Letter from the Editor

April ushers in the glories of spring-flowering trees. From cherry trees to magnolias and redbuds, the world is alight this month with pastel pinks, snowy whites, and rosy lavender colors. Several places in Oregon offer guided walks to enjoy these fleeting sights, so check out links to those in the Upcoming Events section.

In this issue:

• Early registration pricing for the Urban & Community Forestry conference has been extended to April 13!

• Invasive pest of ash trees will emerge in late spring

• La Grande named Oregon Tree City of the Year for 2025

• Two Latinas and OUR Community Forestry get top honors

• Gov. Kotek proclaims April as Arbor Month in Oregon

• Gladstone becomes Oregon’s newest Tree City USA

• Five Oregon towns receive Arbor Month grants

• Oregon Community Trees elects new president

• Upcoming Events

Happy Spring, Brittany Oxford

Oregon Urban & Community Forestry Conference early registration pricing is extended to April 13

SALEM, Ore. – Early registration ticket pricing for Oregon’s largest Urban and Community Forestry Conference has been extended to midnight on Sunday, April 13. The one-day conference will be held again this year on Thursday, May 15 at Venue 252 in downtown Eugene. It is put on by the non-profit organization Oregon Community Trees in partnership with the Oregon Department of Forestry and USDA Forest Service.

The conference’s theme – Growing Together: Collaboration and Diverse Voices in Urban Forestry – will feature speakers and panelists providing insights into:

• How those working to extend the many benefits of shade-tree canopy more widely can do so in a more equitable manner by collaborating with communities.
• How people currently under-represented in urban forestry and arboriculture can be recruited into the profession and helped to flourish within it.

Keynote speaker Christine Carmichael, PhD, will be flying in from Michigan to share historic, current, and future trends in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the urban forestry field. She is pictured above.

There will also be panels discussing workforce development and collaborating with diverse communities, including Oregon’s Tribal nations. OUR Community Forestry, which is co-sponsoring this year’s conference, will also share its experience working with communities in southern Oregon, including Talent, a large portion of which was destroyed by the 2020 Almeda Fire. Continuing education credits are being sought for the conference.

Oregon Community Trees President Jim Gersbach said he’s excited about the conference this year. “It will bring together people who care passionately about meeting Oregonians’ needs for more trees with others interested in opening up opportunities for more people to find good jobs in the arboriculture and urban forestry fields,” he said.

Early registration is $150 until April 13 and $180 after that ($170 if the person registering lives or works in a Tree City USA community). Students can register for $80. The price includes a boxed lunch and social hour beverages and snacks following the conference.

The pest of ash trees emerges soon

Depending on temperature, sometime between late May and mid-June, emerald ash borer (EAB) larvae will have completed their transition to adulthood. They will then start emerging from infested ash trees. After mating, these invasive pests will fly to new homes in nearby ash trees, spreading the devastation.

So now is the time to learn about what you and your community can do to prepare. This includes knowing whether and when to begin protective systemic chemical treatments to save healthy ash trees in good condition located in appropriate planting sites.  

Top Urban Forestry honors go to two Latina women along with OUR Community Forestry

PORTLAND, Ore. – The non-profit organization Oregon Community Trees (OCT) and the Oregon Department of Forestry are honoring Mari Aviles with Portland Parks and Recreation Urban Forestry and Maura Olivos with Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District for their work on behalf of urban trees. Aviles and Olivos are receiving awards for their individual contributions to urban forestry.

The non-profit OUR Community Forestry, based in Talent, Ore., is getting the award in the Organization category.

“Oregon Community Trees every year recognizes individuals and organizations that are doing excellent work to help our urban forests,” said OCT’s Awards Chair Teresa Gustafson. “This year’s recipients’ are especially deserving for their commitment to promoting policies and actions to keep urban and natural area trees healthy and well tended.”

Oregonians are celebrating April as Oregon Arbor Month

SALEM, Ore. – Governor Tina Kotek has proclaimed that April 2025 as Oregon Arbor Month throughout the state. This year’s proclamation recognizes the importance of planting trees to mitigate environmental stresses, such as extreme heat events.

Governor Kotek said “To protect Oregon’s natural and working lands in the face of the worsening climate crisis, we must build a more resilient future that forges connection across our landscapes, for both rural and urban communities alike. Arbor Month is key to this goal, promoting the preservation and planting of trees across Oregon.”

Her proclamation notes the loss of trees in Oregon to wildfire, extreme heat and drought, development pressures, and invasive tree-killing pests, such as emerald ash borer. Read the full proclamation here.

Gladstone becomes Oregon’s newest Tree City USA

GLADSTONE, Ore. – Just in time for Oregon Arbor Month, the Oregon Department Forestry (ODF) is announcing that the city of Gladstone in Clackamas County has earned the Tree City USA designation. ODF administers the program for the national Arbor Day Foundation, based in Nebraska.

Gladstone joins 69 other communities in Oregon that hold the Tree City USA designation. According to Brittany Oxford, Urban and Community Assistance Forester with the Oregon Department of Forestry, a city or town must meet four criteria to earn this recognition: maintain a tree board or department, have a community tree ordinance, spend at least $2 per capita on urban forestry, and celebrate Arbor Day each year.

With a little over 12,000 residents, Gladstone is situated where the Clackamas River flows into the Willamette. The town is noted for having 14 parks and trails within its four square miles. It is also one of three dozen Oregon communities with a Hiroshima peace tree, located in Gladstone Nature Park. The tree is a descendant of a ginkgo tree that survived the atom bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 at the end of World War II (see photo from the dedication at top left).       

The Tree City USA program dates to 1976, when the first group of 42 cities in 16 states were named. Today, over 3,500 communities located in every state and Puerto Rico hold the distinction.

Oregon Community Trees elects new President

Longtime Oregon Community Trees board member Jim Gersbach was elected president of the non-profit at its Board’s March 7th meeting in Salem after being nominated by outgoing president Tyler Roth, who remains on the Board as immediate past president.

An Oregon native and Portland resident, Gersbach was chair of OCT’s sold-out 2023 urban forestry conference. He is also a founder of Portland’s Ainsworth Linear Arboretum and helped with the creation of the Cully-Concordia International Grove. He gives frequent presentations on trees and tree walks, including at Hoyt Arboretum. Most recently he worked with the Concordia Tree Team volunteers in Portland to secure national recognition of the trees around the former Meek Elementary School as an official Level 1 Arboretum.