Urban Forestry

Menomonie Urban Forestry Board Minutes Wednesday, November 15, 2023 – 1:00pm – Lower-Level Conference Room 58 - City Hall Committee Members Present: Cindy Gilberts (2.0 hrs.) Joe Jax (Chair) (2.5 hrs.) Liz Usborne (1.0 hrs.) Bob Giede (2.0 hrs.) Dennis Kropp (1.0 hrs.) Mike Schendel (2.0 hr.) Mike Smith (2.0 hr.) Eric Sutherland (1.5 hrs.) Monika Herrmann (2.0 hrs.) Guests: UW Stout Professor Kevin B. Dietsche and Mayor Randy Knaack Others present: Mike Morrow, Urban Forester/Parks Foreman; Megen Hines, Environ. Program Director; Tammy Eckert. The meeting was called to order by Chairman, Joe Jax. A sign-up sheet was passed around with names of attendees and their number of volunteer hours worked. October minutes were sent to the committee prior to the meeting and reviewed. Dennis Kropp made a motion to accept those minutes and Bob Giede seconded. Motion passed. Public Comment: Mayor Knaack stopped in to tell the Board he is proud of what the Urban Forestry Board does for the Community. We are a Bird City, Tree City; - we get a “gold star” and are very much appreciated by the residents of Menomonie. Emerald Ash Wood: Re-purpose to “Toys” for Youth: Kevin Dietsche presented the board with the results of the work done on the ash trees that were cut down in the city and given to his students to build toys from prototypes given to them by 24 First Graders! There were 23 prototype toys; some examples were turtles, tanks, rockets, cows, puzzles and one airplane dollhouse. Kevin’s university class built the toys and carried them to the children to test and give feedback. They were then given a toy to take with them! The next step in his class is to have the students fine tune some of the designs and learn how to manufacture them. 2023 DNR Urban Forestry Grant: The next step in the Grant project is the administrative portion that includes requesting invoices and gathering receipts needed to wind up the financial end to receive grant funding. Menomonie Forestry Friends: Several contact efforts to the Community Foundation to request help in managing the administrative end of this project, has yielded no response. We assume they are not interested in managing the program at this time. The board agrees to review the program again in the future. (Parking Lot). Adopt a Bench and Maintenance Guidelines: The news release went out to the public and the coverage is being well- received! There are quite a few interested in adopting a bench. There are a few more to adopt. Adopt a Tree Program: There are 115 trees to care for that were planted in the Parks and Boulevards this fall. A concern of the board is to keep them alive and maintain them. Asking the public to adopt a tree near them was discussed. Contact for the program could be as simple as putting a door hanger with information about the tree and contact information if the party is interested. The city would take care of the trees in the Parks. More discussion in January. Parking Lot Items: Put the Menomonie Forestry & Friends program flyer back in the parking lot for future review. Forester Report: All Stumps are ground and trees are planted for the year. Work starts again on cutting down dead and dangerous trees and limbs. Inventory of all the trees planted this year are labeled with addresses on the IPAD for future reference. City Council Report: Monday night the board codifies the budget. Items for Next Meeting Agenda: -Discuss city property owners who plant trees in the Right of Way/boulevard. Discuss Review or creation of an ordinance. -Discuss parameters and timeline or the UFB annual Forestry Award. -Discuss potential/ practicality of Adopt-a-Tree program. Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 17, 2024 – 1:00 p.m. in lower level of City Hall – Conference Room 058. Adjournment: A motion was made by Monika Herrmann and seconded by Liz Usborne to adjourn. Motion passed. Minutes submitted by: Tammy Eckert