Advocating for the Bayside Neighborhood in Portland, Maine
Category: Trees & Greens
The Green Team advocates for and engages in the planting, maintenance, and stewardship of trails, playgrounds, and green spaces throughout Bayside, working to bring more trees and greenery to a neighborhood that has historically been underserved in this area. The team works closely with Portland’s Parks Department and City Arborist on tree planting initiatives, coordinates care for the Bayside Trail’s sapling forest, and advocates for development projects to allocate tree-planting fees specifically for use within the neighborhood boundaries. Recent accomplishments include organizing meaningful ceremonies like the blessing of the Bayside Trail sapling forest by the Penobscot Nation’s Burnurwurbskek Singers, and conducting forest bathing experiences to help residents connect with nature. The team recognizes that green spaces and tree canopy are vital to creating a healthy, livable, and sustainable urban neighborhood.
Portland’s tree steward Cameron Scharff was surprised by the number of volunteers who showed up on Saturday, Nov. 9 to help tuck trees on the Bayside Trail in for the winter.
“I am incredibly pleased with what was accomplished,” Scharff said. “In less than two hours, we mulched and composted nearly 50 younger trees on the Bayside Trail, with volunteers from Bayside, the West End, the East End, and Libbytown. The addition of this organic material will support tree growth, increase water retention, suppress weeds and improve aesthetics along the trail. This collaborative effort is precisely the kind of community-driven forestry initiative that can make a large difference in the lives of trees, the health of parks and the enjoyment of the community that uses them.”
The 15 volunteers were more than had RSVP’d, and people continued to trickle in as the event was in progress. With a fleet of wheelbarrows, shovels and rakes, and piles of loam and woodchips, the volunteers gathered behind Dunkin’ and started with the recently planted trees and expanded from there. The trees in the section of the trail behind Trader Joe’s had been topdressed and mulched in the spring.
All the activity on this part of the trail discouraged two individuals from setting up a tent. Four used needles were discovered during the tree mulching event.
Scharff instructed volunteers to spread the loam in a thin layer, feathering it into the topsoil, and then cover it with a layer of woodchips. Volunteers were careful to leave the root flare at the base of each tree trunk exposed to avoid creating the dreaded mulch volcanoes that can injure trees.
Scharff’s last day on the job was Nov. 21. He served with the Portland Parks Conservancy and Portland’s Parks and Recreation Department in 2025 as a tree steward courtesy of the Maine Conservation Corps, which is funded through the national AmeriCorps program. One project Scharff worked on this season was cataloguing all of Portland’s street trees. Portland hopes to host another Maine Conservation Corps tree steward next season.
“A powerful event took place in Portland today. Portland Maine Parks, Recreation & Facilities Department and the Burnurwurbskek Singers of the Penobscot Nation in conjunction with the Bayside Neighborhood Association held a blessing of the sapling forest on the Bayside Trail (part of Portland Trails) along with an immersive forest bathing walk. The Burnurwurbskek Singers, including three generations of drum leader Ron Bear’s family, performed a series of sacred songs, each a prayer. The drumming drew in visitors to the often lonely trail, while others stood behind Trader Joe’s chain link fence listening. The music also drew something surprising and unusual which none present had ever seen soaring over Bayside: A bald eagle. Ron Bear wasn’t surprised, however, saying eagles show up when the group performs. The drumming and singing were followed by a Shinrin-Yoku Forest Bathing experience led by Portland’s Supervising Park Ranger Elizabeth Collado. This event culminated with a tea ceremony using white pine tea. As Ranger Liz reminded the group, the Eastern white pine is the Maine state tree and the Tree of Peace of the Haudenosaunee nations. Those assembled breathed in the here and now and envisioned the area when the young trees are mature and casting shade across a parkway surrounded by hundreds of new apartments. Parks and trees are essential to current and future residents of Portland. Today this baby urban forest was hugged and blessed. We look forward to watching it grow.”
Portland Parks’ Annual Tree Hugging Event is coming to Bayside for the first time in 2025 Saturday, September 13th at 11am Bayside Trail at Somerset and Elm (behind Trader Joe’s) Free and Open to the Public
Get ready for a reimagined Tree-Hugging Event along the Bayside Trail! While this marks the fifth such gathering in the city of Portland, this year promises a fresh approach. Inspired by the juxtaposition of the newly planted Bayside Trail trees and the resilient spirit of urban youth of the Bayside neighborhood, this event will explore the wisdom found in both natural and human landscapes, embracing the idea that everyone can connect with nature in their own way.
• Welcome ceremony performed by the Burnurwurbskek Singers of the Penobscot Nation • Shinrin-Yoku Forest Bathing experience led by Portland’s Supervising Park Ranger Elizabeth Collado • Refreshments including traditional white pine tea, activities, information tables, and more
Thanks to all who turned out for another successful Spring Cleanup! Special Thanks to city arbosist Mark Reilland for providing compost and mulch for the BNA Tree Team to spread on our new neighborhood trees. Congratulations to our raffle winners! We’ll be reaching out to deliver prizes soon. Many thanks to the generous Bayside Businesses that donated gift certificates:
Leavitt & Sons Deli – Joseph Nseko Isa Bistro – Cam Carson Wilson County BBQ – Hilda Taylor Bayside Bowl – Peter Wool Two Fat Cats Bakery – Joshua Soucy Tally’s Kitchen- Peter Markoe Maine Oyster Company – Allison Cyr
Two more opportunities to clean up are coming up :Tuesday April 22 with Preble Street, and Saturday May 3rd with Portland Parks Conservancy. See below for details:
Registration Now Open for City’s Co-op Tree Planting Program
PORTLAND, Maine – Portland residents can help cultivate a resilient, equitable urban forest by participating in the City’s Co-op Tree Planting Program. This collaborative program allows eligible Portland residents to purchase a tree and the City Forestry team will handle the pick-up and planting process. Co-op trees can be planted in esplanades, tree wells, or lawns that meet the requirements. Participants from the previous two years are not eligible for co-op planting.
Interested residents can carefully review the Co-op planting process, requirements, and registration form on the City website; program requirements have changed in recent seasons. New this year: Participants do not need to purchase a tree before registering. City staff will review selected planting sites and intended tree species first before giving the go-ahead to make the purchase.
Space is limited, so residents are encouraged to register as soon as possible. Depending on demand, registration may close in advance of the April 30 deadline. Questions can be directed to trees@portlandmaine.gov.
a lone oak in the heart of Bayside. This heritage tree is slated for removal to make way for a new housing development. photo by Avery Kamilla
The Bayside Neighborhood Association Trees & Greens Team is working with city officials and other non-profits to improve Bayside’s tree equity score, which currently is 59th out of 59 block groups according to American Forests’ Tree Equity Map Reach out to greenteam@baysideportland.org for more information.
Did you know – housing development projects in Portland are required to plant one tree for every unit of housing. Sometimes that’s more trees than there’s room for around the development, such as with the recent proposed development of 171 residential units at 52 Hanover Street in Bayside.
When that happens, the developer pays a fee instead – $400 per unplanted tree – and that money goes into a fund for planting trees all around the City. At 52 Hanover, 29 trees will be planted, and $56,800 will go into the City’s general tree fund. That money won’t necessarily result in any new trees planted in Bayside.
The BNA is asking the Planning Board to require that all the tree fund money from 52 Hanover Street be allocated to only plant trees in Bayside. Bayside doesn’t have a lot of green spaces and many streets have few if any trees. We need all the help we can get!
The BNA sent the below letter, to the Planning Board for the March 23, 2021 public hearing on the 52 Hanover Street project. This is in conjunction with a broader effort to protect and enhance Bayside’s green spaces in order to ensure sustainability, equity and livability as the neighborhood changes and develops.
The BNA’s Letter to the Planning Board requesting tree fund allocation to Bayside
To Chair Mazer, Planning Board members, and Planning Department staff,
Regarding the Level III Site Plan, Subdivision and Conditional Use application for 52 Hanover Street, the most recently posted site plan proposes the planting of 21 street trees, and fees in the amount of $60,000 to be paid in lieu of planting the balance of 150 trees.
The Board of Directors of the Bayside Neighborhood Association (BNA) and the undersigned community stakeholders ask that as a condition of any potential approval, the totality of these funds be allocated for use exclusively within the Bayside neighborhood, bounded by Marginal Way, Franklin Street, Congress Street and Forest Ave. The applicant, Tom Watson, has expressed his wholehearted support of this condition.
Such a condition has precedent in a similar Planning Board decision on August 18, 2020 to restrict the street tree funds from Avesta’s 210 Valley Street project for use in the vicinity per staff’s Proposed Motions for the Board to Consider, page 17, XII. C. 2. – “The applicant shall contribute a fee in lieu of approximately $22,000 for the required 55 street trees, to be used for landscape improvements along the lower Western Promenade.”
Without your action the tree funds from 52 Hanover would go into the city-wide tree fund and would not necessarily benefit the neighborhood that would be home to this significant proposed development.
A quick look at the City’s tree map makes it clear that many Bayside streets are severely or completely lacking the greenery that is vital to creating and maintaining a healthy, livable neighborhood and a thriving, sustainable urban ecosystem. Poor and underserved urban neighborhoods with high minority populations, such as Bayside, are particularly likely to have few trees and green spaces, and are especially vulnerable to their absence and loss.
Other prior Bayside development contributions, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, have gone to the general city tree fund, yet Bayside remains tree-poor. The neighborhood recently experienced the dramatic loss of several healthy, mature trees, removed to make way for a different development. Others were removed due to disease. Young replacement trees have died of post-planting neglect.
The BNA is planning a street tree survey and will work with the City arborist to identify opportunities for tree planting. Should project approval be granted for 52 Hanover Street, we ask that you help ensure the future of Bayside’s trees by allocating the required tree fund fees solely for use in Bayside.
Thank you,
Sarah Michniewicz President, Bayside Neighborhood Association
Bayside Neighborhood Association Board of Directors Amistad Colette Bouchard Dennis Ferrante Amy Geren Jim Hall Alex Landry Susan McCloskey Carolyn Megan Scott Morrison Heidi Souerwine Rob Sylvain Deborah van Hoewyk
Community Members & Organizations Chris Aceto Herb Adams Ellen Bailey, President, East Bayside Neighborhood Organization Marylee Bennison Andrew Bove Bayside Bowl Laura Cannon Cynthia Cochran, VP, East Bayside Neighborhood Organization Nathalie Davidson Deborah Fell Jonathan Fenton Fork Food Labs Michael Gelsanliter John Herrigal Adam Hill Ian Jacob Avery Kamila Sean Kerwin Molly Ladd Peter Leavitt, Leavitt and Sons Deli Mary Beth Morrison Jacqueline Newell Nomadic Goat Elizabeth Parsons, past president, West End Neighborhood Association Ned Payne Anne Pringle Andrew Rosenstein Karen Snyder Nathan Szanton, The Szanton Company Hilda Taylor Steve Thomas Jason Tropp Laura Underkuffler
Mission Statement
The Bayside Neighborhood Association (BNA) brings members of the Bayside community together. BNA brings conversations about Bayside to Bayside and to the greater community in a way that organizes, informs, and empowers residents; social service and other organizations; local businesses; and city representatives to form meaningful and long-term partnerships. BNA preserves and promotes safety, multi-cultural diversity, housing, and carefully planned social, economic, and physical development in this unique urban community.
The BNA is advocating for fees in lieu of planting trees generated by the proposed 171 unit residential development at 52 Hanover Street be earmarked for use exclusively in Bayside. Read our letter to the Planning Board here.
