Minutes - Environmental Policy Board - 08/21/2023

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that she would like recorded with the document. She confirmed that no members of the Board had comments to submit. 5.03: Consider Multiple Grant Opportunities Related to Community Forestry Activities Senior Planner Anderson presented the staff report. He stated that the purpose of the case is to review and consider two Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) grant opportunities available through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). One is a shade tree program bonding grant and the other is a ReLeaf community forestry grant. There is approximately $10,000,000 available through the bonding grant program and a little less than $7,000,000 via the ReLeaf grant program. The two grant programs are fairly similar (intentionally designed this way to simplify and streamline applying for both grants) in terms of eligible/ineligible expenses and timeframes. Chairperson Moore asked if the funds could be used on any services if approved, such as hiring a contractor or placing additional staff in the parks department, or whether the funds could only be used for planting trees. Senior Planner Anderson replied that funds could be used to hire a contractor as long as the contractor has certified professional staff. He stated that the funds could also be used to certify City staff as tree inspectors or arborists. Chairperson Moore asked if EAB treatment would be ongoing and whether funds could be set aside to pay for those treatments for multiple years. Senior Planner Anderson replied that treatment would not have to be continued for the life of the tree. He stated that if a round of injections were done in 2024, they could also do another round of injections in 2025 or 2026. He noted that most treatments are annual or biannual. He stated that once they are outside of that two-year grant window, it would be the decision of the City whether to continue with treatments at its own cost. Chairperson Moore asked if this grant would only apply to trees on public property or whether funds could be used for trees on private property. Senior Planner Anderson replied that the intention is to focus on public land. He noted that the grant does have a provision that would quality certain properties that qualify as low income but noted that the City would intend to focus on public land and rights -of -way. Chairperson Moore asked if the City would be willing to look into spaces that are not a park, but are City owned. Senior Planner Anderson replied that the City owns quite a bit of land, noting that a handful is dedicated parkland but currently unimproved. He stated that could potentially be explored but some of the challenges with those unimproved parks is the difficulty in the survival of trees in those locations. He stated that they have done plantings in unimproved park lands before, but it was not successful due to lack of irrigation and challenges with animals. He stated that they could look at those opportunities if grant funds are received. Environmental Policy Board / August 21, 2023 Page 3 of 5