Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Council
March 11, 2015
University of Vermont, 325 Old Mill

MINUTES

In attendance: Ann Hazelrigg, Elise Schadler, Bonnie Waniger, Warren Spinner, Emilie Inoue, Keith Thompson, Richard Amore, Mary Houle, Kate Forrer, Mike Fallis, Jane Brown, David Schneider

NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY JUNE 10th

Welcome, Introductions, and Review Minutes

Ann welcomed the Council members.

Members engaged in a 1-minute sharing on an issue, professional updates, or personal update.

Minutes were reviewed and approved.

Program Conversation
Danielle shared written program update, and responded to questions from members.

  • Warren suggested CEUs for workshops and webinars.
  • Danielle requested Envirothon judges; (Tuesday, May 19th, 8-3pm – Lake Morey) she will send out information in an email.
  • Danielle also requested help in reviewing grants; Ann, Mike, and Richard have volunteered.

Looking Forward

  • Outcomes of the last two meetings and plan for going forward

Ann: Provided an overview of our work over the past two meeting. Moving into June we should have all the pieces we worked on pulled together just in time for the new leadership to come on board.
Program staff will develop a welcome package for all Council members (Action Plan, Roles & Responsibilities, Program information, Minutes, FPR information, Staff information/contact, By-laws) and put it up our website.
Council members will be asked to provide a bio sketch and photo to put online as well.

  • Membership and Meetings

Ann: membership changes. David has resigned as Chair; he would like to remain on the Council but had too many conflicts, personal and professionally. Jeff Young has stepped down from the Council after 6 years (Danielle suggested acknowledging Jeff – and all past Council members – at the Tree Stewards Awards or Arbor Day). Tad Nunez, Parks Director in Hartford, has expressed interest in being on the Council again. He would fill the role of Jeff Young as a municipal representative (at-large-member). Recommendation will be made to Steve to appoint Tad.

Members discussed the meeting frequency and locations. It was determined that we should maintain the set dates, and maintain consistency in locations. Moving forward we will try to maintain the following locations.

March: Online meeting

June: Meeting with field tour – dependent on tour location.

September: Central Vermont

December: Montpelier – State House to support Tree Stewards Ceremony.

  • Membership management

Member terms and appointments: It was determined that we should have 2-year terms, and ask members to do a self-evaluation each year at the annual meeting. The self-evaluation will be an opportunity to reflect on how active they are and to re-affirm commitment to the Council.

  • Bylaws update

Members reviewed proposed updates to the bylaws. Areas to update include:

  • Mission: updating Council mission based on 2012 revisioning,
  • Membership: based on earlier conversations,
  • Staffing titles: based on current language,
  • Responsibilities: expanded responsibilities for Vice Chair and Program Manager

Council comments, suggestions, feedback:

  • FPR representative should not a non-voting member and should also not be eligible for leadership team (conflict of interest).
  • Add “UCF Program” to mission (opposed to just FPR) to better reflect partnership (UVM/FPR) nature of the program.
  • Two year term should be explicitly “repeatable”
  • Change “user group” to “stakeholders”
  • Proposed amendments to the vice chairperson includes specific details that all council members should be working on; perhaps too much detail for by-laws.

Defining Urban and Community Forestry

Group activity: consider and edit definitions for urban and community forests and forestry. Below are draft definitions to consider again at the June meeting.
Urban & Community Forests
The trees and associated ecosystems in and around human developments. These include town-owned forests and individual trees along streets, transportation, and infrastructure corridors, as well as in parks, schools yards, cemeteries, and backyards.
Perhaps include: …. Ranging from small communities in rural settings to downtowns, villages, and cities.

Urban & Community Forestry
The stewardship, cultivation, and management of trees and associated ecosystems in and around human developments to maintain the benefits they provide.

Forest Action Plan and UCF Action Plan

Group activity to identified strategies for next 5-year action plan. Danielle will synthesize work and begin to develop 5-year action plan.