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.
Create a Tree Walk
You can make your own tree walk anywhere in Portland using the Tree Inventory Project webmap.
Explore your parks and neighborhood streets visiting trees with tantalizing traits, curious characteristics and bewildering bark.
Watch the video to learn how to use this online tool to create a tree walk.
Use this guide to plan out your tree walk.
Host a Tree Walk
Are you or your Tree Team interested in hosting a Tree Walk? Sharing information and appreciation for the trees of your neighborhood grows community support for a healthy urban forest.
Popular themes for tree walks include:
- Large-form evergreens
- Climate forward species
- Trees of a particular park
- Street trees from a global region
- Flowering trees
- Fall color
- Tree identification
- The many, many maples of Portland.
Contact us to arrange a tree walk:
ufvolunteers@portlandoregon.gov
Themed Tree Walks
Winter Wonders Tree Walk
Visit the Winter Wonders Tree Walk page to create a winter wonder tree walk of your own. Learn to identify trees using features beyond the leaves such as buds, bark, branching, and more!
Trick-or-Tree Walk
Who will you see on your Trick or Tree Walk?
Throw on your costumes for a Trick-or-Tree Walk! Create a hair-raising route to share with friends and neighbors!
This do-it-yourself tree walk will take you to see all of the trick-or-trees in your neighborhood – gnarled branches, whispering willows, and haunting hawthorns are just a few you might find along the way.
Flowering Tree Walk
Spring has sprung, buds are bursting, and trees throughout Portland are coating the City in fragrant flowers!
Learn what flowering trees to look for and access the Flowering Tree Webmapto explore the blooms on your block.
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 - www.portland.gov/trees