The Hermiston Parks and Recreation Department announced Jan. 9, 2025, its partnership with ArborPro to help create the city’s first urban forest management plan. The project will guide the planting of about 2,500 trees in the city during the next few years.

HERMISTON — The Hermiston Parks and Recreation Department announced Thursday, Jan. 9, its partnership with ArborPro to help develop the city’s first urban forest management plan.

The urban forestry consulting firm with headquarters in Lenda, California, was one of three vendors that submitted a bid on how it would assist in enhancing Hermiston’s urban landscape.

“Trees enhance the quality of life in our community and neighborhoods by improving air quality, providing shade and creating beautiful spaces,” Hermiston Parks and Recreation Director Brandon Artz said. “This project and partnership with ArborPro will benefit Hermiston’s environment while building a greener, more inclusive community.”

The forestry plan will prioritize urban canopy growth in underserved areas, ensuring equitable distribution of tree planting, maintenance and hazardous tree mitigation

The plan also includes developing a Main Street tree strategy, revitalizing the arboretum at Belt Park and engaging and educating the community.

The project also guides the planting of about 2,500 trees in the city during the next few years.

Artz said the company plans to hit the ground running Jan. 27 and will begin its inventory of Hermiston’s trees with drone flyovers, satellite technology to pinpoint each tree and the use of geographic information systems to collect data.

“We live in a desert and trees make a big impact on our area,” Artz said. “Whatever we can do to help maintain those trees, so that we can have the coverage that we need to bring shade, a healthy atmosphere and make sure that our community is set up for the future.”

Artz said his department faces a backlog because it doesn’t have an arborist. To address this, the department will contract with a local arborist while developing a youth tree education program in partnership with Umatilla Electric Cooperative. The program, he added, is part of UEC’s Hydromania Summer Science Camp to provide educational materials for distribution to the public.

The city received $1 million through Urban and Community Forestry Grant, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and the federal Urban and Community Forestry Program in partnership with River Network.

The work will be broken into four phases in 2025:

• Phase 1, January 2025 — tree inventory, urban forestry plan development, and hazard tree assessment, which is currently underway.
• Phase 2, summer 2025-2026 — planting an estimated 2,500 trees in targeted areas.
• Phase 3, summer/fall 2025 — maintaining and removing hazardous trees.
• Phase 4, summer 2025 — launching tree education programs to foster environmental stewardship.

“I’m very excited about it,” Artz said. “I was overjoyed at it so that we can get this into our community. It just helps out the environment so I’m super enthusiastic about what the process is here and where we’re gonna be in the next couple years with a lot of new trees in town.”