John, the city forester, gave the committee a detailed update on the city’s urban forestry work, saying the department is pursuing an aggressive ash-removal and replacement strategy and is implementing a grant-funded planting program.

John said the city inventoried roughly 7,000 ash trees and is averaging about 300–350 removals per year across the city, with a recent emphasis on stump grinding to improve streetscape aesthetics. ‘‘We did plant 415 trees this year’’ through the grant, he said, and staff are discussing extending the current contract with the planting vendor after generally positive results and some warranted replacements for spring mortality.

On private property assistance, John said the grant includes roughly $100,000 dedicated to owner-occupied private ash removals in the mapped grant area; he reported about $45,000–$64,000 has been spent so far and urged committee members to help publicize the program to increase applications. He clarified that the private assistance program is for owner-occupants only, not for rental properties or businesses.

John described a planting constraint tied to state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) stipulations: the DNR restricts planting a species if it already represents more than 10% of the urban canopy. Because maples make up about 37% of Wausau’s canopy, he said the city will limit maple plantings under the grant, while still retaining a small in-house maple planting percentage to keep future canopy diversity.

On protecting trees during construction, John said he consulted with Madison’s city forester, Ian Brown, and city engineer Jim Wolf. He said Madison’s approach combined public input, capacity building, ordinance changes and an ‘‘urban forestry special charge’’ to fund inspectors. John argued Wausau should emphasize training engineering staff and contractors — not only fines — and noted the city forester is now included in permit review to catch potential tree impacts earlier.

Committee members welcomed the grant and urged integrating urban forestry into engineering and street planning to avoid future tree loss, citing past projects where species selection and siting caused problems. Alder Neal called for a ‘‘holistic approach’’ to construction and replanting; Alder Lukens and others supported exploring policy changes and closer interdepartmental coordination.

Next steps identified at the meeting included continued outreach to residents in the grant area, evaluating contract extension with the planting vendor, promoting private removal applications, and working with engineering on permit and contract language to better protect trees.