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Hudson committee approves $1,800 forester payment, discusses tree grants and protections
Summary
The city advisory council agreed to release $1,800 from its 2025 street-tree budget to pay a contracted forester, reviewed a single bid for spring plantings and heard residents urge stronger protections for courthouse and heritage trees.
Hudson’s Conservation Advisory Council on Tuesday agreed to release $1,800 from this year’s street-tree planting budget to pay a forester who performed an assessment used in a grant application.
The council’s decision was presented during the budget discussion portion of the meeting and accepted by verbal consent. The money will come from the council’s 2025 allocation for street tree planting, which members said they expect to be about $13,150 for the year.
The move matters because the forester’s work — inventory, survey maps and other materials — has already been used in a pending grant application, members said. Council members also noted that the council could not carry forward prior-year funds to this year unless a contract had been signed in the previous year.
Members reviewed a single proposal received in response to the city’s request for proposals for street-tree planting. The vendor, Rise and Run, has worked with the council previously; council members said Tracy (staff) will submit the proposal to the appropriate office for acceptance and that the group aims to schedule planting in May if contract details and locations are finalized.
Council members reported a separate tree-grant project (the Harry–Howard planting) had eight trees identified as cracked in a DEC inspection. The contractor told the council it will replace the cracked trees in the fall. The DEC has reimbursed the project to date, and council members said they will follow up with DEC staff to ensure the replacements satisfy the grant requirements.
Agenda items also touched on a pending city tree ordinance now in legal review, and members said the ordinance is intended to increase protection for trees in the public way. During public comment, Peter Meyer, a resident, urged the council to pay attention to “heritage” trees around the courthouse and other publicly owned sites and described recent National Grid work as a local trigger for his concerns. Council members said the ordinance work and an inventory will be tools they can use for greater protections but noted the ordinance applies to city-owned trees and does not give the city authority over private trees.
Members also discussed administrative details including tree tags, inspection follow-ups, and coordination with the DEC for future grants and canopy programs.
The council approved the meeting minutes earlier in the session and accepted the forester payment by consensus; no recorded roll-call vote was taken.
Council members said they will follow up with DEC staff and the contractor about the cracked trees, confirm the Rise and Run proposal location list, and aim to finalize planting dates at their May meeting.
