Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes
Attendees: Jerry Uhrig, Phil Notestine,
Linda Spencer-Green, George Jackson
The minutes from the previous
meeting were approved.
Reports
Permanent Status
Patie Graham is working on our charter. She is
collecting charters from other boards/commissions/committees to be sure that
ours interfaces with the others in the desired manner. She is also collecting
charters from other groups in town, such as Home and School Association and the
League of Women Voters for general ideas and concepts.
Deer
The number of deer killed this
year was quite a bit less than expected. We discussed the problem briefly.
Except for the first day of culling, when 7 deer were taken, no deer showed up
at the feeding stations. We made a joint decision with DMS that, under the
circumstances, further attempts at culling made no sense at that time. The
question arose as to the reasons the deer were not showing up at the feeding
stations. Some possibilities are:
1.
Pressure from other hunting activities, some
controlled (UBNJ) and some not controlled (any other hunters), kept deer out of
the woodlands entirely.
2.
Relatively mild weather in December meant that
the deer were less reliant on the feeding stations for food.
3.
The actual number of deer in town was far less
than we expected.
4.
The deer somehow understood that the feeding
stations were dangerous and avoided them.
Jerry noted that the amount of
deer browse on his English yews suggests that reason 3 is not very likely. He
has been told by a wildlife biologist that deer only browse yews when food is
very scarce since yews are actually toxic to deer if they eat too much of it.
Jerry also observed that Patie Graham's arbor vitaes
look like they are getting browsed again this year to about the same extent as
last year.
We discussed briefly the
possible role of hunting. Should it be expanded in the future? What are the
applicable hunting regulations? Limited firearms hunting in the
1.
Safety, especially firearms, as well as the
unknown, possibly uncertified, hunters who might avail themselves of the
opportunity.
2.
Effectiveness; i.e., could hunting
alone ever reduce the deer population to the point required for recovery of the
woodlands. Hunters, for the most part, try not to reduce the herd to negligible
levels. It limits future hunting opportunities.
The next significant
information we will get on the deer herd will come as a result of the infrared
aerial survey to be taken in early March. Presumably, the
Geese
George mentioned that the
goose control program this year would include addling but not culling. U. S.
Fish and Wildlife will do the addling. Jerry mentioned that he knows where most
of the nests are from many years of addling. He agreed to pass this information
along to Gary Webb.
Fenced Areas
We plan to fence some
protected areas this year to begin work on woodlands restoration. George
wondered if we might somehow be able to learn what we need to know from fenced
areas elsewhere. But, as Linda explained, by keeping the deer out, we can use
these areas as a baseline to compare with the state of our remaining woodlands
to help us assess whether we have managed to control the deer herd to a
sufficient degree.
ECO-Hike Project
Jerry handed out an updated
outline of proposed stations on the hike:
ECO-Hike
Stations
The
current plan is for Laurel Durenberger, Tom Carr, and Jerry to take the
initiative on this with support from the others as needed.
Invasives
Jerry passed out some
information on garlic mustard. This should be the first initiative on invasives
this year. We need to get information to residents so that they can help.
Jerry brought photos of an
ailanthus tree in Halsey Frederick Park, which had apparently fallen down
during the clearing for the playfields. One photo showed the roots and the kind
of soil the tree was growing in: ashes that were part of the old dumpsite. The
other photo showed the upper part of the tree with new shoots sprouting.
Apparently there were just enough of the roots still in contact with the soil
to support new growth. Ailanthus is a very persistent invasive. It also poisons
the soil so that other trees cannot grow. We have a major grove of ailanthus at
the old dumpsite in Halsey Frederick Park.
Website: Threat Priorities
Phil
submitted an excellent site for deer this month. Maintained by
Now
that the committee is permanent, we need to put a link to our home page on the
Environment page of the Borough website. Jerry will take care of this along
with some other details including the modification of our name.
Other Topics and Discussion
Bobcats
Phil
attended the orientation program for state bobcat monitoring project. Details
are as follows:
Action Alert: Volunteers
Needed to Help Protect
Bobcats
yet its remaining wild lands still harbor an important mid-sized
carnivore - the bobcat. But because bobcats are highly sensitive to
human disturbance, they will be one of the first species lost if
fragmentation and human encroachment continue to erode critical
habitats. Thanks to the progressive conservation efforts of the NJ
Division of Fish and
Wildlife's Endangered and Nongame Species Program
and its non-profit arm, the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of
work is underway to provide long-term protection for this state-listed
endangered species.
The Division is now
recruiting volunteers to assist with various
aspects of the monitoring efforts including checking and maintaining
live-cage traps, and setting, checking and maintaining motion-sensitive
cameras. You can play a vital role in protecting this beautiful animal
and the habitat critical to its long-term survival. If you are
interested in becoming a volunteer, please see the additional details
outlined below.
What You Can Do:
We are hoping to recruit 40
to 50 people for the
Project so they can become
trained 'citizen scientist' volunteers. This
corps of volunteers will be instrumental to the success of this phase of
the project. Volunteers will be trained to assist biologists in a
variety of field tasks such as setting, baiting and checking the
livetraps, setting and monitoring motion-sensitive cameras, and data
recording. They will also
learn about bobcat ecology and biology, field
identification techniques,
present threats, and bobcat research and
conservation.
Below is a list of minimum
requirements and information on specific
volunteer tasks. If you
can't volunteer, please pass this e-mail on to
friends and family members
who might be interested.
Minimum requirements:
1) Participation requires
attendance and successful completion of the
workshop training. All
volunteers must attend the initial training
workshop. The initial training workshop is scheduled
for Saturday,
February 5th from 9:00 a.m.
to 1:00 p.m. at the Pequest Trout Hatchery
and Natural Resource
Education Center located on Rt. 46, nine miles west
of Hackettstown, NJ, in
scenic Warren County. On-line directions are
available at
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/peqdirct.htm. Volunteer
duties begin in early
February (February through March for live cage
trapping) and will continue
throughout the year for camera trap
monitoring. An additional
required workshop will be scheduled for
volunteers monitoring camera
traps.
2) Participation
requirements vary depending upon the type of volunteer
activity.
-To check and bait the cage traps the
volunteer will need to
commit 1-2 hours per morning
for a minimum of one week. Traps must be
checked daily first thing in
the morning.
-For checking and monitoring
motion-sensitive camera traps,
volunteers need to commit
three days (3-4 hours each day) over a two
week period. This can be
done on weekends.
3) Ability to travel to
Warren, Morris, Sussex and Passaic counties in
northwestern New Jersey
4) Interest and knowledge of
natural history
5) Ability to hike in cold
and inclement weather
6) You must RSVP if you plan
to attend the training workshop on Feb. 5,
2005 by sending an Email
message to: Maria.DuBois@dep.state.nj.us
If you have any questions
about the Bobcat Project, please call 609
984-6012.
To learn more about New
Jersey's endangered and threatened wildlife,
please visit
www.njfishandwildlife.com and www.conservewildlifenj.org
Herp Survey and Vernal Pools
Jerry
plans to support the survey for herptiles and vernal
pools again this year. He would appreciate information on any interesting herptiles that you may see in the borough. Pictures are
very helpful. More information on the programs can be obtained at the New
Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Program
website.
Communications
Phil
suggested that it might be helpful to have an environmental newsletter for
borough residents. It would try to reach people who might not be as comfortable
with searching through the environmental segment of the Borough website.
King of Kings Property
George
gave us an update on the status of the acquisition of the King of Kings
property. The Mountain Lakes Land Conservancy has obtained $1M from the Morris
County Open Space & Farmland Preservation Trust Fund. George said that
since we have contributed approximately $2.5M to the fund over the years, it is
good to be getting something significant back. He said that a Green Acres
application had been submitted for most of the remaining funds needed for the
purchase.
Shade Tree Meeting with
Landscape Contractors
The
Shade Tree Commission is planning to meet with landscape contractors in the
area to discuss losses to our tree canopy. They asked for a Woodlands
representative. Linda will cover it for us. Jerry suggested that some
discussion of invasive species, such as Bradford pear trees, might be in order
as well.
Revised tree ordinance
George
said that the Shade Tree Commission was working on a revised Shade Tree
Ordinance that would regulate the removal of trees in the setback area of
residential lots.
Charter Realignments
George
pointed out that the current charter for the Shade Tree Commission gives them
responsibility for trees throughout the Borough parklands. We agreed that
Woodlands would take responsibility for trees within parklands and borough lots.
Shade Tree will still have responsibility for street trees. So the new
Woodlands charter should reflect this realignment. Likewise, the Shade Tree
charter needs to be fixed.
Adopt-a-lot
George
mentioned that the League of Women Voters had some discussions concerning how
to best care for borough lots. It is possible that some sort of stewardship
plan, such as adopt-a-lot might help. It is clear that we would need to have
well-defined policies in place before any such plan could work. More fundamentally,
we would need a model for how such limited habitats should be maintained. What
is clear at present is that, along with the rest of our woodlands, the small
lots are not what they should be.