Urban Forestry

City of Gresham, Climate Action Meeting, “All Things Trees”

By Janet Unruh, Wilkes East neighbor

The third Climate Action meeting was held September 28, 2023 in the City Council chamber. 30-40 people attended in person.

Presenters

• Shannon Martin, Solid Waste and Sustainability Manager
• Johnny Dea, Climate Action Plan Project Manager
• Tina Núñez-Osterink, Natural Resources and Parks Planner
• Mary Phillips, Senior City Planner at City of Gresham, working on tree code
• Sarale Hickson, Urban Planner at City of Gresham, working on updating regulations related to waterways, floodplains, wetlands, and steeply sloped areas
• John Wasiutynski, Director of the Office of Sustainability, Multnomah County
• Dr. Vivek Shandas, renowned climate researcher and professor at Portland State University

Good news – Gresham is getting money for Urban Forestry

The USDA Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program awarded over $1 billion to fund urban forestry projects across the U.S. that “support equitable access to trees and the benefits they provide.” “Equitable access” refers to low-income neighborhoods that are deficient in tree canopy. The funding was made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Locally, a coalition led by Friends of Trees, including the City of Gresham, and others applied for funding. The coalition received a $12 million grant to be used over next five years to work with neighborhoods to plant and care for trees.
  The IRA urban forestry projects include:

• Community tree planting (training and engaging volunteers) to plant up to 2,300 street and yard trees and 21,000 native shrubs in neighborhoods and natural areas, specifically in identified equity areas: East Multnomah County, West Eugene, and Springfield
• Robust post-planting care, including watering, mulching, and natural area maintenance
• Opportunities for direct community input and participation
• Community education
• Workforce training

Tina will be meeting with coalition members to find out how much of the funding Gresham will receive.

Green Gresham, Healthy Gresham

Green Gresham, Healthy Gresham (GGHG) will help identify where to plant trees, taking into consideration the demographics behind the lack of trees. Tina and John Wasiutynski began GGHG about six years ago with the goal of planting more trees to make Gresham a lusher, greener place for all who live in Gresham. Thanks to grants they have received along the way, they have been able to plant over 500 trees, take an inventory of street trees, maintain tree canopy, and recruit homeowners to plant trees. The IRA grant is much larger than the earlier grants and it will provide much more funding for tree planting and care. And there’s more good news: in addition to the IRA grant, Tina, John, and GGHG expect to receive grant money from FEMA for post-disaster response due to the heat dome event in June 2021. In that event 69 people died in Multnomah County.
See also: Green Gresham, Healthy Gresham' Grant Project Adding Street Trees to West Gresham Neighborhoods, the Wilkes East Neighborhood Newsletter http://www.wilkeseastna.org/node/3542

How trees help with hotter, drier temperatures

Trees help cool the environment. They are a simple and effective way to reduce urban heat islands. Trees and other vegetation such as bushes, shrubs, and tall grasses provide shade and cooling through evaporation and transpiration. They absorb water through their roots and cool surroundings by releasing water vapor into the air through their leaves. Trees and vegetation are most useful as a mitigation strategy when planted in strategic locations around buildings and in parking lots and streets. https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/using-trees-and-vegetation-reduce-heat-islands
Note: Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States. https://www.weather.gov/oax/heatsafety
Where Gresham is hottest
Heat-related deaths are associated with tree-deficit areas. When trees have been cut down in a neighborhood, heat-related deaths rise (quoting Dr. Shandras).
Rockwood is the hottest census block in Gresham. Rockwood has a deficit of trees because of large parking lots and rooftops in the industrial areas and because of wide roads. The heat island in Rockwood centers around the former Sunrise Center and Kitchen (see map, below).

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Heat islands are usually associated with industrial areas or big-box stores with their acres-wide roofs and enormous parking lots. But in the case of Rockwood, the heat island is next to residential areas where people walk to Max, catch a bus, go to a grocery store, or walk to their apartment. In the summer, this creates a health hazard for anyone transiting through, shopping, or living in this area.

How We Saved The CCACs

By Janet Unruh, Wilkes East neighbor

Council Citizen Advisory Committees (CCACs) play an important role in decisions that affect Gresham. These committees are made up of resident experts, interested community members, and a staff liaison to City government. According to the City of Gresham’s website, “City Council appoints residents to committees and boards to advise the Council on certain decisions and policy matters. Citizen advisory committee work stems from the City's Strategic Plan.” The CCACs include the following:

• Charter Review Committee (work completed)
• Community Development and Housing Subcommittee
• Community Enhancement Advisory Committee
• Design Commission
• Finance Committee
• Gresham Redevelopment Commission Advisory Committee
• Historic Resources Subcommittee
• Parks and Recreation Community Advisory Group
• Planning Commission
• Transportation Advisory Subcommittee
• Urban Forestry Subcommittee (UFS)
• Youth Advisory Council

My interest was in the Urban Forestry Subcommittee (UFS) because they are the stewards of the trees in Gresham. And so, it was stunning when in January 2023, City staffers met with all the CCACs including UFS, and asked us all to stop meeting for two to three months while the City restructured.

In the UFS meeting, they delivered that message and gave us no definite timeline for resumption or for interim communication.  I felt that they were stonewalling the subcommittee, and when members expressed disbelief and frustration, the staffers responded that the City “heard us” and would be in touch.

One City staffer who spoke to us said, “We need a bit of time to clean, a bit of time to get the proverbial house in order, so we need to clean up the house a little bit.  So, what we are wanting [sic] to do is work with the three of you [the remaining UFS committee members] and ask for some time to pause.  So, we’re thinking 2 to 3 months.” See the meeting recording: https://tinyurl.com/sfy3a3cm, Passcode: D&A=%%5t. To hear this part, begin at 07:37 on the timeline. The entire meeting is worth watching in my opinion – it was a very emotional meeting.

Their message came across to me as disingenuous. If we were going to be on hold for an indefinite amount of time, the momentum would be lost and the remaining members might drift away. But because there were projects in process, grant money was coming in, and because UFS members were dedicated to the work, they refused to stop meeting.

To read more, see www.greshamtrees.org

A brief history of UFS

For those of you who aren’t familiar with UFS, it began in 1990 as the Tree Preservation Council Advisory Committee. In 2008, the Committee was renamed the Urban Forestry Subcommittee and was made up of City staff, tree professionals, and volunteers. UFS has written publications (for example, The Urban Forestry Management Plan at https://greshamoregon.gov/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=1375), worked with neighborhood groups, and planted many trees through the years in cooperation with Friends of Trees and during Arbor Month activities.

UFS has met regularly every month for 20-plus years.

UFS’ chief role is to advise the City, but the resulting work has to be done by the City. This includes such things as updating City documents like the tree code, following up on tree code violations, and ensuring that new real estate developments adhere to tree-related regulations. One of the reasons the City gave as to why they wanted to shut down the CCACs was the “opportunity to relieve staff liaison ongoing workload.”

Over the past few years, UFS members had become frustrated with a lack of cooperation from the City.  Members dropped out, and as of now, only three members remain.

It seemed to me that the City stopped cooperating with all the CCACs around 2019 to 2022, and after members had quit and meetings began to be canceled, the City surveyed past and current CCAC members to ask their opinions of such things as whether their committee was effective. The results of the survey were mixed.

Despite being asked not to meet, UFS kept meeting. Two months passed. Three months passed. Four months passed. Then, on May 2, 2023, City staffers made a presentation to the Mayor and City Councilors based on survey results. We found out about it thanks to UFS’ chair, who attended the four o’clock meeting. The staffers recommended the dissolution of UFS and most of the other CCACs. Below are two slides from that presentation with my markups.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

See https://gresham.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=964&meta_id=59623

Members of the community and I wrote letters to City Council and spoke at Council meetings to complain. The City didn’t respond to us.

The idea of transforming UFS to task forces was disturbing. Task forces can be effective, but my experience of task forces in corporations is that they are mostly window-dressing for public relations. Because of the treatment UFS had already received, I was inclined to think the worst. The “ad hoc” part of it also meant that the City would decide who would participate, and when, or even if, a project needed to be done.

Summer 2023 Newsletter "Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together 'WE' can make a difference!”

Read it now!

Summer 2023 Newsletter Inside This Issue: Rockwood Urban Renewal B188 Wilkes East Land Use Update Climate Action Plan workshop Reynolds Schools Start & End Times WENA Summer Meeting August 14th

Download your copy here. (includes active web links)

¡Descargue nuestro boletín en español aquí!. (incluye enlaces web activos)

Newsletters are a regular publication of the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association. They are hand-delivered to over 1,500 residences and businesses in our area 3 times per year, timed to correspond with our general meetings.

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Spring Meeting Notice When: Mon Mar 13, 2023 7PM-9PM Where: Moose Lodge 16411 NE Halsey St Get Map!

Everyone's Invited

Join Your Neighbors. Get involved. Make a difference!

Save the date
Be sure to save Monday Mar 13th at 7PM for the Wilkes East Neighborhood 2023 Spring Meeting being held at the Moose Lodge, 16411 NE Halsey St

Agenda

• Election of 2023 WENA Board
• Jessica Harper, Community Services Manager, City of Gresham
  Homeless Services
• Michael Gonzales, Neighborhood &
  Community Engagement Manager, City of Gresham
• Lucy Harden
  WeShine Village Update
• Janet Unruh
  , Urban Forestery in Gresham
• Neighborhood news and more!

Download the Fall 2023 meeting minutes here!

Who should attend?
Participation is open to all residents who live, own property or a business, organization, church or government agency within our boundaries

Be Part Of Your Community. Plan To Attend.

Watch for these red & white Meeting Signs the week before our meeting. The signs were purchased with assistance of the City of Gresham Neighborhood Grant Program, and with volunteer hours to set them out and retrieve them. Signs Now NW also made a generous contribution to this project.

Mark your calendar. See you there!

Questions or comments?
Contact Wilkes East Neighborhood by email at info@wilkeseastna.org, or by postal mail to: Wilkes East Neighborhood, 17104 NE Oregon St, Portland Oregon 97230

Spring 2023 Newsletter "Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together 'WE' can make a difference!”

Read it now!

Spring 2023 Newsletter Inside This Issue: New Play Structure Nadaka Park City Replaces LED Streetlights Urban Forestry in Gresham Caught on Camera WENA Board Elections March 13th

Download your copy here. (includes active web links)

¡Descargue nuestro boletín en español aquí!. (incluye enlaces web activos)

Newsletters are a regular publication of the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association. They are hand-delivered to over 1,500 residences and businesses in our area 3 times per year, timed to correspond with our general meetings.

View archive   |   Policy & Ad Rates

Source: Gresham Outlook, January 3, 2022
By Angel Rosas

Project Zero interns also shared values of conservation with East County community

With growing fears of climate change and its effects on the Pacific Northwest, Portland General Electric is attempting to face those challenges through its Project Zero internship that allows young adults to experiment with and learn about environment-specific careers. Ellie Taylor was one of those interns. Taylor was paired with the nonprofit Play Grow Learn as she taught East County children about the environment by removing invasive species and planting native ones at Nadaka Nature Park in Gresham.

COURTESY PHOTO: PORTLAND GENERAL ELECTRIC - PGEs Project Zero interns help in forest restoration at Nadaka Park in Gresham

"The entire purpose of this program is because climate change is here and we have to face that," said Taaj Armstrong, PGE Project Zero dean of cohort. "And the way we do that is working with underserved communities to make that change. We understand that people of color and low income people are the first affected by climate change and are often not represented in these organizations."

PGE started the program in 2020 and Taylor's cohort is only Project Zero's second group of interns. The six month program chooses interns to work with environmentally focused nonprofits.

The program works to recruit opportunity youth, which are young adults disconnected from work and school. Armstrong said there has also been a large push to prioritize offering this opportunity to BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and low income individuals.

"We look to have about 50 percent of our interns to reflect one of those demographics (BIPOC, LGBTQ+, low income)," said Kimberly Howard Wade, the Project Zero director. "This year we have 75%."

'A rewarding experience'
Taylor, who was originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, moved to Oregon in February. Her stay in Oregon was a struggle as she became homeless. Taylor connected with Project Zero and was accepted into the program.

Working with Play Grow Learn and the city of Gresham's Environmental Services, Taylor and another intern removed invasive species and planted native plants like Oregon grey and swamp rose at Nadaka Park, while also teaching East County children about environmental stewardship.

"One of my favorite parts of the program would be the connections we made between us and the community of Gresham and Rockwood," Taylor said. "A lot of the kids we were working with came from disadvantaged home lives and to offer some stability while also teaching them how they can better their community through stewardship was just great."

During the internship the group also had days where they focused on specific themes with their fellow interns like equity and also took trips to visit other environmentally focused organizations to learn about careers there. To give interns more one-on-one help, they are also paired with mentors who help the interns with some of the growing pains of returning back to a more structured environment while also providing comfort and guidance throughout the program. Mentors even stay with the interns three months after the program has ended to help with their job search.

Noelle Saint-Cyr only recently started working with PGE as a transportation project manager, but when she heard about the opportunity to be a mentor she jumped at the opportunity. She ended up working with Taylor as her mentor/champion.

"I helped her as she returned to the workforce, which isn't an easy thing," said Saint-Cyr. "I just have to say it was such a rewarding experience to see her grow."

Taylor had the same sentiment. "I honestly don't know how I would have gotten through this program without Noelle," Taylor said. "She was the one that I vented to, and also just offered so many tips."

Starting a career
Now that Taylor's internship has concluded she is making plans to get her career started. She is thinking of going to community college to get a certificate to work in waste water treatment after a trip the group took got her invested in the work that is being done at Clackamas Water Environment Services.

However, Taylor believes the most impactful thing that Project Zero did for her was bring people unfamiliar with the field and make connections to people in those careers. "This program offers you an opportunity to make connections," Taylor said. "You are often required to have previous experience. But this internship gives me the ability to meet many different people in these fields that I am interested in."

This story first appeared in The Outlook. Support community newspapers. Subscribe at http://savinglocalnews.com

Summer 2021 Newsletter "Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together 'WE' can make a difference!”

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Summer 2021 Newsletter Inside This Issue: Trackers, Never Lose Stuff Again New Special Needs Adult Program Wilkes East Land-Use Update Saving 267 Trees; Shaull Woods Meet City Councilor Dina DiNucci

Download your copy here. (includes active web links)

Newsletters are a regular publication of the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association. They are hand-delivered to over 1,500 residences and businesses in our area 3 times per year, timed to correspond with our general meetings.

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Get involved, Make a difference When: Mon, May 10, 2021 4:30PM-5:30PM Where: Online meeting via Zoom

How to attend the meeting

• For meeting log-in/call-in information, please see the meeting agenda on the Urban Forestry Subcommittee page.
• If you are unable to access the meeting via Zoom, you may contact Tina Osterink at Tina.Osterink@GreshamOregon.gov 24 hours in advance of the meeting so the City can provide alternate arrangements.

General meeting information

The Urban Forestry Subcommittee advises the City Council and staff about tree preservation, tree species, and for the City's street tree list and trees to be designated to the City's significant tree list.

For more information about this event, contact Tina Osterink at Tina.Osterink@GreshamOregon.gov.

2021 Spring Newsletter "Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together 'WE' can make a difference!”

Read it now!

Spring 2021 Newsletter Inside This Issue: Downtown Rockwood Arrives Albertina Kerr Housing Update Wilkes East Land-Use Update Reporting Livability Issues Hazardous Spills, Who To Call Neighborhood Tree Outreach

Download your copy here. (includes active web links)

Newsletters are a regular publication of the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association. They are hand-delivered to over 1,500 residences and businesses in our area 3 times per year, timed to correspond with our regular meetings.

View archive   |   Policy & Ad Rates

'Green Gresham, Healthy Gresham' Grant Project

The City of Gresham is partnering with Multnomah County Office of Sustainability and Friends of Trees on a grant from East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District (EMSWCD) to get trees surveyed, maintained and planted in the Rockwood, Wilkes East and North Gresham Neighborhoods. From mid- December 2020 to end of February 2021, you may notice a small
crew of three to four members wearing bright fluorescent safety vests, known as the Gresham Tree Team. The 2020 Gresham Tree Team is a group of County staff and interns making the following improvements to your neighborhood:

• Tree planting activities such as digging holes, planting trees, and moving mulch;
• Tree surveying and measuring in the public right of way to gather data on the tree type, size, and health; and
• Tree maintenance in the public right of way along arterial and neighborhood streets.

Gresham Tree Team
From 2018 – 2020 this team has:

• Inventoried 1300 trees
• Planted over 300 street and yard trees
• Recruited 80 homeowners to plant yard trees

This EMSWCD Green Gresham, Healthy Gresham grant project will improve your neighborhood with information on where to plant more trees along with newly planted trees that will help:

• Cool the urban environment during our hot summers
• Provide windbreaks and help conserve energy during our cold winters
• Improve the walking environment and air quality along busy West Gresham streets
• Reduce water pollution flowing into local streams and waterways

Work will be performed Tuesday through Saturday (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)

More Info
If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please contact Tina.Osterink@GreshamOregon.gov or call directly at 503.618-2392.