Great Things Can Happen When Portland City Bureaus Cooperate on Trees

Street and sidewalk improvements don’t have to come at the expense of large-tree preservation. A street improvement project to address the muddy “lake” area in the streets surrounding two Portland schools in the Montavilla neighborhood—Bridger Elementary and Harrison Park Middle—has produced a win-win outcome for school kids, local residents, and trees. Working together, PBOT, the Water Bureau, Parks’ Urban Forestry, and the Bureau of Environmental Services, the Montavilla neighborhood, and Portland Public Schools have created an area along SE 80th Avenue and Mill Street that now has drainage, sidewalks, and greatly improved streets. The area also has the benefits of a traffic-slowing island holding five existing Douglas-fir trees that will cool surrounding street surfaces, bicyclists, and pedestrians in summer. A new curb extension at SE 80th and Market houses a mature maple tree. This project shows that large trees can be preserved when bureaus work together! Read more about it here: https://www.treesforlifeoregon.org/big-results-for-big-trees