« New Life - On Its Way Out | Main | Toxic Love »

May 23, 2007

Portlanders! The Chainsaws Are Coming. Act!

By: Rowan Wolf

The Port of Portland is preparing to cut down 225 trees during nesting season. This information and action alert from the Audubon Society.

The Port of Portland is currently in the process of cutting down 225 trees along Airport Way to make room for expansion of the road and the facilities. This cutting comes at the peak of nesting season and, because the Port was given a variance in the 2003 Airport Master Plan, no mitigation will be required. The Port will replace a limited number of trees along Airport Way when the construction is completed, but nowhere near what will be lost.

Regardless of whether there is a regulatory requirement to replace these trees, we believe that the Port's failure to avoid tree cutting during nesting season and their refusal to do some voluntary mitigation for the tree loss, stand as stark examples poor environmental stewardship. The Port has long been the region's foremost proponent of replacing mandatory environmental regulations with voluntary stewardship. Yet once again when the Port has an opportunity to demonstrate real commitment to protect the environment, it has instead it has instead fallen back on the minimum allowed by law---in this case because of the variance, far less than your
average citizen or business would be required to do! As a public agency, we believe the Port should be setting the highest standard.

Please help Audubon send a strong message to the Port of Portland that we expect then to protect our urban tree canopy and our natural environment. Specifically, request that the Port do the following:

1) Mitigate for the loss of 225 trees at a ratio of 2:1 (for trees under 12 inches in diameter) and 3:1 (for trees over 12 inches in diameter.) This work could either be done on site or off site. It could be done by the Port itself or through a donation to a third party such as Friends of Trees.

2) Establish as formal Port Policy that tree removal will not be done during peak nesting season (April 1--August 1) except in emergency circumstances (Surveys would still have to be done for early and late nesting species but this timeline would protect the bulk of federally protected species.)

Please e-mail the Port today (and cc the Portland City Council) and ask them to avoid tree cutting during nesting season in the future and to mitigate for the damage that they have already done. Please tell them that as a public agency and a strong proponent of voluntary environmental protection, they should be setting the highest standards rather than exploiting
loopholes and dodging their responsibilities.

Bill Wyatt-- Executive Director, Port of Portland: b.wyatt@portofportland.com

Cheryl Koshuta--Environmental Affairs Director, Port of Portland Cheryl.Koshuta@portofportland.com

Chris White, Public Relations Director, Port of Portland Christine.White@portofportland.com

Gil Kelley, Director, Portland Planning Bureau gkelley@ci.portland.or.us

Mayor Tom Potter mayorpotter@ci.portland.or.us

Commissioner Sam Adams sadams@ci.portland.or.us

Commissioner Randy Leonard randy@ci.portland.or.us

Commissioner Dan Saltzman dsaltzman@ci.portland.or.us

Commissioner Erik Sten esten@ci.portland.or.us

Posted by Rowan at May 23, 2007 8:27 PM Category: Activists