New street tree on N Central Ave neighborhood greenway.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

For years now, local transportation agencies have embraced trees as a key component in street and path design. In Portland, there has also been a strong connection between people who ride bikes and those who care about street trees. Now a national non-profit, the Alliance for Community Trees (based in Maryland) is hosting a webinar about how tree advocates all over the country can make the bike-tree connection.

In the Portland region, trees have been part of the transportation conversation for years. The Oregon Department of Transportation has planted hundreds of trees as part of an effort to create an urban "forest" along the I-205 bike path. In 2008, Portland City Council adopted the "Grey to Green" initiative which set us on the path to planting 83,000 trees in the city — 50,000 of them in the public right of way. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has made new street trees a big component of their neighborhood greenways program — offering free trees to residents along the low-stress, family-friendly bike routes.
(more...)

Planting by bike. Looks like fun!
(Photo: Mary Kay Nitchie)

[The article below was sent in by Andy Meeks, volunteer and outreach manager with local non-profit group, Friends of Trees.]

A few years ago, Friends of Trees started organizing Plant By Bike events where one or more crews of trees planters was solely bike-powered. Our typical planting day is made up for anywhere between 10-25 crews of 8-10 people each and one pick-up truck that carries trees, tools and other materials for the planting crew. Each of these crews plants about 10 trees in a morning that lasts from 9:00 - 1:00pm. (more...)