OCT is proud to present this year’s opening speaker, Kaarin Knudson. Knudson recently won the primary race to be Eugene’s next mayor. She is a licensed architect and educator with more than 20 years’ experience advancing sustainable design and community-led solutions. In 2017, she founded the housing advocacy organization Better Housing Together (BHT), to increase housing affordability, diversity and supply in Lane County. She now teaches a graduate urban design workshop at the University of Oregon and is co-author of The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook.

Explaining the origins and depth of Oregon’s housing crisis will be Jena Hughes, a Housing and Growth Management Analyst with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. Hughes, who grew up in Oregon, has extensive experience as a long-range planner focused on housing and land use issues.

Making the case for why more tree canopy is vital to urban residents will be Dutch-Canadian environmental engineer Nadine Galle. Just this year Galle was named a National Geographic Explorer, researching how growing cities across Latin America are plugging into the Internet of Nature. Her new book ,The Nature of Cities: Harnessing the Power of the Natural World to Survive a Changing Planet, will be on sale at the conference.

The 2024 conference will include two panel sessions discussing the preservation of large mature trees during development and how to offset the loss of trees by replanting and maintaining existing trees. Panelists will include:

• Ted Labbe, co-director of DePave, which creates new spaces for trees and other plants by removing pavement
• Laura Buhl, Community Green Infrastructure Program Administrator at the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development
• Ryan Gilpin, a consulting arborist working on tree preservation assessments with Nidus Consulting in Portland
• Eli Spevak, a Portland developer who has preserved trees in some of his projects
• Jim Gersbach, one of the founding members of the non-profit tree education and advocacy group Trees for Life Oregon

Chris Neamtzu, Community Development Director for the City of Wilsonville, responsible for overseeing Planning, Building, Engineering and Economic Development services

See all of the recorded sessions from the 2023 conference here!

More info to come!

More info to come!

Speaker List:

Howard Stenn – *Keynote* Horticulturalist & Landscape Designer from Stenn Design (View Presentation Slides)

Keith Warren – mostly retired nursery manager, horticulturalist, and Director of Product Development for Frank Schmidt & Son Co.

Anne Fenkner – Project Developer with the Davey Resource Group

Robert E. Vanderhoof – Utility Vegetation Manager and landscape manager with PacifiCorp

Scott Baker – Registered Consulting Arborist, Board Certified Master Arborist, and instructor of the International Qualification on Tree Risk Assessment

Stuart Greenberger – Engineer from the City of Portland’s Water Bureau

Steve Adams and Kerry Rappold – Development Engineering Manager and Natural Resources Manager for the City of Wilsonville (View Presentation Slides)

Steve Roelof – landscape architect and ecologist from Environmental Science Associates

Lightning Round:

Ruth Williams – Consulting Arborist from Davey Resource Group

Rick Faber – Portland Parks & Recreation – Urban Forestry (View Presentation Slides)

Rudy Roquemore – Contract and Event Specialist with Friends of Trees