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Tree Denials: Why ‘No’ is Always an Option

A tree with its roots wrapped in burlap lies on its side on the grass next to a sidewalk. Cars are parked along the street, and traffic lights are visible in the background.

Written by Becky Pobst, Director of Forestry While planning for our two largest planting events of the year, ArborFest in the Spring and Neighborwoods in the Fall, we focus on our most important step: finding out who doesn’t want a tree. Something we hear often in our work is, “Who wouldn’t want a tree?!” It’s […]

How We Select Sites for Our Trees

A person in a purple jacket and yellow vest stands on a sidewalk, using a device. The street is quiet with bare trees and residential houses. Its a cloudy day, and the grass appears brown and sparse.

While our trees rest in the winter, dormant after a long season of growth and storing resources, our team keeps going! We like to take a cue from our trees and slow down a little, with shovels and rakes put away, hoses and buckets wrapped up and stacked in storage, and pruning gear only occasionally […]

Where Do Trees Come From?

An old, weathered red barn with missing boards stands next to a cylindrical brick silo covered in ivy. Lush green plants and trees surround the structures under a cloudy sky.

The Friends team had an opportunity to visit Trees of the Field and learn about the journey of a tree!

Our Tree Vision

Illustration of the Street Tree Lineup featuring five trees: Honey Locust, Linden, Crab Apple, Hornbeam, and Red Oak. The scene includes buildings, hills, and a sunrise. Friends of Grand Rapids Parks logo is in the top left corner.

Our Tree Vision At Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, one of our big focal points is tree planting. While we all know trees are important, our organization works to strategically plant them for the best impact and outcome. We prioritize tree planting where we will have the biggest impact on lowering street temperatures, eliminating urban […]

A Look at Neighborwoods 2022

    The last day of September and the first of October brought out sunny clear skies, and the perfect temperatures for planting trees. With over 150 volunteers for the Neighborwoods event in partnership with the Mayor’s Greening Initiative, we planted 200 trees in Southtown over three 3-hour shifts—finishing them all with an hour and […]

Why Trees Matter

    Why do trees matter so much anyway? Why do we plant them? And if you have ever heard the term, urban tree canopy? What does UTC even mean? Let’s start with the tree canopy: From urbantreecover.org we learn that the Canopy is “the layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover […]

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