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Portland Native/Nuisance Plant List updates

The City of Portland, Oregon is proposing an update to the Portland Plant List (PPL). The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS), in partnership with the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), will hold a public hearing February 9, 2016, on the proposed changes to the PPL. BPS is coordinating the administrative rulemaking process for the update.

The PPL identifies native plants and nuisance plant species found in Portland and the metropolitan region. The document describes the ecological and social benefits provided by plants on the Native Plants List, as well as the impacts and risks associated with the spread of invasive plants on the Nuisance Plants List.  The PPL is used in administering certain zoning regulations, including those that apply in environmentally sensitive areas of Portland. The document also includes a list of plants that are required to be removed if found in the city (the Required Eradication List).  The City first published the PPL in 1991 and has updated it several times over the years, most recently in 2011.

Proposed amendments to the Portland Plant List updates include:

  1. Removal of 16 species from the Native Plants List (Attachment A)
  2. Addition of eight species and reassessment and update of three species ranks in the Nuisance Plants List (Attachment B)
  3. Technical amendments — corrections to plant taxonomy (Attachment C)
  4. Updates to the Portland Plant List Appendix A, History (Attachment D)

Staff also proposes that the South Waterfront Greenway Native Plant List and Nuisance Plant List be added to the PPL Area-Specific Plant Lists upon City Council’s deletion of the South Waterfront plant lists from Title 33, Portland Zoning Code (see 33.510.253, Greenway Overlay Zone in South Waterfront Subdistrict, Subsection E.5.f, Landscaping), and associated direction.

The proposed amendments and additional information about the project are presented in the Portland Plant List Update Staff Report.

You are invited to attend the public hearing and testify to the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability director or her delegate. Details of the hearing are provided below.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave., Room 2500B
Portland, OR 97201

Brief staff presentation at 6:00 p.m. Discussion and public testimony to follow.

If you can’t make the hearing you may submit testimony in writing to the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability by 4:00 pm on the day of the hearing (February 9, 2016). You may submit comments with your name and address via email to Jeff Caudill  (with “Portland Plant List Update Comment” in the subject line) or US Postal Service mail to:

Jeff Caudill
Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
1900 SW 4th Ave., Suite 7100,
Portland, OR   97201
Attn: Portland Plant List Update Comment

Review the existing Portland Plant List

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me or Dominic Maze, Bureau of Environmental Services Invasive Species Program Manager, at dominic.maze@portlandoregon.gov.