Arbor Month Committee

Bryan Burch

Bryan Burch has been an active arborcology volunteer since moving to Portland in 2008. He has enjoyed leading tree planting teams with Friends of Trees, Portland Parks' Learning Landscapes, and as a Neighborhood Tree Steward in his abundantly forested neighborhood of Sylvan-Highlands. While working as a historical preservationist for UO, he actively reclaimed native habitat at the historic Watzek House and in the Cottrell Wildlife Refuge, a ten acre parcel connecting Washington Park with Forest Park via Hoyt Arboretum. Given this year's opportunity to highlight Portland's incredible Heritage Trees, Bryan has immensely enjoyed working with the Urban Forestry Commission and Portland Farmers Market to bring the 2013 Arbor Month Celebration to the greater Portland public.

Karl Dawson

As an outreach coordinator with PP&R, I teach youth and community members about the importance of trees and their care through hands-on community tree projects. I graduated with a BS in Biology from University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA. During college I worked part-time as a groundsman for a tree care company chipping brush, lowering wood, and cleaning up. I was amazed to see how passionate clients were about trees, and that no two trees were alike. I also spent summers in college working at residential summer camps, first teaching swimming and boating, then working at the environmental education programs Natures Classroom and Chesapeake Bay Foundation. I love helping kids connect to the natural world by learning about trees and their connection to the ecosystem. I love trees because they are always changing.

Kris Day

As a senior specialist with Friends of Trees, I wear many hats in support of the organization's mission to build local community through the planting of trees. My time with the Neighborhood Trees Program is spent coordinating contractor work, assisting with the summer monitoring program, and developing new partner projects and relationships. With our Green Space Initiative Program, I coordinate private property restoration projects in the Rock Creek watershed in Clackamas County and help lead natural area plantings throughout the metro region. My educational background has its roots in ecology and vegetation dynamics (two Associate degrees in natural resource management and a BS in geography), and its branches in landscape design and green infrastructure (a Master of Landscape Architecture). I love trees for the ambiance they create, and for supporting birds and other wildlife. Photo courtesy of Bob Langan.

Jennifer Karps

I work with the Urban Canopy Program housed in the City of Portland’s Environmental Services bureau. We are a partnership-focused, education-based set of programs working to expand and enhance the urban forest canopy through outreach and education, data collection, and tree planting. We plant trees with local nonprofit superstar Friends of Trees, with on-call landscape contractors, and through a residential yard tree incentive program, Treebate. I hold degrees in plant ecology, environmental science, and biogeography, I am an ISA-certified arborist/municipal specialist, and I teach geography classes at Portland State. I love trees because they make a house a home.

Autumn Montegna

As a program coordinator with PP&R, my goal is to spread information about the importance and benefits of the urban forest to all reaches of our community. I manage and compile our monthly newsletter, TreeBark, and I help manage the Neighborhood Tree Steward Program. I'm very involved in our Neighborhood Tree Steward Workshop Series as well as working one-on-one with volunteers to accomplish their urban forest project goals. I started working for the City in 2006 as a seasonal employee collecting street tree inventory data for the Urban Forest Canopy Report. I then became Portland's elm monitor, watching over 3,000 elm trees for symtoms Dutch elm disease. I hold degrees in environmental science and management and I'm an ISA-certified arborist. I love trees because of their size, unique characteristics, and the longevity - trees put the world into perspective.

Catherine Mushel

Catherine Mushel is honored to be serving on the Urban Forestry Commission as a citizen activist. She loves living in Oregon, the place she dreamed about as a Montana high school student reading news of the Oregon Bottle Bill. Her experience working on planting, maintenance, and urban forestry assessment issues in her southeast Portland neighborhood informs her commission service. As the chair of the commission¹s Education and Outreach Committee, she hopes citizens will find and visit a Heritage Tree in Portland and be inspired to take proper care of their own trees, their neighborhood trees, and the urban forest that knits all of Portland together. 

Lea Wilson

As the AmeriCorps Community Urban Forest Coordinator for the BES Urban Canopy Program, I educate citizens about and encourage stewardship of the urban forest.  Acting as a liaison between interested groups, citizens, and the City, I contribute to existing efforts while adding to our tree planting and education programs as opportunities manifest.  I hold an MS in Sustainability and a BS in Environmental Science.  I love trees because they are charismatic organisms and critical infrastructure, defining habitat for human and non-human life alike, linking generations through time, and capturing our hearts and imaginations.