PORTLAND, Ore. – The non-profit organization Oregon Community Trees (OCT) and the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) are honoring Maura Olivos with Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District and Mari Aviles with Portland Urban Forestry. Both are receiving this year’s Individual category awards for their respective contributions to urban forestry.
OUR Community Forestry, based in Talent, Ore. in Jackson County, is getting the Organization category award.
“Every year Oregon Community Trees recognizes individuals and organizations that are doing outstanding work to help our urban forests,” said OCT Awards Committee Chair Teresa Gustafson. “This year’s recipients are especially deserving for their commitment to diversifying the urban forestry workforce, preparing for emerald ash borer, and promoting high planting and maintenance standards to keep trees healthy and well tended.”
ODF’s Urban and Community Assistance Program Manager Scott Altenhoff echoed the praise for this year’s honorees. “These nominees have solid records of achievements, which we are very pleased to recognize with these awards.”
Mari Aviles has been instrumental in helping Portland Urban Forestry diversify the contractors it buys shade trees from and contracts with to plant them. In 2024, she led the recruitment, training, and ongoing support of three minority- and woman-owned tree planting contractors for the City of Portland, including organizing the first in-person Spanish information session for potential contractors. Aviles collaborated with the new contractors in Spanish, trained them on best management practices, and met with crews in the field to ensure the highest planting standards were met.
“Aviles understands that field crews are essential to proper planting, so she works to provide them the support, training, and guidance they need to succeed,” said her colleague Tony Mecum, who nominated her for the award. “Because of her trainings, Portland has seen a higher rate of trees planted and established correctly.”
In 2024, Aviles was selected to become the City of Portland’s first ever Tree Procurement Coordinator. Mecum wrote that thanks to her knowledge and skills with nursery tree selection, Portland has been able to boost the planting of large, native, and evergreen trees, which now account for more than 50 percent of all trees planted by the City.
Aviles trains and quality controls both in-house and contractor crews on proper root inspections, root pruning, and when to reject a tree. This has resulted in improved survival rates for the more than 1,000 street trees Portland plants each year.
Mecum noted that she is also working with Oregon nurseries to negotiate contracts to grow climate-resilient tree species, helping ensure Portland and other cities will have adequate numbers of the right kinds of trees they’ll need to plant in coming years.
Partnering for youth and to protect Oregon ash
Maura Olivos cares for Oregon’s urban forests through her position with the Urban Conservation Program at the Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District in Washington County. In 2022, she proposed and later developed a multi-year ash tree management plan and emerald ash borer (EAB) response with Centro Cultural’s Climate Justice Leadership (CJL) program, a program focused on Latino high school youths.
As part of the Climate Justice Leadership program, Olivos developed curriculum for monthly workshops in 2023 and 2024, which brought green job experts from government agencies (Oregon Dept. of Forestry, City of Hillsboro, Oregon Dept. of Agriculture, and more) and local nonprofits and companies to train students in topics ranging from tree inventories to EAB identification, tree monitoring, tree identification, and tree management planning. The program continues today with support from Olivos and many partners.
In addition to her work in the community, Olivos recently developed a new Ash Tree Inventory Protocol for urban forest natural areas to assist natural resource professionals in preparing for EAB’s spread. Not finding a protocol tool specific to the high density stands of Oregon ash, she worked with an arborist company to design one. Two years later, after coordinating and leading ash tree inventories in the field and summarizing data collected across 57 acres of test sites, Olivos has completed the protocol tool, which is available free for use by natural resource managers and anyone else interested.
Olivos is also a contributing author to “Forestry for the Birds: Western Oregon,” a guide to enhancing forest habitat for birds and humans which is relevant throughout the state’s forests.
OUR Community Forestry recognized for transformative programs
OUR Community Forestry, based in Talent, Ore., is being recognized for its bold work in creating transformative programs aimed at fostering resilient and equitable urban forests.
Led by Founder and Director Mike Oxendine, OUR Community Forestry wrote and submitted 19 grants to support its mission of equitable urban forestry. These grants are intended to expand programs that directly serve disadvantaged and climate-vulnerable communities.
Last year, the non-profit secured grants from The Nature Conservancy and Oregon Dept. of Forestry to fund the multi-year Rogue Treesilience program, which supports critical tree planting and establishment, pruning, hazard tree removal, and community engagement in an area of Southern Oregon with over 80,000 disadvantaged residents. Paid internships help accomplish the work while providing hands-on training in urban forestry for local youth and college students.
The organization’s Urban Forestry Corps is a workforce development program for young adults (18-21), offering paid training and mentorship in arboriculture, urban forestry, and climate resilience. Participants gain skills in tree planting, maintenance, and community engagement.
Another program the organization is leading is Branching Out. This program is designed to plant 30 large, climate-resilient trees at Title 1 K-12 schools. This initiative will create greener, healthier learning environments while engaging students in environmental education and stewardship.
Finally, Canopy IQ is an innovative project designed to collect and analyze urban tree inventory data across the Rogue Valley, enabling data-driven decision-making and prioritization of resources for the communities most in need.
About Oregon Community Trees
Oregon Community Trees is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 whose mission is to promote healthy urban and community forests through leadership, education, awareness, and advocacy. OCT serves as the Oregon Dept. of Forestry’s advisory board on urban forestry issues.
