Minnesota Shade Tree Advisory Committee

Membership Meeting Minutes

July 17, 2003, 9:30am – 11:30a.m.
Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis, MN
www.mnstac.org

The meeting was called to order at 9:35 a.m. by Lorrie Stromme, President, on Thursday, July 17, 2003, at the Refectory Building in Minnehaha Park, Mpls, MN.

Attendance:

Name	Affiliation
Jon Allen	City of Savage
Jeremy Barrick	City of Savage, U of MN student
Kirk Brown	Tree Trust
Bob Condon	Tree Care Advisor
Josh Davis	Sierra Club, North Star Chapter
Glen Hambelton	Tree Care Advisor
Katie Himanga	Heartwood Forestry
Dave Hanson	U of MN
Rich Hauer	MN Dept of Agriculture
Jim Hermann	Mpls Park & Recreation Board/Forestry
Ken Holman	Minnesota DNR, Forestry
Gary R. Johnson	U of MN
Irene Jones	Friends of the Mississippi River
Barb Kirkpatrick	Tree Care Advisor
Tina Markeson	MnDOT
Michael Max	EnvironMentor Systems
Sandy McCartney	City of St. Louis Park
Don Mueller	MN DNR Metro Forestry
Gail Nozal	Tree Trust
Kevin O’Connor	Minneapolis Park & Rec Board, Forestry
Glen Olson	Kunde Company
Anne Marie Selness	MN Dept of Agriculture
Ralph Sievert	Minneapolis Park & Rec Board, Forestry

Approval of Minutes. The minutes of the 6/19/03 MnSTAC membership meeting were reviewed and approved. Motion/Second/Carried: Rich Hauer/Kirk Brown.

Announcements, Open Forum, Calendar Items, New Members:

· Lorrie Stromme announced the list of MnSTAC meeting dates, topics, and locations for the balance of 2003. Lorrie asked recipients of The Shade Tree Advocate newsletter to let her or the editor know about changes of address.

· Gail Nozal distributed flyers about an August 13, 2003, workshop sponsored by Tree Trust, “Preparing for a Natural Disaster in Hard Times: Managing Your Community Trees for Maximum Safety and Health.”

· Ken Holman announced that the National Urban Forestry Conference will take place on September 17-20, 2003, in San Antonio, TX. Michael Max, Julie Miedtke, Jay Meier, and Tom Dunlap will be attending from Minnesota.

· Gary Johnson announced a 2½-day urban tree risk management “train-the-trainer” workshop on September 3, 4, 5 at the Como Park Pavilion. The event is coordinated by Jill Pokorny, USDA Forestry Service. The $115 registration fee includes the new Community Tree Risk Management Manual.

· Don Mueller announced that Tree Trust and the MnDNR had recently been awarded a grant from the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (NUCFAC) to pursue an urban forest outreach program in the SE Asian community.

· Rich Hauer, president of the Minnesota Society of Arboriculture (MSA), reminded folks to send in their nominations for MSA Awards. The annual fall conference will take place in September 12 in Eden Prairie, with the annual Tree Climbing Championship to follow on September 13.

Farewell to Rich Hauer
Gary Johnson, Lorrie Stromme, Jim Hermann, and others expressed appreciation to Rich Hauer for his dedicated work and contributions to Minnesota urban forestry efforts both in his job and as a volunteer. Gary’s words were particularly moving. We will miss Rich, and we wish him well in his new role as an urban forestry instructor at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.

Let’s Get Acquainted: Friends of the Mississippi River; North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club

· Friends of the Mississippi River. Irene Jones presented information about Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR), a nonprofit organization started 10 years ago. Its primary goals are to protect water quality, restore and conserve riverfront lands (especially in Washington and Dakota Counties), and inform the community about issues impacting water quality. Irene distributed materials about FMR’s programs, annual report, and events. The web site is www.frm.org.

· North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. Josh Davis, forest organizer for the Sierra Club, introduced MnSTAC members to the mission and goals of the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. The organization’s current campaigns include forest restoration, air toxic reduction (especially diesel exhaust), environmental justice, and anti-urban sprawl to preserve open space.

Agency and Committee Reports.

MN Dept of Agriculture (MDA). Rich Hauer reported that MDA is conducting a survey to detect sudden oak death syndrome (SOD) on nursery stock. Rich also said that even though Dutch elm disease (DED) appears to be on the rise again, millions of dollars and many trees have been saved because of the 1970’s legislation to guard against the spread of DED and oak wilt.

MN Department of Natural Resources. Ken Holman reported that 83 MN Releaf applications had been submitted, with 33 proposals for oak wilt suppression and 50 projects dealing with tree planting, tree inventories, and urban forest health. Selections will be made in early August.

Feature Presentation: “Minnehaha Park Construction Research Results (5 years afterward).” Presenters: Gary R. Johnson, University of Minnesota urban forestry professor, and Kevin O’Connor, “tree cop” with the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, Forestry. Kevin O’Connor started the presentation with an interesting chronological history of Minnehaha Park, which was officially designated as a park in 1889. Gary and Kevin then shared stories about the Minnehaha Park reconstruction project 5 years ago and Kevin’s role as “tree cop” in communicating with construction workers on how to minimize their impact on mature park trees. Gary then led a field tour of the park and informed the group about his research using infrared photography to document the construction’s impact on the park’s tree canopy.

Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.