Hey neighbors, this month’s CNews is all about trees, which is a topic near to my heart and likely most of yours. For the upcoming quarterly CNA General Membership meeting – Wednesday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. – we’ll continue the conversation with local tree experts. I hope you can join us. Virtually.
Which leads me to my next announcement. We’ll be meeting virtually in September for both the CNA board and general membership meetings. We were looking forward to meeting in person once again, but due to the uptick in Covid 19 cases we’ll have to wait a bit longer.
The board didn’t meet in August, but we accomplished a few things nonetheless. We joined 10 organizations in endorsing a letter to city and state agencies asking them to preserve the International Grove at 42nd Avenue and Lombard Streets during the planned construction of the new overpass. Portland Bureau of Transportation responded, and there is a planned meeting to discuss the issue.
In addition, the letter the CNA board wrote to the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) regarding the sale of Concordia University resulted in an opportunity for CNA to meet with LCEF. We look forward to a productive conversation where we’ll express the neighborhood’s desires for the property. (See letter at ConcordiaPDX.org/cusale.)
Getting back to the topic of trees, this year’s extreme heat has likely been harder on our trees than any year on record. As I write, we’re in the midst of another heat wave…
It’s sad to experience this and it’s easy to feel powerless, but there are things we can do. For example, the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) offers a one-time water/sewer rebate for planting a tree, and another program will plant trees on your property at affordable, sliding scale prices. Visit PortlandOregon.gov/bes/63490 for details on those programs.
In a similar BES program, I signed up and received three ponderosa pines in 2014. These trees are now six years older and, because they are more drought tolerant, they were OK in the heat.
We need to do everything we can to preserve the trees we have and continue to plant more. Find sign-on information for the CNA General Membership Meeting at ConcordiaPDX.org/CNAMeetings. And join us Sept. 1 to hear from local experts about what you can do!
Native Portlander Peter Keller has lived in Concordia since 1997. He runs a small marketing agency with partner Max, out of their home studio. He loves exploring outdoors with and without his dogs.