So what happened was… Jenn Cairo

I think a lot about what Portland would be without its trees.

It wouldn't be Portland.

Walking through the city today, the first thing I notice is the trees. I might see a native western red cedar, increasingly rare but still healthy, and think about the person who had the idea generations ago to plant it in exactly the right place. Then I look at surrounding trees for things most people probably don't: canopy form, growing conditions, species.

I grew up in a rural, forested part of upstate New York. Being outside was just part of everyday life. We grew a lot of our food, had wood heat, livestock, bees, and no TV. My mom loved nature and passed that along to me early.

Even though I'd spent most of my childhood outdoors, I didn't expect to work in a career that kept me there.

My undergraduate degree was in foreign service, and I was headed down the international policy path.

Right after graduating, a friend and I drove across the country to see parts of the United States we'd never experienced before. We came through the Columbia River Gorge and made a stop in Portland.

What stayed with me about that visit to the Pacific Northwest was the trees.

They were larger than in other places, including where I'd grown up in the Northeast. The landscape looked and felt very different.

I spent a few years in Central and Eastern Europe on an exchange scholarship as a student and then working. One year I lived in a small town that had been part of the Soviet empire and had no wastewater treatment system. Pipes ran straight into the river where people fished.

During the winter holidays, people there traditionally eat carp, a bottom-feeding fish that can take in pollutants like heavy metals and other harmful substances.

Seeing that firsthand made the connection between environmental conditions, public health, and everyday life very real.

It changed how I thought about the kind of work I wanted to do.

When I came back home, I started looking for ways to work in nature and environmental protection. One of my first jobs was as an AmeriCorps intern in the New York State parks system. Later I got into a graduate program as a teaching and research assistant, which allowed me to earn degrees in public administration and natural resource management. I'm grateful to the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Syracuse University for that opportunity.

View full size image of Jenn Cairo in helmut and climbing ranger uniform standing in front of rock face.

My AmeriCorps role started out as whatever the parks needed. Things like maintenance, search and rescue, and environmental education. I even trained in wildland firefighting and got to work on some fires and prescribed burns. The job eventually evolved into me becoming the first climbing ranger at the parks system's first climbing area.

That's a great job when you're young. You're out in the climbing area talking with people, hopefully not doing a lot of rescues. But some days, yes.

Along the way I held a variety of other jobs. I waited tables, lifeguarded, and did seasonal work at a resort leading trail rides and driving carriage horses.

I also worked in emergency medical services for about 10 years. I could do that at night while going to school or interning during the day. Medicine still interests me.

That experience taught me a lot about how people work together in stressful situations and how emergency systems function. Turns out those two things matter a lot when part of your job is the city's 24/7 tree emergency response service.

During my time in the New York State parks system, I worked with colleagues managing natural areas who had strong science backgrounds. Some of them were women.

Watching them do that work and seeing how they approached it helped me see that a career in this field was actually possible. Their encouragement and the examples they set every day made a big impression on me.

After grad school, I worked for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, managing the lands that protect the city's drinking water supply. I was there for almost eight years and only went into the city one time for work.

I ended up in the Pacific Northwest when a former colleague shared a job opportunity with the Oregon State parks system.

Public service has always felt like a responsibility to me. I come from a long line of people who chose it and took it seriously, and that perspective has stayed with me.

Today I serve as Portland's city forester. I'm the first woman in the role, and I've been here for 14 years.

Urban forestry has historically been a male-dominated field. Over time I've focused on building credibility in the profession and helping create more opportunity for others entering it, including women and people from a wider range of backgrounds.

View full size image of Line of newly planted street trees with water bags around trunks. Beautiful day.

What I notice most about Portland's urban forest is the contrast.

Some neighborhoods have a strong canopy. Others have far fewer trees. It's a pattern you see across the country.

Once you start noticing that pattern, you see it more and more. Tree-lined streets where large branches arch overhead, and other blocks where the sun hits the pavement with nothing to soften it.

We focus on maintaining the trees we already have while planting more where they're needed. Much of our work happens through volunteers and partnerships with other organizations. Our team is small and incredibly dedicated.

Portlanders care deeply about trees. That comes through clearly in conversations with people throughout the city. I often say it's Portland's greatest urban forest asset.

In this city, there's a relationship between trees, community, and long-term stewardship.

That's what makes the work meaningful.