HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAC Minutes - August 24, 2015Danby Conservation Advisory Council Meeting – August 24, 2015 – DRAFT Minutes
Members present: Joel Gagnon, Mary Woodsen, Don Schaufler, Dan
Klein (Matt Ulinski, Jenny Caldwell and Bill Evans Absent)
Guests present: Jack Miller, Ronda Roaring
Approval of minutes deferred until next month.
A few suggestions were made concerning the draft letter regarding
easements that will be sent to select landowners. Joel and Mary will
edit the letter from this point.
We then discussed to whom these letters should be sent. We
decided to start with the list of the 50 largest parcels in Danby, then
choose 30 of them to receive the letter. The criteria used to narrow it
down to 30 will include how these parcels rated in the ratings tool
developed by Jake Brenner and the rest of the group, and will also be
weighted in favor of landowners that members of our group may have
some connection to.
Dan agreed to coordinate the mailing. It was decided that we should
personalize each letter.
Joel moved, and Don seconded a resolution:
The Danby Conservation Advisory Council authorizes Dan Klein to be
reimbursed for postage and ink involved in sending out a letter to
Danby landowners.
The resolution passed 4 – 0.
Dan presented the answer to the trivia question he had put out in
advance of the meeting: how many parcels in Danby are 20 acres or
larger? The answer is 320, and the winner was Ronda.
We discussed the topic of developing management plans for some of
the Town-owned properties. Don presented the DEC Forest
Stewardship Plan. It was agreed that we would brainstorm our goals for
management plans of the West Danby Water District land and the
Deputron Hollow land by email before the next meeting. Dan expressed
his interest in seeing the goal to be management for old growth.
Ronda reported on engaging Native Plant Society volunteers in
inventorying the 2 Town parcels and will continue to coordinate that
effort.
We discussed the issue with knowing where the boundaries are in
the Deputron Hollow parcel. The 4 corners are marked. It was felt we
need to mark the rest of the boundaries better. Don has a GPS device
that can help if he can find the time to go out and walk the land.
We discussed the carbon tax issue. Joel presented two approaches
to take – a straight carbon tax or one that includes a carbon tax with
dividends returned to citizens. Joel will write these up as resolutions so
that we can discuss and possibly vote on endorsing one of these ideas.
Dan reported that he has a County budget meeting at the same time
as our next CAC meeting. He will be absent from or late to the next
meeting.
Minutes by Dan Klein