It has to be cut back annually at water reservoirs to control its overwhelming growth. Slides exacerbated by its invasiveness require extensive clean-up, stabilization, and restoration. Non-profit partner organizations managing natural areas have to remove it then replant appropriate vegetation. The Urban Forestry Division must remove trees which have prematurely become hazards or have already blown down in storms due to its aggressively damaging growth. Its invasions cause construction sites to bear additional removal and revegetation costs.
Median strips require additional, continual vegetative maintenance where it has colonized.
The problem is of such magnitude that the Forest Park Ivy Removal Project is a year round control and restoration effort which also provides community education and technical assistance to groups addressing Hedera Helix adverse impacts in other areas. Hedera Helix is on the City's Prohibited Plant list which means the species cannot be used as a landscaping plant in any project requiring City review. Public education efforts are significant. Most removal efforts use hand methods or chemical controls in accordance with Portland's Integrated Pest Management Program.