary School on Saturday, April 5, and give away a variety of trees at the Friends of Trees booth the morning of the citywide Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 19. The giveaways are scheduled at the following dates and places:

Sat., April 5, 9 a.m. to noon, Vestal Elementary School, 161 NE 82nd Ave, Portland

Sat., April 19, 10 a.m. to noon, Friends of Trees' booth at the "Earth Day 2008: Dance of the Dinosaur" celebration organized by City Repair Project and other local environmental nonprofits, at Overlook Park, 3704 N Interstate Ave., Portland (Earth Day celebration continues until 10 p.m.)

Donated by local nurseries, the trees will be six to 12 feet tall. Friends of Trees will provide planting instructions and tree care tips. Donations made on April 5 will support Vestal Elementary School, Growing Gardens, and Friends of Trees. Donations made on April 19 will support Friends of Trees and the Earth Day Celebration Organizing Coalition.

Since 1989, Friends of Trees has mobilized thousands of volunteers to plant more than 350,000 trees and native plants in the Portland-Vancouver metro area, increasing Portland's tree canopy during decades when a dozen major U.S. cities lost a quarter of their tree cover.

Nobel Laureate Al Gore often points out that planting trees slows climate change. In addition, a recent Portland Parks & Recreation City Nature-Urban Forestry study reveals that our city trees intercept 25 million pounds of air pollutants and half a billion gallons of stormwater a year, greatly reducing air and river pollution. And a U.S. Forest Service study released this March shows the benefits of planting trees in Portland neighborhoods outweigh the cost by ten to one.

Friends of Trees inspires community stewardship of our urban forest by bringing people in the Portland-Vancouver area together to plant and care for city trees and urban natural areas. For more information about Friends of Trees and the tree giveaways, go to "special events" at www.FriendsofTrees.org.