Tree Matters by Bruce Nelson

 

This column also appears in the Trees For Life Oregon newsletter.

In TFLO’s last Tree Matters, I presented the status of canopy in City Council districts 1 and 2. Below I report on canopy in districts 3 and 4. We hope you will use this information to convey canopy concerns to your new district City Commissioners in 2025. To allay concerns about the health and stability of residents’ large trees during winter storms, I also talk about the value of working with qualified tree risk assessment arborists. And I suggest writing to Mayor Wheeler to expedite Urban Forestry’s stalled efforts to get the City to complete its approval process for important new job positions related to our urban forest.

The State of Tree Canopy By City Council District

District 3

District 3’s newly elected commissioners are Steve Novick, Tiffany Koyama Lowe, and Angelita Morillo. The latter two endorsed 350 PDX’s Shade Equity Platform, suggesting some familiarity with Portland’s tree issues. Only two neighborhoods in District 3—Mt. Tabor and Laurelhurst—have high canopy levels. Low canopy areas include the inner southeast industrial area, Brentwood-Darlington, and the vibrant business streets of Glisan, Burnside, Hawthorne, Division, and Foster (all increasingly host high-density housing). High-density housing yields few private trees but does require street trees. Brentwood-Darlington, Buckman, Foster-Powell, Kerns, and South Tabor neighborhoods are targeted for Urban Forestry’s Free Street Tree Planting program for 2025-2026.

In the past, some District 3 neighborhoods benefited from street tree planting by local volunteers, thanks in part to the Bureau of Environmental Services Tree Planting Program and to PGE Seed the Future support. Both programs funded Friends of Trees work in this district, which engaged high numbers of neighborhood volunteers. These programs no longer do this work.

An important pilot project underway involves selectively removing street parking spaces in residential areas and using those spaces to grow trees.

Tell your District 3 City Commissioners that for this primarily working-class area the City needs to:

■ Provide financial support for maintenance work on mature street trees;

■ Revise code language to mandate more tree canopy for new construction in both high-density residential developments and on commercial properties;

■ Carry out street tree planting on undeveloped streets, working in collaboration with local residents;

■ Offer financial assistance for sidewalk repair caused by street tree roots.

District 4 

Newly elected City Council members Olivia Clark, Mitch Green, and Eric Zimmerman will represent this area, which has Portland’s highest average level of tree canopy. This varied district includes Eastmoreland, Sellwood, and all areas west of the Willamette River. Its geographic and land use diversity make it challenging to apply one tree solution across the whole district. District 4 holds northwest industrial areas, the train loading area near Eastmoreland, the downtown commercial district, the Pearl District, all of Forest Park, and homes in the West Hills forested area.

Trees in the West Hills residential areas were clear-cut many years ago, dating back to Portland’s early history. Most of the Douglas-firs here are second growth in forests that have been greatly disturbed by human activities, especially construction of homes and roads. It is increasingly important that property owners regularly have their large Douglas-fir trees evaluated for safety. When winter storms come with swirling winds, ice, rain, and snow, trees that are already compromised are usually the ones that fail. Amazingly few trees fail, relative to how many are there. But still, if it is your tree, it is frightening!

In District 4, PGE is proposing to clear a four-plus acre piece of Forest Park for the installation of more high voltage lines. This clear-cut would remove hundreds of large trees. To find out more about this issue, see here and here.  

Like other districts, this one has a scarcity of curbs and sidewalks. In many areas it’s difficult to identify where street trees could go.

Tell your District 4 City Commissioners that the City needs to:

 ■ Create a strong educational program encouraging property owners to regularly have their large trees evaluated by an experienced Tree Risk Assessment Qualified arborist as a means to identify dangerous trees (see item below);

■ Plant more trees in the industrial areas of northwest Portland and commercial areas of downtown Portland;

■ Oppose the plan to cut trees in Forest Park for additional transmission lines and help find an alternative route and means to address PGE’s needs;  

■ Provide financial support to prune mature street trees. 

Tree Risk Assessment

Last January’s winter weather events felled hundreds of large trees, primarily conifers. The combination of already saturated soil followed by ice, then wind, caused frightening, widespread damage in select areas of the city. Many residents asked, “How do I know if I’m safe with these big trees around me?”

Professional arborists worldwide work to address this question through tree risk assessment. Training for them is available through the International Society of Arboriculture’s Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ) program. TRAQ arborists use their training and experience to provide valuable information to clients. 

Risk assessors ask lots of questions: Is there evidence that the whole tree could fall over or that parts of it could fail? How likely is that to happen given normal weather patterns around this site? What’s the possible timeframe for failure—a day, a month, a year, five years? What site changes have occurred that might adversely affect the tree’s health and stability? If the tree or its branches fall, what would it potentially damage—a house, a person, car, pedestrians, a road, a playground?

Once tree owners receive a professional arborist’s tree risk assessment, they need to decide what is an acceptable level of risk to them. Doing that involves weighing risks and benefits. Trees provide invaluable benefits for humans, wildlife and the city at large. I know I benefit every day from having large Douglas-fir trees in the yard next to mine and the two properties across the street. They are good for my mental health. They provide valuable summer shade. They help manage nearby storm water. They offer habitat for many animals. Every day I’m amazed by these large Douglas-fir trees. Knowing their benefits influences how I evaluate the risk from living near them.

In cases where a property owner has a very low tolerance for any risk related to large trees, the situation can get contentious. Under Portland’s Title 11 (tree code), in non-development situations it’s hard to get a permit to remove a healthy tree that is 20 inches in diameter at 4.5 feet unless it’s dead, dying, or dangerous. A TRAQ arborist determines the definition of “dangerous.”

TRAQ arborists offer clients three different levels of assessment: Level 1 is not relevant to homeowners, as it’s a drive-by evaluation used by, say, the state highway department to quickly assess a large volume of trees. Homeowners should get a level 2 assessment, where arborists walk around the trees, using basic tools to assess it and its surrounding environment. If arborists have concerns that require a deeper dive, they recommend a more expensive and time-consuming level-3 assessment. This may require more expensive tools and climbing into the tree for more extensive observations.

In the end, keep in mind that to obtain City approval to remove a tree, it’s not enough for a lay person to say, “I think my tree is dangerous so I should be able to take it down.” If the tree is 20-inches or larger in diameter and on private property in a non-development situation, the City will not easily allow it to be removed.

Why the Delay?

At the November 21, 2024, Urban Forestry Commission meeting, City Forester Jenn Cairo brought up an unexplained delay in obtaining approval for full-time job positions supported by Portland Clean Energy Fund dollars for Urban Forestry and its contractors to deliver additional tree-related services. PCEF allocated the money, the City Council approved it, and Urban Forestry submitted the job descriptions to the Bureau of Human Resources for classification. Over the last several months things seem to have stopped there. No job classification means no job description can be posted on the City Job Openings site. The planned Urban Forestry work has been delayed because a staff person to handle it has not yet been hired. If this delay concerns you, contact Mayor Wheeler at mayorwheeler@portlandoregon.gov.

Previous Editions of Tree Matters By Bruce Nelson

October, 2024

 
Angela Northness