Woodlands Committee Meeting Minutes
Attendees: Martha
Dwyer-Bergman, Linda Spencer-Green, Phil Notestine,
George Jackson, Jerry Uhrig
Administrative matters:
minutes reviewed and approved; copies of Eastern Woodlands passed out; woodlands
assignments were adjusted on the reference map (Phil took some areas near his
home.)
We discussed opportunities for
support from the Nature Conservancy because of their extensive experience in
habitat restoration and maintenance. Our contact is Dr. Mike Van Clef, Director
of the Skylands Office. We discussed one of their publications, "Guide to
Preserves and Projects in
Another support opportunity is
the restoration of the
Phil brought two excellent
articles: one on the problem of earthworms in forests and one on a deer browse
study at the Burnham Brook Preserve in
The problem with earthworms
derives from the fact that after the last ice age 10,000 years ago there were
no earthworms in the areas covered by the ice. So those forests evolved for
thousands of years without them until they were brought by the early settlers.
The question we have to ask is whether that argument applies in our area
because we are in the terminal moraine. If it does, the problem that the
earthworms cause is that they prematurely destroy the duff layer on the forest
floor. Many species of plants, birds and animals depend on it.
The deer browse study is an
excellent example of the kind of material we expect to obtain through contacts
with the Nature Conservancy. It deserves careful study. Dr. Emile DeVito has been conducting similar studies in