City of River Falls duo Conservation and Parks Manager Brooks Ostendorf and Natural Resources Coordinator Levi Myers have both placed a heavy emphasis on sustainability and conservation in their time with the city, and the two are focused on making an impact on the area that lasts centuries.

“Within the [Conservation and Parks] division, we focus on forestry, sustainability, parks, recreation and natural resources,” Ostendorf said. “We coordinate across the Community Development Department as well as Public Works, Facilities to make sure all of those individual legs are taken care of in the city.”

The city has focused on filling roles that focus on sustainability for years, and Ostendorf and Myers are two of the latest examples.

“A lot of it is the history of River Falls as well and the connection with the river. It’s always been a major part of River Falls’ identity,” Myers said. “As the city has continued to develop, that’s just been a core value.”

Ostendorf’s division started last year, and he is the first manager of the division.

“What’s really been clear from the development of a number of plans that the city has for the next 20 years, like the Comprehensive Plan, the Outdoor Recreation Plan, there’s been a robust community engagement process where the community has made it clear that sustainability is a priority,” Ostendorf said. “There’s a lot of pride in the community around those things, and that’s been clearly communicated to the city and we want to honor that.”

Ostendorf said sustainability is baked into the mission statement and core values of the city, and that stems from the emphasis the citizens have placed on it.

Myers is the first natural resources coordinator in the city. One of the core focuses thus far has been working with Ostendorf on the removal of ash trees due to the Emerald Ash Borer outbreak deteriorating many ash trees in the area.

“There’s a lot of planning that goes into that as far as how do we remove those trees, but also how do we replant and think to the future as well,” Myers said. “As well as a focus on, just broadly, natural resources, especially the river and how do we protect that as well as our natural areas.”

Myers wants to focus on more than just trees, though, including things like native plantings, pollinator environments and wildlife habitats.

“We have a really unique opportunity to set the city up for the future in terms of what our urban canopy looks like. First is just recovering from [Emerald Ash Borer] and planting trees to replace all of those ones,” Ostendorf said. “Start improving canopy coverage throughout the city, that’s certainly one goal.”

A key that Ostendorf, Myers and many other city staff members have relied on are the plans set into place to guide them. The city is in a constant cycle of creating plans and benefitting from those already in place. Myers said long-term quality of life is a top reason people are moving to River Falls, and the plans have helped make that quality of life a reality.

“A lot of it is investing in the community and its natural resources both now, but also looking into the future,” Myers said. “For me, as I look at the ways that I’m able to be a part of that, I know that I am investing in the community and our natural resources, and that those are the things that really shape communities and people’s well-being in the long-term.”

Myers said planting trees have benefits that are seen decades later, and it is the same thing with creating plans. Sowing the seeds leads to benefits for current and future residents well down the line.

“It’s not often that you get to be a part of new parks coming to a city, and the Kinni Corridor Project is one that’s incredibly exciting for what it will do to the Kinni in terms of improving the ecological impact of it,” Ostendorf said. “All the trails and park components that we added as a part of that project is really exciting… Future generations will be enjoying that for years to come.”