PCEF Equitable Tree Canopy Work Group

Visioning + Long-Range Planning
Written by Dacie Doucette

PCEF Equitable Tree Canopy Work Group

Portland, OR · 2025

 

Client: City of Portland, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
Location: Portland, OR
Year: 2025
CP Role: Lead consultant
Practice Area: Environment + Sustainability
Team: Sachi Arakawa, Project Manager; Sara Goldstein, Communication Specialist; Ayano Healy, Facilitation; Isaiah Jackman, Facilitation Support

 

The Challenge

Portland's Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund set up an Equitable Tree Canopy program to plant and establish at least 15,000 trees in the city's most heat-vulnerable neighborhoods over five years, with a $40 million budget. A community workgroup would advise fund and Urban Forestry staff on priority neighborhoods, tree allocations, proposal review, outreach, and maintenance, and it needed skilled facilitation.

Our Approach

We facilitated the Equitable Tree Canopy Workgroup from 2024 into 2025. We wrote the facilitation plan and each meeting's agenda and run of show, held planning sessions and staff charrettes with fund and Urban Forestry staff, managed participant communications, and kept the record of every meeting.

Outcome

Our meeting summaries gave staff the Workgroup's advice on improving the tree-planting procurement and contracting process and on linking the program to the Urban Forest Plan and the City's tree code.

 

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Dacie Doucette

This article was written by Dacie Doucette, founder of Hunch Theory Web Design & SEO, a Portland-based web design and digital marketing company.

The idea was simple: to help business owners take the guesswork out of web design and make their online presence something they’re genuinely excited about. I work closely with passionate business owners and community leaders, turning their vision into reality with sites that not only look great but also connect with their customers and help their businesses grow.

I bring a mix of marketing theory, intuition, and my creative touch to every project.

https://hunchtheory.com
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