September 18, 2008: Vol. 1, Issue 1
With this inaugural issue, Friends of Trees will begin providing community leaders with quarterly updates on local, statewide, and national policies that impact city trees. A recent Oregonian headline acknowledged the significance of our urban forest: Street trees gain stature in Portland, Gresham, Lake Oswego, Tigard and Clackamas County as awareness of their air-cleaning, water-absorbing and aesthetic benefits grows.
The Oregonian noted that Portland's trees "remove nearly two million pounds of pollutants and nearly 53 million pounds of carbon each year" and trap 1.3 billion gallons of stormwater, saving nearly $36 million in stormwater management. … "Even now Friends of Trees, the Portland-based tree-planting group, aims to become more active in what Program Director Brighton West calls 'the next frontier' east of Interstate 205."
For 20 years, Friends of Trees has helped the Portland-Vancouver metro area lead the way expanding tree cover while a dozen major urban areas lost a quarter of their tree cover. During our most recent planting season, Friends of Trees' 2,000 volunteers planted nearly 22,000 trees and plants in seven cities, including 1,852 large street and yard trees in 62 neighborhoods. With the addition of a staff person in Vancouver last year, we expanded our Vancouver street tree plantings by 250 percent. Now we have hired a staff person to help Gresham establish a street tree-planting program this fall. Already we've scheduled plantings in more than 70 neighborhoods and natural areas in several counties. We look forward to many new opportunities to expand our work this year.
Scott Fogarty, Friends of Trees Executive Director
PORTLAND METRO AREA
Exciting News Coming Soon
Watch for exciting news in the coming weeks about Friends of Trees’ role in changing Portland's grey infrastructure to green.
Citywide Tree Project
For several months now, Friends of Trees has participated in the Citywide Tree Project, a series of stakeholder meetings addressing the city’s complex tree policies and regulations. The Bureau of Planning is leading the project in collaboration with the Bureau of Development Services, Portland Parks & Recreation, and the Bureau of Environmental Services. Five key concerns are being addressed: policy, code conflicts, tree preservation, site design, and implementation. The stakeholder group will complete and present its recommendations to City Council this fall.
STATE OF OREGON
Oregon Global Warming Commission
On July 7, Friends of Trees Executive Director Scott Fogarty spoke before the Forestry Subcommittee of the Oregon Global Warming Commission's Natural Resources Committee. Scott described the multiple ways that city trees slow climate change by sequestering carbon directly, cooling the air through evapotranspiration, and reducing energy use by shading buildings in summer and sheltering them from wind in winter. Additionally, he noted, city trees absorb air pollutants, generate oxygen, and reduce river pollution from stormwater runoff. He urged the Oregon Global Warming Commission to recognize the important role of urban forests in slowing climate change, to fund urban tree planting and management, and to ensure that urban and community forestry interests be represented on the Oregon Global Warming Commission. View Friends of Trees' climate change slides here.
State Funding for Urban Forestry
Since federal funding for urban and community forestry ended in 2005, Friends of Trees has been working with the Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Community Trees, and others to encourage the state of Oregon to fund urban forestry work. According to ODF, approximately one million acres of Oregon’s forests are inside urban growth boundaries or other development zones and another 2.5 million acres of forestland is within one mile of residential or urban areas. The benefits from a well-funded statewide urban forestry program addressing tree planting and management in the urban-rural interface areas and within urban boundaries would affect 78 percent of Oregonians.
FEDERAL
Two bills introduced in the House of Representatives this year could have a direct impact on city tree planting. The full House is expected to vote on the GREEN Act of 2008 this month, and The Energy Conservation Through Trees Act is currently being considered by the Subcommittee on Environment & Hazardous Materials.
HR 6078: GREEN Act of 2008 or Green Resources for Energy Efficient Neighborhoods Act of 2008
The GREEN Act of 2008 creates sustainable communities by encouraging energy efficiency and conservation and development of renewable energy sources for housing, commercial structures, and other buildings. Introduced in the House by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), the bill now has 41 co-sponsors, including Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). In August the Committee on Financial Services voted unanimously to send the bill to the House floor for a full vote. The bill provides incentives to lenders to offer lower interest loans and other benefits to businesses and consumers who build, buy, or remodel their homes to improve energy efficiency. Section 14 of the bill outlines incentives for housing developers to form partnerships with tree-planting organizations, nurseries, and landscapers to certify that trees and shrubs are planted and maintained properly, and to ensure that they are located on sites with consideration for energy efficiency.
HR 5867: Energy Conservation Through Trees Act
Introduced by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) and now being considered by the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, the Energy Conservation Through Trees Act has six co-sponsors, including Rep. Blumenauer. The bill authorizes the Secretary of Energy to provide financial, technical and related support to retail power providers to assist with targeted residential tree-planting programs. It calls for energy providers to create a national public recognition initiative to encourage participation in tree-planting programs, and it authorizes grants to be awarded to providers that have binding legal agreements with nonprofit tree-planting organizations.
Friends of Trees' 6,000 contributors, including local government agencies and businesses, have made it possible to keep Portland's tree cover growing during the past two decades while other major U.S. cities lost tree cover. Read more about our supporters.
Learn more about us at Friends of Trees. Contact Executive Director Scott Fogarty at 503-282-8846 ext. 12 or scottf@friendsoftrees.org.
Contact terir@friendsoftrees.org to sign up for Friends of Trees' quarterly Urban Forest Updates.
Friends of Trees brings people in the Portland-Vancouver area together to plant and care for city trees and urban natural areas.
Friends of Trees
3117 NE ML King Jr. Blvd.
Portland, OR 97212
503-282-8846
fot@friendsoftrees.org
www.friendsoftrees.org