Agenda - Council - 02/24/2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Cor~Sen~ ~ 13 Memo To: Mayor Ramsey & City Council From: Environmental Coordinator Chris Anderson CC: Community Development Director Amber Miller, Fire Chief Dean Kapler Date: February 17, 2009 RE: Ramsey/Andover Pine Tree Management Project As you have likely noticed, some of Ramsey's pine trees are in a major state of decline. The dead and. dying pines, however, are not just isolated within our community; Andover is experiencing the same situation. The affected trees appear to be in a west to east swath, concentrated within the central portion of the city. A combination of factors set the stage for the rapid decline and. death of many of these red pines, including droughty conditions, attacks by the European pine sawfly, and the hail storm that moved across the community last May. The "hits" from the hail storm last May created many open wounds on these trees, which serve as entrance points for a disease known as Diplodia. Under normal circumstances, this disease is considered to be a weaker pathogen, affecting just the tips of branches. However, due to the stressed/weakened condition many of these trees were in, this fungal disease was able to "dig in", creating large stands of dead and/or dying pines. Potentially even more concerning is that these dead/dying trees are ideal breeding sites for pine bark beetles. If left unmanaged, many more pines in the area may face attack from these insects. Additionally, there is the concern of potential fire hazard from stands of dead pines near homes and other structures. Due to these concerns, in addition to the burden these landowners are faced with, staff from both Ramsey and Andover, in conjunction with DNR staff, have been reviewing possible options to assist landowners with managing this situation. Staff would like to apply for Firewise grant monies from the DNR that could be utilized to assist interested landowners. facing this dilemma. The grant monies would be used to pay for, or offset a portion of the cost, a contractor and equipment to remove and dispose of the dead/dying trees in targeted areas of both Ramsey and Andover (if costs ,are not entirely covered by the grant, landowners would. need to `bridge the gap' financially). While there is a 50/50 matching component to the grant, in-kind efforts can be used to satisfy this requirement. Potential activities that may require Staff time include, but are not necessarily limited to: • Identifying and mapping the areas most impacted. • Contacting the affected land owners. _gg_