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Dallas tree board presents management plan; inventory to use TreePlotter with ODF grant-funded intern
Summary
Administrative Services Manager Jennifer Ward told the Dallas City Council on April 7, 2025, that the Citizens Parks Advisory Board completed a draft tree management plan and recommends the council adopt it after staff complete a TreePlotter inventory funded in part by an Oregon Department of Forestry grant.
Jennifer Ward, administrative services manager, presented a draft Dallas tree management plan to the Dallas City Council on April 7, 2025, saying the Citizens Parks Advisory Board — which also functions as the city’s tree board — spent 2024 developing the document and recommends it to council for adoption.
Ward described the board’s process: reviewing management plans from other municipalities, scaling recommendations to a town Dallas’s size and resources, drafting and iterating with board comment, and arriving at a final version the board approved in December 2024. She said the city already uses TreePlotter software (made available to the city by the state) and has begun plotting trees; the board secured an Oregon Department of Forestry grant to hire a part-time intern whose primary job will be completing the inventory.
Ward said the inventory will likely be a multi-year effort; she said she expects the grant-funded intern will allow the city to complete a large portion of the work in the coming season but that final completion is unlikely within a single season. The plan recommends staff training in industry-approved pruning and removal standards and notes broader regional threats, including the emerald ash borer, which the presenter said has been detected in nearby Marion and Yamhill counties.
Ward described species planning underway: as ash trees are lost, the plan favors planting species already adapted to local riparian corridors, such as bigleaf maple. Councilors asked about comparisons to other municipalities; Ward said larger cities usually have a dedicated urban forester or division and that Dallas is adapting best practices to the city’s scale.
Board membership and terms were described: current chief’s advisory-panel-style tree-board members cited on the record were Michael Bowman, Jason Thornton, Russ Hillsinger, Nancy Adams and Don Anderson (two terms noted as ending this year). Ward said the tree-management requirement has been in the municipal code since April 7, 2008, and that the council was seeing the plan for the first time at this work session; she said staff will bring a resolution for formal adoption at a future meeting.
No council vote or final adoption occurred at the work session; councilors and staff discussed timing for the inventory, training opportunities, pest preparedness and the plan’s next steps.
