A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Bob Murch / Clackamas Review
A heron perches on a branch as nearby trees, which Urban Green says held 23 heron nests, are cut down in the River Forest Road area.
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One morning in 2005, the residents near River Forest Road in Oak Grove woke up to find that nearly 200 “old-growth and second-growth Douglas fir trees were being cut down,” said Chips Janger, who lives near the former forested site.
“That was bad enough, but the heron rookery, which neighbors had celebrated for years,” was also being destroyed he said, noting that there were 23 heron nests in the trees, and one osprey nest.
“The neighbors were incensed — enraged. So Bob Murch [a neighborhood resident] went to the county, but the response from the county was this: ‘We understand — but there’s nothing we can do,’” Janger said.
What occupies that land now? “Four large, closely packed, empty and unsold houses. And they haven’t planted trees,” Janger said.
“The bottom line — if a person buys a piece of land in Clackamas County that is not next to a river or streambed, [he] can come in and do anything he wants, and the county can’t stop him. There is no law to prevent anyone from clear-cutting any area,” he added.
When a person applies for a building permit or a zoning change, at that point the county can step in, he noted, but if someone buys land, he can cut down everything legally.
“This is a huge loophole — that is what we want to deal with,” Janger said.
And he is not alone. Janger and six other local citizens have come together to form Urban Green, and they have put together a proposal for a county tree ordinance which they will present to the Board of County Commissioners business meeting set for tomorrow, Jan. 17, at 10 a.m. in the BCC Hearing Room in Oregon City’s Public Services Building on Kaen Road.
Susan Shawn and Ed Riddle, two other members of Urban Green, figure they have more than 3,000 people who support the concept of a tree conservation ordinance for the unincorporated area of Clackamas County.
The support comes from individuals, but also from organizations like the Audubon Society of Portland, the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, various watershed councils and seven local CPO’s, Shawn noted.
One of the reasons for such an outpouring of support for a tree ordinance, Riddle said, is “almost everybody we talked to has had something similar [to the tree removal in Oak Grove] happen in their neighborhood.”
In fact, the meadow behind Riddle’s own home has been transformed into a “flattened space with no natural features and no character. They brought in a giant machine that has a ‘hand’ that reaches around trees and rips them out,” he said.
Janger wants people to know that Urban Green organizers are not “against the concept of development.”
He added, “Everybody’s keenly aware of development; everybody’s also keenly aware that development can be done well. It can be done smartly.”
He wants to emphasize the fact that Urban Green is a group of citizens in Clackamas County who are concerned about the disappearance of the “urban canopy” and the wildlife associated with natural areas.
Shawn noted that a tree ordinance is not a new idea, but in fact has been on the county’s agenda for years.
“In 2001, [County Commissioner Bill] Kennemer [initiated] a public process called Complete Communities to put together a tree conservation ordinance for urban areas in Clackamas County.
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