HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2017-03-02 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board
March 2, 2017 5:33 p.m.
Final minutes
Members present: Lindsay Dombroskie, Elizabeth Hageman, James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann,
Jon Meigs, Vladimir Micic, Mike Roberts, Ellie Stewart, William VanDyke
Staff: Mike Smith
1. There were no persons to be heard.
2. Members' concerns: James asked if members could try to finish the meeting by 7:00, so he and
Elizabeth could attend the 4 h Annual Streets Alive Bike-Themed Film Festival, hosted by Bike
Walk Tompkins, at Cinemapolis. Other members agreed they would like to go too, to see how
bike culture and street bike infrastructure improves quality of life.
3. Chair and Coordinator Reports:
Chair: Ellie noted that peach trees were already blooming in Pennsylvania, and hoped the recent
hot winter weather wouldn't cause severe crop damage.
Coordinator: Mike Smith passed out a draft list of current members, and asked them to verify the
accuracy of their information listed there. He reported a final site approval for the Sleep Inn
Hotel was coming before the Planning Board. Also proposed were two new communications
towers for NYSEG on Trumansburg Rd and Maple Ave, where an improved system of
transmission line monitoring would require tower antennas. There were also two 2-lot
subdivision proposals coming up.
4. Minutes for the December 1, 2016 and February 2, 2017 CB meetings were approved with
slight revisions.
5. Discussion of the 2016 Fischer Award led to unanimous approval of the Black Diamond Trail
Enthusiasts Network (BDTEN)receiving the award. In nominating, Elizabeth had an important
question about who, exactly, should receive the award for recently completing the first phase of
the rails-to-trail conversion, noting that the Finger Lakes Region of the New York State Parks
Office was actually in charge of the Black Diamond Trail. Members agreed that BDTEN's
citizen activism was crucial in getting the Parks administration to finally finish the first phase
from Taughannock to Cass Parks, and that more such activism would be needed to get the next
phases finished. The Communication Committee will need to notify the BDTEN and publicize
the award, as well as figure out a good place to plant the celebratory tree. Mike R suggested we
ought to recognize other nominees not selected for the prize; James noted we had enough work
just awarding the prize to a winner. Eva's suggestion that Tony Ingraham might deserve
nomination should be remembered for future awards. Mike S noted that a summer intern who
prepared an exhibit for Richard Fischer had organized and digitized the many years' of
disorganized documents and records in a big messy folder that had accumulated lots of
information pertaining to the award.
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6. The bluebird nestingboxes oxes on the Town's South Hill and East Ithaca Recreation Ways have
been nearly all cleaned out, refurbished, and improved with bird door restrictors to welcome
bluebirds, whose nesting season has begun. Elizabeth and Lindsay reported fixing up 25 boxes
along the South Hill Rec Way and in Eastern Heights Park; James fixed 9 along East Ithaca Rec
Way. A few boxes were too far gone for trailside repair, or too firmly affixed to fence posts to
permit removal, but the majority of the boxes on those rec ways should now be easier to maintain
with subsequent cleaning. Lindsay proposed using a trail cam to see if bluebirds actually used a
box, if one could be found in an appropriate location that wouldn't just take photos of people
enjoying the trail. Will thought a new Town Twitter account might be a fine place for a first
tweet about our bluebirds.
7. A draft of the deer management report has been given to Extension Wildlife Specialist Paul
Curtis at Cornell's Department of Natural Resources for a scientific peer review. Sharon
Tregaskis of West Hill's Tree Gate Farm has been helpful with the text now that some electronic
communication problems have been solved. Mike R skimmed through the draft, noting recent
improvement of a graph that showed how serious Lyme disease in Tompkins County is
compared to some other areas. He showed us that archers over baited traps would be the
recommended method of reducing the deer overpopulation, and that such regulated hunting, with
NYDEC nuisance permits, would be better than using USDA sharpshooters. James noted that
Cosmo Genova's new Ithaca Area Hunting and Conservation Meetup group might be mentioned
in the report as a good local resource for helping kill deer. Will asked that a paper draft be
available to members in time for discussion at our April meeting. Mike R is planning to deliver
the report to the Town Board for their April meeting.
8. The discussion of ideas for CB participation in the April 22nd Earth Day didn't get far, as no
member had been able to find any locally scheduled event celebrating the date. Elizabeth thought
an Eco Home Store, or Cooperative Extension might have something happening. Ellie said she
would call the City of Ithaca to see if there would be any recognition of the day.
9. Regular Reports and Updates:
a. Environmental Review Committee: Ellie reported the ERC had received a draft guideline
check list of the many components that needed consideration in their work. They may need a
meeting to discuss the list. Lindsay asked what sort of resources were available for reviewing
impacts on rare species or archaeologically significant resources. Mike S noted that Tompkins
County's GIS website has interactive maps that list many such items. The State Parks also took
inventories of archaeologically sensitive areas. New York's DEC has a website list of rare plants
and animals. Eva wants the ERC to remember all the many things they need to consider and
suggested the list might need updating.
b. Scenic Resources Committee: Eva had asked Rich Schoch for help with a NY State DOT form
required for installing the view sign on DOT property next to Danby Rd near Longview. Mike S
said that the form required specific dates for the sign's installation, but since the sign had not
even been fabricated yet, the form couldn't be submitted. Eva will get back in touch with Rich
soon.
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c. Communications Committee: Will noted that the committee needs to meet to figure out
procedures for awarding the 2016 prize to the BDTEN. He also wants to clarify a social media
policy that would figure out what needs to be done on the CB's Facebook page, and how it ought
to be used. We need to think about an Invasive Species Week in time to hold it in July. Vlad
noted that our CB Facebook page has 213 views of the bluebird box post.
d. Tompkins County EMC: Vlad was not able to attend the latest meeting, but had its minutes
and would forward them to CB members.
e. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitors: James reported that the group had met February 6 h to
decide the 2017 sampling dates, and had sampled Six Mile water for chemical analysis on Feb.
27'', when the creek was high, but not in flood. James had joined a team of BMI samplers on
Feb. 25 h to take benthic macroinvertebrate samples in Salmon Creek upstream and downstream
of a recent manure spill from Sunnyside Farm into that creek. Two samples from upstream of the
spill, one from close downstream of the spill, and one from near Cayuga Lake were now in the
CSI lab, where volunteers were analyzing them to see if the manure had any impact on aquatic
life in the creek. CSI's annual volunteer symposium will be held downtown in the library on
April 8 h.
f. City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission: Jon had no news.
g. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas: James reported that volunteers had again checked the
hemlocks in McLean Bogs and again found no woolly adelgids on them. Lindsay asked if this
negative finding had been reported on iMap Invasives, where not finding infested hemlocks was
just as important as reporting finds. James said volunteers did not do any iMap reports, but
would ask if Cornell's Natural Areas staff did. Volunteers continued to weed out woody
Invasives from the south bank of Fall Creek by the pedestrian footbridge in Forest Home.
10. Other Business: Members were eager to attend the Streets Alive event, and could think of no
other business.
11. April Agenda: Fisher Award Planning; bluebird boxes; deer management; Earth Day; ERC
checklist.
12. We adjourned at 6:48pm These draft minutes by James Hamilton 3/3/17
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