Council MemoCOUNCIL ACTION FORM
Department: Planning Council Meeting: 9/13/10 Item Number: 10B
From: Brad Nielsen, Planning Director
Item Description: Diseased Tree Program —Tree Inventory
Background / Previous Action
Last Spring staff presented an outline for a diseased tree program intended, at minimum, to
address the issue of Emerald Ash Borer. One of the steps in establishing a program was to
conduct an inventory of public properties. Staff had received a very preliminary estimate of
somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000. After looking at a number of methods and
alternatives for conducting a tree inventory, staff has come up with a proposal to do the work
with existing staffing and equipment, for far less than one-half the cost of a commercial tree
survey. Out of an estimated $10,000 cost estimate, approximately 90 percent of the cost would
be covered by current staff using existing GPS equipment and GIS software. The result would
be a very useable product that identifies location, specie, size and condition of all trees on City -
owned land. The inventory is essential to making further decisions relative to EAB and
programming removal and reforestation efforts over the next ten years.
Options
Direct staff to go forward with its "in-house' proposal, in which case approximately $1000
would need to be allocated in the 2011 Budget to cover software/programming costs. The
Council could direct staff to initiate a lesser inventory program, possibly limited to only ash
trees in order to reduce the expense of the inventory. Finally, as always, the option of doing
nothing exists.
Staff Recommendation
Staff suggests that doing nothing is really not an option. The proposal presented herein is
considered to be an appropriate use of existing resources and will result in a very useable
product relative to Shorewood's ultimate diseased tree program.
Council Action:
CITY OF
SHOREWOOD
5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD • SHOREWOOD, MINNESOTA 55331-8927 • (952) 960-7900
FAX (952) 474-0128 • www.ci.shorewood.mmus • cityhaI1@ci.shorewood.mn.us
MEMORANDUM
TO: Planning Commission
FROM: Brad Nielsen
DATE: 9 September 2010
RE: Diseased Tree Program — Tree Inventory
FILE NO. City Code — Title 500
Last Spring, as part of addressing the issue of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), staff had suggested that
the City should conduct an inventory of trees on public property. Various seminars and training
sessions relative to EAB have identified several methods (and price ranges) for conducting such
an inventory. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources and the University of Minnesota, joined together to publish The 2010 Minnesota
Emerald Ash Borer Community Preparedness Manual. This is proving to be a valuable resource
for Minnesota communities such as ours. The Manual summarizes a number of methods of
conducting tree inventories, ranging from simple windshield surveys to aerial photo canopy
analysis, to statistical sampling, to complete natural resource assessments.
As we mentioned early in this year's budget process, staff had obtained a very rough estimate for
having a commercial inventory done by a consulting firm, that suggested a price range of
$30,000 to $40,000. This was based on approximately 100 acres of park land and 50 miles of
public. right-of-way. Since then we have mapped all properties owned by the City (see Exhibit A,
attached) to arrive at a total of 272 acres. It should be noted that while some of these properties
are wetlands, many are rimmed with trees of various sizes and species.
In trying to come up with an economical and useful method of inventorying trees on public
property, we have been meeting with Planning Commissioner Ed Hasek who, as you are aware,
is a registered landscape architect. Mr. Hasek has been involved in doing tree surveys throughout
his professional career and has graciously volunteered his time to help us with our effort. With
Mr. Hasek's expertise and assistance and some minimal software enhancements, staff suggests
that the inventory can be done with existing city resources (i.e., personnel and equipment).
Following is what staff proposes:
0 PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
Memorandum
Re: Tree Inventory
9 September 2010
Tree Species and Location. Although the immediate issue is EAB, there are other tree insect and
disease agents about, most notably oak wilt and Dutch ehn disease. We are also warned that
maples may be the next specie of tree to come under attack. For this reason, staff suggests that
the inventory identify not just ash, but elm, oak and maple. Beyond that, identification would be
limited to deciduous and coniferous. While identifying all trees will undoubtedly take a bit more
time, staff strongly suggests gathering this additional information while we are out there. With
respect to tree location, the Engineering Department already has GPS equipment that is well -
suited to the tree inventory. Also, for a fairly modest investment (<$1000), our current GIS
system can be used to integrate and map the GPS data that is collected.
Tree Size. Aside from knowing how many trees may be affected by EAB, knowing the sizes of
trees is also considered useful information. This will enable us to better estimate the ultimate
costs in whatever tree removal is necessary. For example, it may be possible for Public Works
personnel to remove trees below a certain size, while it may be necessary to contract to have
larger trees taken down.
Tree Condition. Again, as long as we are out there counting trees, staff suggests a simple system
of ranking tree condition (e.g. good, fair, poor). This information can be used to program initial
removal efforts. It may be decided that trees in poor condition should be removed even before
EAB arrives in Shorewood, especially since these are the trees most susceptible to the pest.
Staffing. Our initial estimate of how much time will be required to complete the field work
portion of the inventory is approximately 200 man-hours (person -hours?). In addition, there
could be another 40 hours of analysis and mapping time involved. This time would be divided
between the Building Official, Planning Director, Planning Assistant and Mr. Hasek, of which
approximately 70 percent would be Joe Pazandak's time. In discussing this with Joe, he agrees
that the lull in building activity will likely continue into next year and he would have ample time
to work on this project. We expect that the work would be completed by late July or mid -August
of 2011.
Cost. As mentioned above, the software/programming necessary to integrate the GPS and GIS is
estimated at something less than $1000. The cost of staff time at most is approximately $9000
for a total of $10,000. Not only does this make good use of existing staff time, it will result in a
very useable product for considerably less money than if a consultant was hired to do the work.
This item will be discussed at the Council meeting on Monday night. If you have any questions
prior to the meeting, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Cc: Brian Heck
James Landini
Joe Pazandak
Patti Helgesen
Lary Brown
Brice DeJong
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