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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-03-2025 - CB Minutes Town of Ithaca Conservation Board April 3, 2025,5:30 p.m. (In Person at Town Hall and via Zoom Video Conference) Final Minutes Members Present: Lori Brewer, James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, Ingrid Zabel Staff Present: Michael Smith (Senior Planner) Guests: Pete Loucks, interested in possibly joining the CB, and Caroline Marschner, expert from Cornell on weeds, invasives, agrovoltaics, pests 1. Caroline Marschner(Invasive Species Extension Associate) answered our questions about invasive species and other topics Question: could certain characteristics warrant conserving an invasive species? This came up in the context of the Mirabito redevelopment proposal at East Hill Plaza, and the Planning Board's decision to allow the large Norway spruces to be cut down. Norway spruces are not native, but they are also not big spreaders. Caroline: one consideration is where the trees are. Invasive species in a paved shopping plaza won't spread easily.Also, careful assessment of the aggressiveness of particular species is important. She suggested looking at lists that prioritize invasive species into tiers or degrees of hazard. Options: DEC, Finger Lakes Native Plant Society, and NY PRISM lists(https://www.nynhp.org/invasives/species-tiers- ). If a plant is"untiered"it means that the plant is already widespread or there's not enough information about it to make a determination. We can use these lists to inform our feedback for future projects and make our feedback more specific. Town of Ithaca staff use the latest EMC list Created by Robert Wesley (https://www.tompkinscountynv.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/ lap nning-amp- sustainability/documents/final-emc-invasive-plants-resource-document- 2018v1.pdf), which uses two tiers. Our discussion concluded that this list should take precedence. Note that this list does not capture"l a"tiered species which could arrive in our region in the future. Example: Palmer Amaranth,A variety of pigweed that is highly damaging. It has arrived in two places in New York State through used farm equipment from the Midwest. It is very aggressive, resistant to multiple herbicides, and produces lots of seeds. It's important to tell people to clean their equipment. 1 Caroline mentioned two websites that might be of interest: Weed ID website: ttps://blogs.cornell.edu/weedid/ Invasive Plant Management Decision Analysis Tool(IPMDAT): https://www.ipmdat.org/ Ingrid will email Caroline to ask her about case studies of other towns that have saved invasives to serve some function. Caroline mentioned a concern,which is how to manage wild parsnips on roadsides. This plant is toxic and invasive. The Department of Transportation tends to mow right when it is sowing seed, which leads to spreading. It would be better to mow a little earlier or later and that could make a big difference. Can we share our concerns with DOT? Ingrid will askthe EMC: is the County doing anything about this? Eva: It would be good to see highway mowing stopped, and instead of planting grass that needs to be continually mowed, plant native, low-growing plants. This has been done successfully in other places.There are lots of benefits to reducing mowing, such as worker safety, saving energy, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Caroline noted that low growing native plants are the holy grail of agrivoltaics. One of the challenges is that native plant seeds are scarce and expensive. 2. Persons to be heard: none 3. Members comments/concerns: none 4. Environmental Review Committee: no new projects 5. Chair Report: No reply received yet from State Senator Webb or Assemblymember Kelles offices. Lori met Brian Eden and asked if he could help find out about the status of Senate bills on plastic carpets. Coordinator report: The deer program concluded on March 31, 2025, culling 18 deer total. Efforts were focused in the Coy Glen and Six Mile Creek areas. Hunters were volunteers who used crossbows. 90 pounds of venison was donated through the program. 6. Minutes: the CB approved minutes from February and March 2025 (Ingrid moved, Lori seconded.) 2 7. Fischer Award: The Town sent the letter to awardee Rich Schoch. He is talking with Joe Talbut(Parks Maintenance Manager) about location and tree type. We are waiting to hear back about a potential date. Communications Committee should post on Facebook and Instagram about award. 8. Recruitment: a. Ingrid brought this up at the last EMC meeting.There was some brief discussion, and the most common successful strategy for recruiting members in other communities was through personal networking. b. Lori suggested the idea of some kind of volunteer fair, perhaps at the county level. c. James thought that the closer to home(Town of Ithaca)we stay,the better our chance of succeeding. d. Ingrid will contact organizers of Cooperative Extension Earth Day event(April 191h)to see if Lori could join the EMC table. e. Maybe write a press release for Tompkins Weekly?We have tried that in the past. 9. Regular Reports and updates: a. Scenic Resources (Eva): no news, but it's encouraging to hear from Mike that Cornell seems to be working on it. b. Communications(Ingrid): i. Facebook stats—in the last 28 days the CB's posts reached 232 people and had 3 interactions. c. EMC(Ingrid) i. A committee of the EMC has finalized an updated inventory of unique natural areas (UNAs). Committee members plan to give brief(approx.5 minute) presentations about UNAs to all municipalities in the County,which would include the Ithaca Town Board.They said they could also come to our Conservation Board and give us a longer presentation with more time to ask questions. ii. Reminder: May 8 EMC meeting in person at Stewart Park,4-6 pm.We are all invited. d. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program and Cornell Botanic Garden (James) Volunteers sampled from Yellow Barn Road, Hammond Hill downstream.They have begun a collaboration with Ithaca college Cynthia Becker on sampling bacteria in the water.Analysis of samples from summer 2024 will be published on CSI's website. Upcoming event: Caroline Watershed Day at Caroline Elementary School, Saturday April 5 from 2-4 pm. 3 Pete Mentioned Professor Robinson in Civil/Environmental Engineering at Cornell, who has been sampling water at Buttermilk Falls. His research group has developed a new technology that can significantly shorten the time for making water quality decisions. e. Botanic Gardens volunteers have been clearing invasive Norway spruce, buckthorn, and honeysuckle on the south bank of Cascadilla Creek close to Game Farm Road. They are also working on clearing an area near Monkey Run which the Cornell Outdoor Recreation Club uses, preparing it for native plantings. 10. Other business:Additional discussion about deer browse study: it's a good idea, but we don't have the capacity to follow up. It would be interesting to compare our deer program with the Cayuga Heights program.The Cornell Botanic Gardens and Cayuga Heights have their own deer programs, so the Town of Ithaca doesn't operate its program in those parts of the Town. The Town of Ithaca deer program is decided on year by year.The DEC issues our permits. It is probably not critical to do a deer browse study right now. 11. Works Goals/May meeting: Continue talking about recruitment ideas and planning for the Fischer Award. Invite Hilary Swartwood,the Town's Sustainability Planner, to provide updates on her work. 12. Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm Minutes prepared by Ingrid Zabel 4