Tree Board

Tree Board Regular Meeting Minutes 2 March 2017 5:30-6:30 Thursday City Hall Memorial Room Attending: Tree Board Members: John Akielaszek, Cassandra Hemenway, Sarah Hoffmeier, Jeff Schumann, John Snell Parks Department: Geoff Beyer, Emily Markstein Rebecca Harris; AmeriCorp volunteer in the Planning Office • Agenda John added a couple items to the agenda, which was then approved. • Approval of January Minutes Minutes from the January 2017 meeting were approved with no changes • Public comments None Old Business • Introduction of Cassandra Hemenway Cassandra was introduced and she gave a short talk of her interests and what she would like to accomplish working with the Tree Board. • Refurbish Planting Areas With Structural Soil John S. had a talk with Tom McCardle about how we can partner with them to add structural soil to existing downtown tree areas. They walk State St. and identified 5 to 6 trees where the sidewalk could be removed, existing soil dug out and replaced by structural soil. The city would do the heavy work of removing the concrete and soil and backfilling with the good soil. We would need to be on hand to remove grates and guards and to ensure tree roots are not too damaged in the process. • Downtown/Nursery Trees 25 bare-root trees have been ordered and are expected to be available the week of 24 April. It was agreed that Emily would drive the Parks Dept truck to Burlington when the trees are in. There will only be a short window between when the trees arrived and when they need to be picked up, so those involved will need to be on call. John also ordered stakes and ties to be used when planting the trees and the Parks department will provide the necessary mulch. John stressed that the holes must be dug prior to picking up the trees so that they can be planted right away. John will identify the sites and arrange work days to dig the holes. Page 1 of 3  Of the 25 trees ordered, only 12 will be planted around town with the rest going into the nursery. The holes in the nursery will also need to be pre-dug. Jeff will coordinate that effort. We have decided that the trees going into the nursery will be planted in bags and John has ordered. • Urban Forestry Grant Geoff & Emily are working drafting a grant aimed at removal of invasives from the downtown area and neighborhoods. Cassandra said she had some experience with grant writing and would be willing to help. • Update on Festival of Trees and Arbor Day Conference Lynn provided the following update via email. Students' signs for 20 of the SPS trees (11- 4th grade trees; 9 - 5th grade trees) will be posted on the street for the tour and for Arbor Day. The 4th grade students are nearly finished with the signs for their trees. I welcome board member/volunteer input for the presentation and street tour!! • Invasive Removal Parts of the city and parks are being revisited in an effort to map out where invasives occur. John S reported that the Buckthorn on the bike path will need a lot of attention this coming year. There was also a discussion on how to help private property owners identify and get rid of invasives on their property, a project Dot Helling has expressed interest in, perhaps a neighbor- helping-neighbor approach might work. New Business • Downtown River Project John S is working with the State Department of Environmental Conservation on a possible project to revitalize the river bank behind the State parking lot off of State St. He will include Emily in future discussions. • Langdon Street Planting John S. reported that he has received inquiries from property owners about planting trees along Langdon St. Unfortunately there is no room for trees except in the street itself. • March Work Days Because of forecasted cold weather, the Sat. workday was called off. Next work day: 16 March, Thursday from 9am to 1 pm place and work TBD Page 2 of 3 It was also decided that the hours for future workdays, both Saturday and Thursday, will be from 9am to 1 pm. People can come at any time. Next meeting Thursday, 6 April, 5:30-6:30 at City Hall Page 3 of 3