ODF release – EUGENE, Ore. – Early registration is now open for Oregon’s largest Urban and Community Forestry Conference. The all-day conference, which has been held in Portland for the past several years in early June will be held this year on Thursday, June 27 at Venue 252 in downtown Eugene. It is put on by the Oregon Department of Forestry and USDA Forest Service in collaboration with the non-profit organization Oregon Community Trees, whose board members organize and staff the event. The conference’s theme – More Housing, More Trees: Giving Oregonians Both – will bring together advocates for more housing, and greater density and infill in existing residential neighborhoods, with advocates for preserving and expanding urban forest canopy to ensure the health and well-being of city residents. Early registration is $150 until May 24 and $180 after that. Students can register for $80. Price includes a boxed lunch and social hour beverages and snacks following the conference. To register, go to More Housing, More Trees: Giving Oregonians Both by Oregon Community Trees (givelively.org) Oregon Community Trees President Tyler Roth said he’s excited about the conference this year bringing together people who care passionately about meeting Oregonians’ needs for more housing with people who are equally concerned about ensuring that densifying neighborhoods continue to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of large shade trees. “Speakers at the conference will show why Oregon needs both more housing units and more affordable housing, while at the same time we need to preserve and even increase room for large, cooling shade trees to buffer the growing threat from extreme heat events like the one Oregon suffered through in June 2021.” Opening speaker at the event will be Kaarin Knudson. Knudson is a licensed architect and educator with more than 20 years’ experience advancing sustainable design and community-led solutions. In 2017, she founded the housing advocacy organization Better Housing Together (BHT), to increase housing affordability, diversity and supply in Lane County. In 2018 she was awarded the City of Eugene’s Community Award. Knudson advised on the implementation of Oregon’s landmark middle housing laws and advocated for the creation of Eugene’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. She is a longtime member of the City Club of Eugene, and served as its president in 2022-2023. Knudson earned her bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oregon and later a master’s degree in Architecture from there. She now teaches a graduate urban design workshop at the University of Oregon and is coauthor of a new textbook, The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook (Routledge, April 2024). According to Scott Altenhoff, who is Manager of the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, the conference’s panelists willl share ideas for how cities can minimize the loss of large, healthy trees and make room for more of them even as formerly single-family neighborhoods gain new multi-family housing. “We know cities will need to be more innovative and creative in their approach to urban design if we are to prevent significant loss of tree canopy, especially in neighborhoods that have historically had below-average tree canopy,” said Altenhoff. “These often low-income areas are at highest risk from extreme heat events and adverse health effects from lack of large, healthy trees nearby. How can we help address past inequities in tree canopy cover while providing the extra housing that this same population also needs? That’s the question attendees and panelists will be focused on at this conference.” In the afternoon, one panel will share ideas about how to preserve existing large, healthy shade trees even as more dense development occurs. A second panel will address creative ways cities can find space to plant more large shade trees to prevent loss of tree cover, and even increase it in areas that have historically had less tree canopy.
