Camas, state team up to protect trees

Camas residents who have long pushed for the city to better protect its tree canopy and urban forests may be excited by the most recent news coming out of the Camas Parks and Recreation Department.

“We have a new partnership with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources,” Camas Parks and Recreation Director Trang Lam told Camas City Council members Monday, June 5.

In fact, Lam said, the city of Camas is acting as a pilot city for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR)’s newly expanded urban forestry program.

“So we’ll be learning together,” Lam said. “We all love trees and we have a lot of open spaces (in Camas). And it takes a full village to manage all of this.”

Ben Thompson, DNR’s urban and community forestry program manager, told Camas officials Monday that the goal of the DNR’s new urban forestry program is to “provide resources and leadership to create self-sustaining urban and community forestry programs that preserve, plan and manage forests and trees for public benefits.”

“We do that in three ways,” Thompson added, “with financial assistance, educational assistance, technical assistance.”

Lam and other city staff met with DNR officials in late May to talk about Camas’ trees.

“We will be the pilot for them to work with small jurisdictions on urban forestry,” Lam told members of the Camas Parks and Recreation Commission on May 24. “We’re such a small staff here that it will be beneficial to be able to reach out to a bunch of (urban forestry) experts.”

The DNR staff will work with the city for a year to help Camas understand where it stands in regard to establishing an urban forestry program and managing the city’s various tree canopies. Thompson said the state experts can help Camas get “unstuck” when it comes to managing its urban forests.

“We want to review the strengths and weaknesses … and find a few areas to focus on,” Thompson said Monday. “This is the first time we’ve experimented with something like this, so we’re trying to figure out what we think this should look like in the future.”

The state has already committed to helping the city of Camas develop an urban tree canopy assessment. Lam said Monday that the city will receive a grant worth about $30,000 from the Washington DNR to hire a consultant to conduct the tree canopy assessment.

Thompson said other funds might also soon be available.

“We have just received $6 million out of the state’s Climate Commitment Fund,” Thompson said. Those funds must be spent throughout the state over the next two years, and jurisdictions hoping to receive funds for urban forestry projects would likely need to contribute matching funds, Thompson said.

“This would be above and beyond the tree canopy assessment,” he added.

Lam said members of the Camas community have long called for stronger urban forestry protections inside the city limits.

“There is desire from the community, and we have had many requests for an urban forester,” Lam told Council members Monday.

The pilot program, which will allow the city to access educational, technical and financial assistance from the state’s urban forestry experts through the DNR, is a good step forward, Lam said.

“This is a reminder to the community about how we start building (an urban forestry) program,” Lam said. “This aligns really well with what Parks is doing and what (the city’s community development department) is doing to update its comprehensive plan.”

Thompson said DNR staff will soon give city officials a better idea of what the state can offer Camas with regards to urban forestry management.

“We will draft an outline of activities by June 30, showing what we’ll offer the city over this 12-month period,” Thompson said Monday.

Lam said she sees the partnership with DNR as a positive opportunity for the city.

“Our tree canopy is an asset that is doing pretty well,” Lam said Monday. “But I do think (the DNR partnership) is an opportunity for us to manage it a little bit better.”