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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2022-11-02 1 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board (CB) Meeting November 3, 2022, 5:30 p.m. Final Minutes Members present: Lori Brewer (Chairperson), Lindsay Dombroskie, Elise Edwards (by Zoom), James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, Joann Kowalski (Vice Chairperson), Michael Roberts. Guests: Ingrid Zabel Staff: Michael Smith, Senior Planner. 1. Persons to be heard: None 2. Member concerns: James suggested changing the name of this agenda item to “Member concerns and comments”. The group had no objections to such a change. James reported about a climate change game he had heard of called Climate Fresk. He also mentioned an Ecovillage posting about problems caused by carbon dioxide. 3. Environmental Review Committee Update (Lori): The West Hill Learning Farm project was to be considered at the Nov. 15 Planning Board meeting, but will now come up two weeks later because of additional engineering and storm water concerns. Board members discussed how much use the yurts would have since they are to be uninsulated, the school busses which would bring children there and how the sewer service would be handled. Would they hook up to public sewer or try to build enough septic systems on their property to cover their need? It appeared it would be too costly for them to connect to public sewer. The ERC will have a Web call Tuesday to prepare a report for the Planning Board. 4. Chairperson and Coordinator reports: a. Chairperson: No report. Lori asked if board members had any questions for Ingrid. Mike R. asked what she would want to do as a board member. She responded that she is interested in climate change science and biodiversity loss. b. Coordinator, Mike Smith: Mike S. reported that he received an email from the Tompkins County Planning office with information that the Water Resources Council has an opening. He passed around information about this (https://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/planning/committees-wrc). He also told us that Sue Ritter, the Director of Planning, is retiring at the end of January, 2023. 5. Approval of minutes from September 1 and October 6, 2022: The minutes were approved with corrections. 6. Continue discussion of a 2023 initiative related to Your Yard Could Be a Wildlife Sanctuary: Joann presented ideas about this from an information sheet: Options for Conservation Board’s “Your Yard Could Be a Wildlife Sanctuary” (attached). Discussion followed about this three part educational program in partnership with SUNY ESF Restoration Science Center with a demonstration session with Brandon Becker Hoak, https://www.busybee- ecologicaldesigns.com/, educational information from the Town via its newsletter and its Facebook site, or possibly a blog, and a partnership with Dan Antoniolo in Dryden to work on creating a butterfly garden in the strip in front of his property. Other specific examples mentioned were a marshy garden planting at The Soil Factory on Elmira Road, The Million Dollar Pollinator Garden Project possible for Tompkins County (Kate Dicken) and a link to the National Wildlife Federation. There were questions about when to do this ranging from starting with an educational campaign in the fall, to starting right away to “kill” the lawn and make the soil ready for other plants, which do not need mowing, or at least not as frequent mowing as grass often gets. There were ideas about how to encourage participation in a program to eliminate lawns and encourage creation of pollinator gardens, rain gardens and other ways to encourage wildlife sanctuaries in conjunction with one’s home. Being able to get a rainbarrel was thought of as good incentive for some to participate in such a program, but who would be eligible for such an incentive, 2 possible financed by the Town? Town of Ithaca resident only or participants from a larger area? Mike R. found what looked like a good rain barrel at a reasonable price on the Web during the meeting at https://www.homedepot.com/p/Terra-Cotta-Rain-Barrel-55-gal-Model-TC-55-TC-55/312999960 . It was suggested that a multisession education program would be important to help possible participants understand that there would be a serious time commitment needed to plan, set up and maintain such a project. Joann said that although she would like to be part of a group working on these questions, she did not want to head up the group and would like to see other CB members take on active parts of it. Lindsay and Ingrid said they are interested in working on this project and two other guests at a previous meeting had also indicated interest. 7. Regular reports and updates: a. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva): Mike S. stated that he has heard from Cornell University that the initial person, who was to look into the permission process for the Town of Ithaca to be allowed to place the next Scenic View sign at the intersection of Snyder Hill and Pine Tree Roads, has now passed the work on to someone else to review. It is hoped that this may speed up the process for us. Joann returned to Eva an edited version of a redrafted text for this sign, which Eva had handed out to all CB members at the Oct. 2022 meeting. Eva gratefully accepted the edit suggestions (attached). b. Communications Committee (James): No report. c. Tompkins County EMC: The status of a Town of Ithaca representative to this Environmental Management Council is unclear at this time. d. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James): Biomonitoring Open Lab nights open weekly again, Thursdays 5:30-8:30PM starting Nov 3rd. Preserved BMI samples need volunteers to help identify randomly selected subsamples of creek bottom critters to show creek health. Adrianna Hirtler performed a "Tier 3" backup replicate sample confirmation to make sure the 251 benthic critters Diane Florini and I analyzed live from Below Potters Falls on 8/19/22 were correctly identified. She managed to identify one Physid snail we hadn't managed to identify and added it to our first replicate count; the other 3 unidentified preserved in our 4 "unknowns" were either too small to count, or plant material, or possibly terrestrial. Tier 3 is the most rigorous replicated and quality-controlled sampling you can do for benthic populations, and our late summer sample showed that Six Mile Creek below Potters Falls is healthy by all standard metrical analyses except its similarity to the NY DEC model community. In that regard, the population could be considered "moderately impacted" by some problem because it had way too few chironomidae (midges). This might be due to the moderate drought we had this year. Or to Potters Falls visitors bringing too much sunscreen or bug repellant to the water hole just upstream. Or who knows? A spreadsheet reporting the 8/19/22 population identification and analysis is available. e. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program (James): Volunteers worked at 4 jobs the past 4 Tuesday afternoons: weeding bittersweet from a Fall Creek north bank; cutting and painting glyphosate on woody invasives on the north shore of Beebe Lake; pulling out woody invasives on the steep bank southeast of Flat Rocks on Fall Creek below the arboretum and above the Morgan Smith Trail; collecting seeds from the rare fringed gentian in Freeville. 9. Other Business: Joann mentioned that the Community Science Institute is looking for volunteers. 10. Review 2022 Work Goals/ Discuss April Agenda: no discussion. 9. Adjournment: 6:57 pm Respectfully submitted by Eva Hoffmann February 28, 2023 Options for Conservation Board’s “Your Yard Could Be a Wildlife Sanctuary” 1) Three-part educational program in partnership with SUNY ESF Restoration Science Center (Sam Quinn) for Parts 1 and 2 online and Part 3 a demonstration session with Brandon Becker Hoak, Busy Bee Ecological Designs - - https://www.busybee-ecologicaldesigns.com/ When is the best time to start?  Participants attending all three sessions will be entered into a drawing for a rain barrel  Participants who complete a project following specific criteria (See https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/Certify for examples) will receive a certificate and a sign for their yard and future possibility to be part of a map 2) We provide educational information via Facebook and the Town newsletter about options available for the homeowner to convert part of or all of their lawn; Educational flyers could be linked to the Town of Ithaca CB website. Possibly a blog?  https://www.pollinator.org/mpgcmap Million Pollinator Garden Challenge map; there has been discussion on the Human Services Coalition listserv with folks interested in developing a map for what would likely include areas outside of the Town boundaries. We could partner with that effort. Kate Dickin appears to be the main motivator; kld12@cornell.edu  https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/Certify National Wildlife Federation  https://homegrownnationalpark.org/ Homegrown National Park, Doug Tallamy’s initiative to “support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water” 3) Partner with Dan Antoniolo for information and ideas: Transform your lawn into habitat and beauty; Dan held an informative gathering with opportunity for networking at his property in the Village of Dryden. The New York Department of Transportation has granted him permission to turn the green median strip in front of his property (between the sidewalk and road/highway/street) into a butterfly garden. He plans to put signage up explaining what it is and having a tiny library with seeds and pamphlets to give away for free. It would be one of the sites on the Pollinator Pathway.