HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAC Minutes - October 26, 2015Danby Conservation Advisory Council – Draft minutes – October 26, 2015
Members present: Joel Gagnon, Don Schaufler, Bill Evans, Jenny Caldwell, Dan Klein
Guests present: Ronda Roaring
Privilege of the floor
Ronda wants list of parcels in Danby with easements on them and other
protected lands. Joel remarked that Sue Beeners had such a list.
Ronda heard from Native Plant Society – they do not wish to help with the plant
id project on Town-owned lands.
Minutes
The Ronda comment about the Danby Area News was missing the word “should”
in the September minutes
Minutes (as tweaked by Joel) moved by Dan, seconded by Don, approved
unanimously.
Landowner letter
Bill would like the sentence with ‘destruction’ removed – everyone agreed. Ditto
for the sentence including “watching helplessly”.
Joel and Mary will edit final version.
Dan will send out the list of the 50 largest landowners to the group, making sure
Jake’s rating system is included, and the group will whittle it down to about 30.
Management plan and inventory
Don contacted Land Trust, got management plan for Biodiversity Preserve and
shared with CAC.
Joel contacted West Danby Water Commissioners – we are working on a meeting
with Tod Sukontarak and Carl Seamon to discuss Water District land management
plan. We will send Joel, Jenny, and Don. Joel will also look at Land Trust
management plan again and see what they have to say about logging.
Management plans will include hunting, timber extraction, public use, and
interventions to promote certain qualities. Jenny mentioned the possibility of
managing for sequestration of carbon. Also need to keep the word
“sustainability” in mind. What will we do when ashes die?
Management plan for Water District land will include something about how to
manage the open area for the pipeline. Also, this land is adjacent to Land Trust
land and we need to keep that in mind.
Dan gave his pitch for old growth again. Bill added that old growth is also good for
elves. Joel said a counter argument for old growth is that in a changing climate
world, old growth is not necessary stable.
Easement monitoring
We need stewards for our current easements.
Bill will work on getting an easement monitoring checklist from Land Trust.
We discussed doing some easement monitoring ourselves, at least to start, to
learn what it is all about. Joel will try to arrange soon for Hansen easement.
(Henslow’s Sparrow once nested on Hansen easement according to Bill, according
to a former resident who was a major Grateful Dead fan).
Membership Manual
CJ Randall has been working on something. Joel will work on getting a copy of it to
all CAC members for input and review.
Meeting over at 8:29 pm
Minutes by Dan