Connecting Canopies
How Trees Can Make Portland Healthier
Learn more about urban well-being and the power of trees.
Urban Well-being and Trees
To improve the equitable distribution of trees and the many benefits they bring, a group of local partners—The Blueprint Foundation, The Intertwine Alliance and The Nature Conservancy—created an initiative called Connecting Canopies. We’re working to bring together neighborhoods, government, partners and businesses to create inclusive and sustainable action plans for urban tree planting and stewardship.
A New Model for Urban Tree Stewardship
A community-led process that is built on trust will be key to achieving lasting change, so Connecting Canopies starts all projects with community voices and engagement to build an implementation plan.
Dr. Derron Coles
“We recognize that taking a community-centered approach and developing implementation plans that are informed by those most impacted by lack of tree canopies will result in urban forestry practices that meet our equity goals. To get this done it takes change agents in the community, private sector and governmental jurisdictions across the area.”
Dr. Derron Coles, Executive Director of The Blueprint Foundation
Sergio Lopez
“Connecting Canopies offers a really exciting opportunity to bring greater diversity into the conservation workforce while also making our entire Portland community greener and healthier. It reaches all neighborhoods and is an inclusive and natural method for healthy air and green communities.”
Sergio Lopez, Climate & Urban Partnerships Lead
Theresa Huang
“Connecting Canopies plays an important and different role in Portland’s urban conservation context; it is a coalition with community needs, and not the agenda of local agencies, as the highest priority, using an inclusive partnership model. It is an all-in-one type of coalition that uses the power of partners to address multiple barriers that communities face.”
Theresa Huang, Co-director of the Intertwine Alliance
Cohort Members
“It's just the most important thing—having people from every possible group, culture and ethnicity. It's the same as biodiversity in nature. You need diversity. You’re better with diversity. It takes all groups of people working together and learning together if we’re going to make a real difference together.”
Cata, Connecting Canopies Cohort Member
Using Science to Target Tree Plantings
In the Portland metro region, neighborhoods that might benefit from increased tree canopy are overlooked and underinvested communities that have historically been neglected in urban conservation efforts. The Nature Conservancy is working to provide interactive maps and the data necessary to target tree planting, community outreach and financial investments where they are most needed. By providing new data tools, we can help to better prioritize tree planting and care, improve local policies that address inequities in tree cover and increase support for community-driven stewardship of green spaces.
Our goal is for the Portland metro region to be on track to achieve and maintain at least a 35 percent cover of healthy tree canopy by 2030.
Blazing Trails and Increasing Diversity in Green Jobs
To support the planting and maintenance of more urban trees, The Blueprint Foundation is leading a pre-apprentice program that provides career training and opportunities for young and mid-career members of Black, Indigenous and other communities of color. Developed in partnership with Portland Fruit Tree Project, Friends of Trees and other community-based organizations, the curriculum also includes caring for fruit trees, restoring natural habitats and tending to urban gardens in underserved communities. Nearly all participants of the first cohort have received job or internship offers upon completing the program.
Recent studies show that the difference in summertime temperatures between the Portland’s forested West Hills and less affluent neighborhoods can be up to 18 degrees.
Providing an Example for Cities Around the World
Having more urban trees could benefit countless other cities. Globally, extreme heat events contribute to more deaths than all other natural disasters combined. What we create in Portland will serve as a model for other cities and will be shared with our TNC colleagues around the world.
