Can you hear me?

Oh, there we go.

Good evening.

Thanks for joining us.

I would like to.

I would not like to do that.

Never mind.

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Thank you.

Awesome.

So I would like to officially call this meeting to order.

Are there any disclosures tonight?

Okay, moving on.

Are there any changes to the agenda?

No changes.

Okay.

Then I uh would like to move to approving the minutes from the January 22nd meeting.

So moved.

I second the notion to approve the meeting notes from the previous meeting.

Terry Lumsden.

Yes.

Brant Baruby?

Yes.

Steve Lowry.

Yes.

Paige Lizowski.

Yes.

Joe Cartwright?

Yes.

Matthew Cortan?

Yes.

Sally Schrank.

Sorry, I don't know if I'm saying your last name correctly.

That's correct.

Shrink.

Yes.

Thank you.

Minutes have been approved.

And just for our members that are joining us here in the commission room, we do have one of our board members joining us virtually.

Sally is right there.

On the wall tonight.

All right.

So we are now at public comments, I believe.

And the public comments are items following within the purview and jurisdiction of the board.

Does anybody have any public comment?

Wow.

Excuse me.

Good evening.

My name is Annie Sheets, and I am with Bozeman Tree Coalition.

I'm also a retired city arborist, and part of my duties was running an urban forestry program and revising and updating the urban forestry management plan.

First of all, I want to thank the City of Bozeman, the Urban Parks and Forestry Board, and the consultant for asking for community engagement.

Bozeman Tree Coalition is enthusiastic about this revised urban forestry management plan.

We're so looking forward to being part of the plan moving forward.

Our desire is to be a trusted source of input at the scheduled public meeting.

So thank you for that.

My comment this evening is would the city consider naming this revised document a community forest management plan.

The reason behind this suggestion is it shifts from insider language and it provides a more inclusive and subtle invitation to the community at large and partners like us who believe in the value and benefits of our green infrastructure.

The preparation of this revised plan must be strategic and comprehensive, covering the entire ecosystem, including public, private, and naturalized forested areas.

I appreciate the work sessions as proposed in the project schedule, and will make every effort to attend these meetings.

Again, I thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

The BTC thanks the city, GVLT, and all our partners for planning this park in a way that will meet our community's recreation needs, while more importantly, respecting wildlife habitat within and adjacent to the park.

Though the park itself is relatively small, it abuts undeveloped land that wildlife use daily and seasonally.

For example, some areas adjacent to Bikeville have been highlighted in the sensitive lands plan as important wildlife habitat.

And the sensitive lands plans maps incorporate riparian setbacks on both Chern Creek and portions of the unnamed intermittent creek near the near the uh bike fills north boundary.

Trails built in or near these near riparian areas will have adverse effects on wildlife, not only from the construction, but because of the high bicycle use and therefore such trails will disrupt wildlife movements and habitat usage.

As such, the Bozeman Tree Coalition provides the following suggestions for the protection and improvement of existing natural areas and wildlife habitat within Bikeville.

First, map all wetlands to determine future mitigation options in order to improve them.

Conduct bird save surveys before construction begins, delay construction until after bird nesting season, as per Montana state law.

Don't construct any trails south of Chern Creek to the fence boundary.

Don't construct trails near the unnamed intermittent creek, near the park's north boundary, or near the western boggy area, and include maximum setbacks around Chern Creek and the intermittent stream to the north.

Best practices are 100 to 150 feet setbacks.

Unfortunately, the city setbacks are 50 50 feet from creeks and 25 feet from wetlands.

So I'd go with the larger.

In conclusion, the Bozeman Tree Coalition trusts that the city and GVLT and all other partners will adhere to the city's Pratt Plan, sensitive lands plan, wetland codes, and the Bozeman Community Plan 2020, all of which provide guidance for required setbacks and buffer zones for wildlife water courses and wetlands.

Thank you.

Good evening, Marcia Caveney speaking here tonight as a resident of Bozeman and also a co-founder of the Bozeman of the Bozeman Tree Coalition.

And thank you for your presence on the board and the opportunity to speak.

The BTC or Bozeman Tree Coalition is pleased to see the strong support out of the survey for natural areas as amenities, as well as the strong support in community stewardship for planning native species of vegetation.

And we might surmise that the strong interest uh can be attributed to Bozeman's general strong interest in wildlife habitat protection as delineated in the Bozeman Community Plan from 2020.

Uh to help bring these goals of keeping and enhancing these natural areas, uh the BTC respectfully urges the project managers to incorporate the following steps.

One, enlist in independent experts such as a member of the Sacagoia Audubon to inventory the presence of birds along with the partner to inventory other wildlife on the site well before construction begins.

Um include potential grass and bird other bird nesting sites.

Um by that I mean like grassland birds, such as our state bird, the Meadowlark.

Uh use this as baseline data for future comparisons.

Because not only do we want to minimize disturbance, we want to document improvement in the habitat as shown to be desired by the community response in the engagement survey.

So using experts will just help avoid getting a false impression of nothing being present there because they've flown away or hidden from the viewers.

So it's important to get somebody who knows what they're doing with that.

Um this step can lead to a small but we think fantastic success story, not unlike the Inderlin wetlands downtown, but we really need that baseline inventory to help make that so.

Um step two would be to postpone all construction in close proximity of nesting areas until late July, and this adheres to state law for not taking or accidentally damaging an active nest.

And we so that would fall after the inventory.

And just as a point on that, grasslands, we do have a little bit of grassland area there that there's a lot of interest in protecting, which is fantastic.

They are the fastest, grasslands are the fastest disappearing ecosystem in the country, according to many sources, and grassland birds are experiencing the steepest losses of North American birds over the last 50 years.

50 years.

And it's just not something that I think a lot of us think about that that's happening.

Um to help with steps one and two, BTC encourages the assistance of a wildlife monitor on site before and during construction, somebody that can just check in and see how things are going with that.

Um we would love to see this be another success story for Bozeman.

Thank you.

Hello, and uh, thank you for this opportunity.

I'm Ken Sinai.

I'm a resident.

Um I'm representing myself tonight, but I am active with the Sacagoia Audubon Society.

I'm a board member, and they are very interested, or we are very interested in this in the bike fill project.

That's what I'm commenting on.

And um, and I agree with the comments that were previously made, and particularly associated with assessments, but I'll get more into that.

Uh essentially, however, thank you all for doing what you're doing, and thank you for this opportunity, including everybody who's online uh paying attention and watching.

Um by all means, again, I'm speaking for myself, but I did want to emphasize that Audubon is interested.

I do support the uh goals of the community bike park.

I do feel it will be an asset to Bozeman and the entire valley.

Uh open house discussions and the survey results indicate that while biking is the primary physical activity.

I mean, that's obvious, it's a bike park.

Uh support for natural areas, natural plants, wetland and habitat preservation is significant.

Essentially, environmental considerations run very high.

Considering the size and location, my personal perspective is this is not an in-town bike park.

Rather, it's an edge of town transition park.

I believe it has the potential to meet multiple needs, not only as a physical play and learning site, but as a habitat and environmental asset site.

Obviously, there will be trail construction and use and consequent wildlife disturbance, but considering time of day of use, uh, combined with protection and hit an enhancement of critical areas, it can provide for long-term habitat protection, particularly on the drainage, the ephemeral drainage on the north edge, which is unnamed, and churn creek.

Um I do have some particular considerations.

Evaluation considerations would include conducting a wildlife habitat and use assessment.

Sacatulia Audubon would be very interested in in participating in this or assisting with getting this done, particularly for seasonal bird use and as a wildlife corridor, considering it's a drainage that's close to the bridge range and close to the East Gallon River.

Identify or gallery identify and map wetland areas, uh ephemeral and perennial perennial stream areas for the purpose of trail location and compatibility.

Design trail locations, not to simply meet required setbacks, but to achieve science-based functional distances from wetlands and watercourses, ideally 100 to 150 feet, though I realize that not at all times will that be possible.

If Churn Creek must be crossed, isolate the crossing and design trails to cross at a perpendicular to achieve an acceptable distance from the creek itself and to cross it as directly as possible to achieve a distance from it as as quickly, excuse me, as possible.

Regarding particular features, Chern Creek, place a trail on only one side, not both.

Again, hopefully 100 to 150 feet from the center line.

The goal would be to minimize disturbance to nest to future nesting birds.

The northern ephemeral drainage.

Consider a northern edge trail close to the property perimeter.

Avoid a trail close to the drainage center line on the south side.

This area has potential for greater vegetative and tree and shrub growth as well as plant diversity.

There's the lower central wetlands, so there's this little central area on the west edge, which is a wetland southwest, emphasize more than 25 feet for trails from the wetland edge.

Once permanent vegetation is established on the uplands, this wetland has the potential to expand.

Also locating trails more than 25 feet from the wetland would allow for fencing to protect the area, should that be desired in the future.

Otherwise, consider fencing during the initial construction.

There's kind of a western central potential wetland, kind of a it's been referred to as a bog or a seep.

There seems to be this area at the bottom of the ephemeral drainage.

This should be evaluated, particularly for vegetative rehabilitation.

And then finally, create a long-term plan for vegetative rehabilitation, including trees and shrubs.

We've referred to it as a grassland.

It is, it's mostly smooth brome, we've which is kind of an invader.

We've also referred to the two drainages, the ephemeral as well as Chern Creek and the wetland.

But the upland areas have been disturbed.

They need to be rehabilitated.

So I think it's totally appropriate to have a long-term plan for vegetative rehabilitation, including trees and shrubs.

So it has the site really can be improved.

It's not going to be just as simple as it's.

Okay, that's fine.

Thank you very much.

That all said, thank you very much.

I think it's appropriate for the community, both human and natural.

Thanks.

Do we have any other public comments in the room?

Do you have public comment?

Do we have any other public comments in the room?

Do we have any public comments online?

None online.

Okay.

I would like to thank everybody who um stepped forward tonight.

Um that's it for public comments, right?

Yes, we did receive um one written public comment uh regarding the urban forest management plan, and then four regarding bike fill um all prior to our noon deadline today, and they were all forwarded to the board.

And they'll be included in the record.

Great, thank you.

Um then we are on to our um FYI discussion items.

So Addy with F1, bike fill, community park update and discussion.

Made a lot of versions.

Um development manager.

Ooh, let me get you in presentation mode.

Yeah, we do that now.

Um I'll get started.

I'm gonna hand it over to Matt Parsons from GVLT for a project update and more details.

And then uh we have some remote presenters, part of the design team specifically that focused on our public engagement to go through uh tonight's agenda item, really looking at uh the public engagement piece and what we've heard and their analysis of all of that.

And just want to take a few seconds to recap some that you've already heard because we have new board members since we first came to you with this project, which was in November, and we presented our public engagement plan.

How are we going to go about soliciting feedback from the community stakeholders and what work has been done?

So now tonight we'll be giving you the results of all that work.

Just a reminder, we've been referring to this as a community plan, uh community park, and that's something defined in our new Pratt plan.

Of course, um you can all assume what that means that this is a park that's gonna serve um the whole community with different aspects.

It's primarily a special use park for bikes.

Um however, there's natural areas within this park that we'll be sensitive to.

And the parking lot is going to be designed specifically to serve snowfill.

So that's another special use park, kind of expands our way of thinking about this part of town and this part of the park system.

Um so it's gonna have a little bit for everyone, and we will hone in on those specific, you know, auxiliary features based on the public engagement.

Wanted to just remind all of us, you know, all the different direction that we've got that's setting us up, you know, as a ground rule when we start diving into this project and how it's designed.

Um, you know, right off the bat, we we shared back in November several different um priorities for investment that this park is helping us tick off natural surface trails.

Uh there will be some paved um bike loops, it sounds like water access for recreation.

You know, this isn't like gonna have a rafting park or anything, but we know the creek is there.

We think that controlled access is better than just scattered um trampling out of the creek bed, that kind of thing.

We've done this, I think successfully at um Bogart Park and at Story Mill Park, having little pads for interaction with the creek, and then of course, anytime there's a crossing, um, just doing that as you know, sensitively as um we can and following city code and staying out of the riparian area as best as we can.

Um, also the idea of uh pavilions or picnic areas, something that you know serves people beyond just the bike trails when they're visiting this park.

Um so then I I copied some of the specific goals and strategies in the Pratt plan that seem pertinent to the discussion and some of the public comment specifically, um, but just you know, this is a great place where we are we are focusing on the bike users specifically, and that we're trying to eliminate conflict.

Um, that this isn't gonna be biking/slash running trails, that kind of thing.

Um, so part of the package here is gonna be clear signage and working on that ethic and trail use, um, the outside kind and ride kind ethics will be incorporated into how this park is laid out and the programming with the youth and on up.

That's the type of language that um they'll be getting, you know, they get it through their programming now, and this will be a great place to demonstrate that.

Um, sustainable trail use, right?

Staying on trail, not trampling out the creek, um, and adhering to closures when we have to close for seasons, that kind of thing.

Um we saw good input on the survey that people understand that that might be something that we have to do.

Um I've kind of touched on some of this other these other features inclusive and equitable access, um, the way we're designing the trails to be um used by people with different types of bikes and different equipment for mobility.

Um we'll be excited to present that when we share the park master plan and future designs.

Um when I presented the community engagement plan.

Um, you know, we're we're at this stage, we knew this was a bike park.

This was the terrain for it, it's been talked about for a decade.

Um we were asking people what should it look like and who you know, what are the specific specific features?

We weren't saying, should this be a sledding hill, should this be something else?

So we kind of honed in on this being on this spectrum of involvement consultation.

Um, however, there's different pieces and different types of engagement, I would say, depending on the different groups.

We've met with the bike clubs and the bike groups.

To say, how will this work for you to come and have practices?

You know, um, Ability Montana or Eagle Mount, how will it work if you bring um a trailer full of bikes and you need to unload those?

Um, that kind of thing, and on and on.

Um, our bike clubs will be empowered, they'll be using this space for practice, and they deploy their programming.

Um, you know, we provide the space and they come and they activate it.

So just varying degrees of engagement.

Um, and then a reminder of all the groups that we specifically have been working with over the years to develop the concept and then specific focus groups and um site visits and everything.

Um, so a long list of people who've had a chance to weigh in.

And I'm gonna turn it over to Matt to um talk about where we're at specifically with the design.

Thanks, Addy.

Um my name is Matt Parsons.

I am the trails director at the Galton Valley Land Trust, so um major partner on the project here.

And I'm gonna give you a quick update on where we are in the process, and um uh then we'll get into some of the public engagement stuff from CRO.

So uh let's see, just hit that.

Yep.

So um, yeah, just a quick reminder of why we're building five miles of new trail and um really fun bike features um for families and kids.

Um that's because of GVLTs and the City of Bozeman's commitment to community trails.

This is a trails um community.

We love our trails here.

Um, we have lots of them.

And um, and yet we're continuing to see um more and more pressure on those facilities, not just in the city, but outside of the city and the national forest and on um public and private lands.

Um, and we're trying to meet a need here for um specifically for bikers.

And Addy did a pretty good job of doing my job for me just now, but um, I'll tick through these really quickly.

So um biking, mountain biking in particular is a um really rapidly growing sport.

Um it's also rapidly evolving, and so we're seeing demand for different kinds of biking, um different kinds of trails and features um and people trying to push the limits of the sport and um get better.

Um we have kids going to national competitions and things like that.

So there's a big demand for a big variety of trails, um, and this um is a great way to meet that need.

Um we are seeing increasing pressure on our trails every year.

Um we see more and more people out there.

We are seeing more conflict, especially between user groups, so people on foot, people on bike, um, and um, you know, we've even seen some some pretty unsafe things happening out on the trails.

And so um this um this project allows for a bike-centered bike-specific place for bikers to be bikers.

So they can um uh they can uh go up and down the trails not needing to dodge um people on foot, dogs, things like that.

So the obvious things, the the physical and mental health benefits of outdoor recreation, being outside and exercising.

Um we really see this um community park as a social hub, just like our um neighboring Snowfield Park is a social hub for dog lovers, um, and people meet each other and they mostly know each other's dogs' names.

Um they'll probably know um hear each other's um bike brands, but um, you know, we we really do we're creating spaces intentionally for um uh creating these um areas where people will mix and it won't just be beginners stay staying in the beginner area and advanced riders staying in the advanced areas will have these kind of hubs of activity and shelters and um areas where those groups can mix and learn from each other um and meet each other.

Um this is gonna be a unique facility.

We don't have anything like this um in Bozeman.

Um we don't have anything really like this in the region.

The closest thing we have to this is probably Copper City.

And this is going to be a little bit different.

This will be unique from that.

So in a town with uh tens of thousands of bikers to not have something like this, it's it's time.

So as Addie illustrated, there are a bunch of Pratt plan goals that we think we're going to be able to accomplish building this park.

And the kind of future trail and parkland map actually shows this area as future parkland.

I think it was the only one that we had on that map as a future park.

And so it'd be cool to be able to realize that dream three years after the plan adoption.

And, you know, big emphasis on kids and families in Bike Phil in a large way we are building this for the kids.

Of course, the bikers are kids of all ages.

But this is really going to be focused, certain areas are going to be focused on kids and families.

And then the last thing is it's fun.

That's what we do.

I hope that's why you guys are all here.

So yeah.

So our progress to date.

So we essentially went through a really big fundraising campaign at GVLT.

We got commitments from the city and other partners.

And we're still working on that, but we did have over 800 individual donors give to this project.

And you know, we we went through a lot of due diligence here.

Um we did things like wetland delineations, we did environmental assessments, um, and we've kind of been compiling all that, making sure that this is indeed the right place for this park, um, that it's safe, that we can move dirt, that we can um that we can build this thing.

So in the late winter, uh we started this process of consulting with community members and our partners.

Um so we went through four community workshops.

We did site visits with folks like the Gallatin Water Collaborative, collaborative, um, and Sacaguia Audubon, I believe Ken was there.

Um, and um, and we took a bunch of other people out there as well to kind of get a sense of the site.

By the way, we'd love to have you guys come out and check it out.

That would be really cool, um, especially since there's no snow on the ground and it's like 50 degrees out every day.

Um but um, and then we also uh had a survey that we put out there for a couple of months, got over a thousand um responses, and that's what CRO is going to be talking to you guys about.

Um we are waiting on a couple of awards that we were pretty sure we're going to get, um, but just wanted to make you guys aware of this.

Um, the National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund grant.

That was an application that GBLT helped the city submit, but this was a city application uh for $750,000.

We're expecting our award letter in April.

Um, so really soon now, any day.

Um we are applying for a Galton County open lands grant um of 100,000.

Uh we expect an award for that in April as well.

And then we have a rec trails uh what we refer to as an RTP grant application.

That's um Fish Wildlife and Parks um program.

Um and we've asked for 100,000 for that.

Um we're expecting notice of that probably in May, and then our full award in like June or July.

So and that really rounds out our fundraising, um, which has been uh tremendous.

GBLT raised over 1.9 million dollars in private funds to put this together.

So we are going to be taking all of the public engagement data that we've collected, public comments, emails, um, all the things and um rolling that into our design and engineering of this um uh of this uh park.

And uh we do have plans to meet with our design team.

They kind of met independently.

Um we're meeting with them, I believe it's next week sometime, and uh we'll be learning how they're responding to the public comments, all the things that you guys are gonna be learning about tonight.

And we'll be learning how they're responding to the public comments, all the things that you guys are going to be learning about tonight.

So we will then be taking that, putting that into a park master plan that we'll bring back to you all in March.

So we'll bring a draft of that to you.

And then I'm sure there's a lot more that we have to do.

Site plans, site plan submittal for the parking lot, all that stuff.

But we hope to break ground in uh June or July.

We do have, I think you guys know this kind of a parallel project that's happening.

Um that's the reconstruction of Mackelhattan Road, um, which is the access, the city street that brings you to bike fill and snowfill.

Um that project um can't kick off until July 1st.

And so um we'll be kind of coordinating that with the City Transportation Department and their um contractors on that project, but it's proximity means that we kind of have to pay attention to what they're doing there, and they're gonna have big heavy equipment there widening and paving that road that's now a dirt um one-lane road right now.

So and then Addy added another slide on for me that I didn't know about, so thank you for that, Addie.

Um so yeah, our next steps on engagement.

Um, so I guess we we covered some of this.

The park master plan um and a story map that our um public engagement um folks at CRO are putting together will be up on the Engage Bozeman website by mid-March.

So everyone uh who's subscribed to that will get an alert saying, hey, there's new information here, check it out.

Um so we're looking forward to putting that out.

Um like I said, the next um uh urban parks and forestry board meeting March 26th.

I'll see you all there again.

We'll present that um park master plan to you.

Uh the city commission will take your recommendation for that and decide whether to approve um that at their um April 11th, something like that.

So early April um meeting.

Um we'll be putting together a site plan application.

This is an application for um the civil infrastructure on site.

Um it'll have some general ideas of like zones of um uh trail development um or um benches, picnic pavilions, things like that.

Um and I believe that's a city staff review.

And then um we'll be continuing to refine um our trails, our our mountain bike features, things like that throughout that process.

And then that'll all be submitted through what's called a site plan mod.

Um Addy can explain more about that.

I don't know exactly what that is, but that's basically you know, here's the site plan.

It's been approved.

Um these are um uh features, things outside of the actual site plan requirements that will be added to that plan, and um we'll use that to move forward with our construction.

So uh I think that was it.

Do you want to?

Yeah, that was it.

Yeah, step in front of you like I do on the hockey sheet.

I just want to say thank you guys for um uh for listening to me tonight.

Great.

Um so I don't forget, yeah.

Um Sally, do you have any questions for Addie?

No, thank you.

Thanks.

And um we're gonna turn it over to the remote presenters um to do this presentation about the um sorry, about the public engagement.

And I just wanted to yeah, clarify.

We're gonna the the park master plan will kind of have an envelope of where the bike park features will be, and it's setting the stage for how this land is used and where things are in general.

And then we refine that with the site plan application.

Again, we're getting that ready to construct some of the hardscape elements.

Um we can continue to refine the bike trail and the bike park features and work with you all in the community on that, and then we would do that as a modification to that site plan application just to keep things moving and allow for further details to be discussed.

So that's the the piece there.

Um so I'll let on hide grab our presenters.

Okay, you're set up for your remote presentation.

So you'd like us to share our screen.

Yes, you should be able to share your screen.

Okay.

Can you all see that?

Yes.

Okay.

Good evening to everybody.

We are excited to present a brief overview of what we heard from the Bosnia community that will inform the master plan for the bike field project.

My name is Jeanine Esleck, a recreation planner and designer, and I'm joined with my colleague senior planner Brett Rano at CRO Planning and Design.

Also involved in this project.

But I'm able to attend this evening are our colleagues and recreation planners Abigail and Carolyn.

And Drew Pollock Bruce is our founder and principal in charge.

A little bit about our company.

We are a small business that focuses on community recreation and open space within outdoor recreation.

It is what CR CRO stands for.

We are trusted experts in outdoor recreation planning and engagement with public engagement at the cornerstone of our work.

The engagement process for bike fill was highly collaborative process with the Gallatin Valley Land Trust staff, the staff at the City of Bozeman, and the Southwest Montana Month Southwest Montana Mountain Biking Association, along with the broader consulting team.

Our overarching goal was to develop an engagement plan that reached as much of the Bozo community as possible through multiple channels.

To achieve that goal, we decided to implement an online survey that would reach a broad audience and help us gain an understanding of the types of riders and their abilities, amongst many other questions.

A focus group session that included the Bozeman youth cycling and NECA coaches, cyclecross coaches and representatives, and adaptive riders and coaches, as well as both in-person and virtual workshops.

Through a few brainstorming sessions and iterations, we developed a 30 question survey that was composed of multiple choice matrix and open-ended questions.

Conditional logic and question piping were used to route respondents to relevant questions based on prior responses to reduce survey fatigue.

Utilizing our in-house survey platform, Elchomer.

And I'll advertise through events and online platforms with promotional materials redeveloped, such as social media posts and flyers.

As I stated, the survey was launched on Thursday, December 4th and ended on January 20th with a total of 48 consecutive active days.

Throughout that time period, we received an astonishing 1,016 responses, which included 770 completed responses and 246 partials.

Yeah, thank you for having us uh Brett Rano, CRO planning and design senior planner, uh just sharing some of the insights we cleaned from the survey.

Uh there's a lot more information uh on the survey report, but want to touch on on the high level of insights we got.

And so we sorted the survey results into three key theme buckets that include physical, social, and environmental themes.

Uh the physical insights included questions around trailing trail types, features, facilities, and amenities, trail difficulty, uh, and other topics to be an understanding of the respondents' preferences, skills, and abilities, and what infrastructure elevates their experience.

So a few highlights are shown on this graphic that indicate that cross-country trails are favored among beginner and non-riders, and while flow trails are favored for intermediate, advanced, and expert riders.

We parsed out the different uh user types and skill levels to understand preferences across them.

We see that beginners and non-riders seek alternative routes and ride arounds and trails and intermediate to expert riders, really love burns that we that we saw, uh, notably intermediate, advanced, and expert riders, but also like to see alternative routes.

There was a lot of agreement across all different or all user types and skill levels, uh, but trying to parse out a couple uh unique things across each group.

Looking at facilities and amenities, toilets, parking areas, and shade structures were particularly uh popular amongst all riders for facilities, and the number one amenity requested amongst all users were trash and recycling bins.

Uh, notably natural areas, viewpoints and pause areas and wayfinding signage also ranked highly among riders.

So, this is common that we've seen in other recreational surveys that we've done.

And so looking at social insights and social themes, uh it included questions around demographics, what types of riding folks preferred, uh, programs and events they were interested in, and how often they ride and where and their interest in bike fill being built.

So we see a large representation of local respondents.

Uh, about 90% of responses uh came from uh residents uh of Bozeman and the surrounding area, and the people preferred to ride closer to town uh indicates that uh close to home trails are desired amongst Bosen residents.

Uh, lots of folks uh rode at the crosscut or areas that we define as close to town trails, so local riders.

Um over half the respondents classify themselves as cross-country and trail and enduro riders as well as casual and non-competitive riders.

To understand why people hit the trails, we asked a question around what their objective is, usually when they go out, and many respondents and really that commonly uh or unsurprisingly folks uh go to have fun and enjoy themselves when they're out to buy bike.

Uh byproduct of that is uh physical exercise, and we also have some information about uh you know wanting to socialize with others, meet new people, um, and so understanding their motivations to why they uh bike and go outside.

And then looking at these environmental themes uh include questions around conservation priorities.

We ask questions about seasonal and maintenance closure support, and ways in which people are interested in giving back and supporting bike fill both now and into the future.

And we see here that over 70% of respondents implemented uh proper or prioritize the implementation of proper water drainage, retention and erosion control best practices.

Almost half of respondents prioritized planting in native brasses, shrubs, and flora, uh, as well as trees protecting, promoting the growth of trees uh was also prioritized as conservation priorities.

We see very strong agreements uh about seasonal maintenance closures.

It sees that almost 90 to 95% of all respondents uh support maintenance closures, understand the reasons for them, uh, and are in favor of seasonal and maintenance closures.

So understanding the reason for those types of uh maintenance activities and closures.

And then we see for support and stewardship activities, we see that the community is interested in giving back the bike fill through stewardship efforts, which may include work parties or volunteer events uh to help maintain the trails or support the conservation priorities by volunteering to plant vegetation and trees, uh, which is inspiring to see.

And additionally, the community has or uh plans to make gifts to uh GBLT for bike fill.

So very strong stewardship ethic among those who responded both uh in conservation and in support of the bike park.

There's also an opportunity for respondents to write in additional insights throughout what their vision and share what their vision was for bike fill.

Uh some common themes we uh pulled out of that were a lot of enthusiasm around bike fill being built.

Uh to put it bluntly, people are excited is what we got from the survey, uh, which is really great to see.

Uh there was concern about Mackelhatton Road as being narrow, winding, uh, shoulderless, and dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians, and some additional concerns around adding additional traffic uh along that road corridor.

We saw that respondents would like opportunities to progress their skills at bike fill, so a variety of alternate routes and ride ride arounds are very important to folks, not seeing it as one particular spot for one particular skill level, but an opportunity for people to grow, uh, expand their skills and learn all in the same area while calling bike fill their local bike park.

Safety and rider separation was mentioned as things to consider when designing the park.

So highlighting the importance of developing safety features and building bike fill with safety in mind.

Uh there's a great opportunity for bike fill to serve as an area that welcomes all ability as we saw as well.

There's a lot of support for accessibility and adaptive-friendly terrain.

Uh people would like to see that this park is inclusive, not just in design, but also its culture of welcoming new riders uh and riders of all ability types.

Multiple response app at trails near the creek be limited to one side, push back further from the creek or eliminated specifically uh in the area between the creek and the fence line, uh, which we heard a little bit earlier.

And overall, there's a strong desire for a bike path from town to bike fill.

Uh very strong expression of folks wanting to be able to access bike fill through active transportation means uh and through their bikes.

Uh four focus group sessions were held throughout the engagement period.

The Bozeman youth cycling and cyclocross sessions were held in person at the GDLT office, and adaptive cycling focus groups were held virtually, one with an adaptive athlete and one with a coach and staff member from Eagle.

Uh youth cycling coaches would love to have shade structures in a pump track close to the parking area.

Staging areas, signage, and landing zones were also desired as they have large groups of kids that practices facilities like uh potable water access, restrooms, and lighting were also mentioned in terms of trail features, dual swallowing courses were considered fun for folks, uh, along with technical features for alternative routes for progression.

Cyclocross coaches would love the ability to have alternative ride around, the ability to compete or complete six to eight minute laps.

Obstacle sand pits and optional chamber single track trails were also desired.

Uh folks would like to be able to have access to the road that runs parallel to bike fill when there are events to be able to get to the upper hub area to drop off supplies and it goes so vehicular access for larger events.

As stated previously, there's a really huge opportunity for bike fill to fill an adaptive cycling in the community.

Some things they desire to enhance their experiences designated parking areas and drop-off locations, chase structures at both hubs and locations, and trail lifts of at least 30 inches along with wide turnarounds for areas and intersections.

And then we also hosted three in-person workshops were hosted at City Hall, uh, Gallanton Valley High School and Montana State University.

One virtual workshop was hosted uh utilizing Mentimeter to engage the participants, which is an online survey platform.

All workshops presented uh the same information and were tend to reach a broad audience.

Uh the framework of journey mapping was used to structure feedback collection for workshops when considering what visitors needed from bike fill.

Uh, it's necessary to consider the entire entry to exit user experience.

So these boards cover questions about folks' pre-visit, the staging experience they would like at the trailhead, on trail features, and then what they would like about the bike park after they for communication preferences, folks favor media and bike fill websites.

Uh shape structures and toilets were popular facilities among uh along with water and benches, firms, drops, rock gardens, jumps, and alternative routes were also high priorities among participants, along with uh cross-country flow and uh slopestyle type trails.

So really comprehensive information, really exciting.

Um really appreciate the feedback that everybody gave to the survey to help inform this project.

And there's a lot of information there, but there's uh even more information on the report, and we encourage everyone to check it out when they get the chance.

Um so we took a little longer with our presentation, our three-party presentation, but all of us are here if you have any questions specific to the engagement or what comes next.

And um so just let us know.

I have a question, Addie.

How closely does the preliminary plan that you've conceptualized mesh with what you're hearing from the surveys.

Yeah, I think we're pretty confident that we're meeting or exceeding expectations as far as trail proximity to the creek.

And um, you know, there's a specific request not to go south of Turn Creek.

That is one thing that the preliminary designs do show.

Um, but trails were removed between the north side and um uh uh that were going around uh native grass area that you've heard mentioned.

Um so when we you know put out the the story map and the park master plan, that'll kind of help illustrate um some of these items and a little bit of the why, um, the balance of public engagement.

Um, if we decided to cross the creek, this is how it's done.

And um, again, like Weren's mentioned earlier, best practices for crossing perpendicular, staying out of creek bed, that kind of thing.

So I think we are, you know, in areas where we're stuck between the fence and the creek, we would be at the 50 foot mark.

Gravel trails are actually allowed next to a creek for a certain length of the creek.

After 30 feet, there's no restriction on where you put gravel trails.

The 50 foot setback they're referring to is for buildings and concrete trails.

So even with that, we're vastly exceeding the requirements.

And so we want to create an exhibit for when the first phase comes out that shows you know what's required, what are the best management practices, and really I think we'll show that we are far exceeding expectations in terms of protecting.

It's hard to say that we are underdoing it, but we're overdoing it for natural resource protection.

One more question.

To what extent have the planned dealt with the comments that we heard earlier tonight, the public comment?

In other words, there were a variety of requests.

Are those new to you or things that you've already expected to hear and have anticipated?

Yeah, I think like we mentioned, you know, Audubon was there on site and Gallatin Watershed Council was on site.

So talking about river access and crossing and bird habitat and timing of construction and avoiding nesting season and all that, um, similar feedback we've had, and um pretty easy for us to meet a lot of that.

Um so I think most of the comments were staying far out of any wetland zone except for crossings.

And um yeah, so so in general, I say we're about 85% able to meet all those requirements.

Yeah, so Addie, um what is next for this?

Um so there was a slide that I had up.

Um the next thing will be the master plan is going to be posted on the engaged website a few weeks in advance of your March meeting.

Um and I hope to remind us that when that gets posted, we send you a heads up so that if you get a chance to take a look at it early.

Um then we would move forward with adopting the park master plan.

Um again, that's kind of an overlay of the arrangement of the site.

It's officially the first time we are documenting that this community bike park is coming forward, and that goes to City Commission.

Um, when we are the developers of the project, we go to City City Commission and they adopt it via resolution.

So that is on April 7th agenda.

Then kind of concurrently with that, the site plan application is the construction plan for how is the parking lot actually, what are the spaces like?

Did we meet the requirements for landscaping?

Um, are our paths adequate with you know, leading up to that?

Um, more of a public infrastructure type review.

And the team will submit that.

Um, that's not generally uh something we would have public engagement about.

Um it's the construction drawings, it's kind of pretty strict code on how we have to do all that stuff.

Um but then that will have again, it'll have an envelope for the trails.

Because outside of the water course setback requirements, um, you know, the trail design isn't something that has to be reviewed by the planning department.

That's kind of all of us.

That's our job to decide how have we allocated the different spaces and how have we given you know the animal corridor and um the fencing and all of that, how have we designed that?

It's more for our internal, you know, the group discussion.

Um so as I mentioned, you know, the first site plan application is for that infrastructure, and then we can refine it, and we do need to submit the trail plan for planning department.

Um, the water course review is actually done by the engineering department, but um we would do that kind of iteratively as things are um made more final.

So next meeting we'll be looking at um the master plan is that correct?

Right.

Um do you have in in your with your genie bottle?

Is there anything that you can think of that um the board might should maybe prepare for that discussion?

Well, we hope to do a good job explaining some of the more complicated items.

The water core setback discussion is confusing the way it's written.

I think as far as trails go, because there's a setback for buildings and structures, and then there's an exemption.

If you're within this far of the creek, you can do this.

If they're you're within this far, you can do this.

And like that's why I want to have this exhibit.

Um, and then uh apologize, there was another thought there, just more complicated compliance, you know, issues like that.

Um we'll try to do our best to deliver that to you.

If you are able to look ahead when we first publish the plan, and if any big questions come up, that's a perfect opportunity for you to let us know.

Um, you know, on an individual basis, hey, I need more information in order to decide this.

Then we can be ready when we come to present or when we issue the staff report, you know, the Friday before.

Mitt.

Yes, Terry, I'd like to add I really liked our partner's idea, Matt Parsons' idea about a site visit for uh the board.

Yeah, and so I'd like to put together an opportunity for the board to do that before that next meeting uh to go out and walk the site and see it.

And not a you know, nothing mandatory.

Of course, if we have a quorum, we will have to post that um as such, uh, which is fine.

But nonetheless, it would be an opportunity for the board to go walk the site.

Um you know, you do need access to get in there.

So we would provide that and take you all out there and do a tour.

It helps to kind of get boots on the ground and get into the space uh physically as well.

Um and Adam from G VLT and probably Matt too, they're willing to do smaller groups so that we don't have a quorum if that's what we need to do to accommodate people, and maybe we can try to fit that in after the design.

We have the designs so that you really could be out there walking with that in hand and sort of see how it would play out.

Thank you.

And to be clear though, it's per it is fine to have a quarrel out there together.

Yep.

Okay.

We just need to notice it.

Okay.

Yes.

Yeah, I think a field trip sounds fun.

Um I have a question about kind of the scope of the master plan.

So, like Autobond mentioned interest in doing, you know, ongoing bird surveys once the thing is built.

Um I'm wondering if the master plan, you know, say, for example, in a year or two, the bird surveys aren't looking great.

Would the master plan incorporate like procedures to address something like that, or is it more just kind of the immediate um media outlook on it?

Yeah, I think sometimes a master plan has a piece about ongoing operations and maintenance.

Um, so I think that type of direction could be included.

Uh I was looking at the map of the proposed parks uh layout, and I couldn't find one that had a scale on it.

Do you have a map with a scale?

Well, that that's what's coming out yep, in great yep.

That I feel like really helpful for me.

Of course, yeah.

Yeah, that was a conceptual drawing for it getting fun funders excited.

So I was curious on the when the plan is proposed, will that come with a more defined project calendar, or is that still something that's going to be a work in progress for some time to come after that?

I think we'll there they'll be continuing to hone in on that.

Um Matt might already know a little more.

Um, you know, some construction will remain in 2027, is what I understand.

Um, but with this weather, we're getting a lot done, I would say.

So can I ask a really very elementary question?

Good.

Ums.

Yeah.

Are we banning dogs?

We are banning dogs from the bike course.

But conflict.

A lot of thought, absolutely.

You know, this is what makes the fact that it's right next to Snowfill work so well that you know we think people will come to use the bike course and have their dogs in the car, hopefully in a well-shaded, you know, site.

There's the direct connection over to Snowfill, but we've put a lot of thought into where the fence would be placed so that you get your dog out of the car and it doesn't run up the hill that way.

It goes this way, it's corraled.

Um, so that kind of thing.

Yep.

But that goes to that, yeah, managing conflicts.

Thank you so much.

Of course.

Another potentially elementary question.

There is a big demand for shade structures.

Are we just talking like little huts kind of with that?

So I think there's gonna be a variety of sizes.

Um there's gonna be more of a big pavilion for holding, you know, people amass at site for their camps or their classes and courses or whatever picnic.

And then the idea of some scattered shade has been discussed.

Um, and then yeah.

Okay, following up then, like have um have you talked about feasibility of like using trees for those types of things instead of building more structures?

Yes, definitely, you know, and it's right, it's like a timeline thing, um, and an irrigation issue.

So we're working through what our well use can be, and that will really help us decide how much we can push water into this site.

Um the right the creek can't side areas are gonna be the best to receive new trees.

Um and Gallatin Watershed Council already has um like a DEQ grant they're working with us across the city on the branch out Bozeman project, and this site uh is a area where we can do that.

Um and then the parking lot itself in our city code, it requires trees um around that, and so that'll kind of blend into this pavilion area as well.

Great.

Any further discussion?

Um I had a question.

I don't want to interrupt anyone though.

Um the mention of uh dogs at bike fill.

I'm wondering, I I can't remember if bikes are permitted at snowfill.

And if they are, probably that's not a great idea with the number of bikes that might now be at bike fill.

Just curious.

Right.

There's currently no restrictions there, so that would be something interesting to discuss further.

Thanks.

Does uh the plan or will the plan address any education around those restrictions, or is that something that's just kind of a community ongoing or signage, pure purely signage?

Yeah, I think we will have some hints at the um the look and feel of on-site signs, and we have our our citywide wayfinding that we're gonna be deploying starting this summer.

We'll be building off of that.

Um, the outside kind and the directionals and all that kind of thing.

Um I think there's gonna be you know, design concepts when you get your park master plan.

What kind of events do you foresee happening within Bikeville?

Like are there would it be city hosted events or I mean there's the amount of groups that are involved is crazy.

So I imagine they all kind of want to have their moment to host something.

Yep.

Yeah, we'll have to balance that, right, with the the overall general public's use.

So um luckily we have some staff that are dedicated to that type of thing.

Um but but really you know, important we are learning uh specific programming for different users is important.

Um awesome stat when we did the the I think I mentioned this before.

You know, the ridership among young girls through the NICA program.

We have the highest percentage of girls in our programs and than any of the others across the country.

And so like that type of specific work is so awesome, and um, so we can watch for that and like making space for Eagle Mount Nobility Montana to do their um their programming, that kind of thing will also fold into the mix.

So on that event question, are there is are there gonna be capacity limitations outside of just the parking?

I think the parking's gonna be the thing.

This is a huge site, and I bet if we had more parking, we would have more people would be able to go.

So you know, the idea of potentially of like a parking ride from Story Mill or that kind of thing for some of the bigger events might be a way where we're maximizing the site.

Great.

Um Mitch, anything for it?

Um, back to the natural resource piece.

I think hopefully from in the master plan and from the site visit, if we can pull that together, I really hope that the public and the boards will be able to see that we're attempting to improve the natural resource elements there while constructing this facility.

So I know that's the there's a bit of a balance there, but we that's that's the effort.

Um it is a beautiful area, uh, there's beautiful views there, but it can be improved.

Yes, we'll create a very real human impact um in the environment.

However, we can plant more trees, we can protect natural areas, and we can bring people into these areas that see it and then care about these areas more also.

Uh remove chain link fencing that's along Macquahattan Road to create better wildlife corridors.

So this while we're creating this park for people, we can also be improving the natural resources in the park.

And that's an effort that we're we're making, and I hope that that comes through as we do it.

And we appreciate the public's interest in that because it helps us uh focus on that as well.

Great.

Thank you so much, Addy.

And um the GVL team and CRO.

I think I think CRO.

All right, next up we have um the Bozeman Urban Forest Management Plan and the proposed project schedule.

All right, Miss On Hods.

Let's see where am I gonna find this thing which one was?

Did you need one shh um it's uh PowerPoint delay?

PowerPoint's the message.

It's one PowerPoint.

Oh okay.

Do you have your flash drive?

We'll just pull it up from there.

Thank you.

Yes.

There it is.

And this one.

Yes.

That's it.

Thank you.

Of course.

I'll put in a presentation.

Awesome.

Oh, yeah, nice.

I wouldn't have known I could just move that.

And then just go this way that way.

Perfect.

Great.

Thank you.

Um and for the record, uh, my name is Mitch Overton.

I'm the director of your parks and recreation department.

And I wanted to take a moment to talk about the timing of our urban forestry management plan for the board.

Um this is gonna be a project that we'll spend a good portion of the this upcoming year on.

Uh we're updating this master plan from our 2016 uh urban forest management plan.

And I've got a timeline to go over with you all, and but before I did that, I wanted to just kind of go over.

We we sent you all the project management plan for this.

And as a reminder, there are four essential components that are we're really uh working on in this this plan.

Infrastructure and management.

And uh and also in your project management plan, each of these four elements go into much greater detail uh than this overview.

This is an excerpt that's pulled from the introduction of that plan.

Um so back to those four components infrastructure and management, uh, where we really get into tree inventory characteristics, our canopy cover goals, which we really haven't uh spent much time focusing on canopy coverage, and it's a great way to analyze uh how our urban forest is is doing and where we need more uh coverage.

Staffing and equipment levels, uh budgeting, um, and other related areas again, great more much more detail in in the uh PMP project management plan.

And then we get into the planning and development uh portion of it.

This is where we really get into code type of guidance.

Uh we get into areas uh like tree protection zones, uh the heritage tree program uh would come into the planning and development areas where we look at that's what is meant here by integration with other city departments, uh contract tree installations, uh assessment on private property, trees impacted by construction, uh that really deals with development and how development is impacting our urban forest.

And then community engagement.

Community engagement uh in this context is really meant in as far as the department and the division.

So, how can the division and the department really further its community engagement through volunteer initiatives, uh public concerns, and uh community education and outreach.

And then finally, a fourth component really is insect and disease, disaster preparedness, uh, emerald ash borer, and then adaptation to climate change.

So looking at our current proposed um schedule.

We are let me see if I can get this mouse to work where you can see it.

Good.

Um, here on February 26th on a coordination meeting.

So if we had a meeting this morning, first start talking about um how everything's going to work and uh the contractors review of the of our inventory um and answer all of their questions and really kind of get this thing going and kicked off.

Um the highlighted sections are what I really wanted to bring to the board's attention tonight because this is going to be um the heaviest pieces of the board's involvement.

So March 26 at our next meeting is where we will bring the community engagement plan.

So this is sort of um back behind where we are with uh bike fill, for example, right?

That community engagement plan has been done, community engagement has closed, so this is at the very beginning stages.

So we'll bring the community engagement plan here.

Each of these sessions, there's four work sessions involving the board that occur at these meetings uh with representation from our contractors.

And they have about an hour to present and engage with the board.

Those meetings are not a part of their they're not our public um engagement um opportunities, um, however, they are pub obviously at a public meeting, but we're not counting those towards public meetings.

I've at this point I've told them it's you know, plan on roughly the middle section of the hour of the two hours until we get it uh uh lined out.

But um, you know, get us time to get the meeting going and take general public comment and then try to get them in.

Um then the following meeting in April will have an outline of the management plan and review that with the board, get into components of the plan, and then we are back in June to talk about the feedback that we've gotten through public engagement.

And then once we hit July, ideally we're starting to review a preliminary draft.

And when we do that, we the board gets the draft and we go through that and make comments back to our contractors, and then that iteration, it's hard to say how long that that lasts.

It it just depends.

Um we'll have roughly um two and a half, three weeks to review a draft, and then be back here for more commentary at the at our um July meeting, and and then back and try to continue to work this thing through um through the public and finalize it and get it to completion by the end of the calendar year.

That is our goal.

So that is pretty high level, but it's all I wanted to go over with the board tonight, is really expectations.

It is going to get into what we're gonna work on, what I'll talk about a little bit next, and we'll work on next month, which will be our work plan.

Um the work that we'll be doing this year, how long it takes, how much time and effort we all expect to expend on it, and uh, and that's that's a big one of them.

So that's really all I have for that.

Um, only concern is it sounds like we'll have a busy busy meeting next month.

Yes.

You may want to prepare anything in advance, just for efficiency sake.

Yeah.

Yes, thank you.

I agree.

And uh the chair and I have been talking about that already.

It's it's that next month will be a busy meeting.

Um anything additional that we can get out to you ahead of time to prepare, we'll make sure we do that.

Yeah, thanks, Brett.

Sally, do you have any questions?

No, thank you.

Does anybody in person have any questions for Mitch on this?

All right.

Um the final uh FYI discussion tonight, then is the um our advisory board work plan review and preparation.

So we we do a two-year work plan and and then review that mid mid-year.

Uh we did 2020 24-25.

I want to go over that with the board uh briefly and go over each of these items and where we are on them.

Our next uh uh obviously will be 26-27.

We're not do really getting into the work plan tonight, and I'll show you here in a moment on a few slides.

Because we thought we would wait until the commission adopts their priorities on Tuesday night, uh, the third of March, and we'll meet next month and we'll just make sure that our work plan aligns with commission priorities.

And there's an either is there an opportunity that presents itself, um, or again that just makes sure that we have our strategic connection is is is aligned here, which is one of our cells that we have on our uh work plan.

So quickly kind of going through these, our our work plan, and I I want to go ahead and say also that our work plan you'll notice, and for those of you that are that are new, I want to point out um directly aligns with our focus areas for the board.

So our focus areas are called out in the resolution that created the board, and there's five of those focus areas, and that is why our work plan is delineated by focus areas.

And then that's a large area, and then within there we can create a work plan item that fits under that focus area.

So Arbor Day program, uh, that's in our focus area of what this board is about is should be focusing on.

Um that one we we always do, we will do.

It's it's a it's a great event.

It's a great community event, it's a great opportunity for the board to participate.

So no changes there.

Um review reports returning uh pertaining to urban forest.

So we're getting ready to get into that now.

But in our current work plan, uh update urban forest management plan in action.

Um update the street tree guide.

We did that with the with the board, and that's been complete and updated, and uh we've got a lot of great input and have a much improved street tree guide.

And then contribute to historic preservation policy development for trees.

Uh I think that one is still has a uh you know has some meat left on the bone.

And I think the the management plan will help us with that.

And if you again if you look into that project management plan, you'll see specifically um called out the heritage tree program, tree protection zones, some of these that I think will help us uh further that item.

So I don't we we we that was a the right goal, but we that's one I don't we didn't really get a lot accomplished on, uh frankly.

Um and then focus area three uh is uh assessing equity and distribution of parks and trails, and with an emphasis on underserved communities and neighborhoods in addressing and identifying those issues.

Uh in this work plan was some implementation from Pratt, which 10-minute walk analysis we did.

Anchor routes uh is another option, another um project we'll be working on likely at our next meeting, which will be the master plan for the Cattail Creek corridor, which will be our first anchor route, which was called for in the Pratt.

Uh and then anchor, that's a three and a half uh uh mile long multi-use path running uh from Cattail Lake uh down to Bozeman Pond uh in the mall.

So it's a significant um alternative mode of transportation for the community and the connection point.

Um and then the Cash and Lou Grant Program, which was another program that we uh project that we did with this board, um created that program together with the board, had our first successful round of community grants last summer, uh, and are still finishing up some of those grants now.

Uh so great program and hope that we continue that to have the resources that we need to to do that program.

Yeah.

Uh so thank you all for your participation in that.

We had some good work done.

Although one of the grants from the Bridger Ski Foundation for uh um making Nordic Trails at Sacachewea and and um and uh Chief Joseph has not gone very well for them, unfortunately.

Um that's that's too bad.

But it's a two-year they applied for two-year grants, so let's hope for a better snow year next year.

Um and then focus area four is evaluating our park recreation openness and trails plan from draft drafting through adoption.

We did that.

Um park recreation open space and trails plan that was what it was called before it was the Pratt, that was the PROS.

Um so we did that, thank you.

And then focus area five recommendations, one request of Sunset Hill Cemetery.

And what we have here is lift lit listed is we do by at a minimum biannual staff updates from our cemetery staff to the board and um get updates and then sometimes we have projects in there and we bring those in um one off.

So that's our current plan.

And I wanted to go through that and just kind of see how we did on those, which all in all was was good except for that one item that I called out.

I already mentioned the resolution, but again, reminder you can uh you can see this probably even more clearly.

I didn't realize it was touch screen.

Um that all of those a lot you know are called into each of our focus areas.

Now, this is just out today.

Um this was the this is the draft of the commission priorities, and so this is public document that's in in the um city commission agenda for Tuesday night, and gives you an idea of the priorities that the commission will be discussing and voting on.

It is an action item uh for Tuesday night.

Uh so within there, I'd like to align our find alignment if we can with our priorities that we work on next month.

And my proposal would be that we bring uh proposed work plan to the board uh with ideas uh here to fit in there or with taking a stab at filling out this spreadsheet on the amount of time and the budget impact that it would take, and then that we discussed that as a group and come up with a plan, make the changes that it's necessary and do that.

And I'll get back to this uh for you all.

So a few things here that would kind of stick out that um at a quick look that you could see the safe and welcoming place, item one D.

There's an area here with multimodal transportation, uh safe streets, um, so there's there could be alignment there with with um alternative modes of transportation uh relationship with Montana Montana State University is an item number two.

Mitch, I have a question about 2A.

Yes.

What are your thoughts?

So uh you know, I don't know all uh I don't visit all the the boards um uh that often.

It's when we need to take something to s to the other boards, we we do, and we will with the urban forest management plan.

Uh I think ensuring that we write the board the the boards are kind of meeting the needs of the community is is is a good thing to do, right?

And we should evaluate how are the boards doing.

Um we did a board consolidation two and a half, three years ago now.

I I don't recall how it's not all that long ago, four years maybe.

Uh yeah.

And um so we should be looking at how how's that going, right?

Um and I think that's a that's a part of it.

Now and I think I've I've said this, and I know I've said this um to our commissioner right offline, you know, not here.

I wouldn't say I'm not saying this just because I'm talking to you all.

This board functions really well.

Um so I don't know that they're all function as well as this one.

I I did seriously, that's why that was my preamble of I don't go to all of the boards.

Um but that's my thoughts on that, Joe.

Uh yeah.

Um I think an analysis of how's it doing?

Is it is it uh effective?

Is there alignment with community goals?

I don't I think that's fine.

Can I just put a little color on there have been a lot of conversations?

We had a um director and commission what did they call it?

Retreat on January 12th, that we all together sort of sorted out um what our priorities might be.

And then there's been a lot of behind the scenes, you know, all five commissioners can't get together, so we meet with Chuck Wynn and go over, you know, who wants what and what's prioritized and where.

And then on Tuesday night, there is gonna be a 90-minute work session on this.

So I would suggest that if you can watch it that night or it's recorded, right?

So watch it later and um because each commissioner will kind of have a moment to talk about what these priorities, you know, what we're thinking, because they are very vague right now, right?

And that I I'll tell you I struggle with vague language.

So for me personally, I'll be adding a lot of color to this during the 90-minute work session.

Um, but the strengthening advisory board efficacy.

We want to hear from you guys what you think is working well, your experience on the board, whether it's been years or you're freshly new and what has surprised you or you know, whatever, what's working well, what's something that could be improved.

Um so yeah, that's and then kind of how your recommendations make it to the commission.

There isn't a really solid pathway for that.

I've been doing something just off the cuff, invented myself that next Tuesday during the FYI, I will use a moment to give an update about our session this evening, just so that the other commissioners can know a little bit about what happened.

So, you know, until we get a more established route, that's that's what's been happening.

But yeah, for that, thank you for asking about that, Joe, because we do want to hear from you guys, all the boards.

Um, so yes, thank you for that, Commissioner.

I think that does add color to it.

Uh just really to make sure that the commission is getting what they they need in the community from from the boards.

It's they are at the end of the day the commission's advisory boards.

Uh yeah, because right now I have zero idea what's happening on all the boards I'm not a liaison to.

Right.

Right?

So, how do we get this to the whole body?

So good, Joe.

Anything else on that?

Okay.

Um so right, there's a few others kind of stick out uh protect bosom's heritage and neighborhood environment.

There's a couple of um areas in there.

Matter of fact, the urban forest management plan is specifically called out in that item, item four.

Uh edits to the UDC.

We will be working on our own park edits coming in.

That's gonna be another one of our large projects that I'll have recommended for our work plan because we adopted the Pratt, which the Park Recreation Act or Transportation Plan, which this board made the recommendation to the commission to to adopt in that document.

There are a number of recommended code updates.

So we'll be going through those and try to put together a package for code uh changes amendments that are in the UDC and in the general park code.

Uh that'll be another item.

Can I ask you a question?

Sorry.

Um we've had some public comment like through the two-year UDC process about um cash in lieu of parkland dedication.

Would that be a UDC update that you guys can work on?

Okay.

Absolutely.

I think it is.

It is in there.

We do have some language that's in our Pratt that makes recommendations for us to analyze that and to update it and review it.

Um we'll do what we can within uh a lot of that is is is governed by state law, and but we'll do what we can to to review that and make it uh as fair for Bozeman as we can.

Thanks.

Um was this your final slide?

That's my final slide.

Um can you flip back one for me, Mitch?

Yes, because I wanted to one more.

Nope, nope.

You're going the wrong direction.

Right there.

Yes.

Um thank you for that.

Um I made some notes for myself, and I thought I would verbalize it for the rest of the board.

When I looked at these goals, um I gave myself some homework, to be very honest.

Um to um basically search up, and I did it via my phone, um, to look up the uh forest management plan from 2020 16, just to glance at that to see where where the starting line is, basically.

Um I also I remember the Pratt.

I've read it numerous times.

I probably should breeze through it again because I can see a couple places on the commission's um list that might have some alignment.

Um then um I saw anchor route in someplace else.

So I know the engaged boseman talks about the Inca route.

Um then branch out Bozeman has some water stuff in it.

So those were my four homework assignments to myself that I wanted just to verbalize.

Yeah.

Excellent idea.

Uh the 2016 urban forest management plan was it it would be a great plan to review and and look at.

And it was a good plan for the time.

And it's it's it was enjoyable actually to go to look at it and see what we'd have uh have accomplished from that plan, uh which is quite a bit, actually.

And uh we're very fortunate in the sense that Bozeman really utilizes their plans.

We we make a plan and we use a and we follow them.

They're really our marching orders.

They're the they're the community's plans, and we just execute them.

Um but I expect this one to be a good bit different than uh we have a lot more uh engagement and interest in the urban forest than we did 10 years ago, and it's great.

I have one other question about that.

I'm going to be not a question, but a comment.

I'm gonna be particularly interested to see how you address contingencies for environmental impact for the forest and for disease, natural disasters, and how that would translate to budget contingencies for the commission.

Yes.

Right.

Excellent.

And we started that and we do some of that, which was called for, excuse me, in our emerald ash borer course of action plan, which we did along with that 2016 plan.

Now this plan incorporates the um Emerald Ash Bore planning into it.

So it's not a separate document as it was in 2016.

Um it is interesting.

You're right, to look at how you plan for that.

Um for example, that plan called for, it was very specific.

It's it called for reduction of the uh that this is ash in particular.

There's other um elements that you bring in here, like diversity of the in the within the urban forest to create resiliency.

But back to that plan, it was a very specific item that you look at ashtries that are under 10 inches in diameter.

Um those are not if you get into an issue where you have an infestation, those are not the trees worth saving.

Um those are the trees that you allow the pests to take hold in and and infest and then move on.

And then you really focus on saving these other trees that are that are greater and providing more of an environmental benefit.

And then there's methods to do that, right?

There at that point in time, they're mostly chemical methods, but that's that's the way it is that you preserve those trees until the pest moves through.

Um but there's a budgetary impact there as well.

Now that also meant that as a plan, part of the plan, we needed to work on reducing the uh percentage of ashtree population as the total percentage within the urban forest.

That recommendation was to um remove it down to 20 percent, and we're really close at that to that now.

I think we're a little over 20 percent, maybe 22 percent.

But so over the course of those last 10 years, we've been steadily looking for opportunities of hey, how can we reduce that population um anyway?

So, but that's an example just for for the ash trees.

Um and we did start reserving some funds in cla in case at that point in time, in case there was an infestation that we because it is a huge budgetary impact if all of a sudden you get uh an infestation like that.

And one way or another.

And in what I mean by that is you would rather it be, at least I would rather it be a budgetary impact of preserving the trees that we can instead of the budgetary impact of cleaning up all of the dead and damaged trees, because that's a major impact to our urban forest and our landscape.

Uh and so aesthetically and visually and environmentally, it would be detrimental to the city.

Yeah.

I mean, every tree going up Wilson line in the street as an ashtray and a mature ash tree.

I mean, to obliterate that just right there is that yes.

So great question.

And that's that's what we'll be working through in this plan.

And I really think we've got uh the right consultants, the right the right staff, the right board.

I think we got the right community involvement.

It's it'll be a good one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I guess Alison, you might want to cover your ears.

This is gonna be maybe a little vague, a little zoomed out.

But I just guess wanted to verbalize the thought I was having a lot of it around number four.

Um to the limited extent that I've been able to carve into the UDC and the big document that that is.

Um I know, you know, sprawl is the dirty word.

Um, but as Bozeman's growing, you know, it seems like it's kind of we're gonna we're gonna spread out a little bit.

And so um I would definitely I'm definitely gonna try to brainstorm over the next month of you know, different um different uh focus, not focus areas, the the action plans or whatever um to kind of address, you know how as Bozeman expands, you know, where are we gonna see new parks developed?

How are we going to protect access to green spaces?

How are we going to protect the integrity of you know our landscapes and all those types of things?

Um, as much as we don't want to see sprawl, it seems like it's gonna happen a little bit, hopefully not a lot, but yeah, um I think there's a lot of potential to kind of go into that in our work plan as well.

Excellent.

Thank you, Matthew.

Hey, Sally.

Just checking in there.

Got any questions?

Thanks.

I'm enjoying the conversation.

I'm all good.

Thank you.

Okay.

Good.

Great.

Does anybody have any further thoughts?

Questions for Mitch?

I just wanted to say um I'm really excited about this tree canopy assessment idea.

Yes.

Um I've been trying to like on my own time, look at uh Google maps and go back in time and then I'm mostly focusing on like the core of the city, like how much of this tree canopy are we losing in the core.

So I'm really excited that this is on the radar at a couple different spots on the things that you had listed there.

So it's gonna be a great way for us to do it.

And if you really speak to get back to what Matthew was doing, if we really zoomed out to the city a long time ago, what you really see is an Aforestation of our city.

There's no question, right?

I mean, the valley didn't didn't have a lot of trees.

All the historic photos.

Yes.

The building and no trees.

That's right.

And so you know uh in and sometimes people tell me this anecdotally, they'll like, well, that's you know, we didn't have a lot of trees in the valley, you know, or you know, again and then even so the native trees were all running along a uh water course and then some maybe cottonwood or aspen.

And but we also didn't have all the people, and we didn't have all the vehicles, and we didn't have all the concrete, and we didn't have all the asphalt, and we didn't have all the shingles on roofs, and we didn't have all of the these things.

So, right, there's an impact.

And so the trees offset that impact, the carbon impact.

I mean, at least they do a uh Absolutely.

That's right.

It's maybe the one positive impact humans have on the environment.

That's right.

That's right.

Yes.

Yes.

Anyway, that's a soapbox that's I can get on.

Um Mitch, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the the Gallatin Watershed Council has done a bit of canopy assessment and has some goals there.

Will this be done in partnership with some of the work that they've already done to the case?

Yes.

So we we did that.

We that started that with them.

Uh we sure did.

So we did that in collaboration and we just uh really started looking at um canopy coverage and where we are and that and so we just started scratching the surface uh with that through our partnership with them called branch out Bozeman.

Yes.

So this is to really get nitty-gritty with it and say, hey, what is it?

Um it's not gonna look that good, right?

I don't think uh because it's just the way the city is and it's got small young trees and and what is the goal?

These are just my expectations.

And that's gonna be it's it's gonna be significant.

I think it's gonna it'll it'll be uh, but you need to have it in that way when you have something like that that you can measure and you have these goals and we can keep marching towards it.

Yeah.

Quick question on that.

So the the question I asked the bike fill people earlier about um you know using trees as shading devices instead of structures.

That was kind of you know, in the vein of the whole canopy question.

And obviously they were bringing up irrigation.

Um this is kind of a specific question, I guess.

But um, to like what extent would it be in the purview of this board to talk about things like beaver reintroduction or like creating beaver habitats around town in our parks?

Because I know that could go a long way with like water retention and things like that.

Yeah.

Well, it's certainly in the park design and you know, wildlife interface, and you're right.

There's gonna have to be some analysis on where that might be the right place to do it, you know.

And um there's always gonna be that type of analysis, right?

Um in town where it might cause problem and flood people's basements, or it's not gonna be the right place to do it, but on uh a more of a naturalized area where right the wetlands can provide great benefit.

You know, you you're starting to see sort of this uh reintroduction of this this type of infrastructure, Matthew.

You know, so much so that even our water department is is talking about you know building essentially man-made beaver dams, okay, to treat water as it comes down from the mountains, right?

Um and so you kind of see some of that uh nature's engineering coming back into uh you know human engineering and aspects.

So I think it's certainly a great, this is the right board for to to talk about it.

And sustainability is another one that will be interested in that type of conversation.

Yeah.

Great, thank you.

Um you bet.

I think that's it for tonight.

Um this board uh generally meets the fourth Thursday up every month from 6 to 8 p.m.

Um I would like to thank everybody for joining us tonight and officially adjourn the meeting.