Woodlands Management Committee August 19, 2009
Attended: Cliff Miles, Phil Notestine, Martha Dwyer-Bergman, Chris Stitt, Scott Goldthwaite, Bob dewing, Councilwoman Blair Wilson and Acting Borough Administrator Bob Tovo. Guest: Corey Nachshen from the Environmental Committee
The minutes of July were approved.
Cliff mentioned that he had just returned from Southern Western New York State and that the Long Horned Beetle is there. It will only be a matter of 5 years before it is here in New Jersey. Cliff also brought a small bottle of wood bore beetle larva from his neighbor’s home that were eating the door. They were about 2 inches; when they reach adult stage (a beetle) - 3 inches.
Corey Nachshen introduced himself to the committee with a quick background of his specialties; he is a hazardous waste expert. The NRI (Natural Resource Inventory) is a resource guide that they would like to create for Mountain Lakes. The last one that was done was in 1979 under the leadership of Jerry Uhrig. The new one will be web based and allow for maps that will be maintained by a webmaster. There will be a Master Plan that will enable updating of materials as they are completed. The Master Plan will be printed for public viewing at the library and at Borough Hall and will also be for sale, the public can download it from computers. Corey is asking various experts to contribute to this Natural Resource Inventory: Joan Nix, Brian Marshall, Corey Nachshen and the Woodlands Management Committee. He has asked that Woodlands focus on chapters 13 and 14 and perhaps Chris would take the lead on Chapter 10 which is contaminated sites within Mountain Lakes.
Chapters 13 and 14 focus on Flora and Fauna. Corey handed out a disc that was made of the 1979 inventory. He also had print outs of three completed inventories for us to look over. They were of Bethlehem, PA, Morris Township, NJ, Mount Olive, NJ, and Clifton, NJ. He is hoping that the Morris County J S maps that host Morris Township with the ability to have “layer based maps” will also host Mountain Lakes. It was noted that Mountain Lakes is out of capacity for the current website. The wet lands surveys were sited as a resource that needs to be updated every 5 years as a result of them having a expiration date built into to them. Location techniques were discussed and both “geo-codes” and GPS plot locators were acceptable.
Flora and Fauna chapters were discussed as specific to Woodlands. There will be an appendix that will include the Radis Report and maps. The maps will now be able to reference new subtopics such as specifically only invasives, or vernal ponds through a process known as “layering”. This technique enables the viewer to view single topic maps or add more information/layers on top of the first map thus providing a more complex and inter related data to make observations with.
The flow will go from Corey Nachshen to Ellen Emr to the Borough Council. There was a discussion as to whether the maps will reference and map various infra-structures within town and it was explained that these areas will not be included in the report for security reasons. This then led to a discussion as to what should be included and the goal is to add depth to the report with the addition of subtables to the contents.
What type of Data base will be used? Should there be sub-tables of “Trees” and list those that are of serious invasive concerns? How would they be marked on the maps? It was felt that a “Grid System” would be used as is in the State Plan X, State Plan Y or with GPS technology. There is a one year grant from the NJ Association Environmental Commission that states that $4,000 is available with matching labor or money from the community. The Borough Engineer Bill Ryder meets the requirements as he is a consultant to Mountain Lakes.
Corey would like to have a follow up meeting in 2 months (October, 2009) with a list of the Table of Contents. Information will be entered into the Microsoft 2003 Word and Andy Bulfer is the webmaster. Phil asked Cliff to head the Fauna section and Phil will ask Jerry to consider taking on the Flora. Rare species that are located must be documented using various standards, i.e. photo, specific location of sighting.
Kelli O’Connor of Morris County Parks will be helping us by doing all the Public Lands in Mountain Lakes using a grid system.
Phil then moved the discussion to the Crane and Morris Avenue site. There are public works projects that are going to be done at this site, sidewalk repairs and gas line repairs, and it was decided that those should be done prior to any additional work Woodlands will be doing. What still needs to be done is to use herbicides on the remaining barberry and wisteria. Joan Best of the Shade Tree Commission was asking about the flags that were put up on the site (they were used to alert pedestrians of herbicides on the site) and she mentioned that new trees could be planted there. Bob mentioned that in the low areas white oaks/swamp oaks would do well there. It was felt that the site will need two more work days for the removal and replanting. The Garden Club has not yet agreed to Woodlands request for assistance at the site. The DPW will be asked to remove the waste fill and rake the site.
Midvale Site - the garlic mustard has carpeted much of the fore area and the only way to control it is with the “paint and spray” approach with herbicides this coming fall season.
The UBNJ representatives will be meeting with Phil and Bob Tovo on Thursday at 4pm to discuss the upcoming season (September – February).
Phil reported that Denville Township Council had a public meeting to discuss the deer population; their animal control official states that within the 15 square miles of Denville there are over 2,000 deer. The number of deer per square mile should be 3-5 deer so that woodlands may have understory regeneration, and the herds become healthy. There were only a few members of the public that raised concerns and objections.
Tribe Scribe Martha Dwyer-Bergman