Tree Board

Tree Board Regular Meeting Minutes January 7, 2016 5:30-7:00 Thursday City Hall Memorial Room Attending: Tree Board Members: John Snell, Sara Hoffmeier, Lynn Wild, Jeff Schumann, Abby Colihan Volunteers: Ellen Doyle, Bob Troester, Ken Libertoff, Tree Warden Geoff Beyer, Zack Simpson (AmeriCorps) Urban & Community Forestry Program Guests: Gwen Kozlowski, Danielle Fitzko, Elise Schadler Public Comment:  There were no comments from the public Old Business:  Minutes from the December meeting were approved.  Annual City Report John S. reported that he submitted the Annual City report t the city on time. A copy will be provided to Abby so she may include it with the application for Tree City USA with the Arbor Day Foundation.  Legislative Welcome John S. reminded the members that the Welcome Legislators Reception will be on Thursday, 28 Jan. starting at 5 pm. All Tree Board members have been invited and may bring a guest.  St. Paul St. Project Lynn gave an update on the St. Paul Street Tree Planting Project. All existing trees on the street have been mapped and potential places for new trees/shrubs have been identified. Lynn has organized a neighborhood meeting to see who on the street is interested in having a new tree in their yard, who would be willing to be a tree steward, and to see what species of trees/shrubs would be appropriate. The meeting is scheduled to be held at the church at the corner of St. Paul and School streets at 2 pm on Sunday, 24 Jan. Lynn will be sending out an announcement. All tree board members and volunteers are invited.  City Forest Management Plan  Jeff gave a summary of the walk through the Northfield portion of the Montpelier City Forest that he, Geoff, and Lynn took the previous month and he talked about the Timber Harvest notice that Tom McArdle, Director of Public Works, had sent out. Since this portion of the town forest is scheduled to be harvested this winter, the purpose of walking the town forest was to see what the forest looks like now and to see where the harvesting might occur. One difficulty was trying to determine where the actual boundaries are. The timber harvesting is to occur during this winter when the ground is sufficiently frozen to protect the wetlands. Fountains America, the organization managing the timber harvesting, is to mark out the landings, skid trails, and which trees to be cut. On our walk we did not see any evidence of this. It could be that because of the warm season so far this work had not yet been done. Jeff will follow up with Tom McArdle to see if we can arrange a walk through the forest with Fountains. Urban & Community Forest Program: Danielle Fitzko, Elise Schadler and Gwen Kozlowski of the Urban & Community Forestry Program presented a "Tour of the (inventory) tools” that can be used to inventory and manage the maintenance of city trees. They first presented an overview of some of the results of the inventories they had created for a few towns in Vermont. They stressed that the combination of tools they use is only applicable for inventory purposes and does not lend itself to management. Geoff said that his need for a tool was not only to have an inventory of city trees but a management tool that should be able to do the following:  identify trees that pose a hazard,  track what maintenance is needed or has or has not been done,  maintain a history of trees in a location/site,  help track maintenance costs,  and help provide city council reports for the tree management budget. It was suggested that the $5,000 grant Geoff has be used to purchase a tool and not be used for inventory. Elise did say that they can help with the inventory. They also provided a list of potential tools for us to evaluate. New Business:  A motion was made and approved to make a donation of $50 to the North Branch Nature Center for the tree nursery the Tree Board maintains on their property.  John S. gave an update on the Union School Playground Project. They have acquired a $150,000 grant to redo the playground. This will be an opportunity for the Tree Board to assist them in the maintenance of trees they now have and to help with new plantings.  There was a discussion on possible ways to protect the trees that are being damaged by beavers along the Winooski River. This item will be discussed further at the next meeting. Work Day Planning:  The meeting was adjourned before we could talk about possible activities for our next work planning days. Members are encouraged to email suggestions to John S. Next meeting at City Hall: Thursday, February 4th, 5:30-6:3