Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes

November 21, 2007

Attendees: Jerry Uhrig, Judy Edwards

Administrative

Minutes from the previous meeting are on the website.

Status Reports

1. Deer: A report on the deer harvest to date was provided by Marc Weiss of the United Bowhunters of New Jersey; totals are 8 does, 2 bucks.

2. Deer exclosures

a) Damage assessment at Exclosure #1: After discussing the tear in the fence with the vendor, we determined that a deer most likely caused the damage. The light cable repair that we (Judy and Jerry) used was an adequate procedure. We will continue to monitor and evaluate

b) Completion of Exclosure #2: The second deer exclosure was completed by Josh Bingham, a friend of Josh's, Doris Bingham (Josh's mother), Cliff Miles, and Jerry Uhrig. This work was done on Saturday, November 10.

Topics for discussion:

1. Invasives removal activities: Last Saturday, we worked in Halsey Frederick Park to apply herbicide to the large areas of garlic mustard. A report on the effort is attached at the end of these minutes.

2. Knotweed control information: An information sheet on knotweed control was shared by Jerry who got it at a recent meeting of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey. For a copy or for further information, contact Joanne Steinhart of the Delaware River Invasive Plant Partnership, jsteinhart@tnc.org

3. Forest Health Monitoring Protocols - Ecological Solutions, LLC

a) Sentinel Seedlings: We discussed obtaining and planting the seedlings at ten randomly selected plots throughout our woodlands.

b) Forest Secchi: Jerry brought a prototype of a densiometer, which is an instrument for measuring the density of the tree canopy in the forest. It was constructed from a cardboard tube. We agreed that PVC would be better. So we will use PVC for the ones we will need in six months when we are working this part of the protocol.

Other topics:

1. Coyotes: We discussed an excellent article on New Jersey coyotes on the front page of The Star-Ledger for Tuesday, November 20. These highly adaptable animals can now be found everywhere from Canada to Panama. The article pointed out that coyotes can be quite brazen when it suits their purpose. They cited some examples of this type of behavior observed in Chicago and Los Angeles. Having recently moved here from Chicago, Judy was able to confirm this behavior, e.g. "staring you down." And they are quite willing to attack and eat your pets. For the complete article, go to: http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1195538071212840.xml&coll=1

2. Jerry reported that his talks to Briarcliff students on Thursday, November 15 went very well. The students were members of a service club, Standing Tall. They are interested in finding helpful service projects that they can undertake as a group. The subject of the talks was invasive vegetation control and how important it is to the management of our Borough woodlands. As a direct result of the talks, we had three students helping with invasives removal work on November 17.

Attachments

Invasive Field Work – Halsey Fredericks Park, November 17, 2007

Crew: Scott Goldthwaite, Judy Edwards, Michelle Currenti, Lauren Beck, Holly Beck, Jerry Uhrig

What you missed:

• Meeting hikers interested in invasive vegetation control,
• Working with three energetic students, Michelle, Lauren, and Holly,
• And of course working with the Scott/Judy powerhouse duo,
• Seeing the new deer exclosure,
• Visiting Stations 1, 2, 12, 13, and 14 of the ECO-Hike,
• Witnessing the prolific spread of winged euonymus through this part of Halsey Fredericks Park.

What we missed because it was too cold to look around much:

• Probably the largest yellow birch tree in our woodlands,
• A couple of American chestnut trees struggling to survive the chestnut blight.

What we removed:

• Hundreds, maybe thousands, of garlic mustard rosettes
• Much oriental bittersweet, Japanese barberry, multiflora rose, winged euonymus
• Norway maple, one a fairly large sapling which Scott cut by hand
• Wineberry

This session we worked along the cross-country course (or ECO-Hike) below the new soccer field. There were masses of garlic mustard, which will be greatly reduced come springtime, thanks to the efforts of our able crew. Visit this area in May and you will find a community of trout lily, which we have now given an edge in its battle with garlic mustard. As you may know, garlic mustard is allelopathic; that is, it conditions the soil so that other plants cannot compete with it.

The other work removed a fairly typical mix of invasives: bittersweet, barberry, multiflora rose, winged euonymus. Michelle uprooted many euonymus using one of our Weed Wrenches. And Lauren did whatever was needed!

A new invasive this month was wineberry. Judy and Holly found a patch of it while working on a bright pink-red euonymus. We do not have too much of this invasive in our woodlands, but we do have it. This was the first patch near one of our field work sites. Thanks, Judy and Holly.

Lauren and Michelle are members of the Standing Tall club at Briarcliff. Standing Tall is a service club. Members find ways to contribute to making our community a better place. The Woodlands Committee was very pleased to have them participate in our efforts. We were also especially pleased that Holly Beck accompanied her sister on a cold morning to work in the woodlands. It shows that the students understand that service goes deeper than membership in a club. Well done, ladies!