Connecting Canopies regional urban forestry conservation collaboration

Place: Portland, Oregon, United States
Learn more: theblueprintfoundation.org

As in many cities across the country, Portland’s BIPOC and low-income communities tend to be concentrated in neighborhoods with less tree cover that experience higher air temperatures, lower air quality, and reduced health outcomes as compared to residents from wealthy, well-treed, and whiter neighborhoods. These environmental injustices are exacerbated by rapid development, gentrification, and displacement, while at the same time, poverty and disinvestment undermine residents’ perceived benefits of trees—which are frequently viewed as a liability due to the financial burden of maintenance. What is more, volunteer tree planting programs mostly benefit neighborhoods and families with higher incomes, while the rest of the neighborhoods remain under-treed. The Connecting Canopies team has proposed a regional urban forestry collaboration among city partners, conservation organizations, and BIPOC organizations to expand urban tree canopy, mentor and employ BIPOC youth and community members as tree stewards, and support municipal investment, planning, and action for trees. Over the next two years, the project team will share knowledge and resources through quarterly forums, and convene a diversity of local organizations including regional municipalities, BIPOC community-based organizations, and other health and nature-focused nongovernmental and municipal agencies. The team will also use a chartering process to formally establish a sustainable and impactful collaborative that will work toward environmental/climate justice goals and workforce/movement diversification, identify funding opportunities and develop a regional urban forestry strategyThe collaborative will explore workable solutions to increase the capacity of community-based organizations to access public and private investments in order to lead neighborhood-level action. The project team has also proposed to create a youth career development program with an urban forestry and equity training curriculum and, ultimately, train and provide stipends for as many as 30 BIPOC youths each year. Throughout, the team will gather and collate community feedback, and all participants will receive a stipend for their time and input. In the long term, this team hopes Connecting Canopies will provide a model for linking BIPOC community learning, employment, and advocacy for enhanced spending on urban tree canopy and to support public-private regional partnerships for local action.