Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes

December 20, 2006

Attendees: Louise Davis, Bob Dewing, Cliff Miles, Jerry Uhrig

Guest: Rick Miles

Administrative

Minutes from the November meeting are on the website.

Beavers

All committee members had received the photos taken by Phil Notestine from a flyover with Bill Wimmer. We agreed that it is very hard to discern much detail at this time of year.

We discussed Rick Miles' interest in GIS projects further (See November minutes). Over Thanksgiving, Cliff, Rick, and Jerry visited the beaver site and analyzed some of the discernible impacts. The trail was just passable on that day. One end of a flooded bridge had to be jumped.

Rick said that he would need a soils study of the area for his GIS project. It is possible that the study of Wilcox soils done by Linda Spencer-Green in 2005 would help.

We examined a tree that had been chewed to about one-third its original diameter. We expected that the tree would probably come down in the next good windstorm. Two weeks later, during a windstorm, it did come down across the trail, bringing a neighboring tree with it.

Gary Webb has arranged to meet a trapper at the Birchwood parking lot on Thursday, December 21, to walk the beaver site. Cliff, Rick, and Jerry will accompany them.

Eagle Scout Projects

Jerry reported that he had heard from Kyle Bolo that his bluebird house project will have to be changed a bit to accommodate the rules on funding and the actual siting of the bird houses. Neither will fundamentally alter the project.

Jerry mentioned that another Scout, Chris Durenburger, is planning an Eagle Scout project. He has been invited to attend the January Woodlands meeting. Bob Dewing said that he would bring a copy of the Eagle Scout project rules to the January meeting so that we can determine how best to support the Eagle Scout program. There appears to be an opportunity for constructive synergy.

Invasives

Rick and Cliff suggested that GIS mapping would be a good way to monitor the distribution of invasive vegetation throughout the Borough. This could be another GIS project for Rick.

Jerry went over the invasives calendar for the Home and School Bulletin. The plan for 2007 is to organize Invasive Control Task Groups, which will work 2 hours each month on specific invasives control projects. The January Home & School Bulletin article describes the program in detail.

Riparian Buffer Ordinance

Following up on a topic from our previous meeting, Louise brought a copy of a model riparian buffer ordinance used by the Pennsylvania DEP. Jerry borrowed it to copy. Jerry will report on it at the next meeting. We need to support the Environmental Commission in getting an effective ordinance written.

2007 Goals

Louise reminded us that we needed to formulate our goals for 2007. We added five new goals to our 2006 list, which was carried over. The new goals are the first five in the following list:

Woodlands Management Committee Goals for 2007

1. GIS mapping project, e.g. beaver habitat, invasives distribution

2. Work constructively with Eagle Scouts to support projects

3. Plan and organize invasive work groups

4. Support youth environmental education especially working with Recreation Commission

5. Contribute to maintenance of current lists of flora and fauna, especially birds and herptiles

6. Assessment of Deer Management progress (joint with EC)

7. Comprehensive Invasive Plant Management Plan (joint with other committees)

8. Monitoring Plan for Threats to Woodlands Trees (joint with Shade Tree)

9. Woodlands Recovery Plan

a) Deer Exclosures

b) Reforestation Demonstration

c) Replanting