08-11-21 Urban Forestry Committee MinutesKalispell Parks & Recreation
306 1st Ave E. P.O. Box 1997
Kalispell, Montana 59903-1997
(406) 758-7718 Fax (406) 758-7719
STREET TREE BOARD
MINUTES
Wednesday, August 11, 2021, 4 - 5 p.m.
In attendance: April Vomfell, Erin Stieber, Martin Rippens, staff: Fred B,
Colter H, and guest Ali Auwelling- DNRC, and Celesta Collacchi- FEC
Public Comment:
No public comment was given.
Approve Minutes:
As a quorum was not present, minutes from the June and July meeting were not approved.
Current Business:
➢ Review Tree Walk
• Everyone thought it was a good event. Good number of participants. Martin stressed the
importance of getting the participants to engage. Everyone liked the tree planting demo.
Judy ran into a participant at the grocery store who commented on how much she enjoyed
the walk.
➢ Begin Talking about Fall Tree Tour- Tony
• Tony was not able to make meeting due to fire season.
• Group discussed past years and what occurred for new members.
• Board discussed different elements of the event such as date, route, audience, buses,
fundraising, speaking.
• This will be the focus of the next meeting.
➢ Educate citizens about trees by creating news articles
• Topics below were discussed, and Fred asked that people try to complete a rough draft by
the next meeting. Martin has completed his watering article and will still try to get published
this summer.
• Ali suggested an article on backyard shade trees. She also suggested trying to keep articles
to around 350 words and possibly breaking up articles into more material.
o Companion Planting- April
o Tree Watering- Martin
o Do’s and Don’t of boulevard trees- Fred
o Tree Selection and Diversity- April
➢ Media campaign
• The media campaign was discussed and revisited on who was doing what. Fred handed out
an example of what he found for Higher test scores.
o Improves Mental
Health- April
o Reduces Pollutants-
Judy
o Lower Temperatures-
Martin
o Higher Test Scores-
Fred
➢ Red Oak Review- Martin
• Of the approximately 39 red
oaks planted in boulevards
throughout Kalispell 23% are
doing poorly or dead and 13%
were fair.
• Seemed like they were either
doing really well or really poor.
• Soils in certain areas of town
are probably to alkaline for red
oak as they prefer acidic soil.
• With 64% doing good or
excellent, removing the species
from the 50/50 program but
leaving on the recommend list
of tree species for Kalispell was discussed.
• It was suggested that those 50/50 trees that are
not doing well will be replaced with Arbor Day
trees next year.
➢ Arborist Update – Colter
• The pruning of 4th Ave E is now complete.
Next up is 5th Ave E. Forestry staff are
continuing to water trees around town daily.
Colter and JT will be heading to Tree Worker
Academy next week in Helena.
Cc: City Clerk
Ranking Count %
Dead or
dying 1 3 7.692308
Poor 2 6 15.38462
Fair 3 5 12.82051
Good 4 10 25.64103
Excellent 5 15 38.46154
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