Membership Meeting Minutes
MSHS Center for Northern Gardening
www.mnstac.org
The meeting was called to order at
Attendance:
Name
|
Affiliation |
|
Bruce
Bacon |
City
of |
|
Kirk
Brown |
Tree
Trust |
|
Bob
Condon |
Tree
Care Advisor |
|
Jeff
Cordes |
City
of |
|
Dave
DeVoto |
Retired
MPRB Forester |
|
Katie
Frerker |
U
of MN graduate (Urban Forestry) |
|
Shelby
Gallagher |
City
of |
|
|
U
of MN, TRE Nursery |
|
Steve
Gilbert |
|
|
Dave
Hanson |
U
of MN |
|
Rich
Hauer |
MN
Dept of Agriculture |
|
Jim
Hermann |
|
|
Brooke
Jenkins |
City
of |
|
Gary
R. Johnson |
U
of MN |
|
Kameron
Kytonen |
City
of |
|
Jill
Mahon |
|
|
Michael
Max |
EnvironMentor
Systems |
|
Sandy
McCartney |
City
of |
|
Don
Mueller |
MN
DNR Metro Forestry |
|
Gail
Nozal |
Tree
Trust |
|
Mike
Pikala |
|
|
Tom
Schibilla |
City
of |
|
Ralph
Sievert |
|
|
Jill
Sinclair |
City
of |
|
Dwight
Skarborough |
|
|
Lorrie
Stromme |
Tree
Care Advisor |
|
Jim
Vaughan |
City
of |
|
Paul
Walvatne |
MN
DNR |
|
Kathy
Widin |
City
of |
Approval of Minutes. The minutes of the
Announcements, Open Forum,
Calendar Items, New Members:
After
introductions all around, the following new members were welcomed:
·
Brooke Jenkins (Motion/Second/Carried: Jeff Cordes/Michael
Max)
·
Katie Frerker, U of MN Student (M/S/C: Gary R. Johnson/Jim
Hermann).
Lorrie Stromme announced the list of
MnSTAC meeting dates, topics, and locations for the rest of 2003, including an
all-day risk management workshop on August 13th, “Preparing for a
Natural Disaster in Hard Times.” Lorrie
asked recipients of The Shade Tree
Advocate newsletter to let her or the editor know about changes of address.
Dwight Skarborough announced that he
had been promoted to a position in the USDA Forest Service that would relocate
him to Boise, Idaho.
Dave DeVoto said that he had many back issues of Journal of Forestry and Shade
Tree Leaves and was willing to donate them.
Interested takers should contact Dave.
Lorrie suggested that he donate them to the Andersen Horticultural
Library at the U of MN Landscape Arboretum.
Gary Johnson announced that the 2004
Shade Tree Short Course would be held March 23-24 at Bethel College in Arden
Hills, MN. Gary also announced a 2˝-day
risk management training session on September 3, 4, 5 in St. Paul. Jill Pokorny and Jill Mahon, USDA Forestry
Service, are coordinating this event
Agency
and Committee Reports.
Dutch Elm Disease Updates. Jim Hermann reported that 800 trees with Dutch elm disease
(DED) have been marked so far this year in Minneapolis; that’s up 50% from
2002, which had been up 50% from 2001.
About 2/3 of the trees are on private property. Jim Vaughan reported
that St. Louis Park was on par with DED reports in 2002. St. Louis Park has a program that subsidizes
the cost of tree injections to prevent DED (the homeowner pays $160 of the $300
cost per tree). St. Louis Park gets a volume rate ($8.10/inch dba) and injects
trees on a 3-year cycle, indefinitely.
University of Minnesota. Gary R. Johnson reported that the TRE Nursery
on the St. Paul campus recently completed a planting-depth study. Preliminary results show that there is no
margin of error when planting Lindens; plant with roots right at the soil
surface or risk severe encircling root systems (even though the trees look good
above ground). Gary thanked Chad Giblin
at the TRE Nursery for making DED-resistant elm trees available for planting on
public property in Minneapolis and at the University of Minnesota. Gary also reported incidents of bur oak
dieback. The cause: woodpecker
damage. Woodpeckers are going for the
gall wasp larvae in oaks. The branches
looked as if they had been hit with be-be guns.
MN Department of Natural Resources. Don Mueller
announced that Tree Trust and the MN Department of Natural Resources had
received a NUCFAC grant to make outreach efforts to the SE Asian community in
the Twin Cities regarding urban forestry.
MN Department of Agriculture. Rich Hauer distributed copies of the new Plant
Protection Act, which was recently passed by the Minnesota legislature. The new act conforms to the model act
nationally. Rich also announced that there was still time to sponsor an ISA
Tour des Trees rider (www.tourdestrees.org). Riders from Minnesota (or with Minnesota
roots) include Mike Reichenbach, Jim Zwack, and Dick Rideout.
Feature
Presentation: “Minneapolis Tree
Inventory & Results: Quantifying the Urban Forest.” Presenters: Michael Max,
EnvironMentors; Jim Hermann and Ralph Sievert, both of the Minneapolis Park
& Recreation Board, Forestry.
The presenters reviewed “InvenTree,” a new, computer program that was developed
by EnvironMentor Systems and Kunde Company, and tested by Minneapolis Park
& Recreation Board (MPRB) to do tree inventories in the field using a
hand-held, pen-and-tablet computer system. The inventory will be on-going,
instead of a snapshot in time, in order to monitor city trees over time. Two MPRB field crew members (Steve Gilbert
and Mike Pikala) have been using the system over the past few months, and
Michael Max has been customizing the program to accommodate MPRB’s needs. The program will add a “tree layer” to City
of Minneapolis’ GIS system. MPRB staff
are conducting the tree inventory throughout the city, neighborhood by
neighborhood. For example, in the
Folwell neighborhood in North Minneapolis (a .577 square mile area), there are
1,782 trees on public property (boulevards and parks), comprised of 31
species. The total ISA value of the
trees is $2,700,900, or an average of $1,517 per tree. Each tree’s condition is monitored, as well
(canopy/foliage; stem; root system). The
inventory will also serve as a tool in monitoring tree maintenance.
|
Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m. |