Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes
Attendees: Louise Davis, Phil Notestine, Cliff Miles, Jerry
Uhrig
Administrative
Minutes from the September
meeting are on the website.
The next meeting, on November
15, will be held in the upstairs work room. Our usual meeting room will be
needed for flu shots.
Deer
The deer harvest has been
running ahead of last year, 6 does to date. It is likely that some bucks will
be taken soon. Vehicle incidents are down.
The Park Lakes Tennis Club
sent a letter to the membership advising of the deer culling activity in the
vicinity of the tennis club. Since many of the members are from out of town, it
is very helpful that the Club manages to keep them informed about the culling
program.
Birds
Eagle Scout Project
Jerry reported that Kyle
Bolo's bluebird house project has been reviewed and approved over
the summer. We will have Kyle report to the Woodlands Committee at some
convenient time in the near future.
Louise mentioned that there is
one other Eagle Scout Project that we might want to know about, a bat house
project being done by Francoise Vandame. Jerry said
that Gary Webb had called and got our input on it a year or so ago.
Borough Website
Bird List
Several questions were raised
concerning the birds listed in the
Invasives
Control Activities
Jerry reported that this was
the second year of the Japanese knotweed control at the edge of the Birchwood
parking lot. It shows definite progress. The knotweed is greatly diminished
relative to last year when we started cutting it back and applying herbicide.
This is the first knotweed control attempted, and it appears to work. This is definitely positive
news. However, on a negative note, Jerry discovered a very much larger patch of
knotweed in the same general area but further back and closer to the homes on
Jerry reported that the weed
wrenches work fine on ailanthus seedlings. He removed about six at the
Jerry visited the aralia spinosa site along the
Boulevard to see if the weed wrenches might work there as well. It appears that
this group is too large for the weed wrench jaws so they will have to be cut.
However, about half of them are dead, apparently of some type of fungus. We
have yet to determine what it is exactly and whether it is something we could
count on for control of this invasive. The wrenches may work on some of the
other patches though.
New Invasives
Cliff reported that the trees
he found at the corner of Fanny and Morris actually are pawlonia, which is an invasive
tree. Hopefully, they will not survive the construction at the site.
Home & School
Bulletin
The Invasives Calendar, which
we have been publishing in the Home and School Bulletin, seems to have been
helpful. We have been getting good feedback on it.
Noxious Weed Information Project - Weedback Handbook
The California Department of
Food and Agriculture is sponsoring a Noxious Weed Information Project, which
home page can be found at http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/ipc/noxweedinfo/noxweedinfo_hp.htm
It appears to be a useful
resource. One program of interest is the Purple Loosestrife Control Project.
They give some particularly good information on control methods.
Another interesting resource
is their noxious and invasive weed action plan. Far more extensive than we
would need, it is nevertheless a helpful template.
Their
"Encycloweedia" is an idea that would work well on the Woodlands
website. Invasives are listed in various alternative categories. It would need
some tailoring for our own particular invasives though.
ML Garden Club
A good contact for Invasives
Issues in the Mountain Lakes Garden Club is Lee Maute
who is the Conservation Chair.
Trees
Sudden Oak Death
According to the October COMTF Newsletter, there
are four new hosts positively confirmed as hosts for phytophthera ramorum: sycamore maple, horse chestnut,
bay laurel, and Chinese magnolia. They also report that 56 nurseries across the
country have been found to be positive for P.
ramorum. There is one each in
The feature resource this
month in the newsletter is the OakMapper http://kellylab.berkeley.edu/SODmonitoring/OakMapper.htm
OakMapper site http://www.oakmapper.org
components include:
"
* downloadable
state, county, and local maps, as well as custom maps of local areas of
interest, available upon request by emailing: OakMapper@nature.berkeley.edu.
* an OakMapper webGIS application,
which offers a number of functions, including data visualization. This program
allows the viewer to see all OakMapper data,
including: confirmed P. ramorum trees; symptomatic
SOD trees submitted via an online form ("SOD sightings"); host
species coverage areas; federal, state, and regional parks; highways,
interstates, and local roads; SOD photo locations; a statewide SOD risk model
created by Sonoma State University researchers; USGS topographic map
backgrounds, and other background spatial data.
* USDA-FS annual aerial SOD surveys,
delineating boundaries of forest mortality. On the OakMapper,
the data for 2001-2006 is listed under "Aerial Survey Data". The data
is also online in a Google Earth interface at USDA-FS website
(http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/spf/fhp/fhm/aerial/2005/2005kmz.shtml).
* search and query functions that allow the
user to zoom in/out, gain additional information about something on the map by
"identifying" or "finding," and search for SOD near your
address. Climate data can also accessed behind each of the SOD confirmations,
and exporting as well as printing custom map options are available.
* a user survey
button on the toolbar, where OakMapper feedback and
suggestions can be submitted.
* access to SOD
confirmations with Google Maps interface and data as the backdrop. Click on
"Map" to view the map backdrop, "Satellite" to view aerial
and satellite photos as backdrops, and "Hybrid" to view both.
* access to SOD
confirmations and additional data layers over the Google Earth interface. It is
necessary to install Google Earth (free) onto your computer before this
particular data can be viewed. Once it is installed, click on the link on
OakMapper.org and open the file in Google Earth. Zoom around and tilt the earth
to see a bird's eye view of SOD. In some places, you can even see the affected
dead/dying trees behind the SOD confirmation.
* the ability to
report a tree with SOD. Submissions that include an address, intersection, or
GPS coordinates are then mapped on the OakMapper.
This should coincide with the contacting of your county's Agricultural
Commissioner's Office (Contact information is available at:
Also coming soon to OakMapper will be the addition of general SOD areas in
We encourage you to visit the OakMapper at http://www.oakmapper.org/, submit a "SOD
Sighting" if you have seen a symptomatic tree, and contribute to the
"User Survey" which will help to improve the OakMapper.
"
Other Topics or Discussion
Riparian Buffer
Ordinance
We
briefly discussed the draft Riparian Buffer Ordinance that Phil had circulated
for comment. Cliff was concerned about the sentence " All stormwater
would be discharged outside the RBCZ, but may flow through the Zone." He
feels that we would need some clarification about how we could be assured that the stormwater
would flow through without discharging into the RBCZ.
Louise
offered to have the draft ordinance reviewed by an expert at North Jersey
Resource Conservation and Development who does a lot of this type of work.
Louise is on the board of this organization. We all thought that could be very
helpful.
Bottom
line is that riparian buffers are very important to woodland habitats. Based on
our charter, we have a direct interest in seeing a good ordinance passed.