Keep Cool Under the Canopy (Columbia Park)

Classes and Activities
Take a walk beneath the rich canopy of Columbia Park during the heat of summer and learn how these green giants are working hard to keep you cool.
An interior view of Columbia Park
2:00 pm 3:00 pm

Meet in front of the pool house on the east side of the park.

Register online


What is an Urban Heat Island?

Broadleaf evergreen trees on Knott St
This picture was taken in January of 2020 - a street full of green trees enjoying our winter rains.

Temperatures in cities are usually higher than those in rural area. 

Where there are more grey surfaces than green surfaces, the temperature will be higher than if there were more green surfaces than grey surfaces.

  • Grey surfaces = buildings, roads, cars, parking lots
  • Green surfaces = trees, shrubs, grass, landscaping

Take a step away from the busy street and into a park - the air around you will feel cooler, not to mention a quiet and calm atmosphere


Trees of Columbia Park

Trees of Columbia Park webmap

Out of the 925 trees in Columbia Park, more than two-thirds (623) are native to the Pacific Northwest, including 557 Douglas-firs. While Oregon's state tree dominates large areas of the park, great examples of other native trees are present in the park as well.

Explore these trees from the online webmap before you visit!

An early, hand-drawn plan of Columbia Park.

Practice Your Tree Identification

No prior experience required!

Although books and online resources are useful tools for identifying trees, the best and most memorable way to learn about trees is by seeing them up close and in person.

A tree walk lets you not only see trees but also learn about them through touch and smell.

Learn more about Tree Identification for Portlanders. 

Tree Inventory Project volunteers using a guide to identify a tree.

Portland Parks & Recreation Urban Forestry's mission is to manage and ensure Portland's urban forest infrastructure for current and future generations. Portland’s urban forest consists of 236,000 street trees, 1.2 million park trees, and innumerable private property trees.

Urban Forestry is involved in managing or regulating all of these trees to differing degrees. Urban Forestry staff issue permits for planting, pruning, and removal of all public and some private trees and are on call 24/7 to respond to tree emergencies.

For more information on Urban Forestry, please visit portland.gov/trees.