The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCB Minutes 2022-09-01 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board Meeting September 1, 2022 5:30pm (In Person at Town Hall and via Zoom Video Conference) Final Minutes Attending: Lori Brewer, Elise Edwards, James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann (Zoom), JoAnn Kowalski, Mike Roberts (Zoom). Staff: Mike Smith, Senior Planner 1. no Persons to be heard 2. Mike R's concern about Town mowing its property less was forwarded by Mike S to Joe Talbut. Joe knows now that less mowing is less work and more conservation, but has not got back to Mike S or us about our advice that less mowing is best. Lori wondered how our CB attendance payment was working out; Mike S explained we'd get paid at end of year $40 per meeting attended in one lump sum. 3. no news from the ERC. 4. Chair reported thanks to Elise and JoAnn for tabling CB PR effort at the East Hill Farmers Market. Elise enjoyed going. JoAnn noted folks really liked the feral hog on a poster they'd brought to focus attention on our invasives management work goal. A contact with a professor, Karen Saffee, promised interest in getting Textile and Apparel grad students involved with the CB. Lori hoped members could attend some webinar sessions of the upcoming Oct 6 New York State Association of Conservation Commissions before our next meeting, though she hasn't yet seen what the topics will be. She liked the Tompkins County "Green Scene" email newsletter and hopes we all read it. Mike S reported the Town was replacing 270 old streetlights with LED lamps that can be individually controlled to meet residents satisfaction if they're too bright or dim. The Town is also hoping to save energy with a new electric mower and Public Works staff has tried out a $35,000-dollar model that some other municipalities are satisfied with. 5. James moved, and Eva seconded that July 7th minutes be approved, movement passed promptly. 6. No one was free to run a table at the upcoming Streets Alive! festival 9/18. JoAnn felt the table at Cornell Service Fair might not be worth the effort, as her last participation in that affair had no satisfactory results. Lori noted that it seems Cornell at least includes references to our CB in their various attempts to get students engaged in their Ithaca community now. Mike R thinks a solo CB recreational event might have more impact than our too-easily overlooked participation in larger events. James noted that our annual invasives management even rarely gets more than a very few attendees. Eva suggested a topic different from invasives might be more engaging: global warming, for instance. JoAnn thought we might sponsor a film party at Cinemapolis. Elise noted she'd found very little clue that the CB was actively recruiting when she sought us out: we need to headline our need for new members more. And to promote public awareness of the Town of Ithaca as distinct from the City: we are the Donut around 1 Ithaca City. Or bagel? Maybe all the Town Boards that need more members could join together for a concerted recruitment effort? We especially could use members residing on South and West Hills, as we're mostly all from the east side. The October 1 st tree planting event at East Ithaca Nature Preserve has not yet got the Arbor Day Foundation grant, though we're still hoping. It will meet at the gazebo to help replace the many ash trees that have died up there. Lindsay and JoAnn will run a table there, Lori hopes we can all attend. We should invite Fischer Award winners. The PRI might also want to attend; Lori showed us a PRI- handout graph showing how much carbon dioxide trees keep out of the atmosphere. She'd got that at Ithaca's Reggae Fest in June; we need handouts like that for good PR. JoAnn noted that Douglas Tallamy's book, Nature's Best Hope, explains how teaming up with your neighbors is the best way to get the public involved in conserving nature. 7. Discussing how "Your Yard Could Be a Wildlife Sanctuary," a 2023 initiative we could tackle, we got back to the waste of lawn mowing. Native species instead of lawn are better in all ways! Elise wondered if Town has any regulations on resident lawns. Lori noted that an unmowed lot in her neighborhood indicated not, and Mike S knew of no local laws on lawns, but only perhaps a state law regulating plant growth that might cause safety hazards close to built structures. He noted that the National Wildlife Foundation for instance, can help provide info in improving private property as wildlife habitat. We should form a committee to address this topic further, with possible public events that would be fun and possibly result in a raffled rain barrel prize for example. 8. Regular Reports and Updates: a. SRC: Mike S showed us the SRC's pages on the new Town Website, which has much benefited by a summer intern's work on digitizing the Scenic Tour Map and Guide info on a Google Maps platform. There are many more beautiful photos of the Best Views available there now. Perhaps we could get a Quick Code generated to get folks with smartphones onto our scenic resources programming? Maybe folks could upload their own photos into our Tour Map site? Still no news yet on Cornell's permitting us to post the view sign at Snyder Hill/ Pine Tree intersection. Eva and James are working via emails on view-sign draft revisions. Eva notes that Codes and Ordinances will soon have a new Town Law regulating cell towers aesthetic values so as not to ruin town's scenic views. Though these microwave antennae have not got legal regulation for their possible health effects, they have had legal precedent for municipalities requiring them to look nice. b. Communication Committee: James asked JoAnn to post a FB link to new chapter on a successful biocontrol program for purple loosestrife, which is now a fine example of biocontrol managing an invasive pest. (See: Il�.ttp://www,.in iisri,.orcJ/wp content�uplloads/2022/08/Ch 27 plle��Iloosestrife �SBE.. df) JoAnn thanked Mike S for his good FB posts on our page. James is still locked out of FB by supposed security requiring two-factor authentication, which he doesn't have hardware for. c. From Lindsay via email: EMC update: The guest speaker (Anna Kelles) was not available once again, so the meeting was a "working meeting." Executive Committee reported on letter of support submitted for increased funding for conservation advisory commissions and environmental management councils in the NYS Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Comments dovetailed into exchange of ideas regarding improved 2 communication between municipalities, schools, and EMCs. Communications/Outreach team is working on plans for fall outreach event (Oct. 18 is tentative date). Climate Adaptation Committee is working to define content (most likely related to flooding) and identify guest presenters and target audience for October public meeting. Possible ideas include panel discussion on flood mitigation and prevention, lakefront versus watershed flooding, landscaping measures and home safety tips. Municipal Reports: Town of Danby is working on a logging ordinance. Cait shared that the Town of Ulysses Conservation & Sustainability Advisory Council discussed getting all the conservation advisory councils in the county together to network. d. 6MC: 3 volunteer Benthic Macroinvertebrate (BMI) sampling teams each took 2 replicate samples from riffles in Slaterville Springs, Brooktondale, and below Potters Falls during the last weeks of August when a few light rains got the flow high enough for kick-netting. The upstream samples are now preserved in alcohol for future analysis in the Community Science Institute's Langmuir lab. The samples below Potters Fall were analyzed live in James' kitchen and show the creek's healthy, though the population of midges was unusually low, possibly due to unusually dry conditions recently. In September, the Community Science Institute held family field trips for BMI sampling at Buttermilk State Park and a water quality cruise on Cayuga Lake. e. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas volunteers weeded swallowwort on South Hill using GPS, finding a few new plants and some persistent little pests in previously mapped locations. This area is now largely free of that invasive, though it needs annual monitoring. Seedlings of native woody perennials, trees and shrubs that had sprouted in flats from volunteer-collected seeds were potted up in larger containers for eventual transplanting from the Plant Propagation Facility by Flat Rocks on Fall Creek to Natural Areas that need such plants. The trails in the Poison and Frost Ravine Natural Areas were trimmed and blazed. 9. Other Business: Lori wished there could be a trail from Stewart Park to East Shore Park, as the current roadside connection now along Rte. 34 is so nasty. Maybe when the railroad to salt mine becomes a Rail to Trail? 10. JoAnn reviewed our Work Goals, finding we've done some decent work this year, and have either met most of our goals, or at least given them attention. She notes more discussion of the Wildlife Sanctuary in Your Yard project should be on October's agenda. 11. We adjourned at 6:49. Draft minutes submitted by James Hamilton September 6, 2022 3