DRAFT MINUTESFriends of the State Line Serpentine Barrens
Board Meeting |
Friends of the State Line Serpentine Barrens Attending: Bob Gray, Ruth Galantino, Chris Hoess, Anna Hull, David Ross, Henry Whitesel, convened at 3:30 at Lincoln University. A) Key Dates 1. Our next board meeting will be 2. Grassland Restoration Days (conditions permitting)
3. Hikes, Talks and Other Commitments
B) Action Items Going Forward Mike Bertram: Biennial stakeholder meeting: give some thought to goals and who should attend.
Point person for our history initiatives Bob Gray: Pressing: Biennial stakeholder meeting: give some thought to goals and who should attend.
As opportunity arises: Bob will request $25 from Marci as support from PPFF. Will review scanned map files on the CD provided by BoF and identify those that should be stored on Dropbox (estimated time, 1 hour). Will talk with Marci about finding systematic way for PPFF to share networking opportunities with chapters (so Anna isn’t responsible for bugging Jen). Bob coordinates with Temple University 4th year master planning exercise instructor. Bob Will remind Jay that we are waiting for feedback on draft MOU for shared equipment cost, maintenance expense and permanent storage. Bob Will remind Jay that MOU about shared equipment acquisition cost, maintenance expense and permanent storage is in his lap. Bob Will renew request to Molly and Liz to draft a shared agreement (based on similar agreements we assume exist at other TNC sites) between TNC and BoF granting Friends access. Will schedule follow up phone sessions with Henry to update Site Tracker for Goat Hill and New Texas for winter Break Point person for monitoring our strategic plan. Anna Hull: Biennial stakeholder meeting: give some thought to goals and who should attend.
End of Semester: For accessing PA Heritage gateway
Spring: Schedule late spring 2015 search for hairy chickweed at Pilot
Point person for science, education and membership/outreach initiatives.
David Ross: Pressing: Will check with Pal about getting workday schedule on Chrome bulletin board. Biennial stakeholder meeting: give some thought to goals and who should attend. Will obtain information about pipelines to share with Hannums. Will follow up with Brandywine Conservancy on Goat Hill – NCP trail. David will keep Dockstader Foundation grant application on the agenda As opportunity arises: Will research parcels between Camp Horseshoe and Goat Hill. Will contact Jim Subach for background on TNC conversations with Hannums over New Texas. David takes responsibility for purusing WCU Geography Club about potential workday help. David follows up with WCU faculty on mapping initiatives. Point person for administrative initiatives. Kent Wagner:
Point person for recreational uses and trail planning initiatives. Henry Whitesel: Biennial stakeholder meeting: give some thought to goals and who should attend. Henry follows up with Patrick Hurley at about Ursinus workday field trip. Will obtain estimate for cost of stone for floor of Goat Hill pole shed. Point person for our conservation/maintenance activities
C) Agenda Items Considered 1. Approved minutes from Board Meeting of 09/21/2014. 2. Approved agenda. 3. Welcomed Chris Hoess to board 4. Acknowledging events since Sept. and Board members that took responsibility: -9/25 - John Lawrence “Senior’s Lunch“ – Oxford – David, Henry. - 10/5 – Ecology Walk – Goat Hill – Anna - 10/21 - Mining Lecture – Mike Bertram - Oxford Historical Society - 10/26 - Annual meeting/membership picnic at NCP (Henry, Anna, David, Chris, Bob) - 11/1 – Mining Hike at NCP – Mike Bertram 5. December board meeting date, time and location.
6. Reviewed Action Items from 09/21/2014 Board Meeting Minutes (not covered elsewhere on agenda).
Bob Gray: Pressing: As opportunity arises: -- (will tackle at end of semester) Will review scanned map files on the CD provided by BoF and identify those that should be stored on Dropbox (estimated time, 1 hour).
Will talk with Marci about finding systematic way for PPFF to share networking opportunities with chapters (so Anna isn’t responsible for bugging Jen).
Anna Hull: Will update poster for fall workdays and distribute. Schedule through 12/12 distributed.
As opportunity arises:
David Ross: Will check with Pal about getting workday schedule on Chrome bulletin board. – in progress
Will research parcels between Camp Horseshoe and Goat Hill. – in progress
Kent Wagner:
Henry Whitesel: Will send out a save the date email for fall picnic to our membership list. -- Done Draft one-line description/purpose statements for our remaining fall workdays. -- Done
7. Monthly reports from board member “Leads” as applicable: i) November 7 Goat Hill workday benefitted from participation by two rangers and use of BoF tree puller Henry shared a photo of carrion flower (smilax) he encountered Henry’s sense is that Joe is looking more actively to pursue prescribed burns. ii) Chris and Rocky Gleason spoke with Kelly Sitch BoF at PA Botonay Symposium BoF is kicking around the idea of creating a connecting corridor through Goat Hill (hooked into the power line access corridor) potentially paid for with revenue from logging pitch and Virginia pine. If this works out – lay out the tentative road site in fall and winter – time for folks to look over the lay of the land – make any corrections summer and fall. Agreed we should reach out to Joe – and discuss time line – before taking to full stakeholder meeting. Important that we bring all the relevant folks together
iii) Henry reports that we’ve gotten three new workday volunteers since our last meeting We are still working on our procedures for working with individuals who propose to do workdays to meet community service opportunities. b. Science (AH) 8. Upcoming events: a. Bi-annual Stakeholders Meeting – January/February, 2015 Molly agreed to be the point person in moving us forward. We’ll propose 9-2 on January 31 as a first target. One question is how to manage the number of folks we might invite and the topics we might discuss. For example, there has been a major uptick in research in the Barrens. Jocelyn wants to present Chris suggested we consider a poster session instead of a series of talks Brainstorming agenda items Each of the Board members should think about who should be there.
b. April 14, 2015, 7 PM – Oxford Hist Soc – Hist Serp Bldgs – Jane Dorchester Bob will request $25 from Marci as support from PPFF. 9. Priorities and Program for 2015 We need to rethink our maintenance/restoration strategy. We are responsible for multiple sites on multiple properties. We can’t afford to go too long between sessions at individual sites or we risk losing the progress made (or indeed, losing the site entirely). Climate conditions limit us to working March-June and September December; weather can easily cancel out 1-2 work sessions a month. But, our schedule of 3-4 workdays a month is not drawing the volunteers we need. Need to consider how to leverage our strengths and cope with our challenges. One Option: Have fewer maintenance days and make them more significant somehow , leveraging equipment and corporate work teams (such as DeLoitte). But, it can be challenging to have a large group of folks working both with hand tools and with power tools. Horseshoe Trail group has had success with this strategy marshaling their membership to different sites. The geography of a long trail has the advantage of having a larger number of “neighbors” – 700 members to potentially to help work on Horseshoe Trail. Option II: focus on raising the funds needed to maintain the barrens by hiring equipment/crews to do the work.
b. Discuss “re-balancing” - Increase emphasis on nature walks, historic / mining walks, plant inventories, monitoring, seed collection, trail work – and fewer - but more significant maintenance workdays – to broaden appeal. Return to this in December c. Seek funding to obtain mechanical equipment to increase maintenance productivity. David will keep Dockstader Foundation grant application on the agenda
10. Collaborative initiatives: Ursinus and WCU special workdays (DR); David takes responsibility for purusing WCU Geography Club about potential workday help. David follows up with WCU faculty on mapping initiatives. Bob coordinates with Temple University 4th year master planning exercise instructor. Henry follows up with Patrick Hurley at about Ursinus workday field trip. 11. Agreements Bob is carrying these items on his to do list for end of semester: Will remind Jay that we are waiting for feedback on draft MOU for shared equipment cost, maintenance expense and permanent storage. Will remind Jay that MOU about shared equipment acquisition cost, maintenance expense and permanent storage is in his lap. Will renew request to Molly and Liz to draft a shared agreement (based on similar agreements we assume exist at other TNC sites) between TNC and BoF granting Friends access. Henry -- Will obtain estimate for cost of stone for floor of Goat Hill pole shed. Tabled to December Meeting
12. Rare barrens species protection –Internal list, Site Tracker spreadsheet and map of probable / known locations (using site observations and PA Heritage Program info access per Rocky Gleason), (BG, AH, MB)
Anna-- For accessing PA Heritage gateway
Postpone to winter break Anna -- Will invite Carol to visit Chrome to see if glade spurge is present in wetter sites Area 8 and 14. Shift this to March or April Board meeting to set something up at end of spring semester. Schedule late spring 2015 search for hairy chickweed at Pilot
Bob Will schedule follow up phone sessions with Henry to update Site Tracker for Goat Hill and New Texas for winter Break. David will place reminder on December agenda. 13. Master Plan: (BG)– Recap Items and establish next steps: Pressed for time, we had a limited conversation here:
a) October 2 meeting with CCPC staff West Nottingham and Elk Townships (and look for openings with East) b) We need to pursue a meeting with Joe and Jay to discuss burn options. From September minutes: c) Goat Hill – NCP Trail David and John Goodall (Brandywine Conservancy) are scheduled to meet again with Kinnaird family on Friday after Thanksgiving. David – Goat Hill Trail
d) Chrome Planning meeting, 10/4, with TNC at Lincoln. Demonstrated that the TNC attributes paradigm could be a useful way of setting restoration and maintenance priorities as well as a basis for long-term planning. As part of his course work at Temple, Bob is drafting aninvasive species management plan for Lower Chrome
14. Admin – Master Plan documents folder; (DR) Tabled 15. Scaling Board roles, responsibilities and activity level to available resources. We all have other commitments. We can only do what we can do. 16. Other business a) Board elections b) Annual Report Put on December agenda c) New Texas Bob will contact Trish Hannum a) to find out if they have been contacted by Williams pipleline representatives and b) to propose a meeting to discuss options. Bob contacted Trish. Hannums have not been contacted; would appreciate hearing more. David will contact Jim Subach for background on TNC conversations with Hannums over New Texas. – on todo list
d) Coordinating with scientists Anna has placed a file with scientist contact information on Dropbox – Parasitic wasps on grasslands Liz and Bob Kroll good on our property
17. Adjourned with thanks to Anna for hosting. |