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1 <br /> EUGENE P W <br /> Urban ublic Fore orks <br /> City of Eugene <br /> MEMORANDUM 1820 Roosevelt Blvd. <br /> Eugene, Oregon 97402 <br /> (541) 682-5220 <br /> (541) 682 -6883 Fax <br /> Date:. January 29, 1997 <br /> To: Budget Committee <br /> From: J. R. Medlin, Maintenance Support Manager -- Service Lead, Urban Forestry <br /> Subject: Urban Forestry Service Profile <br /> The Budget Committee reviewed the Urban Forestry Service Profile at its January 13,.1997, meeting. <br /> During the review, you pointed out several ways in which the profile could be improved. This <br /> memorandum discusses the ramifications of the policy alternative discussed by committee members and <br /> describes the other changes we've made to the profile. <br /> Policy Alternatives <br /> Howie Bonnett advocated that the Urban Forestry service be expanded to include active management of <br /> the City's forested ecosystems. The attached letters from Mr. Cook and Mr. Gleason, forwarded to <br /> Beth Bridges by Mr. Bonnett, also note the failure of the Urban Forestry Service Profile in addressing <br /> eco- system management of the forested natural areas within Eugene's park system. The Service Team <br /> agrees with this assessment. In fact, ecosystem management within the parks system's forested natural <br /> areas is a concern cited within the 1992 Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP). The revised <br /> profile emphasizes this need in several areas including a new outcome: "Manage forested ecosystems <br /> within Eugene's natural parklands ". <br /> While providing ecosystem management services in our natural forested areas is a goal for the service <br /> team, program development has been minimal due to limited General Funds. The City's primary <br /> natural forested areas are Spencer Butte, Skinner's Butte, Morse Ranch, the Ridgeline trail, Hendricks <br /> Park and Amazon Park's Ash forest. Developing ecosystem management plans for each of these <br /> forested natural areas would be the first action to implement an ecosystem management approach. <br /> Assuming that a Department Advisory Committee is established for each area, and that the plans be <br /> developed through the use of consultants, one of these plans could be developed annually at an <br /> approximate cost of $40,000 each. Funding required to implement the plans would not be known until <br /> the plans had been developed. <br /> Staff did not include in the Service Profile any strategies that required an additional <br /> General Fund appropriation. <br /> Edits to Policy Portions of the Service Profile <br /> As mentioned above, we added a new outcome statement on managing the forested ecosystems. Staff <br /> have also amended the strategy objectives to reflect the current state of the measure and added language <br /> to clarify the system efficiency measure. <br />