City seeks Sustainable Forestry Initiative grant to update urban forest plan; council staff to finalize scope

Lake Forest Park — Director Hoffman provided a project update Thursday on the city’s plan to pursue a Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) grant to support an update of the city’s urban forest management plan and related workforce planning.

Hoffman said staff initially considered a $25,000 option but after discussing scope and federal reporting needs the useful award level for the city grew to “70‑plus” thousand dollars because the work required — such as an audit of the existing plan and consultant support to address gaps — needed more budget than the smaller amount would allow.

Hoffman said SFI funding is flexible, comes through a USDA channel to SFI, and will not require the federal-level reporting that would have made a small award infeasible. He told the council the city has recruited a new urban forest planner who will be assigned this work and that staff expects to bring a detailed scope to the tree board and then to the council for approval. The city has provided a letter of interest to SFI to remain on the agency’s list of candidates.

Council discussion focused on scope detail and administrative cost. One councilmember noted prior experience where small federal grants had significant reporting burdens, and asked staff to ensure that the city’s internal costs to administer an award would not exceed the benefit. Hoffman said staff had budgeted roughly $24,000 of city cost for staff time and that the remainder of the anticipated grant award would fund consultant work to perform the audit and scope items.

The nut graf: city staff said the grant would fund a focused audit and initial steps to update the forest management plan, not necessarily full SFI certification; staff are finalizing a scope of work to bring to the tree board and then to council. If approved, the grant would fund consultant-led plan review and initial updates while staff lead implementation work.

Key details - Purpose: update/advance the city’s urban forest management plan and related workforce planning; the SFI award would support a scoped set of tasks including an audit of the current plan against an SFI checklist and consultant-supported steps to address gaps.

- Budget: Hoffman said the award under discussion escalated from an initial $25,000 to “70-plus” thousand dollars after clarifying scope; staff expects roughly $24,000 to compensate city staff time with the balance allocated to consultant services.

- Timing and approvals: staff said they aim to complete a draft scope with tree board input (tree board expected to reconvene and may meet on Oct. 15), finalize the scope with the SFI contact, and then place the agreement on a future council agenda for approval. Hoffman said that SFI has been flexible about whether the award must pursue certification or instead fund discrete steps toward an updated plan.

- Reporting: Hoffman said monthly reporting to SFI would be minimal, with more significant quarterly and annual reporting that could affect other departments; council members asked staff to ensure the reporting burden and accounting needs were feasible and cost-effective for the city.

Quotes from the meeting appear on the record. Hoffman said the city ‘‘intend[s] to pursue this grant’’ and that SFI’s flexibility allows Lake Forest Park to structure the work as an audit and plan-update rather than an immediate push to certification.

Next steps: staff will complete a detailed scope of work, present the scope to the tree board, and seek council approval to accept the grant and amend agreements as needed. Councilmembers asked staff to include a clear accounting of city administrative costs and any ongoing obligations tied to the award.

Ending: Director Hoffman said staff will return with the draft scope and a council packet item for approval; the tree board and council will review before formal acceptance of the grant.