Become a Neighborhood Tree Steward
Are you interested in learning about Portland's trees and giving back to your community? Portland's urban forest needs neighbors who care for our trees. Complete the interest form to be notified when the 2024 application becomes available.
What is a Neighborhood Tree Steward?
Neighborhood Tree Stewards (NTS) are community members who are passionate about trees and giving back to their community. NTS graduates gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to be stewards of Portland’s urban forest. Through the NTS training program, stewards are introduced to a variety of tree-related topics to help them care for, appreciate, and advocate for the city’s trees.
No previous experience is needed to become a Neighborhood Tree Steward, but you do need a passion for trees, a desire to learn, and the commitment to help.
This is a great opportunity for anyone who is looking to explore the urban forestry field, learn more about trees, or wants to meet new people that care about their community.
Why Care for Our Community’s Trees?
Portland is home to diverse communities of trees and people alike. Both types of communities change as you travel across the city and require different care to support and thrive.
There is an observable difference in the distribution of tree canopy coverage across the city, and Neighborhood Tree Stewards are working to change that. The services that healthy trees provide to our city are integral to the health of the people in our city, and Portland is working with the community to bring these services to all residents.
What do Neighborhood Tree Stewards do?
Tree Stewards become amazing resources for stewardship of Portland’s urban forest. They lead groups at tree planting events, help lead tree walks, and prep trees for giveaway events.
Graduates of the program are asked to donate 20 hours of volunteer time to help support Urban Forestry events.
Another perk of being a Tree Steward is access to NTS-only workshops and events covering topics such as tree identification, applying for Urban Forestry jobs, and forest bathing.
NTS Hour Submission
This form is for Neighborhood Tree Stewards to log their volunteer hours. NTS graduates are asked to complete volunteer service hours for trees. Please fill out one form per volunteer activity and send to Urban Forestry Program Coordinator.
The Grove
As a city with more than 650,000 people and a few million trees, there are a lot of people who care for a lot of trees!
Portland has an incredible number of community members who not only love trees, but passionately care about our urban forest and dedicate their time to its continued health and growth. At these meetings, we hold space for conversation and creativity, as well as project planning support for seasonal projects, workshops, and events.
Quarterly meetings are held in February, June, August, and November at rotating locations. Follow our Tree Bark newsletter for updates on meeting dates and details.
About Portland Parks & Recreation UrbanForestry
The mission of PP&R’s Urban Forestry (UF) division is to manage and care for Portland's tree infrastructure in the City for current and future generations. Portland’s urban forest consists of 220,000 street trees, 1.2 million park trees, and innumerable private property trees. The Urban Forestry division is involved in managing or regulating these trees. UF created and implements the City of Portland's Urban Forest Management Plan, fosters community tree awareness and stewardship, develops tree policies and programs, monitors and assesses Portland’s urban forest, and issues permits for planting, pruning, and removal of public and some private trees. During extreme weather at all times of the year, UF crews respond to tree emergencies to keep you safe and the City moving.
Find more information on Urban Forestry pages.