FEATURED TREE STORY (September 2023)
Why Plant a New Street Tree? Because the Eastmoreland tree canopy is rapidly shrinking! Almost one-quarter of the very large (over 2’ in diameter) street trees in Eastmoreland have been removed in the last 13 years. Very large street trees provide the majority of shade, cooling, and neighborhood character. The rate of loss averages about 25 trees per year.
Some of the spots where these very large street trees have been lost cannot be replanted because of City codes and some cannot be replanted with large-form trees (i.e., those that become over 50’ tall at maturity) due to high-voltage overhead wires or too narrow of planting strips.
We will never recover all of our lost street tree canopy (due to current planting restrictions) but we can maintain the overall neighborhood canopy if we plant large-form trees where we can and trees that grow to a smaller size where we can’t:
Plant large-form or smaller-form trees in yards.
Plant large-form trees in permitted spots in parking strips with no HV overhead wires and over 6’ wide. There are over 715 parking strip spots that currently are vacant – about 300 of these can accommodate a large-form tree.
Plant smaller-form trees in permitted spots in parking strips under 6’ wide. A little over 400 of the vacant spots can accommodate smaller-form trees.
The future of our neighborhood - its beauty and its livability - will be influenced by our actions today. The time to plant is now. Encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to do the same – wherever they live.
FEATURED TREE STORY (December 2023)
In 2011, Eastmoreland’s street trees were inventoried by Urban Forestry staff with the help of many volunteers. Since then, the Eastmoreland Tree Commitee has updated the inventory periodically with plantings, removals, and condition ratings. Our information is available in map and list form at streettrees.eastmorelandpdx.org.
What can you do with the website other than check the information on your trees?
Bookmark the site on your phone’s home page. Now, if you’re out for a walk and want to identify a street tree, you can use your phone. There’s a button for zooming in to your approximate location on the map.
If you are thinking about a new street tree and you want to check on recently planted ones, such as a willow oak, go to the List tab and enter willow, and a list of the current ten willow oak street trees in the neighborhood will be returned.
If the map shows a vacant spot in front of your house and you plant a tree, tell us about it on the Help Us tab.
If you’re just interested in numbers, such as how many American elms were present in 2011, have been removed, and are still remaining, you can get that info from the List tab. The counts as of spring, 2023 were 237, 107, 130, respectively.
