Information
The Bill Naito Award was created to honor the stories of individuals, organizations or projects that have continued Bill's work and reflect his dedication. Together, these stories weave a picture of our community's dedication to Portland's urban forest heritage.
| Year | Recipient | Organization/Project |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Connecting Canopies Coalition | For promoting environmental justice and a more diverse green movement and workforce through their youth career development program, quarterly regional forums, and regular engagement activities for the region’s BIPOC community. For details, see Connecting Canopies Receives 2023 Bill Nation Community Trees Award. |
| 2022 | Ginger Edwards | Ginger founded the Arbor Lodge Tree Team, a group of volunteers working to plant, preserve, and promote trees in the neighborhood and beyond. Ginger has guided, motivated, and ever-so-gently cajoled the group of volunteer “tree geeks” to be increasingly cohesive, educated, and focused on the two branches of our tree mission: policy/advocacy/education and putting trees in the ground. |
| 2022 | No Ivy League | No Ivy League has worked tirelessly to empower youth, educate the public, and remove English ivy from Portland's parks. No Ivy League's mission is to restore the native habitat of Forest Park and other natural areas with efforts in removing invasive plants, youth development programs, environmental education, and community participation - promoting research, providing technical assistance, and seeking relevant societal changes. |
| 2021 | Kyna Rubin | Kyna is a writer and naturalist and a years-long volunteer for trees. She is a founder of Trees for Life Oregon, a volunteer organization that advocates for large, long-lived trees and space for them in every part of the city. She founded the Irvington Tree Team and has been the Friends of Trees Irvington Neighborhood Coordinator. As Trees for Life Oregon’s primary writer and editor, she translates for the public sometimes complex subjects such as trees and equity, tree preservation, the history and origin of Portland’s tree code, and tree code amendments. Her work convenes developers, planners, and tree lovers to discuss the nitty-gritty of how zoning and development impact the urban canopy. |
| 2021 | Wisdom of the Elders | Wisdom of the Elders' Wisdom Workforce Development Internship Program provides a paid internship experience for Native American community members to learn job skills critical for work in the environmental sector. The program includes hands-on experiences with partner organizations, including Portland Parks & Recreation, to learn habitat restoration, tree planting and care, and more. Interns learn and apply Traditional Ecological Knowledge to their work. This holistic and specialized training program is the start of a meaningful environmental career pathway for participants. |
| 2020 | Linda Robinson | Linda has been an advocate for Portland parks for many years, and a vocal advocate for trees for all. As a community partner, Linda has been working with PP&R Urban Forestry on a number of projects planting new trees in parks. She tirelessly met with them and always attended public events to show the support of EPPC. A long-term resident of East Portland, she knows the area and is vested in its growth of green infrastructure. |
| 2020 | Tree Emergency Response Team | The Tree Emergency Response Team brings awareness to trees that may be at risk of being removed during development. Their approach to accomplish this great task is a unique one – through art. Artists paint trees at sites that have been selected for their vulnerability to potential development. By engaging the public, property owner, or even a developer to the beauty and community surrounding these trees, their hope is that the trees can be incorporated into a design instead of being removed. |
| 2019 | Tom Ralley | Tom has been a dedicated volunteer to Lent school for the past 16 years, expanding into caring for trees following the planting of 77 trees for Arbor Day in 2007, as well as the three Learning Landscapes plantings that have occurred there since. Tom has not only cared for the trees himself but has shared his knowledge and time with our Youth Conservation Tree Crew to learn tree establishment care. Tom has been a wonderful steward of the urban forest in his efforts to not only care for trees, but to recognize the need to teach younger generations to continue the care for years to come. |
| 2019 | The Canopy Stories Filmmakers | This documentary series highlighted many of the great historical trees in Portland, as well as the challenges to growing an equitable urban forest in our city. This was NW Documentary's first anthology film project, featuring the work of ten local filmmakers who each took inspiration from a tree to tell a story, all on volunteer time. This group of filmmakers provided an accessible vehicle to share their inspiring stories with Portlanders and provided a call to action for everyone to do more towards raising awareness of why our city's trees are vital to our collective wellbeing and the importance of protecting them. |
| 2018 | Carol Lee | For bringing trees to the Jade District by effectively communicating with commercial, industrial and multi-family property owners about the value of trees towards improving air quality, public health and safety concerns in this low canopy neighborhood, home to many diverse communities of Portlanders. |
| 2018 | St Johns Tree Team | For dedicating, and re-dedicating themselves to the mission of caring for and expanding the canopy of this North Portland neighborhood through community workshops, tree plantings and inspiring use of digital media in an effort to raise awareness and call neighbors to action. |
| 2017 | Catherine Clark | For exemplifying the spirit of Neighborhood Tree Stewardship by educating, inspiring, and leading neighbors to take action; and transforming the Roseway canopy, in the process. |
| 2017 | Tree Inventory Volunteers | For your dedicated service to the city — measuring, mapping, and identifying 218,602 street trees; and following up with myriad acts of stewardship in support of our urban forest. |
| 2016 | Jim Labbe | For contributions to the conservation and management of Portland's urban forest as a student, watershed council coordinator, consultant, citizen advocate, and as Urban Conservationist with the Audubon Society. |
| 2016 | Albina Neighborhood Tree Team | For their inspired, equity-based approach to working with neighbors and trees in low income neighborhoods, which may serve as a model of restoration for other neighborhoods in Portland. |
| 2015 | John Lott | Hundreds of hours of volunteer service with the Portland Fruit Tree Project and Green Thumb Community Orchard. |
| 2015 | Leigh Rappaport | Helped lead 2,200 volunteers to plant 4,000 trees on the I-205 multi-use path with the Leadership Corps of the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center's Rosemary Anderson High School. |
| 2014 | Phil Hamilton | For 21,000 hours organizing and working at the restoration of the Tryon Creek State Natural Area. |
| 2014 | Damon Schrosk and Martin Nicholson | Completed the World Record Tree Hug at Hoyt Arboretum with the help of many, many volunteers. |
| 2013 | Mark Franklin | Managing 800 acres of Portland Public Schools' grounds. |
| 2013 | Anne Downing | David Douglas High School ENL Students contributed to their communities by planting more than 1,000 trees. |
| 2012 | Phyllis Reynolds | 40 years of advocacy for urban trees. |
| 2012 | Concordia Tree Team | Street tree inventory and tree plan for Concordia neighborhood. |
| 2012 | David Odom | In memoriam, for his dedication to protecting and educating about trees. |
| 2010 | Save Our Elms | Preservation of Portland's elm trees from Dutch Elm Disease. |
| 2010 | Bruce Nelson | Volunteer instructor for PP&R and Friends of Trees, helped create an arboretum at Rigler Elementary School. |
| 2009 | Chad Honl | Vestal Elementary School play area improvements. |
| 2008 | Friends of Columbia Children's Arboretum | Restoration and development of the arboretum. |
| 2008 | Jefferson High School Ecology Class | Planted 28 native trees on the school campus. |
| 2007 | Ed Kerns | Lents Springwater Habitat Restoration Group. |
| 2007 | Eastmoreland Neighborhood Tree Committee | Helped neighbors maintain and improve Eastmoreland's tree canopy since 1996. |
| 2006 | Tuesday Crew Volunteers | Hoyt Arboretum. |
| 2005 | Jim Gersbach | Ainsworth Linear Arboretum. |
| 2004 | Sean Batty and the Parkway Improvement Committee | Roseway Neighborhood Association NE 72 Avenue parkway improvement project. |
| 2003 | Starr Hogeboom | Peace Garden and Natural Area at Rigler Elementary School. |
| 2002 | Dr. Joseph Poracsky | Portland State University, Geography Dept. Urban Forest Canopy Cover Report. |
| 2001 | Jane Glazer | Portland's Heritage Tree Program, founder. |
| 2000 | James Allison | Friends of Trees, developed natural area planting program. |
| 1999 | Doug Klotz | Worked to protect trees using the City's landscape ordinance. |
| 1998 | Friends of Trees | Works with community to plant, tend, and educate about trees. |
| 1998 | Terry Griffiths | Advocate for trees in Woodstock neighborhood. |
| 1998 | Sandy Diedrich | PP&R No Ivy League program, founder. |
| 1997 | Richard Seidman | Friends of Trees, founder. |
| 1997 | Portland General Electric | Seed the Future Campaign. |