From Neighbor Mike

As you can see, I'm finally getting around to blogging and spreading more info. This from neighbor Mike at 6355:

GREETINGS I TALKED WITH KARL AT U.F.. HE GAVE ME LOCATIONS OF TWO TYPES OF TREES SUGGESTED A WHITE OAK LOCATED ACROSS THE STREET FROM BEACH GRADE SCHOOL AT 1710 N. HUMBOLDT IT'S 200 YRS OLD. IT JUST DWARFS THE HOUSE THAT'S UNDER IT...IT'S A REAL PRETTY TREE AND HAS BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED ALOT. THERE IS A BIG LEAF MAPLE ON GREELEY AVE 2 BLKS. SOUTH OF LOMBARD. BOTH TREES ARE HUGE... I'M KIND OF LEANING TOWARD DIFFERENT KINDS OF ELMS, JUST TO KEEP THE BLOCK LOOKING FOR UNIFORM, WITH A SIMILAR SIZE TREE....IT SOUNDS LIKE KARL NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT TO LOCATE BY THE 24TH...

Any thoughts?

Tree Vandals

A few weekends ago some tree vandals went down the parkway and pulled off low-hanging branches off of the Elms. I know that some of the neighbors cleaned up the mess by putting stuff in their garbage.

I asked Autumn Montegna (the elm monitor for the City) about this. She advises us not to clean up elm limbs from the big trees - they are potential dutch elm disease carriers and need to be chipped. We are to call her if branches come down and she will send a City truck out to collect any debris and the City will properly dispose of it. Autumn's phone number at the City is 503-701-7622.

I also pointed out to Autumn that when they pulled out those trees so suddenly, vandalism occurred. This is not random - there are studies showing that places with fewer trees have higher crime rates! I heard this in my tree stewardship class from the Oregon State Forester. Wow, trees are important in lots of different ways.

Trees, Birds, Bees

This Tree Stewardship class that I'm taking is fascinating. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about good tree management (at least in the urban environment) and tree biology. I always knew that trees were important to the environment, but I didn't realize *how* important. Our goals to reduce carbon emissions and have clean waters and soils in the future are dependent on maintaining the urban canopy in Portland. Our elms on Omaha Avenue are *key* to a clean future.

Last Saturday our class was held at the Hoyt Arboretum where we had this wonderful tour of some of the hardwoods (birch, maples) by the director of the place. Hoyt has over 8,000 trees representing about 1,000 different species from around the world. We learned a little about tree biology, including the key things about trees: they don't heal from wounds like humans, but instead compartmentalize their owies (CODIT)

We got to hear professional arborists talk about prudent pruning methods and how not to prune trees and more importantly, why trees fail. It was a great way to spend a Saturday - David and I loved it so much that we went back on our own Sunday (with the dog!) and went for another walk through the conifers this time and marveled at the amazing array of species right in Portland. With 12 miles of trails, we will go back many times to see it all.

Airplane, circling

It's 4:30 am. I've been up since 3:00 am because there's a small aircraft circling our neighborhood, relentless, pursuing something. It woke up my dog. Who woke me up.

And at this time of day, there's only one logical conclusion: the Jihad is out there and they're going to get us. I woke up David who said he didn't want to talk about it. Not now, he said. Then I said "yeah, you'll talk about it when the foreigners burst through our front doors demanding our papers!"

He stuck his thumb out from underneath the bedcovers and said "the paper recycling is in the kitchen. They can have all the paper they want."

No one takes me seriously.

Update: there is something going on. See this post from about a week ago in the Sentinel

Tree Stewardship Class

The first Tree Stewardship class was held last night - and thanks to my husband David Taylor and Allen Wheeland for joining me in this adventure! It was a fascinating evening - and the next four classes are going to be very interesting as well. I thought I'd share with you my initial thoughts after this class.

There are a lot of city bureaus dealing with the issues of ecology and specifically trees. They are trying hard to get along and work together, with varying results. I think what we've witnessed is this disharmony of bureaus with differing raison d'etres working it out in front of us. Thank God Parks is winning!

The tree experts in this town are many and varied. In this class, I think we will meet most of them.

Intuitively I knew that trees are important to our ecology and our public health (both physical and mental) but I had no idea how important they are to all the infrastructure of our environment. More later about this.

I now know why diversity of species are important - we all get that since our elms are coming down. This class got a little deeper into that question and made clear that the City will never plant like they have in the past, putting one species in a row down a boulevard or median strip.

As I came back down Omaha from my walk with my dog this morning and saw the remaining elms standing in their gigantic rows, I started to cry. I love these elm trees, whether they should have been planted like this or not. The fact is that they are lovely and graceful parts of our landscape. And the bad news is that eventually they will all be gone in a few more years, whether we like it or not.

The good news, of course, is that the City will replant trees here. I want to make sure that they're big trees going in - not some puny imposters that will not provide the canopy that the elms have provided us. I think Karl Dawson gets that and so is suggesting the obvious ones that will grow and expand out - the oaks and the maples, as well as some evergreen if we want it (but nobody, not even me wants that right now). This is good. Big trees are important to our landscape (and little ones have their place, too).

It's true!

We've confirmed it: The City will plant trees back on Omaha Street!

From our neighbor Erika:

I spoke with Karl Dawson from Urban Forestry this morning. He said UF will
plant 6 trees in a volunteer neighborhood planting on Halloween from 9-11am. As
many neighbors as possible should join in the planting. The neighborhood then
needs to set up a watering schedule for 3 years for the summers (May-June) after
the planting. UF can provide hoses or irrigation if needed. He said the city's
sprinkler system would not provide the direct watering the trees need.

Maybe we should have another neighborhood meeting to decide the types of
trees and a watering schedule. Our tree choices are: Oregon White Oak,
Northern Red Oak, Big Leaf Maple or Evergreens. Karl said he will purchase the
trees around Oct 24th for the Oct 31st planting.

...but let's not weaken...

It is more important than ever that we take a greater interest in our trees and park space in front of our homes, especially given the invasive nature of Dutch Elm disease (or as my friend Emily calls it "Restless Elm Syndrome") To that end I've decided to take the Tree Stewardship class that the City of Portland puts on. I received the class syllabus today and am extending an invitation to all of you to join me in this class - you can register at the door!

The Class times are: 9/29 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm; 10/3 8:30 am-2:00 pm; 10/6 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm; 10/10 8:30 am-2:00 pm and 10/17 8:30 am - 2:00 pm.

It is likely that more of these trees will have to come down and that we will be advocating for their replacement in an ongoing way. So, let's get educated about trees, their care and how best to advocate for them.