Speaker; Hannibal Hayes form the City of Minnetonka Forestry Dept.
Introduced by Terry S. - Hannibal is a Board Certified Arborist
He mentioned 6 areas of work or projects going on now.
1. SLAM, or Slow Ash Mortality.
Instead of just removing Ash trees and sending the beetle to different hosts, Mtka is treating 20% of the infected trees, which can lead
to a 99% protection. This technique keeps the borer population low. They also 'sink trees', or strip off the bark, which attracts the borers more to those trees.
The city is still trying hard to save trees by injecting anti-disease agents.
2. WUP or Wood Utilization Program.
The city now has a portable sawmill, which goes to the trees rather than vice versa. It can cut boards 10" thick and 24' long or anything smaller.
Elm, Basswod, Ash, and Bur Oak make for beautiful wood, The city plans to build a kiln which will completely dry the wood for artistic city displays, homeowners indoor use, and for woodworkers.
Phase 2 of WUP will use the cut wood to build decking and gravel bed nurseries, which allows many more trees to be planted.
These plantings have higher sustainability and are much lighter to transport. Also, lots of firewood for residents.
3. Bur Oak Field Trial; new ideas, new treatments to save these trees.
4. Conservation Arborculture, in Co-operation with the U of M.
Protect and preserve the stately "'Century Trees". It takes 100 years to grow a 100 year old tree! (Duh!)
By reduction pruning, these trees could double their life span.
5. Root Radaring; a new technology to find the roots see how they effect roads and sidewalks BEFORE they're dug up.
6. Pure Willow Mulch trials; the willows have strong nutrients which help with the immunity of many different tree disease.
X-Rays, nutrition, immunity from disease, vaccinations? This sounds a lot like what we humans are going through.
Fascinating topic, and our hats off to the city for saving the trees and doing it efficiently.
Many thanks, Hannibal.
