On Wednesday, April 24th, Portland Parks & Recreation invites community members to a Portland Urban Forest Plan open house at Leodis V. McDaniel High School. Event attendees will learn about the plan and help shape the plan’s future vision and goals for Portland’s tree canopy. Those unable to attend can still participate through the Portland Urban Forest Plan Survey. People specifically interested in the tree planting project along 82nd Avenue can also join the 82nd Avenue Transition Round Table meeting online for a focused conversation with the project arborist.
Wednesday’s open house at 2735 NE 82nd Avenue runs from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The event will include activities and opportunities to speak directly with project team members. The family-friendly program will not have a set agenda, so attendees can come by anytime during its two-and-a-half-hour runtime. Organizers will provide light refreshments at the open house and enter people who complete the survey into a drawing for a $45 Fred Meyer gift card. They will draw a winner’s name each week until the survey closes on May 2nd, 2024.
April’s monthly meeting of the 82nd Avenue Transition Round Table will feature the Building a Better 82nd program‘s arborist, who will describe tree selection and answer questions. The 82nd Avenue Business Association will host this meeting focusing on improvements related to 82nd Avenue’s jurisdictional transfer from the Oregon Department of Transportation to the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Those projects will add more trees to the roadway in medians and along the street’s edge. The meeting is accessible online via Zoom this Thursday, April 25th, from 10 to 11 a.m.
Join Zoom Meeting on April 25th at 10 a.m.
Meeting ID: 812 5378 3045 Passcode: 538088
Phone: 669-900-6833
Portland has seen a diminishing tree canopy as properties redevelop with more housing, and people avoid planting due to maintenance costs. Over the last several years, private and government organizations have increased efforts to reverse that trend in an attempt to reduce the heat island effect experienced during the summer months. These events and survey are opportunities for the public to learn more about the work while providing direction to officials on better meeting the community’s need for more trees.
Update April 25th, 2024: This article was updated with images from the open house and the 82nd Avenue Transition Round Table posted an audio recording of the presentation.
Disclosure: The author of this article serves on the Building a Better 82nd Community Advisory Group and the 82nd Avenue Business Association Board.