It's a beautiful dream.
Yeah, I love trees.
This huge Elm tree that arch is over
the street in Southeast Portland.
Wow, it's really regal. Look at.
Look at these big branches.
Look how much has been part of
Diane Morgan's home for decades.
This tree provided us a lot of shape.
He was planted in the Eastmoreland
neighborhood long before she ever moved in.
Yeah, I wasn't here,
they just so you can imagine the
dismay when Diane noticed someone had
unexpectedly spray painted the old Elm
tree and stapled a sign across the trunk.
I came home from a meeting boom.
Turns out it wasn't vandals
that tag they treat
like whoa, we just got. It
was the city of Portland.
Demanding the tree be cut down
because it was infected with a fast
spreading Dutch Elm disease and the
homeowner had to pay for removal.
And now that bids have come in and
we find out that it's going to be
$11,000 to take down this tree.
And you say, I mean,
we keep an emergency fund.
But our emergency fund is now $11,000.
To make matters worse,
the city demanded that Diane act
fast because Dutch Elm disease
is lethal and highly contagious
to other Elm trees spreading
through the roots of neighboring
trees and certain beetles,
city code required.
She removed the tree or sign a contract
to have it removed within 30 days.
I understand why they want to
take the tree down, but this
is a very tight timeline too.
Do all that and come up with the money.
And if she didn't comply the city threatened,
it would charge her for the cost of
removal along with a civil penalty and
a lien placed against her property.
I felt I felt very pressured.
I mean, it's it's really clear
they're calling in a civil penalty.
That's strong language.
It hasn't always been this way for many
years. The city took responsibility
while neighbors watched.
City crews took down the Elm
tree. Old footage from the KGW
archives shows city crews in the 1980s
removing St trees infected with Dutch
Elm disease in the right of way,
or that area between the curb and sidewalk.
The city Forester came out to look
his diagnosis. This tree has Dutch
Elm disease and it has to go, but
in 2017 the city changed policy.
And shifted that cost to
adjacent property owners.
City Forester Jen Cairo can explain.
It was part of a budget package
that went to City Council.
And a City Council determined that
it's a more equitable use of the
city's resources to have that code
consistently applied throughout the city.
Portland has approximately 2300 susceptible
Elms scattered across the city.
Although there are large clusters in
neighborhoods like East Moreland,
Laurelhurst and Lads Edition, if unchecked,
experts warned Dutch Elm disease
would have a catastrophic impact on
Portland's urban Forest to help monitor.
The city provides free sampling and testing.
For the disease, right?
That's how it determined.
Diane's tree was infected with
Dutch Elm disease.
It's similar to humans having an
infectious disease that is fatal.
Or maybe someone's pets having an
infectious disease that's fatal.
In 1987, the City Council declared
trees infected with Dutch Elm disease,
a nuisance, and declared a state of
emergency for Portland's Elm Canopy. People
are being asked to examine Elm
trees in their neighborhoods for
telltale symptoms of the disease,
such as unusual yellowing other leaves.
Near the crown or the top of the tree.
Every year, roughly 40 trees are removed
in Portland due to Dutch Elm disease.
It's just going to be.
It's going to be gone.
The fungus invades the tissue of Elms
and stops water movement in the tree.
An infected Elm tree can die
within weeks of showing symptoms.
Well, for now there is no cure.
This tree provided a lot of
shade recognizing how important
it is to keep this from
spreading. Wouldn't it be
valuable for the city to step in?
Yeah, that's really a conversation in
decision for City Council to have,
because they're the folks elected
officials who create the city codes.
One of our roles in urban forestry
is to implement those codes,
so that's what we did.
I'm just sad that it's.
It's just going to mean it's
going to be gone. Diane
feels the city is insensitive to homeowners
tree that's been here the whole
time we've owned this house by
issuing heavy handed demands.
Removing a beloved Elm tree
can be heartbreaking. My
daughter and son had their
bedrooms on the second floor and
my daughter said that's a tree.
I looked out to growing up.
I said, I know, I know. She's
especially frustrated that there
wasn't more support from the city like
some type of financial assistance.
Knowing sawdust, help,
finding tree removal companies in a pinch,
or some advanced warning that old
tree along the street could get
Dutch Elm disease requiring costly
removal. Just watch it have to
come down is really, really sad.
OK KGW Kayla Boxi joining me now.
So Kyle first question if the city
knows where these Elm trees are located,
can't they just reach out to the
homeowners and warn them about this?
Well, she says it certainly
tries to do outreach.
A couple years ago it sent out nearly
1000 letters to property owners who
live near susceptible Elm trees,
but despite those efforts,
some homeowners like Diane,
who you heard from said they didn't
know about the risk and had they,
they would have planned for it
gotcha. And so. Just to be clear,
there's no help from the city.
Like if this happens to you,
you won't get any help
from the City of Portland.
As far as financial help, not really.
The city said a local nonprofit
might be able to help,
but we really couldn't find any
examples where that happened.
Instead, it all falls in the homeowner.
So imagine if you had three or
four of these Elm trees in front
of your home or along this street,
that could be 30 or $40,000.
Again out of pocket.
It's not something that
insurance would cover.
Yeah, it's crazy to think about. So is there.
Is there any way to prevent this then?
From happening because this disease
obviously sounds really bad and
it is bad commercial fungus side can be
injected to help prevent the disease.
The city does inoculate about 140
Elms every year, but that's only on
public land like parks for instance.
It's up to neighbors and
neighborhood associations to
treat Elms on private property,
including St Trees,
but that's expensive and generally
it's just not happening.
Interesting story. Kayla
boushey. Thank you so much.