I'll promote them. I think they went to the Let's see. Hopefully, they'll come in. That's weird. >> I promoted them. Hopefully they'll pop in. Huh? Oh, am I not co-host? Maybe only you can
do that. >> I thought I made you. Yeah, you're co-host. Y >> Okay, there we go. There it just taking taking some time, I think. >> Okay. Oh, Sarah raised her hand. Oh, there's Sarah. Okay. >> Hi. Can you hear me?
>> Yep. >> Can you promote me again? I missed my opportunity. The window went away and I >> Oh, okay. I'll do it right now. >> There you go. Okay. Um
All right. Excellent. Thank you everybody. Um, Bennett, sorry to make you wait, but we just finished our um the tree hearing and uh well, I have a question left over
from there, but I will start officially start the meeting and call this meeting to order. Uh, this meeting of the Ammeris Public Shade Tree Committee is being recorded and will be made available for public viewing on the town's website and YouTube channel. Uh
today's date is January 13, 2026 and it is 5:44 p.m. Um we'll start with announcements and public comments. I'm sorry. Did I say the wrong date?
>> Oh, sorry. >> I was reading it from my old one. Sorry. God, >> maybe it doesn't matter. Whatever. >> It does matter. I got too much going on here. Um, today's date is February 10th,
2026. Um, and it is now 5:45 p.m. Thank you for that. Um, I don't see any, um, members of the public in the meeting. Um,
I guess we lost Brooks. Hopefully, he'll join us. Um, I Yes, Brit. Am I taking notes or is someone else taking notes this time? >> Um, yes. Could you do that? Thank you. >> Before we go too far. Yes.
>> Yes. Thank you so much. >> Um, I did have a question um from the tree hearing. Um, it just Allan um once those street trees are planted, they become
our domain. Is that correct? And our responsibility. Mhm. >> Okay. So, it would >> that's why I want to discuss with them um followup care for the first three years, >> right? And we have to stay on top of plant uh the watering and all of that
and staking and Okay. Okay. Um can I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes um from our January meeting? So moved.
>> Okay. Second. Shosana seconded. Any discussion, edits, changes? Nope. Okay. >> Okay. Um, all in favor, uh, please raise
your hand so I can see. And Okay. And Bennett, I can't see you, but um can you let us know? Do you approve of the minutes? >> I do. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> I don't know what's going on. I'm sorry.
>> 15 minutes. >> Okay. And oh, here's Brooks. All right. Let him in. Um great. So, the minutes are approved and um we'll just go through and uh collect uh hours. Uh,
Shashana. >> Oh, you're on mute. >> Three. >> Okay. Uh, Julian. >> Uh, 11. >> Thank you, Sarah. >> I'm sorry. >> Three. >> Three. Okay.
>> 11. Oh, there's a >> Yeah, delay. >> Yeah, delay. >> Bennett is on twice. I think that's our problem. >> Bennett, you've cloned yourself.
Um, okay, Brooks. Uh, how many hours for you? The only thing I can think of is going to the tree hearing. So, uh, or the site visit. So, I guess that's a couple hours. >> Okay. Well, I think about one one. Yeah,
let's say one. Um, Brit, >> well, it would be more because there's the site visit, there's the hearing, and then this meeting, too. >> Don't forget to count the meeting. So, it's probably like the meeting right now is probably just going to be like an hour. So you would have like another
hour from that, >> right? >> So >> we'll put you down for three. How's that? >> I like it. >> Okay. >> Um >> can I expect the check? >> Um Brit >> three. >> Okay. Bennett >> two.
>> Okay. And I have eight. So thank you everybody. Um okay, we'll move to committee reports. Um, I was happy to see that the Ammeris current posted our tree hearing and monthly meeting. I've been wanting
them to make that announcement in their Monday um their weekly Monday post. So, um, we finally got on their on their radar. Um, and uh, I also noticed that Ammerst Indie published our second
installment of the Ammerst Arbor Spotlight which features the Dawn Redwood. So, um that was good to see. And I've received um some additional correspondence um about the series. Uh people thanking
me saying they enjoy it. Um, one, um, person I had an extended conversation with, Alise, I think it's Alisa Campbell, um, she wrote to me about the UMass's the old grove forest on Prey's
Ridge, which is on the UMass campus, and that it has a 300year-old white oak. Um, that a core sample was taken in 2006, um, to date it. Um, so I was very excited to learn about that and I want
to go and see it and photograph it and I'll add it to our white oak page. Um, I'm just waiting for some of the snow to melt um, before then so I can be sure to identify it. Um, probably do it in the
spring. Um but uh it was interested to hear about all of her efforts uh to get that um particular uh forested area uh protected. Um it's been um she traced it
back to the 1700s. Um I forget exactly but um it's been noted in many maps as a forested area. So, um >> she did a great talk with the um Ammerst history
group u doing that like a whole like thing with slides and like a live presentation. It was very good. If um >> she ever does something like that, I would recommend it. She's a charismatic like self-made kind of person. She's
very interesting. >> Yeah. and she cares passionately about um protecting that land and um and would like to see more I think um programming and uh knowledge about it um spread. So
yeah, you can see I watched the video. You can see it on the Amoris Historical Society um website. Uh they have a link to all of their past um presentations. Um, another person um
also reached out to me about just to thank, you know, saying they enjoy it and to um mention um the stand of Tamarax, I think behind the tennis courts at Ammerst College. Um just I
thought they thought that was would tie in as a deciduous uh uh tree conifer tree um like the don redwood. Um so anyway that's moving along. Um, I
wrote to town council president Mandy Joe Hani uh to request a town leazison as we discussed um at our last meeting. And she said that she will forward our request to the governance organization and legislation committee and let us
know um if they can accommodate that. Um, I think it would be great to help us um get heard and uh hopefully guide some of our upcoming uh well the specifically the significant
tree ordinance um guide that forward. Uh I've already received two requests uh asking about our upcoming spring planting locations. Um the Ammerst Junior Girl Scouts group uh which is
fourth graders. They want to help. And I also heard from Haley Fox who she uh volunteered last year at our planting along Amity Street. Um and she organizes the Massri students which is I
understand a student social and environmental advocacy group at UMass and they are also interested in helping us. So um maybe when we get to that part of our agenda we can talk about um April and May and seeing if we can um
get that advertised sooner than later. Um, Haley also mentioned um that she would like to discuss the adopt a tree program that she mentioned at one of our previous meetings. So, I will connect with her and um I think she was involved
in that at a previous location she lived um and see what was involved and if it's something that would um be right uh for us. Um, I also received an email from a student at Mount Holio College who's an
environmental science and geography major, um, and is interested in urban green space and community engagement. Uh, she asked whether the Shade Treat Committee has potential for having a
summer internship. Um, her college would pay for it so it wouldn't cost us. Um, I think it I explained that it would have to go through the town and I don't know if this is something we've ever done in the past. Uh, what hurdles there are to
jump over and if there's a need, but I wanted to mention that. Alan, have you ever had an intern or a need for an intern? >> Yeah. So, I mean, we um, you know, we have had interns in the past. Um,
you know, they do many things. u not necessarily just tree related um but I do try to keep that focused on that um I don't know is this is this you know the question is what kind of internship is the student looking for is it are they looking for um
40 hours 20 hours um you know is it something that the intern could work on a project that the committee had in mind that you've been trying to get done accomplished and that, you know, the intern could work part-time on on that
and get, you know, report their hours and finish the project and present the project at the end. Um, so that's that's an option, you know, for the committee, I would think. Um, that's something we could >> if the school's paying for it, you know.
>> Yeah, the school mount Holio would pay for it. Um, Alan, you had mentioned a while back about doing research, um, I think at the Dubois Library on What was that? >> Using the aeroo photoggramometry that they've collected over the past, you
know, 80 years or so, maybe longer, of Massachusetts. And then, um, so it it was designed specifically for tracking tree canopy in Massachusetts. Um, so there's there's there's aer
photoggramometry of Ammerst over time documented. Uh, so you could actually get a very good idea of, you know, how the tree canopy in town has evolved. >> Okay,
>> that could possibly be a good project. >> Um, and obviously we'll have um several plantings. Um, well, I guess we don't do August, but June and July. Um >> the uh significant tree ordinance is something else again is another thing
that you know could potentially be done. >> Okay. All right. And then um I'll I'll get back in touch with um this person. How does that work with the town? The town must have to be involved somehow or not.
>> Yeah, I would think so. Um >> okay. you know, it would probably be, you know, through DPW um kind of thing. >> Okay. But >> yeah, we need to figure out what kind of internship uh the students looking for. >> Okay. I'll try to find out more
information. So, um thank you for that. Um I have compiled thanks to Julian and Sarah um a recommended native um street
tree recommendation list. Um so um I will share that with the committee after the meeting. I'm still working on it. Um but uh I think it is looking good. um and all the benefits of particular
species. Um why they're good and recommendations for, you know, best places to plant, whether it's, you know, in a narrow space or, you know, a wide more wide open area. Um what trees are
resistant to um certain uh pests? Um which ones are most adaptable to harsh conditions? Um all native trees. And if this gets um once everybody's had a chance to look and comment on it, it's something I would love to get up on our
website uh as well. So yeah, Brit, did you have a question? No. Okay, >> you answered it. I was going to >> Okay. >> say, you know, we haven't really talked about in the past, but some of the resources that we develop, you know, certainly we could put them on the website and and point people toward
them. So, I think that's great. >> Yeah, I I do too. and it's something I think we've wanted um to have for a while uh when we get inquiries. So, I'm happy to get that pulled together. Um I think that's uh I'm just looking
over my notes here. Yep, I think that's everything. So, I will turn it over to Julian. >> Hi. Yes. So, I have a few updates. I'll start quickly with social media. We have I believe five new followers. Um I
posted both Arbor spotlights um those get a fair amount of likes um pretty quickly, 9 or 10 within the day. Um so that's positive and um obviously it's posted to the Indie and so on and so
forth where we can reference that. So that's my update for social media. Um otherwise, uh I guess I really had two main updates, maybe three. Um first update is that I wrote a letter
for a log loader um and tree crew foreman position um that I sent to Britt and worked on. Um it's a pretty lengthy letter um and sort of provided some extra information and that sort of thing. Um, so that I imagine Ellen can
bring to the committee soon. Um, and then the other thing is like Ellen mentioned, I created a native tree planting list. Um, and shared that with Sarah and Ellen. Um and then the last
thing was that I am taking this might integrate well with the Mount Holio student. Um which is I'm taking a urban forestry class from Rick Harper. Uh he's my professor and we spoke with him. Um
and part of the class is to over or around the spring break period into April inventory a certain amount of trees. I believe it's 100. Obviously, we have well more than 100 trees. So, my
proposal to him was, what if I we inventoried 500 trees or even more um but only doing newly planted trees, so trees that the committee has planted since 2016. Um, I told him that I could
theoretically get maps and um sites uh and streets that we've planted on um from Allen and Ellen and Henry um and put those together and go out and inventory uh a sizable chunk,
hopefully possibly all, but at least a sizable chunk of the trees we've planted um since 2016 as part of the tree planting program and put those all on a map into iTree um and present it to the
town um to the committee. Um and I think it's something that would get credit for my class project. Um but it's also something that I think would be, correct me if I'm wrong, of service to the town. Something that I'm sure we could I could work with this Mount Holio student on
maybe bring them in. um to help out with this um and have a home base, get the maps and yeah get a DBH measure and an iPad and truck and go out and um I think
that would be pretty easy. Obviously um the timing would have to line up uh in that respect, but um obviously I wouldn't be interested in getting paid for it or anything. I just think it would be a cool cool project that I could do and get the help of the intern
and if the timing lines up uh >> I'd like to see happen. >> Is this for this semester, Julian, or it could go over the summer? >> This is just for this semester. >> Okay. Um, but it theoretically I could start
with a certain amount of trees and then have some sort of teaching days with them over the summer and get them started on a second set of trees. Just given how many we've planted, there's more than can be done at once.
>> Okay. Yeah, I think that sounds great. I have a a document of all the past planting locations for the last maybe only five or six years, but um it's a good place to start. I'm sure Allan has document
going back much farther, but um happy to share that with you. >> Julie, that's a great idea. Um, I could also, you know, share with you, you know, the spreadsheet from our old tree inventory, which essentially was, you
know, the vast majority of the trees that were planted, uh, since I started um, back in 2011. So, a lot of those trees were, you know, committee trees. So, you know, I could point you in the right direction
with that kind of spreadsheet and where where trees are that both the town and the committee have collected, you know, over the years. So, >> yeah, I think combining those two resources, maybe some historical knowledge from Henry would be a good
start to get at least most of where we've planted and update on how all those trees are doing. >> Great. Julian, did you say you sent me something? >> Sorry, I m you Ellen. I sent Ellen.
>> It's okay. >> I sent them to Ellen, but not to me. >> Not to you. Correct. I sent to Ellen the native planting list and the letter for the tree crew foreman and log loader. >> Um, so sorry, I'm stuck. you
>> I I had I was like searching through my email to see what I missed, but I'm glad I didn't >> You didn't miss anything. >> Um yeah, Julian, it's a great letter. Um and I've put it on letterhead. Um but I want to share it with everybody to make sure that um the whole committee is
behind it. Um it's very strong. Um I think I don't know if it'll get us anywhere, but it's it's what we can do at the moment. It's to um Paul Bachman. uh Guilford Morin and what's the third committee? It's the
>> the capital committee that would approve >> Thank you. truck purchases, equipment, etc. >> Yeah. And Alan, um I'd really like you to have eyes on it too to make sure you're aware of what we're asking of. >> Make sure it fits your goal. Yes. Like
make tell me to >> change it. >> Yeah. >> I appreciate your effort in this. >> Yeah. No, it it Julian did it all. I've just been tweaking it a little bit, but I I think it's a really good letter. So, um I'll share that as well after our meeting. Thank you so much.
Um if you're done, Julian, we'll move to Alan. >> All right. Uh so, just uh you know, over the past month, we really haven't done much work. It's been pretty much snow and ice operations
every day. Um, I did get a request from uh Angela Mills. I guess uh Sarah and Ellen, your terms end in June and they would like to know whether you would want to terminate
or continue uh with another term. So, we can just you don't have you don't have to answer that now, but um they would like to um find out what your plans are. So, that's Sarah and Ellen. Um, >> isn't there a limit of only two terms?
Is that correct? >> Yeah, I think that's what they like to do, but they usually often because they're having such a hard time finding people, they often will continue. >> Okay. >> Uh, we do need to uh work on the Arbor
Day proclamation for the Tree City USA uh awards program. Um, I think I was supposed to send that out for review, which I didn't do. So,
that's my fault. I apologize. Uh, let's see. Next, uh, on the 17th, I'll be talking at UMass to uh, one of the, um, lecture series there on urban forestry. Every two or three years, I
get asked to come here and talk. Um, UMass has a community tree conference March 3rd. So, this is going to be the first in-person community tree conference since um the pandemic. So, uh it's a big thing.
It's at UMass. It's a really good, you know, dayong um conference on uh on community trees. I think there's they're really focusing on um sort of risk trees risk tree
assessment in this one but it's a great it's a great conference relative >> is that open I'm sorry Alan is that open to outside people or just to you ask >> all people y >> could you send us an a link to the information or registration thank you
>> def definitely um let's see >> Ellen can you Brooks I don't know if I can the host can mute other people. Just mute him. It's just driving me crazy. Sorry. >> Yeah, I just muted.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, so that's pretty much it. Yeah. Hopefully hopefully the snow will stop and uh melt a little bit and we can start doing some more tree work.
>> Okay, good. Um Sarah treasurer report current balance is $11,000 $193.35 which reflects no change. >> Thank you. Sounds like we will be getting some. Is that where the money
goes into once those tree removals happen? Okay. Thank you. Um Julian gave his social media update. Um I'm glad we're creeping along, getting a few few new people, few new
followers each time. Um so Shauna, do you have anything to share about Facebook? >> Um yeah, I did um when posting the link for the um tree of
the month, it performed well. Um it like I can't see the full breakdown, but it says like we got almost 14,000 views in the past 28 days. >> Wow. >> Um there's also like I invited people to send in their pictures of the snow when
it was really pretty on the trees and um I had a couple of that and it and it does say that 90% of our views are actually from photos and all in all we have 276 followers. 70% of which are women.
>> Okay. Thank you. I'll ask um I'll ask the town if I can find out how many unique views we're getting on the um ammer spotlight um tree pages. Just I'd be curious to know how many people are actually clicking over. Um but thank you
for for staying on top of that. think we can see how many views an Instagram post gets. We can see likes, but I don't think we can see views. >> Yeah, I think the website though, the
town website might be able to tell us how many unique views the page gets. >> I'll ask. Yeah, >> I'll ask. I can ask Sam. She >> Yes, that would be great. >> She's really helpful. >> She is so helpful. There is a way to see
it on Insta that it's like if you go to like your homepage where you can actually see like you know like your little bio and all that and it has all the little thumbnails of all the little things. They have a tiny little like eyeball icon and a number right next to
that and that means how many people have looked at it. >> Let me see if I can get that before the end of the meeting. I probably can't. >> Okay. Um All right. Okay, we'll just move on to second Saturdays. Is it too early, Alan, to
designate a location for April and May? Are we going to be too cold in April? What are your thoughts? >> Hopefully, we won't still have snow on the ground in April. Um, no, I think we should definitely come up with, you know,
by next month, by next month's meeting. Um, okay. At least the first couple of months. It'd be nice to do the whole planting season, but I don't always work that way. So, um definitely come up with April and May. >> Okay, >> that would be great. Um we have some
eager people willing to help and I'd love that um to get their involvement. Um, the head of the Girl Scouts asked if there are other ways they can participate besides plantings. And I mentioned the Arbor Day poster contest,
which I think we're going to miss this year. Um, the deadline's fee, I'm sorry, the deadline is March 15th. Um, but, uh, since it's fourth and fifth graders, um, there's still time. So, I suggested if
they would like to help um get the word out about that for next year and participate um you know, this is something I' I'd really like to to do. It's fits my artistic interest. So, um
we'll see if we get any um response to that. Um we also have um our also in April the sustainability festival and we'll have to table um do a table sign
up um but we still have a little time so we'll talk about that again next month. Um so we can move to the significant tree ordinance. Um Sarah um I filled out my part on the on
on the chart. Maybe you want to share that with everyone. Um I've also written um a statement of purpose um and the intent of that and I can share that with
the committee as well. Okay. Um I'm pulling up the chart if we want to have a look at that. Happy to share. One of the um things I noticed in
looking at other town significant tree ordinances is a lot of them are calling for the um you know outlining the responsibilities of a tree warden and of the tree committee. But we already have
all of that in place. So this would really just be pertaining to removing trees on public trees and trees on private property with certain caveats. Is that is that correct?
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Wouldn't be public trees, right, Sarah? I mean, we're talking about trees, just private trees. I thought >> just private. Okay. Yeah. So, so this because we already have our shade tree committee which already covers the street trees and and public trees. Well,
nobody should be cutting down public. >> Um that's town town. Um but the because our committee already like you were saying defines those roles and covers the consequences for street
trees that are in the public way. This would be more like an addendum to that. But as a whole document, it would really be covering anything that's happening on private land. Um, I haven't worked any further on
this. Alan, it looks like your notes are really robust. This looks great. Um, it looks like we have a couple that we need to continue to work on. Cambridge, Newton, Quincy, and Welssley still need to get
filled in. >> And then um if there's anything any additional research like this isn't a comprehensive list, so there might be additional um towns that we want to go and have a look at.
Um, but I think >> good progress >> could be something that we use for, you know, for um, intern work. If we decide to have an intern over the summer, I think that certainly a docu filling out a document like this could be something
that we could assign as a task. Um, >> um, quick question on this because I've missed this. I've missed several meetings as you may have noticed. Um, it seems obvious that people have been assigned a specific town to fill in the what they can find
about the significant tree ordinance. I'm hap if that's the case, I'm happy to be assigned a town. >> It it was a wholly voluntary sign up, >> but you're more than welcome to sign up for one. This is a shared doc, so you can go in and and sign yourself up and
fill this in. Everyone should have editing capabilities. >> Great. and it lives in our shared drive which is also where all of these um bylaws such that I have when I downloaded them three years ago are all uploaded.
>> Great. I'll do that. >> Thanks Bennett. Great. Yeah, thank you. And I um am remiss. I was going to write to Julie at DCR to ask about what if she has a comprehensive list, but I will do
that before our next meeting. Um, yeah, I I found it really interesting. It doesn't take very long because you're just basically cutting and pasting the relevant parts. Um, what I looked at Lexington and I think
if I remember correctly, it pertained to all private property trees over a certain um, DBH. Um, but you know, I think some towns have it just
is I'm trying to remember some Oh, yeah. Here it is. Under area of impact, the minimum setback area around a lot shall be measured 30 feet from the front, 15 feet from the two sides. Okay. So, it wasn't the whole entire property.
It was just with setback. >> Yeah. It looks like they're tying it to their setbacks. So, that's interesting. >> Mhm. whereas Northampton and Springfield are the whole city. Yeah, that's an important um
consideration what what we would want to um define Yeah. So, if everybody could please um go into the document, take a look at it
um and if you have the time um take one of the towns and uh read their their ordinance and um fill this chart out. And I'll send a reminder if
everybody could look at this chart um before our next meeting. I think we'll be more prepared um to start talking about it and um coming up with a plan. And again, I have several documents to share with the
group, but I can I took a first draft at the um writing a statement of purpose in doing this. So, I will be happy to share that um with everybody as well. Anything else, Sarah? Um I I think that
pretty much covers it. Just if folks are getting in there to look at that chart and also want to flip through the draft that's in there. Um I don't the and Bennett just to get you caught up. I think that what we decided on in our working group meeting as our like path
forward is to do uh more of this literature review and kind of see what other towns and communities are doing so that we can make an informed decision about why we're saying what we're saying in the bylaw, what the area of impact is, what
the consequences are, what the triggering is. So just having a little bit more rationale behind what we're proposing. Um, and then so by doing kind of a this review and then getting into a deep edit, but if you kind of want to have a look at where we're where we are
or how we might apply the some of the research, um, feel free to look at the drafts that's also in the the shared doc as well. Yes, thank you for being organized in all of that, Sarah. It's very helpful. It's like I said, it's super easy. It's
kind of interesting and it doesn't take much time. So, if everybody um could spare a few minutes, that would be much appreciated. Um I'm going to move now to followup topics. Um
I am ready to go to Ammeris Farmer Supply. Sarah, I didn't know if I needed to wait on you for some type of documentation for the >> and I that's my apology. Um, I need to send you the form with the the agreed
upon price in it and sign it and you can sign it. Um, I yeah, I apologize. My house has been racked with illness and I everything has slipped away from me, but it's okay. There's no rush. We're not we're not digging any holes immediately. So, um, but yeah, if you could get that
to me, then I can get that um make those purchases. Um, >> great. And um regarding a food forest, I'm very interested in this idea. Um Alan, could
you be a little I I tried to look on Google Earth um where specifically this little plot of of public land is. Is it across from Wildwood Cemetery? >> Um >> no. No, it's um
>> Do you know where the There's a daycare facility at Wildwood School kind of up there's a separate building. >> Yes. >> Um and if you um if you're up by that building and you look west towards UMass
um there's a field that's overgrown now. um >> which has a little it's like a little flag lot that goes out to East Pleasant Street. Um so there that's one of the access from East Pleasant Street is through this little narrow, you know,
right away and then it opens up to the what used to be a farm field. Um, so it's it's in that area and I can send you I guess I can send you a link or something, you know, map >> PDF of the property. >> Um,
>> that would kind of outline where it is. I haven't really looked at it very closely. I know the era of photoggramometry, if you look at Google maps or whatever, it has become pretty overgrown. They haven't been mowing it and maintaining it. It's because it's slowly reverting back to um you know
forest. So >> do you know >> Ellen, do you know where the Oh, what was the name of that street? >> Pokeberry. >> You know the street that goes up really steep? >> Yep. >> Across the street from there, you know
how there's the Habitat for Humanity? It's a big blue house. >> Uh no, but I know exactly where you're talking. Yeah, >> there's a big blue house. It's across the street from there. There's basically a little strip of forest between two
houses. Um, and you just walk through the woods there and it opens. >> Okay. >> I I mean, I just I'm very interested in the fact that it's it's so centrally located to town. Um, it just seems like it could be an ideal
location. Um, but I know this is a lot of work and and planning that would have to go into it. I also don't know what the impact of I don't know what the plans are for Wildwood Elementary. Um, you know, once they tear that down, you
know, my guess is it might become housing, which would make it even more appealing to have, you know, a food forest there. Um, but >> you'd probably have to cut a lot of that stuff back. >> Yeah, sounds like it. I mean, we
obviously could do a workday with brush cutters, but >> it's more of like a meadow though at the moment, right? >> If it's the same plot that I'm thinking of, like there's a little trail that goes >> Yep. >> through it. Like if you go past the
preschool or the daycare or whatever it is, there's like a little trail right there that actually goes down to another like if you're going down the hill rather than to the right out toward East Pleasant, it also connects up in that neighborhood with a little trail.
>> Mhm. >> Yeah. Okay. >> That's to like Ames. >> Yeah. I don't know the name of the street, but some >> Oh, Ames. Yeah. That's a really hard street to find. Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Um just looking here. Tree tags. Um Julian, if you do that project for your class, that might if you're going to visit these trees. Um it might be great. Perfect time to put some tree tags on them. I can help fill them out. >> Um I that's great with the intern too
could help do that. Um, I really want to do it on all the tree, you know, as many trees as we can that we've plant that the committee has planted just to bring public awareness to all we do. So, >> yeah, we could even get other volunteers to help us, too. Um, I mean, there's ton
the amount of new trees that have been planted since 2016 are many. So, >> and and maybe also starting with our plantings this year, let's tag trees as we plant them. bring them with us. Yes. Um yeah, Allan
almost always knows a day or two ahead of time or more what trees uh he'll be bringing. Um and so I can just print it out on this super cool waterproof paper and bring it uh to the plantings.
Um Tree City USA declaration. Do you Oh, sorry, Bennett. Go ahead. >> Remind me. Are those tags designed? >> Yes. Okay, great. >> I can I can send those as well, just so everybody can look at them and see. They're they're they're sort of fun and
playful. I mean, they're not artistically designed, but they're sort of in the voice of the tree, which is nice. Yeah. >> Um, >> also, is my face still stuck in the video? >> Jesus.
>> Be stuck in a better position. >> You're very pensive. This is a disaster for me. >> You're singing like >> yodelling. That's a yodel. Brett.
>> Um, okay. Alan, do you need any help with the declaration that has to be read in town council by town council? >> Well, I can what I what I want to do is um you know, town council, we sent them one two years ago. um they reviewed it in their subcommittee for proclamations
and they made a few changes to it. Um we need to request that they do another one, you know, proclamation uh this April and I didn't know if the committee wanted to put put your eyes on it and make any changes to it. I need to get
that to you. I just made a note of my calendar for tomorrow to send it to you, Ellen, so that um you can share with the committee. >> Great. Okay, thank you. Um, log loader we discussed. I will send um the proposed letter that Julian did. It's really
good. Um, anything on donating to wood banks? I guess that ties in with having the log loader, but has there been any talk or communications? >> I owe um Brit an email so that or discussions that we can talk about. I
have I I have been in discussion with the superintendent over this um and it's back on my lap to um come up with a way to um post it, you know, for a
a request for a proposal, you know, to um to bid on this on this wood essentially. >> Yeah, I'm ready to talk whenever you're ready. Just let me let me know when what works for you. >> Brett, I think you'll appreciate this. I
had Andre come and talk at one of my classes. >> Awesome. He's great, right? >> He's a nice guy. Yeah. >> Yeah. He's going to come talk to my environmental education class also. >> God, it's been so bitterly cold. I've just been thinking about that and how
great it would be to be able to help people with heat insecurity. Um, okay. State level initiatives and Mary Maple Tree are the last two items on our Mary Maple Table. Sorry, not the
tree, which Brit, thank you. I know you're housing. >> The table, the table's in my house. I will report that I have an offer forthcoming on my Mary Maple book. Um, so hopefully there will be a book out in
the world about our beloved tree at some point. um and some money from that to um donate to the committee. So I I'll keep everybody posted on that. >> That's just so exciting. >> Keep our fingers crossed. >> I could sing
any topics. Actually, uh, speaking of the Merry Maple, um, Brit, do you still have like some of the love letters that people like I was thinking maybe for Valentine's Day I could post one? >> Yeah, I have all of them. I've got pictures of all of them. Um, that
apparently I took on this day last year because I was searching for pictures of somebody's birthday that happened on this day and those pictures showed up. So, yes, I have pictures all of them. Um, and I also have I also have the physical um, letters, but yeah, that's a
great idea. So, maybe I'll if you text me or email me or something, I'll I'll try to find a good one and uh, yeah, share it. >> Okay, thanks. >> They might be in our um, Google shared Google Drive. I think I've seen them.
>> Yeah, I think I I think maybe I shared in there and forgot. >> Yeah, I think you did put them in there at some point. Yeah. Yeah, I forgot about that. Perfect. But that's a great idea for Valentine's Day. I really like that. Um, okay. Any topics not
reasonably anticipated? Not that I am is any further discussions. All right. Well, um I just um will be sending out an email with several attachments and I just ask that everybody please um
find some time just to comment and get responses back. Um and to also um if you also have time the significant uh tree ordinance chart um I'd like to fill that out some more. So, um,
and we meet again. I can't believe I had the wrong date. I said the wrong date. That's so funny. Um, it looks like Tuesday, March 10th. Um, Alan, is there any need to do any I think last April is when we planted the pollinator garden at
town hall. Is that all perennials, so that doesn't need to be sort of redone this year? uh it needed to be um you know it never really sort of got put to bed for the winter. Um so somebody has been
volunteering it looks like to do some random kind of pruning uh cutting back there. But um yeah, I mean it would be nice to revisit maintenance on that garden this spring
because um un unintended consequence of its location is that everything grows towards the light because it has a wall on one side. So all the tall plants grew up and out and then flopped over onto everything
growing low and in front. Um so either some pruning if possible to make to stiffen and shorten some of the this the plants or maybe staking or something to keep things from flopping. uh would be needed
to to make that garden, you know, it's beautiful. Lots of compliments on that garden. Um and uh it's definitely needed in that area. There's not a lot of pollinator material in that area at all. I have many of those same plants in my
yard which are just were covered in pollinators. >> Uh and I'd go up town, look at that garden, and there'd hardly be anything flying around. M >> so it really um is needed over there. So >> okay, maybe during the sustainability
festival if it's not pouring rain this year um some of us could go over there and and do some work. Um >> is there a date for that yet? >> Yeah, I that was >> discussed it last time. >> No, we we can circle back. I was just
wondering if it >> Yeah. No, I I there was not a date um last time, but we will look. I'm sorry, my computer bumped me off. Where is this? The garden. >> Oh, the pollinator garden that we did last year at town hall. >> Oh, awesome.
>> I think we did that last April. Um, so, and Alan was just saying it could use some pruning and staking and things like that. So, um, all right. And thanks Bennett for the newsletter getting that out every month. Appreciate that.
Um, I think that's it. And hopefully Henry will be back from Portugal and join us next month. >> Can I have a motion to close the meeting, please? >> Motion to close.
>> Second. Anyone? >> Second your motion to close. >> Okay. All in favor, raise your hand. Yay. Go get dinner. >> Thank you everybody. >> Yeah, thank you and thanks for the tree hearing Alan.
>> Thank you. Thanks for the help. Thanks. Have a good evening. Bye bye. Bye.