City of Sisters pursues Tree City USA status

Towering ponderosa pines are a signature of Sisters, as much as snowcapped mountains and a Western-themed downtown.

The City of Sisters is seeking to reinforce Sisters' image as a green spot with the designation of Tree City USA. The city council passed several measures earlier this month that will enable the city to join the thousands of cities nationwide carrying that designation. The city's application with the state and the national Arbor Day Foundation was filed this month.

Locally, Redmond has been designated a Tree City for two years; Bend has been a Tree City for eight years.

Tree City USA designation signals that a community cares about its trees and facilitates the creation of an urban forestry program. The ordinances passed to gain Tree City standards will help Sisters get started toward annual, systematic management of its tree resources.

"It's kind of a community-building kind of status," said Katie Lompa, an Oregon Department of Forestry Community Assistance Forester. Lompa did the heavy lifting in drafting the ordinances with the city's planning department, working with planner Laura Lehman.

Both hope that obtaining Tree City USA status will raise awareness about the importance of trees to the character of the town.

"I think in part we take it for granted because we're so used to seeing the mountains, the trees," Lompa said. "(The community) will actually see them (trees), I hope, with a different eye."

Tree City status opens the door to funding resources for urban forestry projects. The ordinances make the city's planning commission an urban forestry board and call for the development of an urban forestry management plan.

That includes planting of new street trees, diversifying species and perhaps most importantly maintaining the trees that already grace the city landscape.

"Right now Public Works does (maintenance) pretty much as needed," Lehman said.

For example, Paul Bartagna, of the city's public works department, met with Lompa to inspect a tree that may be impacted by moving a sidewalk a few feet in a Sisters subdivision. The tree may already be compromised by construction of the street and sidewalk.

Under the new system the city will inventory its trees and be better able to identify those at risk from construction.

Lompa said education of the public, city officials and private land developers about what it takes to keep a tree healthy is a critical component of the program.

"There is a lot of misunderstanding as to ... what will actually keep that tree not just surviving but thriving," Lompa said.

Both Lehman and Lompa credited Sisters students from the Interdisciplinary Environmental Expedition (IEE) program with providing the critical spark to get the city on a track toward Tree City USA status. Students did an urban tree survey, including assessments of tree health in 2004 and asked the city council to seek Tree City designation.

The city planning staff could not meet that goal alone. Short-staffed in the face of a heavy workload, the staff turned to Lompa and the ODF Urban and Community Forestry Assistance Program for assistance, including the basic understanding of what the city needs to do to protect and enhance its green infrastructure.

"We don't have an arborist on staff," Lehman said. "We don't have the expertise to determine what the city needs."

Lompa provided that expertise - and just in time. The program has been cut back due to funding constraints.