Did you know that the City of Gresham has an Urban Forestry Subcommittee?  Its existence is well buried in the City’s website and hard to find!  Unfortunately, it’s in danger of being shut down.

The Urban Forestry Subcommittee (UFS) advises City Council on the health of Gresham’s trees and determines what needs to be done to sustain and expand tree canopy.  UFS is a collaboration between the City and volunteers and has advocated for trees in Gresham for more than 20 years.  Since the City has no urban forester or arborist on staff, it needs to depend on a qualified citizen group to provide guidance. 

However, the City of Gresham is strongly considering dissolving UFS, possibly soon. 

In UFS' place, ad hoc task forces would be set up by the City to accomplish projects.  The City has been promising to talk with UFS for months, but so far there is no information about plans for the transition from UFS to ad hoc task forces, and there has been no explanation of how it would work.  There have been no invitations to collaborate, nor any assurances that UFS members would be included in future plans.

Ad hoc means: "1. For the specific purpose, case, or situation at hand and for no other.  2. On the spur of the moment.  3. For a particular purpose." — The American Heritage Dictionary.  According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, ad hoc means "for the particular end or case at hand without consideration of the wider application."

Ad hoc task forces would give the City complete control over what projects would be done, when or even IF projects would be done, and who would work on the task forces.  There are no tree professionals on City staff, so we don't know who would make the decisions.  However, another "benefit" of ad hoc task forces is the reduced workload for staff.  Source: May 2, 2023, Council Roundtable Work session recording.  See: https://tinyurl.com/y42j9enp

THE IMPACT:  UFS would effectively be shut down, and the 20-plus years’ worth of work would end.  The concern is that the dedication of UFS members and the deep knowledge of Pacific Northwest trees and decades of experience would be lost to Gresham.

Also, because there are no tree professionals on City staff, the fate of the Significant Tree program is unknown.  UFS has responded to citizen requests for help with significant trees every month from March until now (July).  If UFS is dissolved, no one would be qualified to respond to requests regarding tree nominations, removals from the list, or issues with significant trees.

Furthermore, Gresham would no longer qualify as a Tree City.  This is because, without UFS, the requirements can’t be met.  Requirements include: a tree board or urban forestry department with regular meetings, contact information for tree board members, an urban forestry annual work plan, and last, a Tree City U.S.A requirement is the expenditure of $2 or more per capita or $226,212 minimum.  The City’s 2022-2023 budget has $90,000 budgeted for an "Urban Tree Program" about which no details are publicly available.

Although not everyone in City government agrees with it, powerful officials have recommended the dissolution of UFS (see the May 2, 2023, Council Roundtable Work session, referenced above).  ALL IT WOULD TAKE IS TO CANCEL ALL FUTURE MEETINGS.  UFS was told in the January 2023 meeting that [not] “having meetings doesn't change the official status of the subcommittee; it's still on paper and legally an active subcommittee, and thus would not impact eligibility for things like Tree City, or you know, any kind of grant funding…”  See the January 2023 recording of the UFS meeting on the City’s website:  https://tinyurl.com/2p95mdrv Passcode: D&A=%%5t (copy and paste).

The Mayor and City Councilors have the power to stop the shutdown of UFS.  Your signature will tell the City that you want UFS to be supported and allowed to recruit and grow.  We want the City to collaborate with UFS in a sincere and committed manner.

THE MESSAGE:  MAYOR TRAVIS STOVALL AND CITY COUNCILORS:  WE WANT YOU TO SUPPORT UFS AND ALLOW IT TO RECRUIT AND GROW!  IF OR WHEN THE DECISION TO END UFS COMES TO A VOTE IN COUNCIL, VOTE IT DOWN!  IF CHANGE IS NEEDED, INSIST THAT UFS MEMBERS AND THE COMMUNITY BE INCLUDED IN A COLLABORATIVE RE-DESIGN!

For more information on the Urban Forestry Subcommittee and background on the issue with the City, see www.greshamtrees.org.