GreenWorkers Volunteer at Park Tree Inventory Workday

Recently, employees from our team volunteered with Portland Parks and Recreation’s Urban Forestry department at a Park Tree Inventory workday. Working alongside 30+ other community members at Ed Benedict Community Park, they gathered tree data including location, height, width, DBH, and tree species. This was part of an ongoing tree inventory project that Urban Forestry has been working on to catalog tree data and build an interactive tree map.

Volunteers came across some tricky tree identification including:

• Oxydendrum arboretum: Sourwood. Look for bright red leaves in fall (now!) and cream colored fruit clusters.

• Larix occidentalis: Western larch. One of the few deciduous conifers – look for the yellowing needles later this month and in October.

• Quercus robur: English oak. Not to be confused with Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana), the English oak has deep rounded lobes “ear lobes” at the base of each leaf blade.

Portlanders can use this link to see what street trees have already been cataloged in Portland Parks, and can use this link to see what street trees have been cataloged. It’s definitely a helpful tool for anyone practicing their tree identification!