Fred Nilsen Retires after 30 years with Portland Parks & Recreation

July 2008.   Friends and colleagues of Fred Nilsen, City Nature West supervisor, gathered in the Hoyt Arboretum picnic shelter to celebrate his 30-year career with Portland Parks and Recreation, June 27, 2008. 

For the last 21 years, Fred has been the hands-on supervisor and often sole worker for the City of Portland's "City Nature" properties which include Forest Park, Hoyt Arboretum, and another thousand acres covering Marquam Hill, Terwilliger, Fanno Creek watershed and North Portland.

Throughout his career Fred has worked extensively with volunteers to improve the health of trees throughout the Portland area and the state.  He has led crews of volunteers in proper invasive species removal with No Ivy League, Salmon Safe and Friends of Forest Park; advised the Noxious Weed Board about proper eradication of invasive species; works daily with a variety of Forest Park and Hoyt Arboretum volunteers and has planted thousands of trees with volunteer crews from Friends of Trees on his own time.

One of Fred's finest legacies will be his work at Hoyt Arboretum.  Under Fred's leadership, the Arboretum has not only refocused on its primary mission to grow wild species of trees from around the world but also added over 4,000 trees to the urban landscape while considerably increasing the species diversity and scientific and conservation value of the Arboretum's tree collections.

May 2008. Cynthia Johnson Haruyama, currently the Executive Director of Hoyt Arboretum Friends, will be leaving Hoyt to become Executive Director of the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, effective June 23, 2008. 

 “Her knowledge of public gardens and Portland, coupled with her appreciation and understanding of Chinese history and culture makes her the perfect fit to replace Gloria Lee Luebke, who will be relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada.” says Victor Kisch, Chair of the Board of the Classical Chinese Garden.

Cynthia is a graduate of Catlin Gabel,  received her B.A. with honors from Princeton University in Asian Studies with a focus in Chinese history and language and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 1987. Cynthia, her husband, Andrew and their three children reside in Southwest Portland.

Click here for Executive Director, Hoyt Arboretum Friends job description.

Hoyt Arboretum Maple Collection to Receive Irrigation

May 2008.  Look for digging to start soon in the maple area  for a new irrigation system.  Most Asian and American maples depend upon summer rain.  Hoyt's dedicated volunteers have kept these trees going by hand-watering for many years.  Now they will be getting what they really need.

This project is funded by the generous donations of the members of Hoyt Arboretum Friends and a special appropriation by the City Council for park improvements.

Conserving Endangered Trees at Hoyt Arboretum

April 2008.   Recently,  the Maple (Acer) Collection at Hoyt Arboretum was selected by the North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC) to participate in a collaborative effort with ten other botanical gardens in North America to grow and conserve all of the world’s maple species.   Tree and plant species are increasingly threatened and endangered throughout the world.  Scientists predict that over half the world’s plant species may become extinct in the next 100 years.  Just as zoos around the world are involved in breeding programs to conserve wildlife species, botanical gardens are growing trees and plants to conserve global plant biodiversity.   As native habitats disappear, the growing of endangered species at places like Hoyt Arboretum is critical in order to assure that live germplasm is maintained that can eventually be used to replant native ecosystems. 

Becoming part of this conservation effort is a sign of the progress being made at Hoyt by the partnership between Portland Parks & Recreation and the non-profit group, Hoyt Arboretum Friends.   While Hoyt has always had a world-class tree collection the trees have had so little care during most of its 80-year history that they have merely survived, not thrived.   Dedicated park employees,  like Ernie Fisher (1950 – 1968), Jim Bray (1968 – 1984), Jim Sjulin (1984-1986) and Fred Nilsen (1986-2008), have done their best with inadequate resources to take care of the Arboretum’s 8,000 trees from around the world.    Yet they have been trying to do a job that anywhere else would have required a considerably larger staff.   

Over the last five years, Hoyt has seen a modest increase in its staffing levels from Parks but is now able to use funding raised by the Friends group to increase staffing by 50% and add  basic infrastructure such as an irrigation system.  Even though Hoyt is still short about 10 staff (the basic minimum required to do the job) the increase in funding has allowed the Parks employees at Hoyt to begin to take proper care of the special trees entrusted to them and to qualify for inclusion in this important global conservation project.