Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes
March 21, 2007
Attendees: Martha Dwyer-Bergman, Linda Spencer-Green, Jerry
Uhrig
Guests: Josh Bingham
Administrative
Minutes from the previous
meeting are on the website.
Deer
Deer Exclosure: Josh Bingham gave his presentation to the
group. He is in the process of getting
his Eagle Scout project reviewed and approved by the local and area Scout
Council. Jerry signed off on behalf of the Woodlands Management Committee. Josh
hopes to begin by May 26 or 27 and be completed by June 2 or 3rd of
2007. The exclosure will be approximately 100 feet in diameter and about 7 feet
high. It will be located in
Culling: The Tourne culling was done
in 5 half-days (Tuesdays). Over that
period they culled 14 does and 10 bucks using firearms. This program appears to be very effective. We
should probably learn more about the methods used. In
We
discussed the question of how many deer we now have in town. Since Martha
regularly sees a group of 6 to 8 bucks in her yard, it appears that the number
is not yet negligible. Jerry said
that the deer count data should be coming in later this month from the
Jerry
noted the publication of a new book "Deer Wars; Science, Tradition, and
the Battle Over Managing Whitetails in
Beavers
Richard
Uranker contacted Jerry to see what developments there were on the beaver
situation at their new location on the springhouse trail. The current state is
that our case manager at DEP, Chris Sliker, has not
returned our phone call. Jerry recently got leads to two professional trappers
but has not managed to make contact with either one yet.
Invasives
Invasives Control Task
Groups
The
first field workshop on invasives is scheduled for Saturday, March 23 in Halsey
Frederick Park across from the high school. It is expected that sufficient snow
will have melted to permit our first two-hour session to be held as planned. It
has been publicized in the Home and School Bulletin, the Borough website Calendar,
and the Borough website Notice Board. Martha said that she would put a notice
on the bulletin board at Borough Hall announcing the event.
The
April workshop is scheduled for Saturday, April 21 and has already been
announced in the Home and School Bulletin. We scheduled the May workshop for
Saturday, May 19th, Midvale Field/Haswell
Park for the usual time,
Restoration Issue
It
has been noted that sometimes the simple removal of an invasive does not lead
directly to the hoped for end result. Often the immediate result can be
reappearance of the same or another invasive. For example, garlic mustard is
removed, and stilt grass grows in its place. We need to be reminded that seeds
for these plants can persist for years. Wherever it is possible
and practical, native vegetation should be use to replace the invasives that
have been removed. But this alternative is not necessarily practical
especially until the deer population has been reduced to a manageable level.
Environmental Commission
Work on Invasives
An
Environmental Commission member, Kathy Harvey, has been assigned responsibility
for working to educate residents, garden centers, and landscapers about
invasive vegetation on private property.
Jerry is helping her to understand the issues and how to find the good
sources of information.
Native Plant Society of
The
Publicity
Martha
mentioned that perhaps we could contact the High School newspaper and have them
do an article on the Woodlands Management Committee focus and need for help.
The
Mountain Lakes High School Environmental Club is planning several projects
involving native plant restoration. One would be a riparian buffer restoration
at the stream behind the ball fields next to the YMCA. They have also been
monitoring the quality of streams in our woodlands by means of macroinvertebrate sampling. Their advisor, David Fewell, the high school biology teacher, will attend the
next Woodlands meeting to discuss details.
NJDEP Bear Feeding
Enforcement
The
DEP has instituted a program to monitor compliance with bear feeding
restrictions in the state. They are looking for instances of food or garbage
being left out either intentionally or unintentionally. Accessible bird feeders
are also a problem. Violators may be fined up to $1000 per offense. Details can
be found in the Enforcement section of the NJDEP website.
Earthworms
A
copy of the recent NYT article on earthworms has been put in the Earthworms
section of the Woodlands website. Jerry noted that we do have plants in our
woodlands that would not be there if we had excessive numbers of earthworms.
Nevertheless, we should still do a more careful survey to better understand the
risk potential.
Linda
noted that the