Shade Equity Platform

Created by 350PDX Forest Defense Team and members of the Shade Equity Coalition,

part of the 350PDX Climate Justice Platform 2024

Context

Climate change and extreme heat are increasingly highlighting the importance of rapidly retrofitting Portland for climate resilience. In the absence of a city-led comprehensive heat mitigation strategy after the deadly 2021 heat dome, tree, pedestrian, and public health advocates came together to educate policymakers about an important aspect of climate resilience: the urban forest canopy. Many Portland neighborhoods lack street trees, adequate pedestrian infrastructure, and other forms of public investment, often in historically redlined areas. Shade trees are critical infrastructure and must be treated as such. These neighborhoods are reaching dangerously high temperatures and more trees can help significantly! Increasing the tree canopy is a key strategy for cooling local “heat islands,” improving livability, and making communities more climate resilient. The importance of Portland’s urban forest canopy extends well beyond street trees and trees in public parks and natural areas. More than half of our canopy shades privately-owned land. Studies show Portland’s tree canopy has been declining in recent years. Action is needed to protect, increase, and achieve an equitable distribution of tree canopy across our city.

Actions

  1. Secure protections for existing large-form trees in Portland to meet canopy goals. In Portland, only 12% of trees are larger than 20 inches, but they make up 60% of the tree canopy. We need to protect existing large trees by making the Large Tree Amendment to Title 11 more robust and permanent (it is set to sunset at the end of 2024) and expanding it to cover smaller lots.
  2. Ensure all new city plans and codes adopted in conjunction with state initiatives and bond measures include funding and optimal space for the healthy growth of additional large-form trees in both city rights-of-way and privately owned land.  Space for large trees must be created where late annexation and poor planning that failed to make adequate space for large-form trees results in a reduced canopy of small and medium trees. Mandate innovative design initiatives, such as curb bump outs and pocket parks, especially near multi-family and low-income housing and in or near business districts. See “trees in the curb zone” 2024 pilot project. Work with developers to adopt policies and regulations supporting site designs that will preserve and sustain space for large-form trees.
  3. Expand tree code to cover all industrial areas in Portland.
    Some industrial zones were temporarily exempted when the tree code was initially adopted, with the intent to apply it at a later date. It is important for the new council to follow through. Protections of trees on industrial landscapes is particularly important because these Portland landscapes are adjacent to or intertwined with residential areas, so these natural areas tend to suffer from extreme urban heat island effects, reduced air quality, and polluted runoff.
  4. Safeguard and implement the street tree planting and maintenance program effectively and equitably.
    • Fully fund and implement street tree maintenance over the next five years by adding an additional $35 million, in addition to the $65 million in PCEF dollars, to meet the $100 million budget for Urban Forestry’s new street tree maintenance program. Ensure that historically redlined and underserved neighborhoods are first priority. Ensure that PCEF or another secure source continues to fund public street tree maintenance in perpetuity (just as other infrastructure is funded in perpetuity) after the first five years of PCEF funding ends.
    • Ensure that the new Equitable Tree Canopy Program, which focuses on planting and providing establishment maintenance in priority neighborhoods, is implemented well and upholds PCEF values of growing new minority-owned businesses and workforce training for underrepresented groups in the tree care industry.
    • Secure funding for other complementary programs, like PBOT’s Trees in the Curb Zone project and tree-related sidewalk repair.
  5. Ensure that the Urban Forest Plan clearly spells out and acts on the urgency of the climate crisis.
    By March 2025, complete a comprehensive, updated Urban Forest Plan and tree canopy targets. Implement the plan to prioritize a healthy, equitable urban forest canopy, and include monitoring of specific measurable goals on a yearly basis. The scale and timeline for tree planting, maintenance, and protection must reflect the urgency of the need for increased climate resilience, cooling shade, and clean air in all neighborhoods.

Important Stakeholders

Organizational participants in the Shade Equity Coalition:

  • 350PDX
  • Bird Alliance of Oregon
  • Blueprint Foundation
  • Columbia Slough Watershed Council
  • Depave
  • Extinction Rebellion PDX
  • Families for Climate
  • Friends of Trees
  • Gresham Tree Committee
  • The Intertwine Alliance
  • The Nature Conservancy
  • Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
  • Oregon Sierra Club
  • Oregon Walks
  • Portland Fruit Tree Project
  • The Street Trust
  • Thrive EastPDX
  • Trees for Life ORegon
  • Verde
  • We Keep Trees Standing
  • Willamette Riverkeeper

Portland Clean Energy Fund: Conveners of equitable tree canopy working group. Currently funding 65 million dollars of street tree maintenance for 5 years.

Urban Forestry (under Portland Parks & Recreation): Main city implementer of urban forest policy.

Case Studies

Here is a webinar with Dr. Vivek Shandas, who specializes in studying the impact of climate change on cities, discussing urban heat islands and ways city policy can change to mitigate them.

This paper, which correlates historic redlining with exposure to heat, forms the basis of Dr. Shandas’ presentation.

Citations

Tree Canopy and Potential, PP&R’s 2018 study of available planting space found room for 1.3 million trees in the city, which would provide nearly $200 million annually in services such as cleaner air and water, summer cooling, and other benefits.

Then over the next five years, the city planted or gave away between 1,382-12,000 trees a year, for a total of about 41,380 trees.* To put this in perspective, 41,380 is only three tenths of one percent of the 1.3 million potential new trees.

The 2018 Tree Planting Strategy document outlined recommendations for planting a more equitable urban canopy. It also promised an implementation update the following year, but we were unable to find any implementation updates online.

*Based on information compiled from their tree planting reports, below:

Endorsed by:

Endorsed full Climate Justice Platform:

Laura Streib (D2)
Jonathan Tasini (D2)
Brian Conley (D3)
Chad Lykins (D4)
Moses Ross (D4)
Sarah Silkie (D4)
Andra Vltavín (D4)

District 1

Candace Avalos
Doug Clove
Timur Ender
Peggy Sue Owens
Thomas Shervey
Cayle Tern

District 2

Reuben Berlin
Michelle DePass
Mike Marshall
Chris Olson
Antonio pettyjohnblue
Laura Streib
Jonathan Tasini

District 3

Rex Burkholder
Brian Conley
Chris Flanary
Dan Gilk
Kenneth (Kent) R
Landgraver III
Tiffany Koyama Lane
Angelita Morillo
Ahlam Osman
Theo Hathaway Saner
John Sweeney

District 4

Mike DiNapoli
Lisa Freeman
Mitch Green
Chad Lykins
Chloe Mason
Moses Ross
Sarah Silkie
Ciatta Thompson
Andra Vltavín

Mayor

Liv Osthus
Keith Wilson