|
Tree Bark
News from Urban Forestry — All Trees, No Pulp • September 12, 2025
|
|
Emerald Ash Borer Found in Portland
 The emerald ash borer (EAB), a tiny green invasive insect that infests ash trees, has been discovered in Portland. Since it was first detected in Michigan in 2002, EAB has killed millions of ash trees across the country. The discovery in Portland, while unwelcome, was not unexpected and follows the predicted spread of the beetle.
First found in Oregon in 2022 at a school in Forest Grove, this summer the insect showed up in traps in six new areas, including at a trap in the Hazelwood Neighborhood in southeast Portland at the David Douglas Aquatics Center. Green ash trees at that site have thin canopies, which can be a symptom of an EAB infestation, and one tree also had serpentine gallery marks under the bark, a telltale sign of this insect.
|
|
Bring Your Books to Arbor Day
 When you think about your favorite nature books, which come to mind? Maybe "Braiding Sweet Grass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer, "The Golden Spruce" by John Valant, or "Finding the Mother Tree" by Suzanne Simard?
We love nature books so much that we are planning a book exchange at our annual Arbor Day celebration at Sacajawea Head Start on October 18. We want neighbors to bring their favorite tree or nature themed books to exchange with other community members! We are looking for books of any genre as long as they are tree or nature related.
If you can’t make it to Arbor Day, but want to contribute, reach out to Arbor Day coordinator Marissa Richerson at Marissa.Richerson@PortlandOregon.gov to schedule a drop off.
Besides our book exchange you can enjoy local food, learn about community resources, create tree-themed arts and crafts, and help plant 15 trees at the event. See you there!
|
|
Introducing Our Yard Tree Giveaway Contract Partners
 Urban Forestry's Yard Tree Giveaway Program (YTG) has a goal of giving away 4000 free trees to Portlanders this fall, to increase shade in areas of the city where it is needed most.
Urban trees play a vital role in making communities and neighborhoods healthier and safer. Bringing trees to these areas is one of the best ways to improve public and environmental health outcomes.
To expand upon our work in growing our urban forest, we are contracting with community organizations that serve our focus audiences. These community partnerships are made possible through funding from the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF). We honor the role of community organizations in amplifying culture, activating civic power, affirming belonging, and bridging critical resources to our communities.
|
|
Alberta Park Equity Tree Walk
 According to the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School, redlining is defined as a discriminatory practice that consists of the systematic denial of services such as mortgages, insurance loans, and other financial services to residents of certain areas, based on their race or ethnicity.
Thursday, September 4, Urban Forestry co-led a tree walk in Spanish, on this very topic with Friends of Trees and the Columbia Slough Watershed Council. This walk was for participants in the Lideres Verdes program with Verde. Our conversation focused on shade equity in the Concordia and Vernon neighborhoods, which were redlined in the 1930s.
With the group, we explored how redlining impacts the tree makeup of the neighborhoods and how we can right these historical wrongs. That work can be accomplished through prioritizing planting in redlined areas and public spaces, like schools and parks, to make access to trees and their benefits available to all community members.
|
|
Upcoming Events
 Tabling at Cully Fest
Saturday, September 13, 10am to 5pm
Cully Five Corners (NE Cully Blvd and NE Prescott)
Celebrate community at Cully Fest while helping Urban Forestry grow our city's canopy! Volunteers will help people submit interest forms for our popular Yard Tree Giveaway events that occur every fall. Share your love of trees with community members who are curious about getting them. We'll lead a short training on the program and the educational materials you will use to get people to register for trees.
|
|
 Find Your Flare (FYF)
Friday, September 19, 3:30 to 6:30pm
Next to the Mt Tabor Community Garden near (SE Lincoln & SE 61st Ave, Portland, OR 97215)
One of the best ways to ensure a healthy, long-lived tree is to uncover the root flare before planting. Help us pull back soil on hundreds of trees before we give them away this fall. We'll show you how to properly prep the tree by locating the root flare and doing any necessary root pruning.
|
|
 Mt Tabor Yard Tree Giveaway
Saturday, September 27 8am to 12pm
Next to the Mt Tabor Community Garden near (SE Lincoln & SE 61st Ave, Portland, OR 97215)
Join Urban Forestry at our first Yard Tree Giveaway of the season. At this event, Urban Forestry is giving away 300+ trees for Portlanders to plant in their yards! We need volunteers to help us fill mulch buckets, load trees into cars, and uncover root flares on these young trees. No experience necessary.
This is one of six events this season. Check out our event page to find other opportunities.
Register to get your trees.
|
|
Other News
Walks that Connect
On April 26, 2025, People of Color Outdoors (POCO) founder Pamela Slaughter served as a community story leader for Urban Forestry’s first interagency tree walk with the City of Gresham. Known as the Black Earth Day Stroll, the walk created a safe space to explore the outdoors in relationship to trees. This article details the event itself and the other ways the Parks & Recreation Bureau partners with POCO to increase shade equity and community participation in recreation activities.
|
|
|
|
|
