Kankakee Times

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources met Sept. 16 to invite new members to fill open positions from industry groups.

Here is the meeting's agenda, as provided by the department:

Page 1 Illinois Urban and Community Forestry Committee Meeting September 16, 2016 Conference Call, 9:30 AM - 11:00 PM Attendees: Beth, Lydia, Steve, Rob Sproule, Debbie, Reinee, Daniella Agenda ? Forestry Development Council FY17 RFP: applications due 9/19/16, work completed by 6/30/17 ? Anyone from committee applying? RH applying for IDNR Smokey Bear EAB carving upkeep & info sign; IDNR Historic Tree arboretum signage ? UF Committee apps? None at this time - for 2017 and moving forward, committee should work toward having a list of “shovel ready” projects. ? Action item 3.1: ISA certification scholarships: committee would need to develop program in order to apply. Rather than poaching the IAA program guidelines, Steve will talk to IAA this week to discuss RFP and potential letter of support from committee. If IAA is successful in their application, the committee can add this partnership in the annual accomplishment reporting. ? New Action item for Committee work plan: develop and implement annual advertising campaign to share Council RFP opportunity (when available) to UF partners across state. Target TCIA, SMA, IAA, IL Forest Pest Outreach, and NFP organizations. Encourage applications and let them know that the UF Committee would be willing to write a LOS for applications that meet the state Action Plan criteria and goals of FDC ? Update Committee work plan table and distribute to committee ? Committee work plan items - update work plan, add new items: ? Paul D. is completing Illinois Forest Action Plan draft for 9/27/16 FDC meeting. Paul appreciated committee input and is following our format for new plan. When published, share with committee. ? Send out old committee budget for review ? IDNR and U&CF introductions - Reinee ? New intern from U of I GPSI program - Sarvya Pamulapati, term until June, 2017 (option thru Dec. 2017) ? Will do UF Committee administration – see pg 3 ? Will do IDNR U&CF website changes ? Will do FDC – UCFC website updates on the IDNR UCF website ? Is going to create “Faces of UF” map ? Will create a google maps document with CARS data showing communities (assisted or active in 2016) and it will include the 4 CARS data plus community name and population. ? U&CF funding still not accessible to the program manager. The Illinois state core funding for FFY16 at the request of the USFS was redirected to: ? Trees Forever for downstate U&CF and tornado relief (2 yr contract) ? Openlands to expand TK (This includes a sub-contract to the Illinois Arborist Association for sponsorship of the educational sessions at their annual conference) (1 yr contract) ? Morton Arboretum U&CF assistance in northern IL (1 yr contract) ? Recruitment of new members and revitalize committee ? Send membership roster to committee. Please review and invite new members to fill open positions from industry groups. Page 2 ? New Student members: ? Derek Reiking (SIU) Urban and Regional Development and Planning ? Zach Woodbury (WIU) - president of WIU Forestry Club ? Partners in Community Forestry Conference - November 18-19, 2016, Indianapolis, IN ? Annual series of conferences including Continental Dialogue (forest pest), Society of Municipal Arborists, Alliance for Community Trees Member Day (NFP’s involved in tree planting and urban forestry), Arbor Day Foundation Partners Conference ? Beth asked about the two state scholarships/raffles. ? Reinee indicated that they were not raffles and that there is only one scholarship per state provided through the UDS FS and Arbor Day Foundation through the State Forestry Agencies and that it was the responsibility of the state to make those selections. One scholarship is provided to the state for their State Urban and Community Forestry Program Administrator. The other should go to communities or non-profits per the state foresters and/or urban and community forestry administrator’s discretion. ? Reinee is attending state coordinators meeting and Partners Conference ? Debbie (TreesForever) is attending on additional IL scholarship (supplied by AD Foundation) for the first time this year. ADF grants each state two free registrations each year. IT was mentioned that in the past the Morton Arboretum (Beth Corrigan, in particular, and others at the Morton Arboretum) have used this scholarship 2-3 times in the past when no community stepped forward to request the scholarship.) ? Beth made suggestion to have UF committee publicize Partners (and associated) Conference attendance to broader audience by opening up statewide raffle of extra scholarship registration. This will allow for a pool of applications encouraging more urban foresters from across the state to attend conference. The goal is to grow U&CF awareness and participation. ? Reinee Hildebrandt indicated that this was not an appropriate request. (This was later confirmed by the State Forester.) ? Announcement and Invitation: (Daniella) CRTI and Openlands 35th Anniversary of TreeKeeper event, Oct 5, 2016 at Promontory Point, Chicago. An evening of entertainment, networking, awards, and celebration of TreeKeepers program 25 years! Contact Daniella or Beth for details. ? Upcoming meetings: ? November 3, 2016, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, (FDC mtg. on 11/10/16) The Morton Arboretum, administration conference room, plus call-in opportunity ? January 5, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, south Does central IL wish to host a meeting location? Or just line up a call? ? March 2, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, north ? May 4, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, south ? July 6, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, north ? September 7, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, south ? November 2, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, north