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Community Forestry Coordinator
Trees provide tremendous functional benefits to urban areas-shade, habitat, storm water management, and improved air quality. They also create beauty, signal the seasons, and contribute to a sense of place. But urban trees also face special stresses; construction, roadwork, soil compaction, and pollution all take a significant toll. A forest tree may live 100 years, but the same tree planted on a downtown street will survive only 7 years on average.
The Lake Oswego Planning Department recently received a grant from Northwest Service Academy to place a full-time AmeriCorps volunteer for one year beginning October, 2006. Deb Wechselblatt, Americorps Community Forestry Coordinator is the City’s first Community Forestry Coordinator. Her task will be to help us develop a management plan for our urban forest. She will help identify tree maintenance needs and prioritize projects that provide the greatest benefits for safety, beauty, storm water and energy efficiency. She will also suggest ways for City staff to partner with community members on tree planting and tree-care projects. And she will provide the public with valuable information on how to plant and prune trees correctly, so that our trees have long, healthy lives and do not become “problem trees” for owners, their neighbors, or the telephone company.
More information on community forestry call the Lake Oswego Natural Resources Planner Jonna Papaefthimiou at 503-675-3990.
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