Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes

March 19, 2008

 

Attendees: Phil Notestine, Scott Goldthwaite, Judy Edwards, Jerry Uhrig

 

Administrative

 

Minutes from the previous meeting are on the website.

 

Status Reports

 

Deer - We assume that all agreements are in place for UBNJ to conduct a deer hunt next season. Jerry expects to confirm with Marc Weiss when he sees him at the Paddlesports Expo at the end of the month.

 

Woodlands Health Monitoring - Jerry reported that the deer browse is fairly significant at two of the seedling sites. The other eight sites do not show much yet. We will continue to monitor them until June when we will take our data on the total degree of browse.

 

Ailanthus Street Trees - Jerry drilled the ailanthus stumps and applied the rock salt. He expressed concern that he could not drill the holes as large and deep as he would have liked. Scott offered a heavier bit that might be more effective. Jerry will try it. Phil said that he had a brace and bit that might also do a better job. He will try it on the tree stump very near his house.

 

Beavers - It appears that the beavers are on the move again. They have built at least two more dams in the county park downstream from the original dam. They are also taking down more trees at the upper site closer to Birchwood. We need to monitor them so that we know if any beavers move into the lakes.

 

Topics for discussion:

 

Deer Exclosures - The materials for the remaining two deer exclosures will be arriving soon. We will try to get them erected before summer, one in the woodlands off the end of Maple Way and one further out in the Tourne.

 

Invasives Field Work Plans - The first invasives field work for 2008 will be on March 29 on the trail off Tower Hill Road into the sled run. We will be primarily removing Japanese barberry.

 

The next session will be on April 26. Unfortunately, we have some conflicts on that date. The New York/New Jersey Trail Conference has a trail maintenance workshop on that day. Scott plans to attend. And the Mountain Lakes Woods and Lakes Run will be held on that day. Judy and Jerry would both like to enter. Most likely, Jerry will pass on it this year since he has actually run most of them over the years.

 

 

Other topics:

 

1.      Native Plant Society Meeting, Tuesday, March 25, Frelinghuysen Arboretum - Speaker Mike van Clef

2.      Environmental Club planting seedlings Tuesday, March 25, 4pm at the deer exclosure

3.      Phil suggested that we might visit some woodland sites during one of our meetings to check on wildflowers and vernal pools. We will try this in April to see if we can work it in.