Briefs: New Cottage Grove program puts price on city's ash trees

In the latest effort to stop the emerald ash borer, Cottage Grove is testing a software program that assesses the value of city-owned ash trees to help officials determine whether to save them or cut them down.

The i-Tree software, which was developed by the U.S. Forest Service, allows parks officials to determine the value of the city's trees to underscore the importance of funding a program to deal with ash trees and the emerald ash borer, said city forester Steve Bowe.

The council recently cut nearly 40 percent of the management program's $162,000 annual budget, Bowe said, but has hinted it would restore funding in the near future.

"In order to do that, I needed to give some validity to why our forest is important," he said. "That was my main drive: to make sure that the management program enlisted four years ago was carried forward."

Bowe says he has spent the past few months plugging tree data into the software, which "spits out a slew of information" on a tree's value — based on such factors as its size, condition and location. After crunching the numbers, Bowe determined that "our forest gives the city $1.8 million annually in benefit."

Armed with this information, he said, the Parks Department will be able to make better decisions about which trees to cut down and best practices in fighting the ash borer, a beetle that attacks trees and lawns.

Individuals and service groups are asked to sign up by April 9 to assist with planting trees and shrubs on April 26 and 27, beginning at 10 a.m. at Veterans Campground on Big Marine Lake. Hundreds of trees will be provided by the state Department of Natural Resources as part of an Arbor Day weekend event at the camp.

Reconstruction of Hwy. 36 and its frontage roads and intersections through Oak Park Heights will begin this week, weather permitting, the Minnesota Department of Transportation said.

• The south frontage road will close to through traffic between Osgood Avenue and Club Tara. Access to businesses and nearby housing will remain available, but most traffic will be detoured, MnDOT said.

• Hwy. 36 will become single-lane in each direction from Washington Avenue/Norell Avenue to Hwy. 95.

• Osgood traffic will use the west side of the road while crews reconstruct the east side of the road north of Hwy. 36.

• Crews will clear trees and shrubs at the Oakgreen Avenue/Greeley Street intersection and on Hwy. 95 north of Hwy. 36. This work starts in early April.

A joint effort between South Washington County School District 833 and Washington County provides Wi-Fi "hot spots" for students at the Park Grove and R.H. Stafford libraries.

At the beginning of this school year, as part of the school district's Transforming Thinking through Technology (T3) initiative, students from five district schools were equipped with iPads funded in part by a federal grant. As teachers integrate more online learning models into their curricula using a variety of apps, cloud storage and online resources, students will complete and submit their homework online via their tablets.

To support families who do not have wireless networks at home, District 833 installed networks at both the Park Grove Library in Cottage Grove and at the R.H. Stafford Library in Woodbury. Because these are school district networks, students are automatically logged into the network on their school-issued iPads as they walk into either library.

This partnership between District 833 and Washington County provides an after-school venue for students to complete their tablet-based assignments in the evening and on weekends when county libraries are open.

Lake Elmo Bank and the Friends of Lake Elmo Library have teamed up to support the new TumbleBooks eBook program for children and teens.

TumbleBooks may be accessed from the Lake Elmo Public Library website at www.lakeelmopubliclibrary.org.

Soon, owners of distressed properties could face harsher penalties.

The city is considering tweaking an existing ordinance to tackle what some residents are calling a growing problem: unsightly properties that mar city streets.

Homeowners who are cited under the current ordinance — living in homes that are in a "dilapidated condition or kept in a manner that is a menace to the health of neighbors" — are issued a warning or misdemeanor charge; some complained that this is a slap on the wrist that is rarely enforced. If the ordinance is changed, violators would be issued a warning and, in some cases, would have to pay a fee. Subsequent violations would incur possible jail time and fines, city officials said.