On Saturday morning, April 25, 2026, join your neighbors for the dedication of the Ainsworth Linear Arboretum.

After more than two decades of planting to diversify the original monoculture of Norway maples in the median, the Morton Arboreta Registry has recognized the strip from Fernhill Park to MLK Jr. Blvd as a Level 1 Arboretum. It is one of four in the Portland area. Hoyt Arboretum, Leach Botanical Garden, and the Concordia Learning Landscape Arboretum at the former Meek Elementary School are the others.

A morning tree walk by ALA founder and Neighborhood Tree Steward Jim Gersbach will kick off the day’s event at 9am. Meet at the northeast corner of MLK Jr. Blvd and Ainsworth. That will be followed by a short 10:30am ceremony and commemorative tree planting (pending removal of a dead maple) in the block north of Alberta Park. There will be tree-themed crossword puzzles and a seed giveaway.

From their website:  “When the Ainsworth Linear Arboretum started in 2005, there were only six species of trees represented in the Ainsworth medians in just four genera: maples, ash, oak, and beech. Today, that near monoculture has been greatly diversified. As we catalogued in the Tree Library, there are now 46 species in 32 genera in 21 families in the median alone! Where there were once only broadleaf deciduous trees, there are now evergreen broad leaf and conifer trees, and even conifers that drop their needles each autumn […] The Linear Arboretum is unusual in extending for over a mile along a residential street. A boon for visitors is that featured trees can be located by house address. […] Ainsworth is easily reached by public buses, bike or automobile. It can also be navigated by wheelchair, being mostly flat. Trees in the median can be viewed from wheelchair-accessible sidewalks on Ainsworth’s north and south sides.”

More of how this arboretum came to be is here. And an interesting Concordia News article about tree replacement in the arboretum is here.