Mountain Lakes Shade Tree Commission  

Minutes of Meeting

September 11, 2008

 

In Attendance:

 Commissioners:  H. Carr, T. Caine, J. Best, B. Rosenthall, L. Connor, M. Vyff

 S. Marshall.

 

1.    There were no comments from the public.

 

2.    The June minutes were accepted with corrections.

 

3.    Prune and Remove: Tom, Heather, and Joan are finished with their inspections of the street trees in their areas. Others were requested to finish up soon because we need to choose planting sites for the trees to be planted this fall. Joan requests we e-mail her our lists of high priority sites within a week.

 

4.    We will plant 35 trees in the next couple of months: 2 memorial trees and 33 as the third installment of the 3 year planting contract with CerboŐs. Sue will contact Ann Blanda about the tree to be planted in memory of Ann BartonŐs mother.  The other memorial tree has been paid for and will be planted near Island beach.  Heather asked us to begin compiling a list of sites that would be suitable for future honorary and memorial trees.

 

5.    The annual Shade Tree Federation meeting will be October 24-26. Bonnie, Laura and Marnie will attend sessions on Saturday the 25th, which will satisfy our 2008 CEU requirements.

 

6.    Gypsy Moths:  There were a lot of gypsy moths caterpillars in several areas of the borough this spring; on Rainbow Trail and near the corner of Morris and Elm.  Marnie shared an article about the moths in the Catskills where activity increased over several years and then dissipated.  The article suggested that this is a naturally occurring cycle which required no action.

 

7.    Laura will write the November article for the H&S Bulletin about gypsy moths and how to identify and destroy egg cases.

 

8.    News from other commissions and committees:  Jerry Uhrig has resigned from the Woodlands Committee.  There was much discussion over the summer about how to manage invasives.  Heather requested that each of form our own position on the subject and be prepared to discuss the subject at  the next meeting.  She would like the STC to form a consensus opinion.

 

9.    The next meeting date falls on Yom Kippur.  We agreed to change it to Thursday, October 16th.

 

10.After a tree branch fell on a car at 50 Rainbow Trail last spring, Ray Woytas from Greenwood evaluated the health of the tree and concluded that it was not unhealthy and does not currently need attention.

 

11.Heather noted that she agreed to chair the STC for a third year (2008) and plans to step down at the end of December.  We will need to elect a new chair in January.

 

12.Joan noted that the Community Forestry Management PlanŐs Annual Accomplishment Report will be due in January or February.  The state has notified us that there will be C-SIP grant funding available for which to apply.

 

 

 

 

The next meeting will be held on Thursday October 16th at 8:30am.