Great to see the discussion on trees! Just to give everyone a perspective on the magnitude of the number of trees we are cutting down. . . .in a regular year, we cut down approximately 1,500 trees. This year we had to cut down in excess of 9,000 trees! We achieved this by 1) increasing the number of foresters, 2) increasing overtime to get as many down as quickly as possible, 3) continuing to cut down trees late into the season, and 4) by not doing a fall planting. The increased infection of trees is due primarily to the warmer winters we have had which increases beetle survival in combination with near drought conditions during the summer which make the trees less resistant to infection and allow the infection to proceed more quickly.
In addition to increased cutting efforts, the Park Board dramatically increased funding to deal with the tree problem. Fortunately, through cuts made a couple of years ago, we had a budget reserve that we have used, in part, to pay for increased costs associated with tree removal; an additional $800,000 up front and another $500,000 for next year as well. However, if you do the numbers with the average replacement cost of a tree being $100, we need $900,000 just to replace what we cut down this past year alone! This does not could the increased cost for stump removal! To this point, our major effort since June 1 has been to put all labor resources into tree removal rather than replanting. Prior to June 1, we had increased tree planting. In a normal year we replant 2,000-2,500 trees. With the Mayors and City Council's help, we were able to ramp that up to approx. 3,500 trees last year and hope to plant 4,000-5,000 trees next year (extra monies for 1,500 additional trees provided for by City Council and Mayor next year). The replanting effort has been primarily in those neighborhoods that have the fewest number of total trees - north Minneapolis and south Central Minneapolis. The MPRB also increased the stump and grinding funds as the stumps must be removed prior to replanting! This will have to be a major effort in this next year! Scott Vreeland's points are well taken. Replanting the city when the diseased tree removal is done is going to require a broad effort between the neighborhoods, the city, the Park Board and residents. This was the case in the past as well. Harvey Zuckerman mentioned to me awhile ago that there used to be a cost sharing program between residents and the MPRB - I think this is a good idea and have already brought it up at to the whole MPRB. The trees purchased would be at a reduced price as we already do large bulk purchases to reduce costs. A 50/50 split for those who are willing to help pay to have earlier replacement is what I mentioned. In addition to this cost sharing effort, the newly formed Minneapolis Tree Commission (subcommittee of the MPRB) is pulling together a report on the state of the urban forest and preliminary recommendations for a January presentation to the City Council and the MPRB. Members on this committee include representatives from the City Council, Mayor, MPRB, Tree Trust, Minnesota Shade Tree Commission, and the University of Minnesota. One of their goals to develop broad support for a reforestation program across a variety of jurisdictions. Regardless of all these efforts, any discussion on this list is helpful and serves the city well. Keep coming up with ideas and thoughts as it will be our generation's efforts that reforest this city for the future! The interest and discussion on this group helped spawn the forming of the Tree Commission! Your comments on here do make a difference! Sincerely, John Erwin Commissioner At-Large Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
