Tree Board

Montpelier Tree Board Minutes April 3, 2014 5:35-6:40 pm Montpelier City Hall In attendance: Sarah Hoffmeier, Jeff Schumann, Abby Colihan, John Akielaszek, Geoff Beyer, and volunteers Stephanie Olsen, Cara Barbero, Ken Libertoff and Bob Troester Old Business: Minutes of March 2014 meeting were approved. New Business: • John A. reported on the ash tree tagging which was done on the lower Statehouse Trail. John Snell, Carole Naquin, Alec Ellsworth (Hubbard Park caretaker), Stephanie Olsen and John tagged 30 ash trees. John’s interview for the Across the Fence feature was filmed with the Statehouse dome and tagged ash trees in the background. Geoff was filmed at the nursery where he discussed the use of the nursery and the role it may play in ash tree replacement. Later, Geoff guided the filmmaker, Becky Gollin, to a location near the Three Penny Tavern where she could film downtown ash trees. • Update on Ash Tree Awareness Week – EAB Activities. John A. reported that more tree tagging will occur on other Hubbard Park trails and possibly North Branch Park trails. It was recommended that the downtown ash trees be tagged also. During the week, probably on Friday, May 2nd, John will join Amy Butler and a 2nd Grade class from the Union Elementary School on a Hubbard Park Ash walk. Other ash tree walks may be planned for that week. Other EAB preparedness activities include working on the elementary school curriculum over the summer in preparation for the next school year. The curriculum could not be added for this year’s school classes. John has also produced a list of 100 Montpelier properties generated at random which would be the lots surveyed to determine the number of ash trees on private property in the city. John will need assistance for this private property survey work. • Geoff reported that he had observed some ash trees on private property owned by Goldman which appear to have diminished upper canopies. Jeff, John A., and Geoff will plan to re-visit these trees later this Spring or early Summer. With the landowner’s permission, Geoff may cut one down for closer examination. • Jeff reported on his meeting with Dave Wilcox (VT Dept. of Forests, Parks and Recreation) and Elise Schadler (UVM Extension, Urban and Community Forest Program). They toured the nursery and had an exchange of ideas. Dave suggested planting trees in gravel which would provide an advantage for planting the bare-rooted tree later. We questioned the watering aspect for trees in gravel. Dave also suggested ways to dig up the larger trees in the nursery. Elise will be working on using social media to enable nursery operators to discuss issues and exchange ideas. Jeff indicated that we will just use the trees we have in the nursery this year (no additions) and will begin cleanup operations by removing and recycling the irrigation tubing there. Thanks to John Snell for the  recycling info. Jeff may need help with the cleanup and will contact the Tree Board and volunteers when he plans to work on this. • To improve communication with volunteers, Sarah will update the e-mail contact list to remove folks who do not wish to remain on the list. Then she will distribute the list. • Geoff reported on the tree pruning workshop he held on March 25th. They had good weather and 12 people attended. The worked on trees along Stone Cutters Way and everyone had the opportunity to try different tools. Sarah indicated that John Snell’s workshop was also successful but the weather was not so nice. • Geoff and Stephanie gave an update the Canopy and Mini-Canopy grants paperwork. The Canopy (5 pages) and Mini-Canopy (3-4 pages) grant applications are largely completed and just need some additional editing. Geoff and Stephanie will distribute the draft grant applications to the Tree Board and volunteers for comment and possibly editing. The deadline for submission of the grant requests is April 11, 2014. • We also discussed activities for Earth Day, Arbor Day and Green-up Day. A Winooski River bank restoration effort is planned and the sapling trees we purchased for this effort will be picked up from the Winooski Natural Resource Conservation District at a Berlin location on April 26th. It was agreed that we should purchase 150-200 feet of chicken wire to protect the saplings from grazing by deer. About a week prior to the sapling planting a Dept. of Labor crew will remove invasives and mark planting locations. • Concerning trees identified as needing pruning, it was decided that the large crabapple tree at the war memorial at Montpelier High School should be pruned by the Recreation Department. John Snell will be asked to coordinate with Arne McMullen on this. Geoff indicated that Rick Lachapelle can do this pruning. The large green ash tree on Main Street downtown is now on Geoff’s pruning list. • Ken gave an update on fundraising efforts. The TD Bank has promised $200 but has not delivered as yet. We discussed ways to get that initial donation. Ken also mentioned that prior to approaching other downtown businesses, we need to meet with Montpelier Alive to discuss some annual funding for our activities as they have a direct correlation with other activities for which Montpelier Alive receives funding. Ken will follow-up on this with John Snell. • As reported in the Agenda for this meeting, John Snell has written the mayor and city manager requesting that a new liaison from the City Council be appointed. • We discussed the beavers which have been reported near the Spring Street bridge. Cara reported seeing four beavers upstream of that area. Geoff is concerned that beavers in a city setting can do major damage in the narrow waterways present. It is unclear who should take responsibility for their removal. VT Fish and Wildlife personnel were mentioned but no decision was made to contact them. Meeting adjourned around 6:40 Next meeting: Thursday, May 1st, 5:30-6:30, at City Hall