06-13-23-PTRC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes June 13, 2023 Page 3 Committee Member Rogers thought plugging into other channels that are already active would be helpful, such as Nextdoor. Chair Hinton said she has found at her job that they get different users on each of the different channels. Senior Communications Coordinator Cardona told the committee members they can reach out to him, the Recreation Supervisor or the Council Liaison. C. Interim Buckthorn Management Solution This item was discussed part way through the parks and trails tour. Committee Member Kelliher stated there is a group of people working the Chatham trails area and have made considerable headway taking out mature buckthorn, but there are still a lot of really young buckthorn and the best way to mitigate that is to hire a herd of goats. Hazelnut Park and Floral Park are on the list for the upcoming grant cycle with Great River Greening, and they will have a better idea of how much money is granted this fall, with they money dispersed in June, 2024. A similar grant would be applied for the next park; he would suggest the Chatham trails area but there will be a two-year lag between the mature buckthorn being cut and when the grant money will become available. He is proposing to ask the City for $4,500 to cover the cost of bringing in a goat herd for one grazing and to reseed grass and sedge. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Poelzer to request $4,500 from the City to bring in a goat herd to graze ($3,500) and to reseed ($1,000) the Chatham trail area during the two-year lag period before grant money is potentially available. Committee Member Poelzer added that one of the goat herders explained that if you know the goats are coming it’s good to put down the seed first so the goats trample the seed into the soil. Committee Member Kelliher said the process would be to graze down the smaller buckthorn, as recommended by Great River Greening. The difference is there isn’t a plan in place for trees and other natural vegetation to remediate the area. The recommendation is to add the grass and sedge seed as a placeholder until grant money is hopefully available to do a complete remediation of the vegetation. Committee Member Jacobson asked about waiting a year. Committee Member Kelliher said they are in a good spot right now, but buckthorn will win the battle if they don’t hit it with something else this season so the work they’ve done so far doesn’t backstep. Committee Member Jacobson thought a grant might be more easily awarded because of the work that has already been done.