5-10-23 MIN1
Chanhassen Environmental Commission (EC)
Chanhassen City Hall, Fountain Conference Room
6:00 pm
May 10, 2023
Members Present: Kristin Fulkerson, Leslie Elhadi, Greg Hawks, Kaisa Buckholz, Scot Lacek, Julia
Adams, Scott Grefe, Billy Cripe
Members Absent: None
Staff Present: Matt Unmacht, Assistant City Manager, Jamie Marsh, GreenCorps Intern
Visitors: None
Minutes
April minutes were approved.
Arbor Day Summary
The day was fun with a good turnout and people learned about how deep the roots needed to be planted.
The volunteers came prepared with gloves and shovels. Manuel Jordan gave a great presentation for the
group.
Environmental Academy Planning
A communications plan needs to be started for staff. Jamie has talked to Carver County Environmental
Center, and Thursday, September 21, 2023, works for them to give a presentation and give a tour. They
can host 20 people maximum.
“What’s Wrong with my Tree” presentation could be given. The suggestion was given for the
presentation to be recorded or live-streamed for a larger audience. The presentation location should be
decided by the person giving the talk. Matt will reach out to Jill Sinclair and Manuel Jordan to see if
they are interested in giving the presentation. A suggestion of a “bug bounty” could be given as an
incentive for finding a problem tree. Participant feedback could be gathered to find out what residents
would like to see for future programs. No fee will be charged for the Academy.
Communications about the Academy will start May 17. Posters, webpage posts, social media posts, and
Chan-Happenings will all be utilized to advertise the Academy. Polimorphic software could be used to
create a sign-up for the Academy. Matt will work with city staff to create a sign-up form. A QR code
would be added to the poster to be able to get more information and sign up. It was suggested that staff
produce a short video for a social post regarding the Academy and Matt will discuss that possibility with
communications staff. City staff will be at each Academy session to take photographs.
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Matt will reach out to Plymouth to find out about their academies and get any suggestions from their
staff.
July 3rd Trade Fair Planning
An article discussing environmentally friendly gardening and composting was discussed. Examples from
the article were: planting certain kinds of plants together in the garden, succession blooms, composting,
etc. A discussion was had about giving a composting bin away as a prize. Possible games were
discussed, such as Stump the Chump (having an expert available to answer questions), Match the
Pollinator to the Plant, what would be good garden compost, etc. Keeping organics out of the landfill
could be a push for composting.
If a compost bin can be acquired, residents can take a composting quiz, if you get a certain number of
questions correct, you can enter the raffle to win a compost bin. Pictures of plants and pictures of
pollinators and you would match them together. Kaisa will work on the pollinator quiz and Billy will
contact the Arboretum.
Plans will be made to finalize the July 3rd Trade Fair table during the June Environmental Commission
meeting.
Commission Presentations:
Kevin Zahler – Master Water Steward works ways for filtering water. There are grants for people to put
buffers near the shore.
Watershed meeting update: permits & clerical issues were discussed. There will be a Minnesota
Watershed Summer Tour on June 20 & 21 in Albert Lea.
Other Discussion Items:
Stormwater pond management was discussed. There are surveys done of ¼ of the city ponds every year
and they are ranked yearly to help develop a plan to keep them maintained. If residents have questions
about storm ponds, they should contact the city.
June meeting – will be on June 21 at East Water Treatment Plant at 6 pm.
The State Environmental Commission Regional Meeting will be at Ridgedale on May 20, 2023, from 9-
12:30.
The Fall Trivia event could be moved to November.
Environmental Commission could adopt a drain. This will be put on a future agenda to discuss.
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There is a Garlic Mustard Removal event on May 20 that Jamie will be running at Lake Ann. She is also
planning a volunteer program to assist with a tree inventory at parks within the city. The inventory helps
determine tree condition, and the diameter of the tree is measured. The inventory will start in June.
Meeting adjourned at 7:17 pm
Minutes prepared by Jenny Potter