Portland Leaf Day 2025-26: What Residents Need to Know

On November 1st, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) began its 2025-26 Leaf Day season. For over 30 years, the City of Portland has offered select geographic areas a curbside collection and cleaning service that prevents streets from flooding in locations that account for the majority of dropped leaves on city streets. This year, the program extends to four new Montavilla zones, assisting residents with extensive tree canopies in keeping the public right-of-way clear during the autumn season.

A tree-lined residential street in Portland featuring vibrant autumn foliage with trees displaying shades of orange, yellow, and red. The pavement is covered with fallen leaves, and parked cars are visible along the sides of the road.

PBOT asks residents within a Leaf Day pickup zone to rake loose leaves into the street one day before the scheduled collection day. Piles should include only loose tree leaves and pine or fir needles from street trees. No other yard debris is allowed in the street. Instead, those twigs, branches, pinecones, and grass clippings must go in the green collection bins. People should pile the leaves in the parking zone near the edge of the street with a foot of space between the pile and the curb. This clearing allows a path for rainwater runoff to reach cleared catch basins, making it easier for sweepers to clean pile remnants after collection loaders scoop up the mounds of leaves.

SE 17 (Montavilla / Mt. Tabor / South Tabor) NEW Sweep Date 11/05/2025
SE 18 (Montavilla / Mt. Tabor) NEW Sweep Date 01/10/2026
SE 19 (Montavilla) NEW Sweep Date 01/10/2026
SE 20 (Montavilla) NEW Sweep Date 01/10/2026

PBOT expanded the Leaf Day service from the historically supported 53 zones up to 82 with additional funding from the City Council. Around 30,000 newly included addresses in a Leaf Zone received a postcard from PBOT introducing occupants to the program and encouraging them to prepare for the service. The formerly two-month program now runs from November through mid-January as crews cover a few neighborhoods each day, six days a week. They take the Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas holidays off, but otherwise progress through the designated routes spanning the City. People wanting to know if they need to prepare should check Portland Maps with the Leaf Day overlay enabled for address inclusion and dates.

A tree-lined street in Portland, Oregon, showcasing vibrant autumn foliage with a mix of red, orange, and yellow leaves. Cars are parked along the sides of the street, and fallen leaves cover the road. A stop sign is visible in the distance.

Leaf Day funding comes from the City’s general transportation revenue, which includes State Highway funds and local parking meter revenue. This year, additional budget allocations for the program came from stormwater management funds. In addition to Montavilla’s inclusion at the eastern edge of City Council District 3, the 2025 leaf collection program’s expansion reaches neighborhoods across District 1, including Lents, Parkrose, and Centennial.

_{PBOT video with instructions on preparing for Leaf Day ahead of your area’s collection date.}

Leaf collection support is not only about aesthetics. The impact of wet fallen leaves creates potential hazards for people walking, biking, rolling, or driving through tree-lined neighborhoods. Fallen leaves clog storm drains, causing street flooding during heavy fall rains and creating slip hazards. These dangers are a consequence of Portland’s tree-dense canopy, which helps mitigate the effects of climate change but creates treacherous conditions each autumn. Yearly, City crews remove thousands of cubic yards of leaves from Portland streets to minimize the dangers posed by decaying plant matter on public pathways and roads. City officials request that all residents and business staff in a Leaf Day zone move their cars and other obstructions from the street on collection days and rake sidewalk leaves into piles on the street for easier collection. If possible, adjacent property owners should limb street trees to clear the way for large trucks before their Leaf Day service.

A yellow loader collecting piles of leaves from a street, with trees and a house visible in the background. — *_{City vehicle collecting leaf piles along the street’s edge. Courtesy PBOT}*

For many new addresses that were previously excluded from the service area, the expanded Leaf Day zones present an opportunity to receive the City’s support in reducing the annual leaf collection burden.

Article and photos

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Montavilla News is supported by contributions from businesses like Build & Paint Portland, a trusted Portland house painting and carpentry company dedicated to renewing and improving homes in Portland. Many neighborhood homes have used this local company to refresh and brighten their homes, and they want to take special care of area residents. We thank them for their support.