Woodlands Management Committee Meeting Minutes
December 18, 2013
Attendees: Margaret Gossett, Jerry Uhrig
Reforestation Plans
Next year we plan to continue our reforestation activities
in the lower, wetter forest areas. We have ordered red maples and spicebush,
100 seedlings of each from the state forester. We placed our order early this
year so that we might have a good chance of getting our first choice of
species, something we havenŐt succeeded in doing in previously. Our alternate
species selections this year are hackberry for the canopy trees and silky
dogwood for the shrubs. Margaret looked up silky dogwood and made a convincing
case that it would also be a welcome addition to our woodlands in any case. So
next year, providing we have confidently restored a healthy population of
spicebush which we lost to the beaver habitat, we might order silky dogwood as
our preferred choice. It would be a relatively new addition to our woodlands
but it does appear to fit in well.
We will pick up the seedlings in mid-April and plant them
within a week or two of pick-up. Last year we had support from a group from the
Community Church and the Cub Scouts. We also had excellent support on another
project from a Community Outreach organization from AT&T. REI is another possible
source of volunteers for projects such as this. We have been in contact with
them but havenŐt had a good project for their skills. Reforestation work might
be a good fit.
Beavers
Unfortunately, the beavers are back in Birchwood Lake. They have built a lodge at the back end of the lake, and they have started taking down substantial trees. Hopefully, they can be removed very soon, before they destroy the riparian buffer.
Town-wide Cleanup
Our liaison to the Borough Council, John Lester, is interested
in organizing a town-wide clean-up for next spring. The Woodlands Committee
would be an enthusiastic supporter of any such effort. It would give residents
a chance to develop a good sense of ownership and pride in our common woodland
areas throughout the Borough.