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Tree Advisory Commission urges permanent funding, better coordination to protect canopy
Summary
Co‑chairs Giuseppe Murari and Tim Keane told the committee the Park Board planted 8,000 trees in 2026 but funding gaps threaten canopy goals; the commission recommended permanent funding to meet a 2:1 replacement goal and closer coordination with project sponsors to preserve significant trees.
Giuseppe Murari and Tim Keane, co‑chairs of the Minneapolis Tree Advisory Commission, presented the commission’s annual report to the committee and emphasized the importance of funding and cross‑agency collaboration to preserve and expand the urban tree canopy.
Murari recounted accomplishments — including park‑board plantings and community engagement — and warned that the managed canopy faces persistent threats from unreliable funding, invasive species, and climate change. He said the park board planted 8,000 trees in 2026 and that reaching a 2:1 replacement goal would require roughly $1,000,000 annually to plant about 10,000 trees.
The commission recommended permanent funding aligned with park‑board goals, a grant‑writer position to pursue sustained revenue, better protections for significant trees during development, and deeper collaboration with public‑project applicants to ensure tree preservation is considered early in project planning. Tim Keane urged the committee to 'lean in' on funding priorities and to ask project sponsors how proposals will preserve canopy on public projects.
Committee members thanked the commission and asked follow‑up questions about survival rates, the role of ginkgo trees in species diversification, and how the commission’s recommendations would feed into the City’s pending private‑property tree preservation ordinance. The clerk received and filed the commission’s report.
