La Grande seeks volunteers for April 25 community tree planting event

La Grande is recruiting volunteers to spend a Saturday morning planting trees across town, a hands-on push that supports the city’s 36th straight year as a Tree City USA community and its goal of adding 100 carefully selected shade trees to the urban forest each year.

The Community Tree Planting Day is set for April 25, with volunteers asked to meet at the Parks & Recreation Office parking lot at 2402 Cedar Street near Pioneer Park from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The city says gloves and tools will be provided. Participants should bring a water bottle and dress for outdoor work. After a demonstration on proper tree planting, volunteers will be divided into groups and sent to different locations around La Grande before carpooling back to Pioneer Park around noon.

The event comes with more than a landscaping payoff. La Grande’s urban forestry program says the community forest helps provide clean air and water, cooler streets and homes, and wildlife habitat. That matters in a city where the streetscape, park canopy and neighborhood trees are part of daily life, and where maintaining shade now can shape comfort and appearance for years to come.

The planting also fits into a broader civic effort tied to Arbor Month. La Grande’s Arbor Day materials say the city celebrates National Arbor Day and Oregon Arbor Month every year with community tree planting events, school outreach and community forestry volunteer awards. Oregon forestry materials identify April as Arbor Month statewide, putting this year’s planting into a larger seasonal push to build canopy across the region.

La Grande’s long streak also places it inside a national program with deep roots. The Arbor Day Foundation says Tree City USA began in 1976 with 42 communities and has since grown to communities in every state. La Grande’s continuity stands out within that network, especially as city forestry officials say the city has received more Growth Awards than any other Oregon city in the program’s history.

The work is not limited to one morning. A 2025 city and regional report said La Grande’s Urban Forestry Program received a three-year Oregon Department of Forestry grant aimed at lower-canopy neighborhoods, a sign that the city is trying to direct new trees where they can do the most good. For residents, April 25 offers a direct way to help shape that effort one tree at a time, in the places where shade, street appeal and long-term canopy loss are most visible.