HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Packet 2024-05-02
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING
215 N. Tioga St 14850
607.273.1747
www.townithacany.gov
TO: CONSERVATION BOARD MEMBERS
FROM: MICHAEL SMITH, SENIOR PLANNER
DATE: APRIL 25, 2024
SUBJECT: UPCOMING CONSERVATION BOARD MEETING – MAY 2, 2024
This is to confirm that the next meeting of the Conservation Board (CB) is Thursday,
May 2nd at 5:30 p.m. The agenda for this meeting is enclosed (see the back of this
memo).
The draft minutes from the March 7th and April 4th meetings are attached. Please email
me any spelling, grammatical, or other minor edits you have prior to the meeting.
At this meeting we will continue to plan for the Fischer Award tree planting event. I have
started discussing potential dates, planting locations, and species ideas with the winner,
and will hopefully have more information at the meeting.
We will also start discussing ideas for potentially hosting an event as part of the NYS
Invasive Species Awareness Week (June 3-9, 2024). I have attached an email from the
Finger Lakes PRISM with more information about the week. The deadline to submit a
project is Friday, May 17th.
We will also continue the conversation on indigenous environmental justice with Mike R.
Ingrid is signed up to take minutes at the May meeting.
If you have any questions prior to the meeting or are not able to attend, please contact
me at msmith@townithacany.gov or 607-273-1747.
Conservation Board Members and Associates (*)
Lori Brewer (Chair), Frank Cantone (Vice-Chair), Lindsay Dombroskie*,
James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, Michael Roberts, Ingrid Zabel
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TOWN OF ITHACA
CONSERVATION BOARD
5:30 p.m., Thursday, May 2, 2024
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Aurora Conference Room
215 N. Tioga Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
(The rear entrance is handicapped accessible)
(607) 273-1747
Members of the public are welcome to attend in-person at Town Hall
or virtually via Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/6750593272).
AGENDA
1. Persons to be heard
2. Members comments / concerns
3. Environmental Review Committee Update (Lori)
4. Chair and Coordinator reports
5. Approval of minutes from March 7, 2024 and April 4, 2024
6. Plan for the 2023 Richard B. Fischer Environmental Conservation Award tree planting
7. Discuss ideas for a 2024 NY Invasive Species Awareness Week Event (June 3 – 9)
8. Continue discussion of Indigenous Environmental Justice (Mike)
9. Regular reports and updates (6:30 pm)
a. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva)
b. Communications Committee (Ingrid)
c. Tompkins County EMC (Ingrid)
d. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James)
e. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program (James)
10. Other Business (6:50 p.m.)
11. Review 2024 Work Goals / Discuss June Agenda
12. Adjourn (7:00 p.m.)
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Town of Ithaca Conservation Board (CB) Meeting
March 7, 2024, 5:30 p.m.
(In Person at Town Hall and via Zoom Video Conference)
Draft Minutes
Members present: Lori Brewer (Chairperson), Frank Cantone (Vice Chairperson), James Hamilton, Eva
Hoffmann, and Michael Roberts.
Staff: Michael Smith, Senior Planner.
Guests: Katie Borgella (Tompkins County Department of Planning and Sustainability), who attended by
Zoom, and Andy Zepp (Finger Lakes Land Trust - FLLT) and a high school student.
1. Discussion of upcoming NYS Open Space Conservation Plan Update: Katie Borgella, introduced this
project. The first plan was done in 1992 and was last updated in 2016. It used to be updated every
other year. It is hoped this current update will be finished in 2025.
Andy Zepp, stated that he began working with this plan in the 1990s. There were nine regions with
individual reports and one overarching report. In Tompkins County there were several large projects:
the Emerald Necklace Greenbelt (with about 2,000 properties), the State Park Greenbelt, the Black
Diamond Trail, DEC projects and State Parks.
Current changes involve the NYSEG site, which will be removed from the list because it is finished.
How to deal with taxation is another big issue. There is concern that NYS does not pay taxes on land
it owns. The Land Trust often acquires land for the state to take over. Now the state owes money to
organizations like the FLLT. There are backlog issues to deal with. He said he will send his
testimony on this to Mike S to distribute.
He talked about the 30 for 30 law, which deals with questions about which land should be preserved
by 2030. About issues to cover in the law, he stated as an example that good bird habitat makes good
places for solar panels; asked are there water issues to bring up? Katie B. stated that climate change
and climate resilience need to be covered. She said that when the draft updated plan is available, they
will ask the Town to comment on it.
Lori said that the 30 by 30 law mirrors Federal legislation in trying to conserve 30% of the land mass.
But she asked if wetlands are counted in that figure. It doesn’t say they are protected, but you can’t
fill a wetland without a permit. American Farm Land people and Urban Open Space people want to be
included in the legislation. Mike R. stated that Honeywell owned property near Syracuse that was
being transferred to the Onondaga Nation. The Finger Lakes Land Trust does not consider the land
suitable for development, because the tribes need land for that too and they want to collaborate with
native peoples. A draft revised plan and a comment period may be available by this summer
2. Persons to be heard: The student, who stated he is interested in land use and came to observe the CB.
3. Member comments/concerns: None.
4. Environmental Review Committee Update (Lori): No report.
5. Chairperson and Coordinator reports: No report by Lori. Mike S. reported that the deer program
started February 1. Seven deer total have been harvested as of now. They aren’t coming consistently
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to the feeders. The Culver Road project is moving forward and has gotten a grant, but the Town Board
hasn’t signed a contract yet. The plan is to provide formal entrances, parking and trails, including a
trail to an open field with nice views. Mike stated that Earth Day on the Commons is coming up and
asked if the CB was interested in setting up a table.
6. Approval of minutes from January 4 and February 1, 2024: Franks moved and Lori seconded. The
minutes were approved as corrected and as written, respectively.
7. Discussion of the 2023 Richard B. Fischer Environmental Conservation Award nominations and
selection of a winner: We received three different nominations for the award this time: for the Zero
Waste Ithaca project, the ICSD Child Nutrition Program and for Adrianna Hirtler, the biomonitoring
coordinator of the Community Science Institute (CSI). James talked about Adrianna’s work and the
group’s history. We have given the award to the group of volunteers at CSI before, but this one is for
the work of Adrianna Hirtler and the importance of her many years of leadership to the group in
monitoring the health of local streams and Cayuga Lake. Mike R. moved to give the award to her,
James seconded and the motion was unanimously accepted. Next we need to contact the winner and
set the date for the award ceremony. For next year, 2024, we will send press releases about the
Fischer Award to the Tattler and groups involving high school students to encourage them to make
nominations. Further work involves clarifying the language about the time period the nominee did the
work, discuss whether that’s important and whether we could expand that.
8. Town’s Deer Management Program – continue browse monitoring discussion: Mike R. talked about
the impact of deer on vegetation. We have discussed the AVID program (Assessing Vegetation
Impacts from Deer) for a while, with Kristi Sullivan looking for good sites to work with. She found
the natural area along Pine Tree Road may have good sites, where leafing out may have started by
mid-April. Mike asked if there was a reason to find spaces on Town land or could we go for places
that Bernd Blossey has already identified. Lori said the idea is that town land could be used as
demonstrations and examples for people to see. They would be trials for us and for the Town. It
would not be a commitment for the Town, but just to find out what one can and needs to do. Mike
said that the CU Botanic Gardens has a few plots where they do studies like this. He asked if the
Town would want to have results from outside, like from Cornell. The Town has not taken in data
from the Botanic Gardens before, but would welcome any data. CU has used twig age as an indicator
in some areas of the town where they have land. Mike is working on some of these projects and CU,
as a land grant institution, needs to share its knowledge.
9. Continue discussion of Indigenous Environmental Justice (Mike R.): Mike reported that Steve
Henhawk is making progress on plant labels for the nature walk area of Tutelo Park. Mike is working
on QR codes and a connection to an audio presentation in Gayogohó:nǫˀ language, with a translation
to English. At some point Mike S. and he will have to apply for some county money for this project.
Joe Talbut has been generous in providing supplies. Mike asked where to post the audio files and said
the Town’s Web site seemed a natural place. If we make space for an actual place of interest, we
should create a virtual presence as well on the Town’s Web site.
10. Regular reports and updates:
a. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva): No report, because no news is available.
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b. Communications Committee (James): James asked Mike S. to print some of the recently revised
edition of the CB brochure, so members could hand them out as recruiting aids to anyone they find
interested in joining us.
c. Tompkins County Environmental Management Committee (EMC) (Ingrid): No report.
d. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James): Five of the eleven Six Mile Creek (6MC)
monitor volunteers met at noon Friday, Feb 9 via Zoom due to bad cold germs at Langmuir. We
planned only 3 synoptic water samples in 2024, as 6MC has 20 years of water sample data now, and
Community Science Institute (CSI) wants more work done in other streams. Biological monitoring in
the summer will continue at 3 to 5 sites where riffles and flow meet sampling protocols. Scheduled
synoptic sampling will be on 4/3/24, 7/17/24, and 11/6/24 unless we can catch an impromptu storm
event. Two years have gone by now without a storm sample. We’ll also sample only 14 sites on 6MC,
dropping the Yellowbarn and Brooktondale Gaswell sites (Yellowbarn is too close to Midline site,
which gives very similar results; Gaswell site in Brooktondale was sampled from 2012 to 2023 mostly
because a landowner nearby wanted to drill a gaswell on his property back when Marcellus shale
hydrofracking was threatening, but it’s too close to the Banks site to be needed now). 6MC has proven
to be one of the healthiest streams that CSI monitors. Over 20 years, the chloride concentration has
increased significantly, though this may be due not only to road salt, but also to increased atmospheric
pollution from oil and gas fields upwind, as chloride is produced from industrial waste gas flaring. A
biomonitoring team met at James’s house Saturdays Feb 3 and 10 to analyze preserved BMI samples
from the best riffle in 6MC near 600 Rd in Caroline, just east of Slaterville Springs. An independently
verified highest-significance check (by Adrianna Hirtler) on our metrics confirmed that Six Mile
Creek had a “Biological Assessment Profile (BAP) of 9.0 (where any value from 7.5 to 10 proves a
stream is “non-impacted” by any water quality problems). See
http://www.communityscience.org/biological-monitoring-2/ for CSI’s thorough explanation of the
BMI monitoring volunteer procedure.
e. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program (James): James reported CUBG NA Stewardship
Volunteers tackled woody invasive plants near the Lick Brook trailhead from the Finger Lakes Trail:
mostly privet, honeysuckle, bittersweet, and buckthorn, pulling up smaller weeds by the roots, cutting
and painting glyphosate on the larger weed stumps. In upper Cascadilla Creek NA, we twice took
advantage of wetall floodplain where a large old oak blew down, downstream of Game Farm Road,
opening a big sky space in the canopy. An infestation of swallow wort there will need glyphosate
herbicide later this year when the timing is right; native trees and shrubs will be planted there, as well.
11. Other Business: None.
12. Review 2024 Work Goals/ Discuss April Agenda: Frank stated that he will email everyone a list of
work goals and asked us to get back to him with updates and possible additions.
13. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 6:58 PM.
Respectfully submitted by Eva Hoffmann, April 22, 2024
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Town of Ithaca Conserva on Board Mee ng
April 4, 2024, 5:30pm
(In Person at Town Hall and via Zoom Video Conference)
Dra Minutes
Members in a endance: James Hamilton, Eva Hoffman, Ingrid Zabel, Frank Cantone, Michael Roberts
Staff present: Mike Smith (Senior Planner)
Guests: Chris anne White (Steep Hollow Farm)
1. Persons to be Heard
a. Chris anne White, resident of the Town of Ithaca, called in via Zoom with a ques on
about saving Eastern Hemlock trees on her property and more broadly. She has started
to have trees treated on her property, as many as she can afford.
b. She feels that there ought to be a plan for a widescale Hemlock treatment in the area
and would like to see an assessment of the Hemlocks in the inlet valley.
c. Chris anne would like to see broader coordina on on an such an effort and is willing to
find a source of funding either with the State, the County, or Town that she/we could
apply to that would support treatment of Hemlock trees on private (and perhaps public)
land.
d. She will try to iden fy a source of funding. Mike Smith will talk with Town staff to see if
there is a model for helping administer funds Chris anne would apply for.
2. Member Concerns
a. Eva
i. Eva is on the Codes and Ordinances Commi ee.
ii. They are considering new subdivision regula ons, which could require earth-
moving opera ons to clean their equipment off before leaving a construc on
site. Eva asked if there was a protocol that has already been dra ed that they
might look to for prac cal opera onal standards.
iii. Mike Roberts offered to help iden fy some resources that may help the Code
and Ordinances Commi ee in their effort.
b. Ingrid
i. Regi Teasley reached out to Ingrid and asked if the Town might establish a
pollinator garden at Tutelo Park.
ii. She (Ingrid) will reach out to Joe Talbot to see if such a thing would be feasible.
iii. James – perhaps this could e into the biocultural themed plant walk.
3. Biocultural Conserva on (Mike Roberts)
a. The project is progressing steadily.
b. There are four prototype plant labels that Steve and Mike have developed.
c. Steve’s work has been put on pause as all Town funds allocated for Steve Henhawk’s
consul ng work has been spent.
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d. Mike Smith and Mike Roberts are applying for a grant to the county that would supply
the rest of the funds needed to finish Steve’s consul ng work and pay for plant label
fabrica on and shipping.
e. Mike R. has iden fied a vendor to fabricate the signs and is working with Town staff to
create a space on the Town of Ithaca website to host in-depth informa on on the plants
included in the walk and the audio files.
4. Chair and Coordinator Reports
a. Mike Smith
i. The deer program is done. 10 deer were harvested across eight sites. There was
not much consistent ac vity, maybe because of the lack of snow (meaning deer
could have been finding plenty of food elsewhere). Also, fewer hunters were
par cipa ng for various reasons.
ii. Energy Code Supplement
1. The Town has started a new assistance program for one and two family
homes, new construc on or addi ons. Technical assistance, through a
Town provided consultant, to help work through energy code
requirements.
2. Mike S passed around a new help guide.
iii. South Hill Trail extension
1. NYSEG owns a cri cal piece of property that 4 municipali es are seeking
an easement on to extend the trail from Burns Road south to the County
line.
2. Those municipali es are seeking public comment soon to help move the
easement establishment forward.
iv. Earth Day Fes val on the Commons, April 20th
1. Town Sustainability staff (Hilary) will have a table there and would
welcome someone from this Board to table with her. With no one
available, Mike S will ask Hilary just to include a couple CB brochures.
5. Approval of Minutes
a. Minutes are not yet available for March 2024.
6. Plan for the 2023 Richard B. Fischer Environmental Conserva on Award tree plan ng
a. The le er is ready; Lori will sign it next week. Mike Smith has contacted Joe Talbot to
find a loca on for the tree plan ng.
b. Sugges ons: Tudor Park and East Ithaca Nature Preserve.
7. Regular reports and updates
a. Scenic Resources Commi ee (Eva) – no update
b. Communica ons Commi ee (Ingrid) – no update
c. Thompkins County EMS (Ingrid)
i. The May mee ng will be in-person and we are all invited.
ii. Details: Thursday, May 9 from 4:00 to 5:30 PM at Stewart Park (large pavilion).
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iii. Members of conserva on boards and conserva on advisory councils from
around the county are all invited, and it’s a chance to get to know each other
and learn what other groups are doing.
iv. Ingrid and Lori went to last year’s in-person May mee ng and it was a good
experience. Please a end if you can!
d. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James)
i. Volunteers changed a scheduled synop c water sample of Six Mile Creek from
Wednesday morning, 4/3/24 to this Thursday morning, hoping the rains will
bring a high-flow turbid “storm event” to keep track of sediment movement.
ii. The stored Benthic Macroinvertebrate samples from last summer’s riffles have
finally been analyzed by volunteers to Community Science Ins tute’s Langmuir
Lab, with no evidence of any problems with creek health.
e. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program (James)
i. The Tuesday a ernoon volunteers hunted for Hemlock Wooly Adelgids (HWA) in
the Na onal Natural Landmark at McLean Bogs. Since 2022, the hemlocks along
the esker ridges have just begun to show signs of a small HWA infesta on. First
found on 3/15/22, a few trees con nue to show a slight but spreading amount
of adelgids 3/26/24 in the north-east corner of the preserve north of Beaver
Creek, near the border with the Elm Tree golf course.
ii. A new slight beginning of HWA was found 3/26/24 near a trail on the south
slope of an esker west of Mud Pond, about 2,000 feet SW of the earlier HWA
infesta on.
iii. On 3/19/24, volunteers rerouted a sec on of trail in the Monkey Run Natural
Area, where it had got too muddy from heavy hiking and running traffic. A new
trail uphill through a few hundred feet of invasive honeysuckle, bi ersweet,
privet, Japanese barberry, buckthorn and euonymus invading a slight ridge
cleared with weed wrenches, puller bears, loppers and a shrub buster, will give
trail users drier foo ng.
iv. On March 5th and 12th, volunteers cleared invasives under a new opening in the
forest canopy, created when a huge old oak fell in a windstorm last summer
between Cascadilla Creek and the East Ithaca Rec Way, downstream of the
Game Farm bridge.
v. On the 12th, they also planted bare-root oaks there, dug up that morning from
the Plant Propaga on Facility near Flat Rocks in Fall Creek. Grown from acorns
collected in other NAs downstream along Fall Creek, these young na ve trees
were an experiment to see how transplan ng them a er digging them up with
an AirSpade pneuma c excavator compares with the usual prac ce of
transplan ng them out of air-pruning pots.
vi. Plan ng a po ed tree is much simpler, but trees might thrive be er from bare-
root transplan ng. Growing trees in the ground is easier than it is in pots;
transpor ng bare-root trees is easier, but digging them out takes a lot more me
than simply moving pots. We’ll see. The transplanted trees were flagged, but not
caged with the usual deer exclosures, as they ought to be old enough to survive
deer browse.
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vii. Perhaps they could serve as a modified AVID protocol monitoring area, though
this site would not support the minimum of six plots recommended in Sullivan,
Smallidge and Cur s’ AVID method manual (2020, CU Dept of Natural
Resources), nor are the transplanted trees seedlings now.
8. Other Business
a. AVID project: in the works; we will wait un l the trees leaf out.
9. Review of 2024 work goals (Frank)
a. Frank received updates from Ingrid and James.
10. Adjourn (6:45pm)
Minutes respec ully submi ed by Mike Roberts, with help from Ingrid and James.
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Mike Smith
From:bounce-128150824-60883556@list.cornell.edu on behalf of Gallo, Matthew
<GALLO@hws.edu>
Sent:Tuesday, April 16, 2024 1:51 PM
To:cce-flprism-l@cornell.edu
Subject:NYISAW Call For Events!
**WARNING** This email comes from an outside source. Please verify the from address, any URL
links, and/or attachments. Any questions please contact the IT department
Help us Celebrate New York Invasive Species Awareness Week, June 3rd- 9th,
2024!
Good afternoon!
It's that time of year again - planning for NYISAW (New York Invasive Species Awareness Week)! Come join
us in a statewide invasive species extravaganza from June 3rd to June 9th as we all work to bring invasive
species education to people across the FLX.
Last year our scheduled programs ranged from everything between invasive snail pulls to spotted lanternfly
scouting. With a focus on growth and improvement, our aim is to make NYISAW 2024 even more successful
and memorable than before! If you would like discuss the logistics of creating and hosting a program - please
let us know. We can help plan, host, and promote your invasive species event.
Additionally, we can provide resources and giveaways for your event that are catered to your program. As a
partner of the NYISAW campaign, you will include the NYISAW and Finger Lakes PRISM logos on all marketing
materials, acknowledge sponsorship from Finger Lakes PRISM in communications; post pictures of the program
to share in our post-event marketing, and complete a post-ISAW survey that would include number of
participants and feedback.
What do you need from me?
Send the following to gallo@hws.edu by Friday, May 17th. Email us with “NYISAW Event Submission” in
the email subject line, and include the following information:
Event title
Event description
Registration information
Event time
Event location, address, including town/city and zip code
Event contact and email address
If you have marketing material such as a flyer already developed, send that along and we will put this on our
website and calendar.
What kinds of events have been done before?
Examples of events:
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Plant pulls / native plantings
Volunteer survey and data entry into the iMapInvasives
Interpretive hikes or paddles
Boat tours / floating classrooms
Public presentations and exhibits
Ask-an-Expert displays at farmer’s markets and visitor, welcome and nature centers
Invasive species movie screenings
Other kinds of awareness activities, such as signage on marquees or book displays
Please let us know if you have any questions. Here’s hoping to a great NYISAW!
Matt Gallo
he/him
Terrestrial Invasive Species Coordinator
Finger Lakes Institute – Finger Lakes PRISM
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
E: gallo@hws.edu
P: 315-781-4389
http://fingerlakesinvasives.org/