Tree Board

Montpelier Tree Board Minutes February 5, 2015 5:30-6:20pm Montpelier City Hall In attendance: John Snell, Sarah Hoffmeier, Abby Colihan, Jeff Schumann, John Akielaszek; volunteer Bob Troester, and Tree Warden Geoff Beyer Old Business The December 4, 2014 meeting minutes were approved. Montpelier’s ‘Welcome Legislators’ function, held on January 27, 2015, was briefly discussed. General Planning for 2015 Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) preparations to continue (discussed in greater detail below). Nursery Work (discussed in greater detail below). More grates/guards for downtown trees – may be able to have Montpelier High School students build 2-3 per semester. Made from ash tree wood; plan to stain instead of paint; install on trees along East State Street followed by those on the north side of Main Street. Watering - Get more spigots working including the one behind Splash Tree Maintenance - Add compost and gypsum to downtown trees again this Spring; perhaps prioritize those trees for which guards and grates will be removed for wholesale soil/compost substitution. Tree City USA Application – Abby submitted the application today. 2015/2016 Budget John S noted that our budget had been restored to $2000.00 pending approval of the voters on Town Meeting Day. Councilman Thierry Guerlain has made a commitment to try to bump the budget up to $5000.00 in future years in order to provide some funding replacing trees due to EAB mortality. We need to provide the City Council with more details on the anticipated costs associated with EAB including tree removal costs related to our survey of ash trees on private property. John S mentioned that the Greening Americas Capitals grant may provide some revenue for downtown tree plantings or other needed improvements. Nursery Jeff stated that we need to decide how to use the nursery. Ideas were discussed including having a nursery with only three rows producing about 12 trees each year for planting. Bob mentioned the Branch Out Burlington nursery model as one that would be good to emulate. Jeff questioned whether the nursery should also be used for raising shrubs for riparian area repairs; obtaining a grant to install a solar powered irrigation system was also mentioned. John S mentioned exploring the possibility of keeping trees in bags or bareroot for planting. Jeff volunteered to draft a plan for the operation of the nursery. EAB Preparedness – What’s Next John A discussed what was next in EAB Preparedness Planning. We need to meet with local arborists and tree removal companies to discuss their cooperation in early detection of EAB. For example, if they were going to remove an ash tree which they noted had symptoms of infestation, they could contact the Tree Board and someone form the Board could check out the tree when it was cut down. John A asked Geoff for a listing of local arborists and tree companies and contact information. John A is working on the second version of the EAB Preparedness Plan which will incorporate the work that has been accomplished to date. In response to an inquiry by Jeff, John indicated that a link to the second version would be put on the Tree Board webpage. In addition, the release of the second version would be accompanied by newspaper articles in the Times Argus and possibly the Bridge. This will be timed to coincide with trees leafing out in the Spring. Also, at that time we plan to send packets of information to the private landowners where we located ash trees so these folks can keep an eye on their own trees. John S stated that we need to coordinate with other communities in our EAB planning efforts and that it would be good to know what other communities are doing in this area. We also plan to meet with the Montpelier Conservation Commission, probably in March, to discuss EAB preparedness planning. Tree Pruning Workshops/Tree Walks Geoff and John S will conduct one pruning workshop each this Spring. Geoff will check on the Hunger Mountain Coop’s calendar of events and the trees to be pruned will be on Stone Cutters Way. John S also indicated that he would be available to conduct more tree walks in the City. Tree Inventory Geoff met with Elise Schadler of UVM extension. Tree inventory software appears to be cost-prohibitive. Geoff will look to hire a professional to inventory the street trees in the City and possibly get some interns to leverage the work done. Elise had indicated to Geoff that Montpelier is one of 6-7 communities in the State that will receive additional assistance in these inventory efforts. It was also proposed to include the location of potential tree planting sites on the Google Downtown Tree Map that is accessible on the Tree Board webpage. Bob will ensure that folks have editing privileges for this database if they do not already. Meeting adjourned around 6:20 p.m. Next meeting at City Hall: Thursday, March 5th , 5:30-6:30