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Consultants present five‑year urban forestry plan; council accepts recommendation
Summary
A consultant team presented a five‑year Urban Forestry Management Plan for Menasha with inventory findings (~6,500 trees), species recommendations, a 5‑year inspection cycle target, and staffing/funding considerations; the council moved the plan forward by accepting Park & Rec Board recommendations.
The common council received a presentation on a new Urban Forestry Management Plan developed with consultant Rich Howard of Eocene and the city’s parks staff. Howard said the city’s tree inventory identified about 6,500 trees, roughly 40% of available street planting locations as vacant, and a species concentration of about 22% maples. He recommended a baseline canopy assessment with a 30% canopy target (as a benchmark), a species list to improve resiliency, and moving from an eight‑year inspection/maintenance cycle toward approximately a five‑year cycle.
Parks and Recreation Director Megan Sackett summarized community engagement results: a high percentage of survey respondents said they value trees and want replacements when trees are removed; about 64% of survey respondents were not aware of a utility program to place trees on private property. Howard recommended performance indicators such as inspection cycle length and species diversity, and noted staffing and funding are constraints — Menasha currently budgets about 1.5 full‑time equivalent (FTE) positions for its urban forest function compared with a national benchmark of about 4.7 FTE for a similarly scaled community.
Alderman Rand asked about economic benefits; Howard cited literature on ecosystem and human health benefits and estimated a typical return on investment of roughly 3:1 for tree planting and care. Council members acknowledged the workload on the current arborist role and that the city recently lost its arborist; Director Sackett said the plan will be reviewed with the next arborist once hired and that implementation details and KPIs could be posted on the city website.
The council approved the Park & Rec Board’s recommendation to accept the Urban Forestry Management Plan as part of the consent agenda (roll call 7–0). The plan’s recommendations — including a canopy baseline, updated species guidance, inspection cycle adjustments and potential grant opportunities — will guide staff work over the next five years.
