Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes
Attendees: Jerry Uhrig, Phil Notestine,
Linda Spencer-Green, Martha Dwyer-Bergman, Bob Dewing, Patie Graham
The minutes from the previous
meeting were approved.
Reports
Charter Status
Patie
Graham brought a draft of our charter for review.
Phil
suggested adding the work developing in the first sentence of the Establishment
section. Perhaps the word analyze should
also be incorporated.
Martha
suggested that continuing education be included.
Steve
Shaw, the mayor, would like to have this presented to the council on
ECO-Hike Project
Jerry
reported that the Eco-Hike is coming along fine. Laurel Durenberger is designing the trail
guide layout while Jerry writes the content.
Jerry said that the next thing to decide was the issue of the signs
along the trail. Should they be
laminated or something else or perhaps the high school shop should make the
signs? Phil said that Gary Webb can get
the signs done at very little cost by the
Jerry
handed out the draft trail guide and asked for input.
It
was noted that the guide needed a map. Jerry explained that the Trails
Committee was working on a new trail map but that it wasn’t ready yet for us to
use. We need to find a current one to
include into the guide.
The
font size needs to be larger for easier reading by the general community.
Phil
asked if the American Beech tree could be included on the guide as #14 on the
list. It is located toward the end of
the trail near the tennis courts.
Linda
had questions about the Lichen area and the “British Soldiers” as to whether
they are present on the trail. Jerry
said that it is not clear that they are at this point.
Bob
mentioned, incidentally, that the largest known fungus in the world is located
in
Martha
suggested that the websites for the various sponsoring committees could be
added. This way people can go on the web to gather more
information and also become more aware of the committees.
Martha
suggested that under the topic Spice Bush that there could be an explanation of
the word “Indicator”.
Also,
there could be an explanation of who was Halsey Frederick
and why the park is named after him in the history section of the guide.
Invasives
Garlic
Mustard is all over the town and is easy to spot and identify. The Rockaway Valley Garden Club had a
speaker, Carol Stober of
It
is a biennial so you can attack it at two separate growth periods, the cluster
of leaves late in the first year, then the flower and seed period early in the
second year. By the calendar, the first
control opportunity is in the spring when it is early enough to just cut the
stalks off at the stem rather than pulling the plant out of the ground. By eliminating the stalk, you don’t allow new
seeds to disperse and grow new plants.
Since each plant can disperse as many as 1000 seeds, this is a significant
return for your effort. The second time in the year is in the late fall when that year's new plants are still green, in
November and December. This is a good
time treat the garlic mustard with a non-persistent herbicide, such as Round
Up, which will neutralize once it is in the soil. Since there is very little else green this
late in the year, the chance of collateral kill is minimized.
Also,
we have some recipes for garlic mustard that we need to share in the Home &
School Bulletin.
Sudden Oak Death Status
The
website suddenoakdeath.org is a useful place to find updates on sudden oak
death status. They have a newsletter that you can subscribe to.
Website: Threat Priorities
The
Website Committee is in the process of getting a new server, which will enable
us to put the minutes up on the site without support. We should also be better able to manage other
routine site operations by ourselves.
Fenced Areas
We need to develop a plan and pick the appropriate
site locations.
Jerry
is getting cost estimates from the best known supplier, Benner's Gardens of
Conshohocken, PA. Jerry thinks that it will run about $1500 to do the fences
and plans to look for grants to fund the project. Possibilities are the Town Club and at least
one local bank.
Deer
The
Audubon Society has taken a public stand on hunting as a means of controlling
the impact that the deer overpopulation is having on the woodlands. There was a set of articles in the spring
2004 issue of Audubon on the state of the woodlands. So Audubon has been
presenting the rationale for their position for over a year now. The most recent paper, which spells out their
position on deer hunting, is entitled “Forest Health and Ecological
Integrity-Stresses and Solutions” Jerry has e-mailed this article to us. We
should add this article to our website as a link.
Phil
was asked about the infrared counting of the herds that will be done here in
town. He doesn’t know when it will be
done but it will be done by helicopter in the night.
There
was a conversation about the
Other Topics and Discussion
Field Trips
Phil
suggested that sometime we all meet at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum and walk the
guided nature trail.
Herptile Survey and Vernal
Pools
Bob
suggested that we attempt to get the high school science students involved in
the study of the vernal ponds; the one above
Note: Such studies should be coordinated with the NJ DEP ENSP, to assure that
the individuals have the proper training. One student did take at least some of
the training last year, but apparently did not pursue the studies any further.
Values and Visions for the
Woodlands
As we proceed in our work,
we need to all recognize that ultimately our values and visions do shape the
way we choose to manage our woodlands. There is an interesting and certainly
stimulating (likely to be very controversial) article in the May issue of
Discover magazine that does make this point. And we do not all necessarily
share the same ultimate vision for the woodlands. Some might prefer that they
be more wild and, hopefully, lower maintenance. Others might prefer a more
"managed," if not manicured look. Still others might find themselves
somewhere between the extremes. Bob opened what needs to be a continuing
discussion about such different visions by relating some of the management
practices that have been used in his family's forests in
Bob
spoke of the interest in having the woodlands cleared of dead trees that are
leaning against living trees to minimize the chance they might take down the
healthy trees. He cited the woodlands on
He
also suggested that a triangle of logs could be created from the dead tree to
provide protection to young seedlings from deer and perhaps other threats. As the tree grows, the logs will rot and
decay and the forest will be regenerated.
This is the way it is done on his family’s forests in
He
would also like to see the vines removed from the trees.
As
we go forward, we need to use this space on the agenda to share, to weigh and
to consider. Remember that this is as much a part of the task of this committee
as is the fun stuff out in the woods.