Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes
Attendees: Jerry Uhrig, Phil Notestine, Martha
Dwyer-Bergman, Linda Spencer-Green, Cliff Miles, Bob Dewing
The minutes from the previous
meeting were approved.
Reports
Permanent Status
Jerry informed us that the Council had voted to make
the Committee permanent. Since our status is changing, it is a good time to
review our name and mission to see if any adjustments should be made. He
mentioned two possible names, Woodlands Committee or Woodlands Management
Committee, and asked for any other suggestions. We chose Woodlands Management
Committee. The reason for this name, which had been suggested by Richard
Urankar, was to make it clear that our role with respect to the woodlands was
similar to the role that the Lakes Management Committee has with regard to the
lakes. The Mission Statement seems to be still appropriate as it stands so we
did not make any changes. The one new
document we need is a Charter. Jerry and Patie Graham are in the process of
collecting charters for other relevant bodies in the Borough to be sure that
our charter relates to them in a meaningful, constructive manner.
It was decided that we would expand our committee to
seven members. Two individuals who had expressed interest in helping out
attended the meeting. Bob Dewing is a mining engineer whose family has a long
history in the tree business in
Invasives
Cliff mentioned a few
additional sites with ailanthus trees that we did not know about. One was the
Fliflet Bird Sanctuary. Jerry said that we still do not have a good plan for
their removal although we had been given some suggestions at the invasives
symposium last fall. Ultimately, we will probably be looking for a grant to
assist us.
We need to begin work on
getting information about garlic mustard out to borough residents. It is much
easier to deal with in the early spring before it goes to seed. We might also
look for support for this project from the High School Environmental Club.
Emerging Threats
Cliff
gave us a status report on his recent experiences with emerging threats.
He
spoke to us regarding his experiences with the Sudden Oak Death. He had spent
time in
Emerald
Ash Borer has now been found in northern
Pine
Shoot Beetles are attacking the tips of the branches of pine trees.
Bacterial
Leaf Scorch is already in central NJ and is slowly moving up north. The Southern Red Oak is being attacked, and
the bacteria is being spread north by insects to the Northern Red Oak.
Asian
Long Horned Beetle is attacking maples, elms, willows, poplar, birch, horse
chestnut, and ash trees. Cliff relayed a
story about a beetle exiting a tree by going through a metal band that had been
placed on the tree 30 minutes prior.
Jerry handed out informational booklets on this infestation. Since this
beetle attacks sugar maple trees, the
It
is believed that the beetle arrived in
If
a nursery is discovered to have any of these beetles in it’s
stock the nursery is closed down. The standard response to an infestation is to
remove every possible host tree within a quarter-mile radius.
Cliff
mentioned that the beetle is capable of overwintering in both stages of
development, egg and larval. Thus it can overwhelm the tree with a double
attack in one year. It takes about 5
years for the beetles to destroy a tree.
In
Report on Asian Longhorned
Beetle Talk by Tom Denholm of NJDA
On
Wednesday, January 12, the local chapter of the Sierra Club sponsored a talk by
Tom Denholm on the Asian Longhorned Beetle. Tom Denholm is the supervisor of
the group at NJDA responsible for management of the Asian Longhorned Beetle. He
came with lots of good literature and specimens of beetles and pieces of trees
that had been preyed upon. Mr. Denholm has been involved with the beetle
program since they were first discovered in
A
little background: Beetle infestations have occurred in
An
identification tip: carpenter bees and leopard moths make similar exit holes.
The difference is the depth of the hole. Put the blunt end of a pencil into the
exit hole. If it only goes to a depth of one-half inch, then a carpenter bee or
a leopard moth has made the hole. If the depth is one to two inches, then it is
probably an Asian Longhorned Beetle.
Mr.
Denholm said that there was no special certification that would identify an
arborist as having experience with ALBs. You just have to ask and make your own
appraisal of their qualifications.
Take
care in handling ALBs. They do bite.
Some
useful contacts:
Beetle hotline 1-866-beetle-1
Tom Denholm office 609-292-5440, cell
646-335-6570
Barry Emens (Tom's USDA
counterpart) office
609-984-3707, cell 646-335-6567
Carl Schulze (NJDA, Tom's
boss) office
609-292-5441
ECO-Hike Project
Jerry handed out an updated
outline of proposed stations on the hike:
ECO-Hike
Stations
The
current plan is for Phil, Laurel Durenberger, Tom Carr, and Jerry to take the
initiative on this with support from the others as needed.
Website: Threat Priorities
Jerry
mentioned that an issue had arisen regarding website material. The Star-Ledger
had published an excellent and informative article on the Asian Longhorned
Beetle that we wanted to make available on our website. The preferred approach
would be to paste a copy of the article onto our website. However, the article
in question is copyright material. Permission to use it is still pending. Andy
Bulfer said that this situation had not apparently happened before.
When
we are sending information to be used in the website it can be done through the
use of Microsoft Word and then attaching or embedding the links, usually to
other informational sites, with the document. Or we can email it to Jerry with
instructions and he can fix it.
Martha
and Linda will be sending in the Invasive Plant information and Phil will be
sending the Deer information.
Other Topics and Discussion
Martha
mentioned that she knows a person, a retired arborist, who is very
knowledgeable about trees and who lives in
Cliff
mentioned that there might be a possibility of re-introducing the American Chestnut. Work on this species has progressed to the point
where they have a strain that is virtually all American chestnut and has about
a one-in-ten change of survival. It would be something to keep in mind in our
reforestation plans in the future.
Deer
Linda
asked Phil to clarify the past month's e-mails that were being sent to the
various committees regarding the limited success of the culling effort this
year. Phil explained that there was no
one who knew what had caused the culling to be so unsuccessful but that it was
not cost-effective to continue it.
However, there will be a infrared survey that
will be done in March to assess the population of the herds. The Tourne had a culling that resulted in a
total of 7 deer being taken; however, Jerry mentioned that his son saw a herd
of 12 in the far side of the Tourne near
We
will have to watch for indications of recovery, new spice bush canes or shoots,
less stress on residential shrubs, such as English Yews and arbor vitae, and
more abundant understory species, ruffed grouse, oven birds, wood thrushes. We
haven't seen any such indications yet.
Vandalism
There
was a discussion about the destruction of an observation platform at the Hawk
Watch in
Clean Community Day
This
is an event that encourages the entire town to clean up the public spaces. It had been suggested that perhaps our
committee might participate to encourage the citizens to become involved with
the restoring of the woodlands. Bob
mentioned that the Scouts are already heavily involved in clean-up activities.
The Boys Scouts have three times throughout the year that they work on specific
sites and clean them up. The Girls
Scouts also do this once a year near the time of Earth Day. We decided that we
would let the Scouts take the lead on this project. We may have suggestions for
them regarding woodlands areas needing attention.
Woodlands Health Indicators
Brian
Marshall has shared with us some views on woodland health indicators. For the
record, his e-mail is included:
"Jerry,
Here are a couple of
thoughts about woodland health indicators:
-- It is difficult to pick one or two species
as indicators of overall
woodland health, because there are other factors which dictate their
presence or absence. In relatively
similar woodlands, a species may be
present in one, but not the other, depending on the species of trees,
uplands vs. lowlands, size of the woods, age of the trees, soil conditions,
plus many other identifiable and unidentifiable habitat parameters. You
would need to select a number of
different indicators applicable different
parts of the borough.
-- Many biologists believe that individual
indicator species are best
used for identifying similar ecological communities, rather than as an
accurate gauge of woodland health. That
does not mean that species trends
are not reflective of ecosystem changes.
-- Biodiversity of a habitat is generally
considered the standard
measure of ecosystem heath. The overall number of species present is used as
an indicator of the ecosystem's richness, health, and stability. One can
measure overall biodiversity, or particular groups of plants or animals
(e.g., birds, amphibians,
insects, mammals). One of the United Nation's
primary goals related to protecting worldwide forests is through the
conservation of forest biodiversity.
-- Before you pick indicator groups or
species, it is important to
determine exactly what you are trying to measure. For example, if you want
to measure air pollution stresses on the woodlands, you may choose to
monitor the biodiversity of lichen communities. If you want to measure
recovery of the understory after deer management began, you may choose to
monitor ground-level species.
-- If you choose to track individual wildlife
species, it is important
to pick several from different taxa, and it is often recommended to pick
species known to be very important to that ecosystem, such as pollinators,
food species for predominant predators, or key decomposers.
-- The
methods more directly related to the vegetation itself. They have developed
indicators related to vegetation diversity, crown conditions, down woody
materials, tree mortality, tree growth, and soil quality. The University of
Vermont also monitors tree
phenology, which addresses the seasonal patterns
of leaf and flower bud development, leaf maturity, fall coloration, and
leaf
drop.
If you want to talk about
any of these or other issues, just let me know.
Regards,
Brian"
Bird Counts
Glenn
Mauer does a Christmas Bird Count and we would like to get a copy of this for
the committee’s data. Cliff said that he would see if he could find that list.
It was mentioned that Tim Vogel, who lives in
Close
Finally,
Linda thanked Bob and Cliff for coming and asked them if they would be
returning next month. They both
responded that they would be happy to return.