A utility company wants to cut through 5 acres of mature Doug fir and big leaf maples in a massive Portland urban forest to make way for new transmission lines.

Forest Park spans 5,200 acres in the Tualatin Mountains of Northwest Portland. One of the largest urban parks in the United States, it provides important habitat for vulnerable species, particularly Northern red-legged frogs — as well as more than 80 miles of trails for Portlanders seeking easy nearby access to the wilderness.

Portland General Electric executives say the company needs to improve its infrastructure to meet Portland’s electricity demands, particularly as it moves away from fossil fuels and prepares the grid to carry more renewably generated power.

The company plans to meet that goal by removing 400 trees through intact, mature forest to install new power poles and 1,400 feet of transmission lines. The proposal has drawn fierce opposition from environmental groups, as well as the city of Portland itself.

That opposition was on display during a public hearing Wednesday, where city staff recommended a hearings officer deny PGE’s plan. A decision is expected in early March.

Portland environmental planner Morgan Steele said PGE failed to meet “several approval criteria,” including a construction plan that minimizes environmental impacts.

Earlier this month, the city permitting department issued a report highlighting multiple other flaws in PGE’s plan. The report showed at least two other alternatives PGE could pursue that would avoid cutting hundreds of trees in Forest Park.

Staff also worried about future phases of PGE’s project, which could impact another 15 acres of Forest Park.

During Wednesday’s hearing, PGE officials criticized Portland’s report for including “opposition testimony” from environmental groups and neighborhood associations.

“At its essence, the staff report is based on a flawed premise that Forest Park is a hands-off time capsule that must be protected from impacts at all costs,” PGE attorney David Peterson said.

According to the Portland staff report, the area the company intends to log is mostly free of invasive species, except near the forest edges of existing transmission line corridors.

To mitigate its environmental impact, PGE says it will plant a variety of tree species in the project area, including over 300 Oregon white oaks and 400 other plant species. It’s unclear how the company will conduct this work, or how it will ensure the new trees take root and survive.

PGE staff said removing old trees from this forest will benefit it in the long run, since they will plant native oaks instead of conifers, which tend to dominate and shade out other tree species.

“So this is good mitigation,” company senior project manager Randy Franks said. “It addresses a crucial and critical need to expand and conserve oak habitat.”

PGE will also pay fees to Portland Parks and Recreation — amounting to about $2.5 million — to go toward the bureau’s conservation work in Forest Park.

A few dozen people gathered at the Sierra Club’s Oregon chapter office Wednesday to watch a live stream of the virtual hearing. Some attendees said they feared PGE’s project primarily benefits energy-heavy data centers, not every day Portlanders.

“Hearing them talk about how this would somehow be good for the environment — I just don’t buy it,” said Saoirse Cox, who watched from the Sierra Club’s office. “I just think this is another instance of profit being prioritized over the people and over the planet.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/01/29/pge-says-it-needs-to-log-5-acres-of-portlands-mature-forest-city-staff-are-skeptical/