Oregon Brewing Company Funds Planting of Tens of Thousands of Trees: Lane County, Bend Area

Published 01/15/2020 at 10:23 PM PDT
By OREGON TRAVEL DAILY STAFF

(Eugene, Oregon) – One Bend beer company is putting their money into a whole lot of trees for a stretch of Oregon. Bend’s Worthy Brewing Company has a philanthropic arm of the biz called the Worthy Garden Club, a non-profit that has created a unique initiative called Operation Appleseed, which will be planting tens of thousands of trees in and around central Oregon.

According to the Travel Lane County group out of Eugene, Worthy Garden Club will be pouring $1 million toward the objective of planting a million trees in the general region between Bend and the Oregon Coast, and projects identified by the Oregon Natural Desert Association.

The idea is to not only create more natural wonders for future generations, but a key co-benefit to this project is carbon storage.

The group is partnering with several groups in this effort, including:

In the Deschutes National Forest, Operation Appleseed will initially fund replantings primarily in the Milli and McKay Fire areas on the Sisters Ranger District. In total, the Deschutes National Forest intends to plant 274,840 trees over approximately 1465 acres over the next three years. Restoration efforts will occur in the Wychus watershed where road decommissioning and revegetation efforts will improve watershed health and wildlife habitat.

In the Willamette National Forest, the group will assist the reforestation of lands along Aufderheide Highway, including the Terwilliger burn at Cougar Hotsprings, and the area near Cougar Crossing at the head of Cougar Reservoir. Many of these areas – including some around Eugene and Springfield – have been burned by major fires.

On the coast near Yachats, the Audubon Society is working on the Tenmile Creek Sanctuary. Paul Engelmeyer will coordinate with WGC and the Midcoast Watersheds Council at multiple scales - on riparian restoration opportunities at the Worthy Garden Club Tenmile parcel as well as the central coast landscape. This area includes the Siuslaw National Forest and five major basins - Salmon River, Siletz River, Yaquina, Alsea and Yachats/Ten Mile. This landscape is approximately one million acres.

With the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, BEF will evaluate and fund tree planting projects identified by non-profit watershed councils and other groups engaged in local forest restoration work on non-Federal lands in the general region between Bend and the Oregon coast.

With the Oregon Natural Desert Association, Worthy Garden Club will help with support to mobilize 500 volunteers to plant more than 20,000 native trees. This work will cover more than 45,000 acres in the John Day and Crooked River basins of Central Oregon.

You can see more on the club https://www.worthygardenclub.com/ .