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Depave volunteers working to remove asphalt for new trees.
2021: Depavement & Tree Planting
2021: Depavement & Tree Planting
The 4 Trees Project started as a grassroots effort by several dedicated and passionate CJ parents (Playground Committee founders Traci Friedl, Laura Hall, Laura Hartzell and Michelle Lundberg) who created another opportunity to work with Depave again after the successful garden project we did with them in 2011. Almost 800 square feet of asphalt were removed in April of 2021 to create 4 planters, in each of which was planted a tree by the City of Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services. This was quite a feat, given that school had only just opened back up after a year of closure due to the pandemic, during which time the relatively newly-formed Playground Committee's activities had practically ground to a halt. Thanks to the vigilance and hard work of the folks mentioned above, this first project of adding foundational shade trees to our barren playground was able to come to fruition despite pandemic-related setbacks!
2022: Oak Tree Benches & Understory
2022: Oak Tree Benches & Understory
The next thing to happen as part of the 4 Trees project was to use some generous funds from Depave and the Chief Joseph PTO to purchase and install new seating around the "heritage" oak tree located near the existing play structure. The committee chose to use half-round log benches made by Columbia Cascade Company, a local manufacturer of public site furnishings. These are literally the first seating structures to be installed on the Chief Joseph playground, so as you can probably imagine they get used with appreciation every day!
Soon after the benches were added, a crew of Playground Committee members met up to fill in the soil around the tree with plantings. Laura Hartzell, another founding member of the committee and resident professional landscape designer, designed the layout and provided the plants.
Playground Committee volunteer builders Mike and Evan enjoying their new installation.
2023-2024: "Wall Ball" Tree Development
2023-2024: "Wall Ball" Tree Development
The Playground Committee's main goal for the '23/'24 school year has been to "Finish the 4 Trees" project as much as possible. Toward that end, we have developed a full plan that involves adding protective structures (fences and benches) around the 3 trees adjacent to the wall ball area, as well as to fill those planters with understory vegetation and add interpretive signage for and environmental education component. To view the full project proposal that has been approved by PPS, click here.
In the Fall of 2023, a crew of volunteers came together to get some plants in the ground before winter. Melissa Adams of HABITAT provided the design, plant starts, seeds and soil amendment, creating a different ecological theme for each of the 3 garden beds. Sadly, quite a few of the new plants got trampled or picked to death over the winter, but happily many of them did survive and are getting established this spring!
The motivation has thus been high to get the barrier structures ready to install to give these new gardens a higher chance of success, so over the winter we worked hard to secure funding, get permitting, finalize the design and acquire materials for the fences and benches. In April of 2024, the Playground Committee finally manifested some beautiful, trellis-style fences on the uphill sides of all the wall ball-facing trees to begin to protect them from the most severe cause of foot traffic there...kids chasing balls downhill right past the trees! So far they are fulfilling their intended purpose, as well as the unintended one of providing a place for parents to lean on and chat over at pick-up time.
The seating structures that will wrap the rest of the planter beds are on order and will be installed in May/June. This includes both manufactured benches (half-round logs from Columbia Cascade like what's around the oak tree) as well as DIYs stump clusters from logs provided by Portland Parks and Rec. Stay tuned for the next chapter of this story!
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