HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-STAC-2015-02-18STAC Meeting February 18, 2015
Present: Nina Bassuk, Judy Fogel, Laurene Gilbert, Jeanne Grace, Judith Maxwell, Debra Statton,
Keith Vanderhye
Forester’s Report: in the last three months only 3 days have been devoted to tree removals, all other
days have focused on snow removal, so the tree work is very much behind. Paul’s NYSEG crew will
help by coming to take the tops off trees under power lines. More than 40 removals were planned for this
winter, but have done only 10 so far.
New website: Jeanne is working to get “tree inventory” in the search window of the new city page.
Old Elmira Road: Jeanne brought a map of the tree spaces in the Old Elmira Rd project. Sidewalks are
due in mid- May. She’ll order trees for spring delivery and hold them till the tree spaces are ready.
There are 21 slots for large tree species. We’ll plan for all the same species in each island but with
repetitions. The committee confirmed its earlier suggestions for 4 large-leafed species --- Quercus
macrocarpa- robur cross (macrocarpa will tolerate wet but robur won’t), Catalpa, London Plane
Exclamation!, or Liberty, and Liriodendron Emerald City. Another choice with large leaves might be
Maclura White Shield.
In front of the car wash, the owner requests 4 honey locusts. Imperial or Streetkeeper, not Sunburst.
There are 19 underwire spots. Suggestions include Winter King hawthorn, Zelkova City Sprite,
Royal Raindrops crabs, larger crabs like Prairie Fire, Red Jewel, Donald Wyman, or Professor Sprenger,
Koelreuteria, little pears like Capital, or White House, Cornus mas, Sorbus alnifolia, Viburnum sieboldii
(with Cercis) ---these Viburnums are more treelike than other Viburnums, can’t tolerate any drought.
And Acer miyabei is nice in fall.
Another meeting to discuss our revisions to Project Review Criteria For Trees is needed with Lisa and
JoAnn from the City before the revisions go to Site Plan Review. Jeanne will set up a date.
(Our meetings don’t coincide with the Site Plan Review comment period; in order for us to comment
we’d need to move our meeting to the first or second Wednesday of the month. Let’s think about
changing the date of our meeting.)
Jeanne is applying for a grant for a person to walk around the natural areas like the Bird Sanctuary by
Stewart Park and along creekways in town and look for hemlock and ash trees. The grant would cover
30 hours/week up to $5,000 and is for “invasive species.”
(Miguel got a grant through the Audubon Society to do something with deer exclusion and invasive
species in Stewart Park.)
Trees for Court Street have been reserved at Schichtel’s: Liriodendron Emerald City, Quercus
muehlenbergii, Liquidambar. Need to think of and order underwire trees for here.
Arbor Day is April 24. Need to replace the sweet gum at DeWitt Park, so the park would be a good
place for the Arbor Day ceremony---at 11 am. Would be nice to have something unusual there. Keith
suggests Ilex opaca, Paulownia, Pseudolarix, Cedrus libani, Cryptomeria japonica (any of these in town?
3 in ILR courtyard). He’ll be in DC the weekend before and can bring up a Paulownia. Bigger caliper
tends to make them hardier.
EAB: Jeanne has on the website the City’s position and a link to Mark Whitmore where treatment
options, description, etc. are included. We’re thinking of sending out an email to the Fall Creek
neighborhood list serve ---because of the high number of ashes in Fall Creek---to alert them to the need
for planning for ashes on private property and to offer help with identification. Debra will come up with a
draft email that we can work on at the next meeting.
Next meeting Wednesday March 18, 2015 at Cooperative Extension at 4pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Debra Statton