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URBAN FORESTRY
Tree Inventory Update
Tree Inventory Season - Halfway Through!
Hundreds of volunteers have joined the Street Tree Inventory effort in Boise, Cully, Eliot, Foster Powell, Kerns, Laurelhurst, S. Tabor, Sullivan's Gulch, and West Portland Park! West Portland Park has been completed early and all other neighborhoods are underway. There are still many opportunities to get involved in the inventory effort in August and September.
Cully Neighborhood is the season's largest neighborhood at nearly 2,000 acres. Additional volunteers are needed to help tackle this large neighborhood. Located in NE Portland, Cully stretches west to east from 42nd to 82nd Avenues, to the airport in the north, and Fremont Street in the south. Many of the neighborhood's street trees are found in unimproved areas, which include rights-of-way without curbs or sidewalks. Working in unimproved areas presents a fun additional challenge when conducting inventory - not only are data collectors determing which species trees are, but they are also making critical decisions about where the right-of-way begins and ends. Please join us on August 9th or 13th to assist Cully with mapping and measuring trees!
Upcoming August Workdays
Date
Day and Time
Neighborhood
Location
Registration Link
8/9/2014 more volunteers needed!
Saturday 8:30-noon
Cully
Cully Grove, 4779 NE Going St
8/9/2014
Saturday 8:30-noon
Laurelhurst
private residence, 3905 NE Davis St
8/13/2014 more volunteers needed!
Wednesday 4:30 - 8 pm 
Cully
Trinity Lutheran Church, 5520 NE Killingsworth St
8/16/2014
Saturday 8:30-noon
Boise-Eliot
Unthank Park, 510 N Shaver St
8/16/2014
Saturday 8:30-noon
Foster-Powell
Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave
8/23/2014
Saturday 8:30-noon
South Tabor
Trinity Fellowship Church, 2700 SE 67th Ave
8/23/2014
Saturday 8:30-noon
Sullivan's Gulch
Metropolitan Community Church, 2400 NE Broadway St
Exciting Finds: Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziessi)
Native madrone trees are rarely found in the public right-of-way. Madrones tend to do best when they choose their own growing site, and they are sensitive to exposure from irrigation, yard chemicals, and the impacts of construction. Inventory volunteers were pleased to find this large specimen in Foster-Powell. To their surprise, the owner came out and told volunteers the tree's story. As a young girl the owner went on a family trip to the Olympic peninsula. During her trip she found a small madrone tree, dug it up, and brought it back to Portland with her. After much convincing, her father allowed her to plant it in front of the family's home. Fifty-five years later, she still lives in the same home and the tree is thriving.
Thank you to our Data Entry Team!
Eighteen volunteers attended data entry training in July. These committed individuals will volunteer 30 hours each entering inventory data into our ArcGIS database at Urban Forestry headquarters in East Delta Park. Not only do these volunteers need to interpret handwriting and weather worn datasheets, they will also navigate through aerial photos and tax lot lines to place trees in the correct location. To date, volunteeers have entered over 4,000 data points (and have many more to go!). This behind-the-scenes commitment is vital to the project and we thank them for their hard work!
Photo: Cecily Douglas and Jayme Taylor show off their maps at our data entry stations.
Urban Forestry
10910 N. Denver Avenue • Portland, OR 97217503-823-4489
Portland Parks & Recreationwww.PortlandParks.org
Commissioner Amanda Fritz • Director Mike Abbaté
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