Tree Board

Tree Board Regular Meeting Minutes 4 August 2016 5:30-6:30 Thursday City Hall Memorial Room Attending: Tree Board Members: John Akielaszek, Steve Bailey, Heather Calderwood, Abby Colihan, Sarah Hoffmeier, Jeff Schumann, Lynn Wild Volunteers: Ken Libertoff, Bob Troester  Agenda The agenda was approved after Jeff added an item for the Tree Board budget.  Approval of June Minutes Lynn had a follow up question regarding the June Minutes, asking whether there had been any follow up with the city regarding the potential damage to tree roots resulting from the sidewalk/street work taking place on Baily Ave. No one attending had an answer so Lynn will follow up with John S. and Geoff. Minutes were then approved.  Public comments Bob Troester mentioned that he had received an email from Open Tree Map which had an article about selecting the proper street tree. He will forward the email to the group.  Budget Jeff reported that he had contacted Sandy Gallop to find out how much was left in the tree board budget. She provided the following: Balance carried over from FY16 $1993.56 FY17 funding + 2000.00 Spent in July 2016 - 695.99 Balance to spend $3297.57 Sandy also noted that the balance should be spent by end of June 2017. There followed a discussion about potential expenditures;  Everyone was in favor of buying safety vests for members and volunteers.  The subject of buying tree protectors for city trees came up again. It was suggested that perhaps we could buy one a year to spread out the cost. Another suggestion was to see if Montpelier High School students could build some. Abby volunteered to find out if this might be a possibility and how much they might cost. Page 1 of 3   Other possible expenditures that came up during the tree nursery discussion were paying someone to move the larger trees in the nursery instead of cutting them down, buying new trees, and a possible irrigation system.  Tree Nursery Lynn and Jeff had been to the tree nursery earlier in the day to get a count of the number of trees that remain there and their ideas on what might be done with the remaining trees. There are 32 trees remaining. Some could be transplanted this fall, others are probably too large. Jeff noted that some of the larger trees could be left in the nursery at the request of NBNC. These would be trees nearest the gate and which are closer to the tree line along the river. Jake wanted to know why the trees were left there to grow too large for transplanting. There was no one answer to this but it mostly came down to not having a place to plant them, a lack of resources to do the transplanting, and not having the right tree for the right place. It was noted that a number of trees were transplanted from the nursery this year for the St. Paul Street project and for the Park’s Department. Also, in the past, some trees were successfully transplanted as city streets or on private properties. The unanimous consensus of the group was that we should continue with the tree nursery but that before planting any new stock we should have good idea of where each tree will go. “No tree without a destination” as one person put it. Lynn noted that when the Park’s Department is out doing tree inventorying they are also identifying possible places to plant new trees. She will follow up on this. It was also suggested that as public outreach we could award trees to residents where trees are needed and who would be willing to take care of them. Lynn also proposed that before we plant any new trees in the nursery that we clean up the grounds in the nursery and prep it for planting. A number of people would like to visit the nursery to get a better idea of what is there and what is possible. A Doodle Poll will be sent out to find a time in late August or the first week of September that would be convenient to most people.  Geoff was not there to give an update on planting two replacement trees downtown or on the inventory.  International Volunteers for Peace Potluck The potluck was a great success. Good food and times. Lynn noted that the volunteers came from Spain, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Ukraine.  Updates from John S. The updates that John S. had provided by email were read to the group.  Backyard Woods Follow Up Jeff gave an overview of the county forester’s visit to his property. It was well worth it. The county forester gave advice on the health and status of individual trees, identified invasives on the property and removal techniques, and a general assessment of what could be done, or not Page 2 of 3  done, to improve the woods for wildlife habitat. Jeff recommended that anyone with a wood lot should consider having the county forester come out for a walk through.  Downtown watering planning Abby reported that the watering is going well. Ken volunteered to help and will coordinate with Abby.  Other Business Sarah reminded everyone to fill out the volunteer hours and how important it is to do so. She will send out the link again. Sarah brought up the she and Alex spotted Barberry in Hubbard Park. It appears to just be getting established. She plans to get people together to walk the trails where the Barberry was found and start pulling out the invasives. Next meeting Thursday, 1 September, 5:30-6:30 at City Hall Page 3 of 3