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Guides, walks, and stories that celebrate Portland's Heritage Trees.
Heritage Tree Guidebook
This 76-page guide has maps, species descriptions, best viewing times, and more. Print editions are not currently available.
Historical Tree Research Guide
Learn how to research the history of trees in Portland using this guide, developed by Portland historian Dave-Paul Hedberg. The guide covers topics such as web searches, conducting interviews with community members, and how to utilize local archives.
From Stumptown to Treetown
Portland earned its title of Stumptown following the cutting of acres of forest to make way for the roads and houses we call home 150+ years later. Read about the history of Portland's trees, where they've been, and where they're going.
From Stumptown to Tree Town, by David-Paul B. Hedberg, is an interpretive walking tour of 10 downtown Heritage Trees connecting historic photos to living trees in the city and invites you to explore some of Portland's oldest living features.
The trees of this city have been intentionally managed by humans long before taking the name Portland, and generations since have continued that legacy. Can you see that history on our landscape today?
Watch Online!
Recording of online webinar from 3/24/21.
Canopy Stories
The filmmakers of the Canopy Story film project were the 2019 Bill Naito Community Trees Group Award winners.
“Portland’s first Heritage Tree, an American elm, represents every tree in the city. Only a few mighty oaks and firs that survived Stumptown’s pioneer days are older. This elm, planted in the 1870s by Rosa F. Burrell, stands as one of the city’s oldest features. The film explores one historian’s quest to find and document this and other historic trees.”
This tree was removed after extensive storm damage in 2024. Read about how the wood is preserved and celebrated.
“Why do we humanize trees as heroes and villains? Focused on two species that dominate the city, the Douglas fir (a regional hero) and the Tree of Heaven (a horticultural villain), the film follows two PSU professors who have launched a crowd-sourced storytelling map. New technology and old-fashioned methods intersect in the quest to climb Portland’s tallest tree.”
In the nineteenth century, when no one believed the Willamette Valley could sustain English walnuts, Dosch experimented with grafting and popularized the Franquette and Mayette varieties of walnut here in Oregon. His success initiated one of the state’s most profitable horticultural industries at the time.