Should Portland adopt the Portland Urban Forest Plan to improve public health, build resilience to climate change, and promote environmental justice?

Portland’s urban forest provides significant public health, environmental, and economic benefits. It is a critical part of the city’s climate change resilience and mitigation efforts.The urban forest is living infrastructure requiring proactive management and planning to ensure its long-term health, growth, and public safety.Portland’s first Urban Forestry Management Plan (UFMP) was adopted in 1995 by Ordinance 168979.In 2003, the Council adopted the 2004 Urban Forest Management Plan by Resolution No. 36189, which the City has been implementing over the past two decades.Per Portland City Code, the Urban Forest Plan is intended to be updated.In 2021, City Council directed (Resolution 37473) Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) to update the 2004 Urban Forest Management Plan and use the new plan to inform updates to the Tree Code (Title 11).PP&R created the Portland Urban Forest Plan in partnership with other City bureaus and regional agencies impacting Portland’s urban forest. Partner bureaus will help implement the plan and include the Portland Bureau of Transportation, Portland Water Bureau, Bureau of Environmental Services, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, Portland Permitting & Development, Portland Fire & Rescue, and the Bureau of Emergency Management.The Plan is heavily informed by community guidance received from Portlanders living across the city and from diverse communities, including Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, immigrants and refugees, people with disabilities, older adults, youth, and people earning lower incomes.On August 21, 2025 the Urban Forestry Commission voted to recommend the Portland Urban Forest Plan to City Council for adoption and is transmitting it to City Council by letter of transmittal, attached as Exhibit B.Canopy cover is unevenly distributed throughout the City creating an environmental justice issue. Inequitable access to the public health and climate resilience benefits trees provide disproportionally impacts undeserved communities in Portland.Portlanders earning lower incomes are disproportionately impacted by the cost of maintaining trees.Recent reversal in citywide canopy growth, new pests, and the changing climate, including hotter, drier summers and more frequent and intense winter storms, present new management challenges that must be considered and proactively addressed to maintain the health of the urban forest and protect public health and safety.The Portland Urban Forest Plan presents a new unified vision, goals, and tree canopy targets to guide management of the urban forest.The Portland Urban Forest Plan includes actions to preserve, care for, and expand tree canopy and enhance collaboration with Portlanders and across City bureaus. These actions will reduce the impacts of urban heat and improve public health, safety, and water quality. They will help achieve plan goals, as well as goals and policies in the City’s climate plans and 2035 Comprehensive Plan.

The reviewed sources do not clearly identify every existing policy, service, contract, or obligation that would remain unchanged.

This proposal concerns transportation & public works and requires action through Portland’s public legislative process.

Portland’s urban forest provides significant environmental, economic, social, and health benefits to Portlanders. The Plan discusses the uneven distribution of canopy and financial and physical impacts trees can place on Portlanders.In Portland, communities living on the east of the Willamette River, people of color, immigrant and refugee communities, and people earning lower incomes have less access to canopy and its associated benefits where they live, compared to other Portlanders. In addition, people living on fixed or low incomes, older adults, people with disabilities, and people who don’t speak English are often disproportionately burdened by tree care activities and costs.The Portland Urban Forest Plan was driven by community input, especially historically underserved communities and community members living in neighborhoods with less canopy than others. This included discussions with Portlanders living in different parts of the city and from specific communities, including Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, immigrants and refugees, people with disabilities, older adults, youth, and people earning lower incomes.Staff engaged community members for nearly two years to create the plan, including through in-person and virtual events, surveys, discussions, and open houses. Community members shared impacts of current urban forest distribution, programming, and policies and challenges for tree care and planting. Staff also sought input from Portlanders about the values and priorities to emphasize in the plan.A geographically and demographically diverse Community Advisory Committee (CAC) provided ongoing guidance and helped develop the plan. The CAC included community members who own property, pay rent, speak languages other than English, and have diverse opinions on trees and the urban forest.To hear additional perspectives, staff discussed the plan with groups representing environmental, public health, business, industrial, labor, and economic interests. Staff also reviewed the plan with the Multnomah Youth Commission, Portland Freight Committee, Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Planning Commission, Historic Landmarks Commission, Development Review Advisory Committee, Working Waterfront Coalition, Columbia Corridor Association, Building Owners & Managers Association of Oregon, Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP), and the Central Eastside Industrial Council, among others.The bureau sought input from Portlanders to develop the vision, goals, canopy targets, recommendations, and actions in the plan.The draft plan was available for public comment from February to April 2025.Per Title 11, the Urban Forestry Commission is a project advisory body and is responsible for submitting a recommended plan to City Council. They provided input throughout the duration of the project, culminating with a final formal approval of the Plan in August 2025.The Portland Urban Forest Plan’s implementation strategy recommends dozens of policies, programs, and projects that will be implemented in partnership with community. Each program or project will be implemented with an equity lens to understand impacts and reduce barriers to participation.