Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes

December 18, 2013

 

Attendees: Margaret Gossett, Jerry Uhrig

 

Reforestation Plans

 

Next year we plan to continue our reforestation activities in the lower, wetter forest areas. We have ordered red maples and spicebush, 100 seedlings of each from the state forester. We placed our order early this year so that we might have a good chance of getting our first choice of species, something we havenŐt succeeded in doing in previously. Our alternate species selections this year are hackberry for the canopy trees and silky dogwood for the shrubs. Margaret looked up silky dogwood and made a convincing case that it would also be a welcome addition to our woodlands in any case. So next year, providing we have confidently restored a healthy population of spicebush which we lost to the beaver habitat, we might order silky dogwood as our preferred choice. It would be a relatively new addition to our woodlands but it does appear to fit in well.

 

We will pick up the seedlings in mid-April and plant them within a week or two of pick-up. Last year we had support from a group from the Community Church and the Cub Scouts. We also had excellent support on another project from a Community Outreach organization from AT&T. REI is another possible source of volunteers for projects such as this. We have been in contact with them but havenŐt had a good project for their skills. Reforestation work might be a good fit.

 

Beavers

 

Unfortunately, the beavers are back in Birchwood Lake. They have built a lodge at the back end of the lake, and they have started taking down substantial trees. Hopefully, they can be removed very soon, before they destroy the riparian buffer.

 

Town-wide Cleanup

 

Our liaison to the Borough Council, John Lester, is interested in organizing a town-wide clean-up for next spring. The Woodlands Committee would be an enthusiastic supporter of any such effort. It would give residents a chance to develop a good sense of ownership and pride in our common woodland areas throughout the Borough.