FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Last week, the City Council agreed to investigate plans for hiring an urban forester.

The council authorized the city’s Tree Committee to explore funding and staffing options for the position.

“A year ago we made a request to hire an urban forester,” said Council Chairman Bob Gentle at an Oct. 25 meeting of the city’s Tree Committee. “The position would help protect the overall health of the urban canopy and also take a load off Jennifer (Fidler), who seems to be wearing about eight hats.”

Fidler is the city horticulturist and public works director, according to the city code which combines the positions in Fairhope.

An urban forester position was not included in the current budget ending Sept. 30, 2008.

At the Oct. 25 meeting, the committee also discussed plans for amendments to the city tree ordinance. One amendment would increase the number of trees protected.

At the Nov. 8 council meeting, council members heard about one grant opportunity that would support an urban forester’s salary for one year.

“If they do change the ordinance, it will require more staffing,” Mayor Tim Kant said. “But grant money can go away.”

Kant said the current year’s budget was closed but that requests to fund an urban forester job on a continuing basis could be made during next year’s budget hearings.

Some larger cities in Alabama, such as Mobile, Huntsville and Montgomery, have sections dedicated to urban forestry housed within planning and development departments.

Mobile has had an urban forester since 1997, and Montgomery hired one in 2004.

“With progress and development you might have to hire an urban forester to complement existing staff,” Councilman Dan Stankoski said. “It is a big job, and we want to do it right.”

Stankoski pointed to two recent situations where tree protection issues arose after commercial development site plans were approved.

“We spent a lot of time talking about the Hampton Inn and Schellbrook projects,” he said. “It all boils down to growth and development.”

In both cases, the developer had received site plan approval, but the projects were delayed when the plans were reviewed again, as in the Hampton Inn plan on Section Street, or fines assessed after discovery that protected trees had been cut without permission, as in the Schellbrook apartment building project on Twin Beech Road.

“(Fidler’s) position is just so broad, it’s simply too much responsibility,” said Bobby Green, a Tree Committee member. “An urban forester would help make sure that things don’t slip through the cracks.”

Although the council agreed unanimously at the Nov. 8 meeting to explore opportunities for hiring an urban forester, not all council members completely embraced the idea.

“We already have an urban forester on our city payroll right now,” said Councilman Mike Ford, referring to Fidler, who has a degree in horticulture from Auburn University and is a licensed arborist, according to the city’s Web site. “I think we’re trying to make a job for somebody by changing the (tree ordinance) laws. I say let’s look into it, but there are pitfalls, and people get emotional about these things — like tree huggers.”

One of the funding sources the council discussed for an urban forester was federal funding through the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. During 2007, less than half of the funds available for community forestry projects were disbursed, according to its Web site. One city that did receive funding was Robertsdale, which received $20,000 to be used to hire a qualified contractor to assess its urban forest.

Montgomery’s tree committee used similar funding sources for a number of projects leading to the hiring of its urban forester in 2004, according to the committee’s Web site.

“The Montgomery Tree Committee informally began in 2001 as a citizen advocacy group to start an urban forestry program for Montgomery,” the group’s Web site states. “The committee wrote an Urban and Community Forest grant for the city, which was awarded in 2001, and the Montgomery Comprehensive Urban Forest Plan was completed in 2002.”

The committee worked on other grants in developing data and ideas, including the feasibility of a walking trail along a local creek.

“Of real significance, was the Urban and Community Forest Grant the city received in 2002 for an Urban Ecosystem Analysis of the tree canopy in Montgomery, Autauga, and Elmore counties, which documented significant tree canopy loss between 1986 and 2002,” the Web site states. “In 2004, the City of Montgomery hired its first Urban Forester, Russell Stringer, who is assigned to the Planning Controls Department and acts as an advisor to the Montgomery Tree Committee.”

In 2005, the Montgomery Tree Committee incorporated as a nonprofit membership organization, and in 2006 the group received tax-exempt status, the Web site states.