Insiders View of Urban Forestry Commission's Monthly Meetings
At its July 18, 2024 meeting, Urban Forestry reported that as of July 1, it had taken over the Bureau of Environmental Services' Tree Planting program. Urban Forestry staff discussed various criteria that might be used to set Portland's canopy goals in the Urban Forest Plan update now underway, and received thoughtful input from the group. And UF staff briefed the UFC on the effectiveness of the tree code's "large tree amendment" in reducing the number of big trees removed during development, and on upcoming hearings on the amendment's status. Read the full meeting notes here.
About the UFC:
The city of Portland’s Urban Forestry Commission holds public meetings on the third Thursday of every month. February meetings are typically planning meetings and not open to the public. Meeting agendas and materials are present about one week before the meeting at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/60405.
The Commission comprises Portland residents who volunteer to advise city parks leaders on tree-related regulations, policies, budget, and plans.
One such resident and commissioner as of March 2019 is Trees For Life Oregon member Bruce Nelson, a Cully-based tree advocate, certified arborist, and retired community college horticulture instructor. Every month he summarizes what happens at Commission meetings and provides his own italicized comments on the proceedings. Read notes from the latest meeting to learn what goes on. Want to have your voice heard at the Urban Forestry Commission meetings? Time is allotted at the beginning of each meeting for public testimony. Sign up at the start of the meeting. Testimony or comments outside this time slot are permitted at the discretion of the Commission chair.
Earlier Urban Forestry Commission Meeting Notes and Comments from Bruce Nelson:
Commission meeting 06/20/24 A large part of the UFC's June 20, 2024 meeting was devoted to discussing the Urban Forest Plan Update, a key document that will guide the tree code revision scheduled to begin in 2025. For much more on that and other interesting items, including City bureau changes presaging the new government structure coming next January 1.
Commission meeting 05/16/24 At its May 16, 2024 meeting, the group discussed PCEF funds for street tree maintenance and more effective software UF has purchased to better manage its work. Also, Sonya Schmanski, the deputy director of Portland's new Vibrant Communities Service Area under which Parks/UF falls under the upcoming city government restructure, responded to UFC questions about the changes ahead.
Commission meeting 4/18/24 At the April 18, 2024 UFC meeting, City Forester Jenn Cairo reported that City Commissioner Dan Ryan (in charge of Parks/UF) has appointed Sonya Schmanski as deputy director of the Vibrant Communities Service Area that Parks will fall under after the upcoming City reorganization. Under the restructuring, Parks Director Adena Long will report to Schmanski, who will report to the not-yet-appointed City Manager. Schmanski was chief of staff for City Commissioner Nick Fish when he was in office. UF's Belinda Judelman, who is managing the Urban Forest Plan update, reported to the UFC that the updated plan and final approval will occur between fall 2024 and spring 2025. She also shared that Title 11, the tree code, will be revised once the new Urban Forest Plan update is adopted.
Commission meeting 3/21/24 At the March 21, 2024 UFC meeting, the group discussed the Heritage Tree Program and ways it could be strengthened and improved.
Commission meeting 2/15/24 At the February 15, 2024 UFC meeting, Urban Forestry's Brian Landoe reported receiving triple the normal number of tree emergency calls for this time of year. In response to January's severe storm, UF waived fees for tree removal/replanting permits between mid-January and early March and expedited the permit process. Morgan Tracy, who is leading the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability's Land Division Revisions project, explained that the state's push to hasten housing construction is behind the changes. UFC members expressed concerns about the proposed changes' impact on space for trees. See UFC member Bruce Nelson's meeting notes, where he details the draft code language likely to affect trees.
Commission meeting 1/18/24 At the January 18, 2024 meeting, Urban Forestry staff reported to UFC members that the recent ice and wind storm resulted in 405 tree emergency requests to clear fallen trees and branches from roads and power lines. Urban Forestry's tree summit, which will present key findings from 2022-2023 tree inventories, will take place on Saturday, March 2, at Rigler Elementary School. UF staff also talked about new (sorely needed) tree code compliance efforts.
Commission Meeting 12/21/23 At its December 2023 meeting, Parks staff briefed UFC members on how it has been spending the 2020 Parks levy funds on long needed work including, for instance, defining maintenance priorities and developing a routine maintenance program for park trees. Parks also reported on the results of a City-funded poll exploring public support for renewing the five-year Parks levy, which will expire in 2026.
Commission Meeting 11/16/23 At its November 2023 meeting, the UFC heard testimony from Willamette Riverkeeper's Bob Sallinger, who voiced his concerns about the City bureau restructuring that City Council recently adopted. City Forester Jenn Cairo gave an unusually detailed reported on Urban Forestry's 2024-2025 budget, and Urban Forestry staff shared early findings from the current 2022-2024 street tree inventory. This inventory, undertaken by paid staff, seasonal workers, and Youth Conservation Corps members, updates the last inventory, done 2010-2016, mostly by community volunteers.
Commission Meeting 09/21/23 At the UFC's September meeting, City Forester Jenn Cairo told commissioners that Governor Kotek's office had indicated she would not be pursuing her Housing Production Advisory Council's proposal to bypass local tree codes and other environmental protections for the sake of building more housing faster. UFC members learned about the $12 million Inflation Reduction Act grant that Friends of Trees and a large coalition (that includes Parks/Urban Forestry) secured for community tree planting in low-canopy, climate-vulnerable areas. Commissioners also heard about PBOT's plans to improve 122nd Avenue and how trees will be part of the project.
Commission Meeting 08/17/23 Important Updates at Urban Forestry Commission's August Meeting. Read about the PP&R-led, multi-bureau study of how Portland's natural resources might be better managed under the upcoming City government restructuring. Learn, too, about Urban Forestry's position on Governor Kotek's housing advisory council's recent proposal regarding local tree codes. Get an update about the tree component of PBOT's 82nd Avenue Improvement Project, and about where PCEF stands with its tree-planting initiatives.
Commission Meeting 07/20/23 At the July 2023 UFC meeting, City Forester Jenn Cairo announced that Cascadia Partners, Parametrics, and consulting arborist Todd Prager have been hired to help Parks/UF with the (long-awaited) Urban Forest Plan update. Also, UF staff are engaged with the 82nd Ave Development Project but feel that insufficient attention is being paid to trees. After a presentation by UF's Jeff Ramsey on Portland's canopy status, Cairo reminded UFC members that tree-friendly design modifications are critical for increasing space for trees in the rights-of-way and that UF continues to explore this issue with other bureaus.
Commission Meeting 06/15/23 At the UFC's June 2023 meeting, City Forester Jenn Cairo briefed the group on how Parks/Urban Forestry is using Park levy funds; on UF's role in ODOT's Powell Blvd project that removed more than 570 trees; and on Urban Forestry's role in the National Vanguard Cities Coalition, a group working to reduce heat island and increase equity through urban forestry. This group recommended that PP&R UF be part of a community-based coalition led by Friends of Trees that submitted a $17 million Inflation Reduction Act fund request. (We're happy to see tree entities working together.)
Commission Meeting 05/18/23 At the UFC's May 2023 meeting, commissioners devoted further attention to a recent UFC vote in favor of delisting heritage tree #26, and they discussed revisions to the UFC letter about to go to City Council conveying this recommendation. They learned from Urban Forestry staff about the City's stance on Oregon House Bill 3414, which, as written in May, exempts developers from land-use regulations including those related to trees. And Urban Forester staff briefed the UFC on Friends of Trees' application, involving Urban Forestry, for urban forest-related Inflation Reduction Act funds.
Commission Meeting 04/20/23 At the UFC's April 2023 meeting, PBOT's Matt Berkow, planner and lead for Streets PDX (formerly called Streets 2035), reported that in June a new, online tool will debut to inform decisions about the design and use of right-of-way space. Trees and utilities compete for limited ROW space. Streets PDX is an inter-bureau project led by PBOT staff to analyze these competing demands. The new tool will provide guidance to bureaus, developers, private utilities, and the public to inform decisions about what goes in the ROW, based on street type.
Commission Meeting 03/16/23 At the UFC's March meeting, its four new members introduced themselves, and much time was devoted to hearing testimony from property owners and their supporters requesting that Heritage Tree #26, an English elm on North Mississippi Street, be delisted. And for those interested in reading a summary of the UFC's separate meeting, called for the UFC to discuss the above Heritage Tree delisting request, see here.
Commission Meeting 02/16/23 At the UFC’s February meeting, City Forester Jenn Cairo reported on the City's new, proactive park tree maintenance. She also reminded the group that the tree code amendment that created a stronger disincentive for developers to remove large trees will sunset at the end of 2024 unless the public speaks out to keep it. UFC heard a PBOT presentation on a new, joint pilot project with Urban Forestry to create curb bump-outs for new street trees along SE Duke Street; the bureau partnership is noteworthy and TFLO will be reporting on it soon. Finally, the UFC approved new co-chairs Roberta Jortner and Adrianne Feldstein; Chair Vivek Shandas's term expired at this meeting, as did that for UFC member Daniel Newberry. A number of new UFC members will attend the next meeting.
Commission Meeting 01/19/23 At the UFC’s January 2023 meeting, its members received a detailed briefing on UF's current and proposed FY 2023-2024 budgets and priorities. Commissioners also heard the latest about Portland's participation in a national US Forest Service urban forest data collection effort.
Commission Meeting 12/15/22 At the UFC’s December meeting, commission members learned that Streets 2035 (remember that?) has been folded into PBOT's Streets PDX, with no detail given on what that program is. They also learned that by next August, UF and PBOT will have developed design standards for placing trees in curb extensions, to implement an earlier reported joint bureau pilot. And in response to BPS's briefing on its recent Climate Emergency Work Plan, commission members voiced many of the same concerns TFLO has with the document, namely a lack of specifics on how its aspirational actions will be implemented and how City bureaus and staff will be held accountable for carrying them out, and a failure to mention these key measures--protecting existing large trees and space for new ones, addressing protections for large private trees, and limiting impervious surfaces.
Commission Meeting 11/17/22 At the UFC's November 2022 meeting, Urban Forestry's Brian Landoe and Belinda Judelman presented the City's timeline and plans for updating the Urban Forest Management Plan. (Read here for a separate report on that presentation.) The current UFMP is almost 20 years old and does not reflect current priorities such as climate. The update process has an end date of early 2025 and opportunities for community input.
Commission Meeting 10/20/22 At the UFC's October 2022 meeting, City Forester Jenn Cairo reported that Urban Forestry (UF) will complete its free giveaway of about 2,000 yard trees in the next month. Also, UF plans to contract out the planting of some 1,500 trees in targeted, low-canopy neighborhoods as part of the Free Street Tree Program, formerly known as the Opt-out Program. This effort is a pilot to test residents' response to the City planting street trees unless adjacent homeowners choose to opt out. On another matter, UFC received no news on Streets 2035, leaving it unclear what this initiative has accomplished to date. The UFC received an update on the Portland Park & Recreation's Sustainable Future Program, which is exploring options for long-term Parks funding. And the UFC discussed its own priorities and capacity to take them on.
Commission Meeting 9/15/22 At the UFC's September 2022 meeting, City Forester Jenn Cairo reported on the new Parks-PBOT pilot program, funded through $500,000 from BES, to demonstrate removing parking spaces to extend room for planting trees in the right-of-way now that PBOT's Pedestrian Design Guide allows this. Also spotlighted were the memorandum of understanding between Urban Forestry and BES on tree planting—and UFC members' reaction to it; and UFC member Daniel Newberry's thoughtful observations about Parks' Sustainable Future program.
Commission Meeting 8/18/22 At the UFC’s August 2022 meeting, the group confirmed the new priorities it set at a June retreat. These include increasing community engagement, identifying high-priority desired tree code changes, and expediting the tree code revision process, currently scheduled to start in about a year. Read more here:
Commission Meeting 7/21/22 At the UFC’s July 2022 meeting, the group briefly discussed the recent OPB article "Portland's Unfriendly Treatment of Friends of Trees" by April Ehrlich; City Forester Jenn Cairo reported that the Portland Parks & Recreation taskforce looking at potential long-term funding for the bureau, including for street tree maintenance, has held one meeting and made no substantive decisions (two more meetings are planned). Cairo also reported on the emerald ash borer arriving in Portland, and on the demographics of Urban Forestry division staff.
Commission Meeting 6/16/22 At the UFC’s June 2022 meeting, staff from the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and the Bureau of Development Services briefed the group, which has several new members, on the City's codes and practices governing trees in development, including RIP1 and RIP2. The UFC learned that no one in the City is monitoring the impact of these policies on tree canopy (which we know from various studies is shrinking). The briefing was quite detailed; for those who wish to watch see the meeting video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZUKK9UgMM0&list=PL1ToXf0RSV44U3FpC0nwlUqtFOmFuIxMY&index=1
Commission Meeting 5/19/22 At the UFC’s May meeting, the group discussed its concerns about RIP2's impact on tree canopy and skepticism about the usefulness of a Parks' initiative, public comments about multiple City bureau rules that will result in reduced canopy, and an update on the process for making substantive tree code revisions in 2024.
Commission Meeting 4/21/22 At the UFC’s April meeting, the group welcomed three new members—Ivory Iheanacho, Melinda McMillan, and Roberta Jortner. Urban Forestry presented its annual report on the Tree Planting and Preservation Fund, and UFC members questioned why the $4.9 million in this fund has not been spent on tree planting and maintenance. One UFC member reminded the group that growth in these funds comes at the expense of developers removing more and more trees.
Commission Meeting 3/10/22 At the UFC’s March 2022 meeting, members discussed Commissioner Mapps' questioning of Urban Forestry's latest report showing Portland canopy loss; Urban Forester Jenn Cairo reported that Commissioner Rubio is developing a resolution for City Council to consider that would direct City bureaus to work with Parks/Urban Forestry to identify actions that will be taken to preserve and expand the urban forest and to report these proposed actions back to City Council this fall. Thanks to Parks levy funds, Urban Forestry has hired 10 new staff since March 2021 and more hires are coming, including a policy analyst to lead the Urban Forest Management Plan update and other policy initiatives. Also, UFC members pushed to have more input into UFC meeting agendas, which are heavily driven by Urban Forestry.
Commission Meeting 2/10/22 At the UFC’s February 2022 meeting, the group was told that the City's Sustainable Futures team is looking at how Urban Forestry might, in the far future, assume responsibility for street tree maintenance; and that both a new City report and research by PSU's Vivek Shandas show city canopy loss.
Commission Meeting 1/20/22 At the UFC’s January 2022 meeting, the group discussed these changes that members would like to address this year: Get more public input on the best ways to address Portland's canopy reduction, be more proactive in addressing trees in development situations, receive more information from the City on large-tree removal on private property, and have more effective meetings by including more time to discuss significant matters.
Commission Meeting 12/16/21 At the UFC’s December 2021 meeting, the group discussed PBOT's Pedestrian Design Guide update, which Trees for Life Oregon and others have critiqued for the inadequate space it provides for trees in fast-developing areas of Portland. City Forester Jenn Cairo reported to the group that PBOT is still reviewing public responses to the document. However, in response to a UFC letter echoing this critique, PBOT stated that a minimum of six-foot-wide sidewalks is non-negotiable, and a minimum planting strip width of five feet (rather than the four feet PBOT has proposed) is not possible. PBOT's stance clearly does not address Portland's stated climate and expanded canopy goals. Read more here. Angry about PBOT's response? Read our concerns here. And contact Commissioner Hardesty here (Commissioner Hardesty oversees PBOT) and her policy director here.
Commission Meeting 11/18/21 At the UFC’s November 2021 meeting, Urban Forestry reported that it created 23 new staff positions to focus, in part, on expanding tree coverage equity, responding to tree emergencies, and maintaining park trees. A separate report on Portland's elm trees revealed that the City removed 36 elms in 2021 due to Dutch elm disease, with drought possibly a contributing factor to their demise. Over the past 10 years, Portland has lost an average of 43 elms a year, less than 1 percent of our private and public elms.
Commission Meeting 10/24/21 At the UFC’s October 21 meeting, Urban Forestry presented to the group an early peek at UF’s list of proposed technical and minor tree code amendments.
Commission Meeting 9/17/21 At the UFC’s September 21 meeting, group members asked a PBOT rep about the Pedestrian Design Guide update's lack of sufficient space for large-form trees in new public right-of-ways, and UFC chair Vivek Shandas asked: How do we correct for past regressive practices that resulted in low canopy in low-income neighborhoods?
Commission Meeting 8/17/21 At the UFC’s August 2021 meeting, City Forester Jenn Cairo reported an uptick in communications from the public about the importance of urban trees.