HomeMy WebLinkAboutAG Minutes 2016-11-29 Town of Ithaca Agriculture Committee Meeting
Tuesday, November 29, 2016, 6:00 pm
Final Minutes
Members Present: Abbie Teeter, Alex Teeter, Debbie Teeter, Claire Forest, Russ Wedemeyer,
Devon Van Noble, Christianne White.
Town Representatives: Bill Goodman (Town Supervisor), Mike Smith (Senior Planner)
Guests: Brett Chedzoy (Regional Extension Forester and Grazing Expert), Alfred Eddy
1. Brett Chedzoy, Woodland Management and Stewardship: Brett is part of the South Central
NY Ag Team, regional extension forester covering 11 counties in the Southern tier, and
manages a 400 acre grazing operation in Watkins Glen near the state park. He is also the
forest manager for Arnot forest near Green Springs cemetery.
New York clearcut its first generation of old growth forest. Small fragments of that first
generation old growth still remain, like Smith Woods in Trumansburg, but most was cleared.
Trees don't live forever; they mature to death or decline. We are in the second growth of woods
and all appears good because there are so many trees, but foresters are aware of impending
doom because that second round of growth is not replacing itself with baby trees. Oaks,
hickories, pines and other things we take for granted are just not regenerating. The second
growth forest grew on land cleared 120-50 years ago, on cleared agricultural land. Invasives
didn't exist. There was absence of pressure from understory vegetation and low deer
populations.
Challenges? Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, Emerald Ash Borer, Oak Wilt, tornados which leveled 5
acres of woods near Buttermilk. The forester's job is to tend, harvest, regenerate, and then keep
the cycle going, tend/harvest/regenerate.
When there is a disturbance in the forest canopy, sunlight comes in and stimulates growth, and
that may be invasives like multiflora Rose, European Buckthorn, Asian Bittersweet, privet, etc.
Brett works with naturalists like Bernd Blossey and Paul Curtis. Two years ago in the Village of
Trumansburg in early January there was a deer eradication project...177 deer were shot in two
weeks but there are still about 200 deer in the village. Localized efforts like this aren't
effective...deer control must be done at the landscape level, not the individual governmental unit
level.
Deer do not eat honeysuckle and other invasives which are so abundant. They like oak, maple,
and cherry seedlings and saplings.
There have been goats in Arnot forest sugarbush for 5 years, to control beech, hop hornbeam
and Striped Maple. The goats effectively eat the invasives at the same cost as other methods.
We have the most valuable hardwood forest in the world. Mahogany and teak that grow
elsewhere grow in low density. Most of our trees get exported. 75% go overseas to Asia and
India. We have mills in Owego, Cayuta, Ninevah, each one producing 30 million board
feet/year. This is high production. This calls for management, but especially regeneration.
Some 3,000 people have been trained in silvopasturing. Consider joining the NY Forest
Owner's Association.
Clearcutting might not look pretty but it's an effective way of replanting and growing sun-loving
trees which will not grow unless they are in open sun. Some local timber ordinances are
misguided.
There is a dearth of foresters. Foresters need to educate everyone. There is a Master Forest
Owner Volunteers program. There is annual training. (b-t-tp.//blogs.corneI1.edu/ccemfo/)
Loggers take more continuing education. Some Amish loggers are highly mechanized. Brett
leads forest walks and pasture walks. Peter Smallidge maintains forestry email listserve and
conducts forestry webinars. John Graham is the DEC forest service rep for this area.
The implications of reverse thinning on woods can be final. The negative impact can be
reversed the first time it happens, but successive negative thinning can be irreversible. Keep
your best trees to provide the best genetic stock. Thin the slower growing and less desirable
trees and use them for firewood. If a tree does not have enough sunlight it will grow
slowly...when you cut trees cut a cookie off the stump and count the rings. Look for wide or
narrow growth rings. Sugar Maple and beech are fairly shade tolerant.
Mark Whitmore is working on finding solutions to the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid problem. Predator
bugs might be effective, especially in closed environments like gorges and ravines.
Unfortunately nothing likes to eat the Emerald Ash Borer. We have given up on the purple traps
in trees. In spring just before the leaves come out watch to see if the woodpeckers tell you a
tree is infested...the woodpeckers go after the larvae.
Oak wilt is a fungal disease like Dutch Elm Disease. It plugs the healthy vessels in the tree. It
affects both White and Red oaks in varying degrees of susceptibility. There is an article in NY
Forest owner about Oak Wilt. It is an exotic variant of a native fungus. It was apparent in
Schenectady and affected trees were removed. If a tree is infected the leaves turn brown by the
4th of July. If the infestation is small the roots could be severed to stop the spread of the
disease.
How do diseases travel? The distribution of the Emerald Ash Borer matches the interstate
highway system.
Deer don't like to eat beech. There has been an effort to cut the larger beech and treat the
stumps with glyphosate because it's a clonal species. Many trees are affected by the disease
by the time they are mid-sized. If you pre-emptively poison a lot of beech you must ask, what
grows back in its place? Nobody is excited about pin cherry, sumac, or aspen. 1% of beech
are resistant to beech bark disease. In the Arnot Forest there are some perfectly healthy large
beeches. They are marking and recruiting forest geneticists to study those healthy trees and to
try to propagate from that stock. Beech is shade tolerant and deer don't like it. The lumber is
valuable; it is the premier lumber in Europe. They know how to dry and cut it.
Silviculture is the science of growing trees. Two important imperatives; control deer and control
beech. If Brett had to recommend a `productive' tree to plant in plantation style it might be black
locust. They are compatible with cattle, which can be restrained by a single hot wire fence.
We also suffer from vines...Asian Bittersweet, grape vines, Virginia Creeper and poison ivy.
Getting rid of these requires an ongoing commitment.
2. Person to be heard/Member announcements: none
3. Chair and Coordinator reports: none
4. Ithaca Town Board report: Bill Goodman reported that an updated Town ordinance related to
permitting large scale solar arrays was approved in November by the Town Board.
There is a grant from NYS to guide the best development for the Inlet Valley corridor. The RFP
is out and the Economic Development Committee will choose a consultant. They are hoping for
ag and tourism related businesses. The sign ordinance is expected to pass in December or
January. There should be increased square footage in ag districts.
The Maplewood project is moving forward for housing for up to 900 students. One of the
biggest construction projects in the town.
Tompkins County is hosting a housing summit with a keynote address at the high school and a
day of workshops to follow.
5. Approval of minutes: Moved by Claire Forest, seconded by Russ Wiedemeyer to approve
minutes of the March 22, 2016 meeting.
6. Recap of Town Board Farm Tour: On October 14th, five Town Board members visited
Eddydale Farms and the A.J.Teeter Farm. Steve Eddy showed the the flooding in the inlet. In
1950 there was lots of snow in Enfield and Newfield and flooding in the inlet, with water level so
high deer were left hanging in trees. When that flooded water receded it dropped lots of gravel
and sand. DEC told the Eddy's they couldn't take the sand/gravel out and redefine the channel
of the inlet, so now it floods their field and the channel is serpentine and prone to frequent
flooding. Now it looks like 60-100 little streams down there and is filled with silt. Overall tour
went well and Town Board members would like to continue this.
7. Review of Town's Aq Plan: Postpone to future meeting.
8. Regular reports and updates: The Tompkins County Agricultural and Farmland Protection
Board toured the top eastern part of the county; Lansing, Groton, and Dryden. Town officials,
FFA, and New Visions students all on the bus together, which turned out to be a good
combination of people and inspired good conversation. Bakers Acres, Shefflers Organic Dairy
and Ithaca Organics were visited.
The Tompkins County Farm Bureau has been buying ag books for kids which are put in waiting
rooms in the area. There is state $ for new farmers.
Groundswell hired a new director starting in January 2016, and they have a few new people on
staff. The incubator farm program has eight participants, with five new applicants. There will be
6 or 8 Burmese farmers out of 12 total. They are maxing out space in their incubator plots at
Ecovillage, so may be looking for a secondary site. Devon will be stepping down from
Groundswell and doing full time farming at his new farm on Podunk Road in Enfield.
9. Other Business: Russ Wedemeyer moved and Debbie Teeter seconded, Debbie Teeter
nominated for Chair and Claire Forest nominated for Vice-Chair for 2017.
Debbie Teeter moved and Christianne White seconded, to adopt the 2017 meeting schedule:
The Town of Ithaca Agriculture Committee will meet on dates and times listed below, in the
Aurora Conference Room in the Town of Ithaca Town Hall.
THE 2017 SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS:
January 31 (6:00 p.m.)
March 28 (6:00 p.m.)
July 25 (7:00 p.m.)
November 28 (6:00 p.m.)
10. Admiourn: 7:58 pm
Minutes drafted by Christianne McMillan White