Tree Board

Tree Board Minutes September 11th, 2019 at 4 pm Attendance: Kathrine Killebrew, Wes Powell, Brian Beuscher, Joey Redman, Alexandra Wills, Carter Briggs, and Ron Erb. 1. Kathrine began her update by announcing that she and maintenance had developed a plan for the work to finish up the Franklin St trees planting. This plan was altered by parks and recreation to be as follows: 9-12-19, begin augering out the old root balls. Then running wires for lights and a receptacle at each tree, and then finally planting the tree at the end. The completion goal is still Oct 6 for all trees. 2. Kathrine relayed that the Mayor had inquired about the struggling Willow Oaks along Riverside Dr from N. 2nd St. to O’Charlies. Kathrine has tried multiple soil amendments and fertilizers and come to the conclusion that they are suffering from so many vehicles idling in traffic, a restricted tree well. Or old wire and burlap left on the trees. The trees will need to be removed before an investigation into the tree wells could be done and the trees replaced. 3. Kathrine reported about her recycling efforts during River fest. There was a total of 10,540 pound of trash hauled away and about half of that was sorted and recycled. 4. Wes reported that he has created a profile for the City of Clarksville Arboretum and has begun uploading trees to the site. He requested that board members try to get him some photos of the trees to add to this. Photos could include shots of the entire tree, bark, leaves, stems, buds, fruit etc. 5. Kathrine reached out to the marketing department in parks and rec. for guidance on a new logo for the Tree Board. They steered her to two marketing firms. Wes did not think that was the way to go for what we need. Alexandra suggested that a Service Learning class at APSU could do  this as well as create a template for the billboard messages. She will reach out to the professor on this topic. Ron suggested that any design should be submitted to the Mayor for approval and if need be, on to the City Council. 6. Wes suggested to push the Tree Ordinance review to October meeting to allow members more time to read over it. 7. Wes asked Kathrine to talk about the curriculum for the Citizen Forester program. She stated that in the past it has been a 6 week program for education and practical experience in planting and caring for trees. Wes asked if there was any liability we should worry about and Ron suggested asking Lance Baker, the City Attorney. Our curriculum was adopted from the University of Virginia and includes 40 service hours before a certificated is earned. Certificates could be presented publicly at the City’s Arbor Day Celebration. Kathrine suggested doing a survey to see how many people in the community were interested in this program. We could potentially start this in the Spring of 2020. 8. Kathrine spoke about a Society of American Foresters conference in October. The conference is in Louisville, KY and will cover a wide range of topics that would benefit our forestry program. Because there is no TUFC conference this year Kathrine is looking for other options to continue her education. Registration is around $625 with additional costs for special education sessions, travel and lodging. Wes made a motion for the Tree Board to provide $1000 towards Kathrine’s attendance at this conference. The Motion was seconded by Mr. Carter Briggs and passed unanimously. 9. Kathrine announced that she spoke with a representative for the Nashville Metro Tree Advisory Committee. She shared a lengthy list of ways that the tree board can be more effective in the community as well as how to get more involvement. The list is below. a. Recently retired people are very important. They have more time to devote to our cause b. Each member needs to be a recruiter 24/7. Make a list and divide it up. c. Best people to recruit. Civic clubs, garden groups, retirees, lawyers, schools, churches. Use social media to advertise we need help and people. d. Tree board meetings; should be held 11 times a year. January should be a tree board retreat to somewhere to discuss what should be planned for the next year. STRATEGIZE! Implement a Tree Board Breakfast in this. e. When we reach out to churches remember that they are CREATION BASED. Creation care= trees. These are the best folks to get help from.  f. When you do something create a Model that anyone can use. Such as EAB talks/ School visit talks etc. g. Do a Releafing day and an Earth Day! These are really big for trees. h. Keep a running calendar of Tree Events such as Releaf Day and Earth Day, Arbor Day events. i. Get the Area Forester on Board. Mark Graveel 552-3909. Mark.Graveel@tn.gov j. How to get a crowd to Arbor Day? Honor someone that has died recently. Then the important people and family will come. Memorialize that person that died. Plant a tree. k. Beautification commissions to help with trees. l. Have the Heads of Division of TN Forestry come to our Tree Board meetings. m. Write Articles in our social media…… Why do leaves change colors? Etc n. Have a moment of recognition for promoting the things we do at each board meeting. Hand out certificates of achievement for groups that plant trees or do something green. o. Have a Big Tree Program. p. Nominate a Big Tree to represent us here in town. What’s our biggest tree nearby? q. Invite Jennifer Smith from Metro Tree Board Advisory. r. Put a lawyer on the tree board. s. Update our ordinance. t. Contact TN State Naturals programs: TN Enviromental Council, Cumberland River compact, Land Trust TN, Park and Greenway Foundation etc…. With no further business the meeting was adjourned.