West Linn's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board will hear its first formal briefing on the Emerald Ash Borer on Thursday, Aug. 13, as the invasive beetle confirmed in neighboring Tualatin creeps closer to the city's 600-plus acres of parkland.

Matt Mills, an EAB Support Specialist with the Oregon Department of Forestry, will present a 30-minute overview at the board's meeting. Mills coordinated the Oregon Department of Agriculture's EAB response in Washington County before joining ODF and has been contacting communities within 15 miles of new detection sites, according to ODF's July 2026 Tree Health Threats Bulletin.

The beetle was first found in Oregon in Forest Grove in 2022 and is now confirmed in five counties, including Clackamas County, where West Linn sits. In June, ODF confirmed EAB at a shopping center parking lot in Tualatin, which borders West Linn to the north.

"Experience from other states shows that four to five years or so after first being detected EAB spreads from pockets of infested ash trees and becomes much more widespread over an entire county or metropolitan area," Mills wrote in the July bulletin.

The briefing comes nine days after Lake Oswego's City Council approved its own EAB readiness plan on Tuesday, Aug. 4. That plan calls for removing roughly 150 ash trees in year one and budgeting $300,000 to $800,000 for future remediation, according to the Lake Oswego Review. We covered that vote Aug. 6. Oregon City's parks committee heard a similar update in May, identifying about 400 at-risk ash trees and estimating removal costs at $668,000 over 10 years.

West Linn has not publicly released an ash tree inventory for its parks. The city does maintain a dedicated EAB information page on its website, indicating it has been tracking the issue.

The Aug. 13 agenda also includes a discussion of the Mary S. Young Park lease agreement, led by staff liaison Jon Legarza. Mary S. Young is a 128-acre forested riverfront park with five to eight miles of trails. Details of the lease terms have not been made public. The board will also review summer events and hear a budget update.

City Councilor Kevin Bonnington, who serves as the council's liaison to the parks board, will provide a City Council update. Co-chairs Vicki Handy and John Linman will lead the meeting.

How to attend: The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13 in the Bolton Room at 22500 Salamo Rd. Residents can also join via WebEx. Written comments must be submitted to [email protected] by noon Aug. 13; those wishing to speak in person must sign up online by 4 p.m. that day.

The board's next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10.