Approval of Minutes. The minutes of the 9/19/02 MnSTAC membership meeting were reviewed and approved as corrected. Motion/Second/Carried: Michael Max/Kirk Brown.

Announcements, Open Forum, Calendar Items, New Members: 
Lorrie Stromme thanked T.K. Walling and the City of St. Paul allowing MnSTAC members to hold their meeting in the Historic Streetcar Station. 

Keith Casiday asked to join MnSTAC. Motion/Second/Carried: Gregg Hove/ Kirk Brown. Motion Carried. Welcome to MnSTAC, Keith! 

Lorrie announced that this and remaining MnSTAC meetings through 2002 had been approved for ISA CEU’s (one CEU per meeting, and 2.5 for the August field tour). Lorrie reported that there are two openings for directors on the MnSTAC board of directors for two-year terms, effective January 1, 2003. The election will be held in December, 2002. Submit nominations to Ken Simons by November 25, 2002. These openings are for “non-designated” MnSTAC members, i.e., not an employee of any of these state agencies: Department of Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Transportation, or the University of Minnesota. 

The deadline for submitting photographs for the MnSTAC Annual Photo Contest is November 15th. Contact Lara Newberger, 763-427-2817, for further details. Prints of the contest-winning photo will be framed, matted and presented to recipients of the annual MnSTAC awards (ceremony in March 2003). 

Katie Himanga announced that the Millennium Tree that was planted on January 1, 2000, is doing fairly well. Katie also reported on the 845-acre golf/residential development taking place in Lake City. A four-year environmental review process is taking place via the Alternative Area-wide Urban Review Process. Katie will keep us informed about this project. 

Agency Reports 
Sue Burks, DNR, reported that Emerald Ash Borer has infested a 50-mile-square area in Michigan. The affected community has cut a buffer to try to isolate the pest. No federal funds are available yet to help with this effort. As for Asian long-horned beetle, Chicago has been experimenting with preventive soil injections. As for oak wilt, Sue reported that communities engaged in oak wilt control projects must consult with the State Historic Preservation Office prior to engaging in any plowing. Archaelogical and historically significant sites are protected from plowing operations. In these area, use a buffer method instead.Hennepin County has not reported data. 

Ken Holman, DNR, said that the LCMR has recommended an $800,000 grant to Tree Trust for the ReLeaf program. This award is subject to approval by the 2003 legislature. Ken distributed a preliminary draft of MnSTAC’s legislative report. Anyone interested in helping complete the report should contact Ken Holman or Mark Schnobrich. 

Rich Hauer, MDA, reported that Sudden Oak Death has been identified in 18 woody plant species, especially oaks and rhododendrons. It is an above-ground pathogen. Rich also reported that only 120 gypsy moths were trapped this past summer, which is the lowest number since 1993. The Spring 2002 spraying program has proven very effective. 

Tina Markeson (fka Klein), MnDOT, said that MnDOT recently completed its largest transplanting project. In the Brainerd area, MnDOT transplanted 600 shrubs and 400 trees to accommodate a new bridge project on Hwy 371. 

Gregg Hove, Eagan, reported that Eagan has undertaken an oak wilt “projecting” project, using satellite imagery to detect oak wilt hot spots. This method seems to help reduce o.w. control costs. 

Policy for Use of MnSTAC’s Email List The members briefly discussed how to handle requests for MnSTAC’s list of its members’ email addresses. Michael Max offered to draft a policy and present it to the membership at a future meeting. 

Feature Presentation. City of St. Paul: Putting GIS Technologies to Work. 
Presenters: Dave Hanson, University of Minnesota, and Jared Schneekloth, City of St. Paul. Dave and Jared gave a Power Point presentation about St. Paul’s GIS inventory and analysis activities in 2001 and 2002. The City of St. Paul Parks & Recreation and the Forestry Department are currently involved in several GIS activities: Tree Grate Survey Data Collection, Friends of the Parks Tree Inventory, and Boulevard Tree Inventory (a pilot project). 

Tree Grate Condition Survey. The purpose of this survey was to identify the condition, location, size and shape of tree grates, as well as the plants they contain. This survey involved field work , populated spreadsheets, and data imported into ArcView 3.2. The findings on tree condition revealed that 78% (1,672 of 2,163) were in good condition, 10% were marginal, 4% were dead, 5% open and 3% were “other.” The grate condition ranged from 83% good to 8% raised or uneven. 

Friends of the Park GIS Survey. The Friends of the St. Paul Parks and Trails provided $5,000 to the St. Paul Division of Forestry to facilitate improved management of park trees by hiring forestry student interns during the summer of 2002. The goals were to locate trees planted by the Friends organization from 1996 to 2002 and to improve the health and survival rate of existing trees. The city interns partnered with Kunde Company Natural Resources Consulting. They used handheld computer and GPS technology. They produced a GIS-based tree inventory. Tree locations were collected with 1-to-5 feet of accuracy. The tree data was entered directly into a database with pen-enabled pull down menus. Jared showed samples of the data-entry form and pull-down menus. This project identified 737 existing trees (60 different species or cultivars) distributed throughout 45 parks, parkways, and recreation centers. 

Boulevard Tree Inventory Pilot Project. Two forestry interns were assigned to review the current boulevard tree inventory process and make recommendations for the implementation of a GIS or “point-based” inventory system. This analysis relied on the 
outcome of the Friends of the Parks GIS inventory. The goals of the project were to eliminate database entry errors and to create locational points for mapping and analysis. The recommendations were: 1) data should be collected by the existing crew (equal 
work, less error, point-based modeling); OR 2) data should be collected by interns or seasonal workers with or without the existing point file. Additional benefits of the survey included inventories of recreational facilities and natural resources inventory (including trails) and planning. 

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

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