Month of April Offers Tree Stewardship, Education and Family Fun Activities
(Portland,OR, akaTree CityUSA) –
Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R), stewards of nearly 1.5 million trees across the Rose City, is proud to partner with amazing volunteers in presenting Arbor Month 2014 throughout April! Not content with simply celebrating Arbor Day, we and our partners will bring Portland a month of FREE city-wide activities for all ages. It kicks off at 11am on Wednesday, April 2 with FREE bucket truck rides for the public at Chapman Square (SW 4th Ave. & Madison). Urban Forestry Crews will offer a squirrel’s-eye view of downtown Portland in the same equipment they use to keep our trees healthy and beautiful.
All Arbor Month info online here! https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/61386
Enjoy celebrations of Arbor Month throughout the month of April, including the showcase Arbor Day Festival held on Saturday, April 26 at the Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University. Portland will be named a Tree City USA for the 37th consecutive year. Arbor Month 2014 also features guided tree walks, environmental education, tree plantings, tree care, history and identification workshops, tree tour bike rides, and more opportunities to care for the trees that care for us.
“The theme of Arbor Month for 2014 is ‘stewardship’; how we care for trees and trees care for us,” says Portland Parks Commissioner Amanda Fritz. “We have a unique city, with nature and our urban life intertwined like few other places. Arbor Month is a wonderful chance for people to connect with nature through a wonderful variety of fun and educational activities.”
Trees care for us. We care for trees.
Become a partner to Portland’s urban forest
Celebrate our beautiful urban forest all throughout the city and all during Arbor Month. Join us and learn how Portland’s trees work 24/7: filtering our water, cleaning our air, cooling the city, providing wildlife habitat, enhancing livability, and increasing property resale value. All activities are open to the public and free of charge.
The complete Arbor Month calendar and more information are available online here: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/482692
Arbor Month Event Highlights
Wednesday, April 2 – Bucket Truck Rides
11 am – 1 pm
Chapman Square, SW 4th Ave. & Madison
Ride high above the ground in a PP&R bucket truck! Get a squirrel's-eye view of Portland's Urban Forest. Portland Parks & Recreation’s Urban Forestry team will be offering FREE bucket truck from 11am-1pm on April 2 at Chapman Square, SW 4th Ave & Madison. Join us during your lunch break, learn about Urban Forestry and see the world from a different perspective. Children (over 48 inches) and adults are welcome to ride with a signed waiver. Rides offered for a limited time on a first come basis.
Saturday, April 5 - The Park That Nearly Wasn’t –Tree Walk
10 am – 12 pm
Meeting location: The trailhead is onNW 53rd Drive, just .9 mile offCornell Road, if you are driving past Portland Audubon.
Join Marcy Houle, noted local author and biologist, on a tree tour throughForest Parkand learn about the amazing history ofForest Park, and the people who fought to get it created.
Thursday, April 10 - Magnolia Tree Walk
12 pm – 1 pm
Hoyt Arboretum:4000 SW Fairview Blvd.
Join Martin Nicholson, Hoyt Arboretum Curator, on a tour through the Arboretum’s famed collections of blooming magnolias.
Tuesday, April 15 - Tree Tour of Laurelhurst Park
12 pm – 1:30 pm
LaurelhurstPark:SW Cesar E Chavez Blvd.andSE Stark St.
Take a historical tree tour of the beautifulLaurelhurstParkwithPortland’s very own Tree Celebrity Phyllis Reynolds.
Wednesday, April 16 - GRUNT Arbor Art Show & Reception
4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
City Hall: 1221 SW 4th Ave.
Stop by and see the beautiful arbor themed art created by the teen graduates of the PP&R Greenspaces Restoration & Urban Naturalist Team (GRUNT) program.
Sunday, April 13 - Cully Arbor Month Bike Ride
10 am -12 pm
Meeting Location: NE 42nd and Holman
Take a ride to visit Rigler School’s Learning Landscape, Cully-Concordia International Tree Grove, and the future site of PP&R’s Thomas Cully Park.
Saturday, April 26 – Arbor Day Festival
8:30 am – 2 pm
Arbor Day Festival
Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University: SW Harrison St. & SW Park Ave. The showcase of Arbor Month is today’s Arbor Day Festival, featuring child and family activities from 8:30am-2pm. Deserving tree advocates will receive Bill Naito Community Tree Awards at 10am. Portland will be recognized as a Tree City USA for the 37th consecutive year, and exciting, hands-on family activities and ok-to-touch nature stations run all day!
Wednesday, April 30 - Urban Forestry Open House
10 am – 2 pm
Urban Forestry Headquarters:10910 N Denver Ave.
What does PP&R’s Urban Forestry Operations team DO? Learn how to use a chainsaw, ride high above the ground in a bucket truck, and see a demonstration on how and why we prune trees! Join Urban Forestry for a grill[a2] and open house at Urban Forestry’s headquarters. Visit with staff, take a tour, have some lunch and enjoy a ride in the bucket truck!
About Portland’s Trees
Portland Parks & Recreation cares for 1.2 million trees in PP&R parks and natural areas, and oversees an additional 240,000 street trees across the city! The amount of Portland’s land covered by trees, known as the urban canopy, has increased by nearly 3% during the past nine years. The success is due to efforts undertaken by successful public-private partnerships including the Tree Stewardship Coalition, Portland Parks & Recreation, Friends of Trees and the Bureau of Environmental Services. Currently, 30% of Portland’s surface area is covered in urban forest, with a goal of 33% (per the Urban Forest Management Plan, completed in 2004).