We’ve been here before, but things keep getting worse. As time goes on, homeowners may be forgiven for believing that the government government or their neighbors or the general collective owns the trees on their property. It doesn’t matter if they purchased the trees, planted them, water them, prune, fertilize and nurture them, there is a creeping sense of power and control outside entities are claiming over our private property rights. We may own the land and the house, but do we really own the trees and plants on the lot?
Next Saturday, October 30, there is another Lake Oswego Tree Summit — A conference about the importance and rights of trees in OUR urban forest. The summit is sponsored by the Lake Oswego Watershed Council and the Lake Oswego Sustainability Network - two of a number of environmental groups in our area claiming primacy over public opinion and environmental morality. No matter that this (or any) group doesn’t reflect the feelings and thinking of a majority of the residents and property owners in the city, theirs will be the voice that is heard above the silent populace that don’t even know they exist and wouldn’t agree with them even if they did. Most people don’t have the time to be activists and want to be left alone to enjoy their lives and their property unmolested by busybodies and politicians with a burning desire to save the world, starting at home - usually someone else’s home — yours and mine.
Notice how many times the Tree Summit sponsors refer to the trees in the city as OUR urban forest and a level of hubris about who is supposed to be resilient and responsible or reciprocate (how and for what?) regarding trees that may belong to other people. What level of control over public or non-public trees are they after? What regulations are in store for private property owners? Notice too that the City of Lake Oswego is involved in this Summit, so any conclusions resulting from the discussions, regardless of how one-sided, will be heard by the City Council and interpreted as a “community” consensus about OUR urban forest. BS.
If you haven’t read the LO tree codes lately, settle in for a long, depressing slog — another single-sided community effort to control other people’s trees.
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Sustaining Our Urban Forest:
Resilience, Responsibility and Reciprocity in a Changing Climate
As stewards of our urban forests, you are invited to attend and participate in the third annual Lake Oswego Tree Summit, a free, community-led event to learn more about the trees in our community. Registration is required.
The Tree Summit will include discussions on climate threats to our urban forest and ways we can steward the urban forest from soil to canopy.
Join us in this interactive Tree Summit to find out how trees can be a significant part in addressing climate change, to enhance your arboreal knowledge and learn about science-based stewardship practices to promote the ecological health of our urban forest. The latest LiDAR scan of the city's tree canopy coverage will also be shared by the City of Lake Oswego.
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