What are the unique or
interesting challenges of urban
forestry in your community?
The unique pleasures?
SA: Like many other cities, our community has
really begun to feel the effects of climate change.
Extended droughts, severe storms, wildfires, and
exotic pests/pathogens are all issues of major con-
cern. Sustainability and meeting the "triple bottom
line" (social, economic, and environmental well-be-
ing) are becoming increasingly important. Right now
people are flocking to Oregon in record numbers,
and infill development is arguably one of the great-
est threats to our city's urban forest. Over the last
30 years, we've slowly been losing urban tree can-
opy cover, but we are bent on reversing that trend
within the next decade (with a lot of help from our
esteemed non-profit partner, Friends of Trees).
For better or for worse, people are very passionate
and opinionated about trees here in Eugene—they're
either extremely pro-tree or anti-tree, with very few
people in between—so there's never a dull moment.
It seems like we've got a tremendous amount of com-
munity and organizational support right now. After
several failed attempts, we just passed a major park
bond measure and people really seem to understand
the concept of ecosystem services and green infra-
structure. This really helps to counterbalance the
more traditional municipal focus on tree liabilities
and risk management, and makes our work far more
enjoyable. This empowers us to undertake a lot of fun
and creative work such as habitat enhancement, eco-
logical arboriculture, and veteran tree preservation.
What gives you extra pride
when you think about your
city forestry program?
SA: As mentioned above, it's largely about the
people and our extended team (our staff, allied
workgroups, and community partners). Thanks to
strong connections with several nearby universities
(and the awesome SMA intern program!), we've
recently been able to engage a number of talented
student interns and seasonal employees to help us
complete our street tree inventory and quantify
urban forest benefits. These folks are also on target
for completing our developed park tree inventory
in the next month or so. Additionally, we also have
landed some amazing seasonal employees to water
and care for all our newly planted street trees. They
The Eugene Urban Forestry team with summer interns
during city tree tour on bikes.
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