February LVTT Meeting

[Lawrenceville TreeTenders]

Hi all! After the upcoming polar vortex, Spring will be coming!

Maeve has done some fundraising for the Tree Park and we're going to convene a meeting for this coming Thursday, February 11th:

Tentative Agenda

1. Tree Park: Regroup and strategize about the grant expenditure, maintenance, the hawthorne rust, etc. There may also be some additional resources available via Grounded.
   
2. Brainstorm about neighborhood sites we could target with Tree Applications.
3. Possibly support Friends of the Riverfront's efforts at winter tree care and invasive vine cutting along the riverfront (they socially-distance, etc). Rosie Wise reached out to us and I may invite her to Thursday's meeting if she's available.
4. Other?
   

The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Thursday, March 4th at 6 PM.

Let me know if you think you'll attend the meeting on Thursday. If I host the meeting via Zoom, we will be limited to 45 minutes, and maybe that's ok? Or if someone else would like to host the Zoom it's ok with me, too.

Have a restful weekend!

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Tree Pittsburgh: Lawrenceville Tree Tenders is an all-volunteer organization with a mission to maintain existing street trees, educate residents, and re-forest the neighborhood.

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[Stacy Desai]

I am available for this Thursday the 11th.

Thanks for sharing the agenda.

Stacy

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[Matt Erb]

I plan on attending, what time is the meeting? 

Tree Pittsburgh received some grants to help with Lawrenceville Releaf, I would like to share some information with the group. 

Best,

Matt

On Sat, Feb 6, 2021 at 5:14 PM Lawrenceville TreeTenders <lvtree...@gmail.com> wrote:

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Matthew Erb
Director of Urban Forestry
Tree Pittsburgh

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[Christine Brill]

6-6:45

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Christine Brill, AIA
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Studio for Spatial Practice

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A Woman's Business Enterprise (WBE)

[Lawrenceville TreeTenders]

A reminder about  this evening's meeting. 6:00-6:40 PM. Talk soon! Zoom link below.

Agenda:

1. Tree Park: Regroup and strategize about the grant expenditure, maintenance, the hawthorne rust, etc. There may also be some additional resources available via Grounded.
   

1. Brainstorm about neighborhood sites we could target with Tree Applications. Map of LV Tree Canopy.

1. Possibly support Friends of the Riverfront's efforts at winter tree care and invasive vine cutting along the riverfront (they socially-distance, etc). Rosie Wise reached out to us and I may invite her to Thursday's meeting if she's available.

1. Tree Pittsburgh Funding.

Christine Brill is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: LVTT Meeting 6:00
Time: Feb 11, 2021 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/72672528225?pwd=Znh0Y0RBTjZndXRmZldSRERERm9VQT09

Meeting ID: 726 7252 8225
Passcode: C5nF6X

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[Matt Erb]

Here is the language from City’s code in regards to exceptions for tree pit size

483.06. The Department of Public Works shall have the discretion to allow for an open space of less that thirty (30) square feet of open ground in instances where a sidewalk is less than seventy-four (74) inches wide and mitigating measures to assure the health of the tree, including but not limited to irrigation and pervious surfaces, are in place.

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[Lauren Byrne Connelly]

Thanks, Matt! I definitely think advocating for this on selected streets where it make sense would be compelling. We can help however necessary as LC if it means compiling the tree requests,  requesting waivers/ exceptions , walking property owners through those processes, or whatever else. 

Thanks! 

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 11, 2021, at 7:22 PM, Matt Erb <ma...@treepittsburgh.org> wrote:



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[Christine Brill]

Hi Everyone! Please see the notes below and let me know if I missed anything. 

We need to reschedule March's LVTT Meeting for Thursday, March 11th at 6 PM because of a meeting conflict on the evening of March 4th (Arsenal Park Planning).

I will send out an invitation to the Trail Tuesday vine cutting event on February 23rd and be in touch with Rosie at Friends of the Riverfront as well. 

Talk soon... be well!

_____________________

Tree Pittsburgh Lawrenceville Tree Tenders 

Monthly Meeting: February 2021

Participating: Lauren Byrne Connolly (LC), Maeve Rafferty, Stacy Desai, Matt Erb (Tree Pittsburgh), John Moore, Rosie Wise (Friends of the Riverfront), Christine Brill

I. Tree Park: Regroup for 2021 

• Earth Volunteer Fund Grant
• LVTT received $1250 total, which is already delivered to Tree Pittsburgh’s account. 
• Set aside $400-$500 to buy Tree Park Plants, with some $$ set aside for winter maintenance. 
• LC will match the funds.
• Maeve may set up a gofundme account to do additional Tree Park fundraising. 
• Concentrating on one particular planting bed at the center of the park that was cleared out last summer. 
• Up to 1000 plants should be in the ground by June, mainly smaller plugs but larger plants are needed near areas with Mugwort. 
• Christine sent the plant list to her landscape architect business partner to review. 3 species are anticipated: ground cover (Christmas fern and alumroot, dry shade), and wild columbine (good for pollinators). Simple and low maintenance.
• Availability of plants: late April or May. Need to order soon. Maeve may set up an account via North Creek Nurseries. There may be a minimum dollar amount for placing an order.
• Matt Erb: we need a motion from LVTT to allow Tree Pittsburgh (fiduciary conduit) to release funds for this effort. Stacy Desai made a motion for Tree Pittsburgh to spend between $500 and $1000 on plants. Seconded by John Moore. All present agree.
• Other Tree Park Needs
• Basic Maintenance
• Great community participation last year but four key volunteers left Pittsburgh last year. 
• Paul and Maeve did some cleaning and will stake the dogwood to help straighten it out. 
• Schedule our first Tree Park maintenance session for April when it starts to get weedy. 
• Socially-Distanced Tree Park Maintenance 
• Inviting only this interested list, keeping the group small. 
• Last year, different individuals each adopted a bed and Maeve worked with each of us to ID problems and maintenance goals for each planting bed. There was sufficient space between each person working particular planting beds. 
• It was necessary to do one group day each month because people weren’t motivated to weed regularly otherwise. 
• Everyone brought their own tools. 
• Encouraging independent weeding and mulching. Would be helpful to have pictures of what we should remove or keep on-site. 
• Mulching may be needed this spring. It can be procured from Cavacini’s, Tree Pittsburgh or City Forestry. 
• Cedar-Hawthorne Rust 
• The Hawthornes are suffering. They look awful but the fungus is not going to kill them. 
• Thought is to retain the Hawthorne for pollinator potential. Replace the Cedar. 
• How to talk with neighbors about it? Replace cedars them with some kind of screen. 
• We’ll discuss this more in March. 
• Tree Park Snow Removal
• Currently paid for by the Lawrenceville Corporation, the owner of the property.
• Community Bulletin Board 
• Interest in installing a community bulletin board on-site, with protective glass or plexiglass-glass, to provide information about the Tree Park, LVTT, etc. 
• Joe Kelly, of Kelly Custom Furniture, is on our Board and has contributed his time to things like this in the past. Lauren can ask if he could create something for the Tree park if we could pay for materials or something. There are also a few makers in the Ice House who could create something.

II. General Lawrenceville Street Tree Mulching

• Nothing officially organized, but Tree Pittsburgh is encouraging people to get mulch and do work on their own. 
• Ed (volunteer) did independent mulching along Butler Street in 2020

III. Tree Pittsburgh Received Funding for 2 Important Programs (Pittsburgh Foundation)

Trees to Combat Climate Change

• Work with LV residents to work on impact of climate change and what people can do with trees.
• Education events with kids at Arsenal, Boys and Girls Club, youth tree care events, etc. 
• Intent is to attract / involve a more-diverse crowd
• Trips to the Tree Pittsburgh Nursery
• Tree Adoption: free trees for front and back yards
• Educational programs to start this spring.

Re-Leaf Lawrenceville Steering Committee

• First meeting in early March to track progress and strategize next steps 
• Better support for community organizations and project implementation
• Question: How does LVTT fit into ReLeaf Lawrenceville? Anyone is welcome. Perception by some is that LVTT has been restrictive.

IV. Support Friends of the Riverfront's efforts at Removing Invasive Vines at the Riverfront 

• Rosie Wise runs Trail Tuesdays, from 9 AM - Noon
• First proposed-monthly event: Tuesday February 23rd
• LVTT to send information to Certified Neighborhood Tree Tenders so that the audience is limited
• May be possible to set up a weekend date in the future
• Christine will send information to the Tree Tenders (roughly 100+ residents)

V. Neighborhood Sites we could target with Tree Applications 

• Reviewed a map of the LV Tree Canopy showing places that have lost and gained trees in Lawrenceville
• Tenth Ward Targeted Tree Planting
• Revisit 10th Ward community involvement activity, as discussed before the pandemic. 
• Send volunteers to take pictures of particular spots, to take photos of existing tree pits for review and cataloguing.
• How can we contribute to Re-Leafing Lawrenceville?
• Community advocacy.
• Possible to have a summary list of all the City’s tree pit site selection criteria? Matt Erb: There are about 75 things the City requires, and an update is coming up
• Revisit all those rejected sites. Christine is working on a Map of Rejected Tree Sites and will share it soon.
• 41st Street (Willow to Butler Street)
• Some streets will never get 30 SF tree pits because of the narrow right-of-way. 
• Is it possible to have a “grandfathered,” smaller tree pit size?
• Make an appeal to the City Forester: Duquesne Light removed trees. Same issue in Mexican War Streets 
• Language from the City’s code in regards to exceptions for tree pit size:
• “483.06. The Department of Public Works shall have the discretion to allow for an open space of less that thirty (30) square feet of open ground in instances where a sidewalk is less than seventy-four (74) inches wide and mitigating measures to assure the health of the tree, including but not limited to irrigation and pervious surfaces, are in place.”
• Stacy may be interested in leading this effort to replant 41st Street. 

VI. Administrative

• Next Scheduled Lawrenceville Tree Tender Meeting: Thursday, March 11th at 6 PM
• Add John Moore to the invite list, and to the internal LVTT email group (done)

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