Wallingford
Conservation Commission Minutes*
*These are
unofficial Minutes subject to the approval at the next regular meeting.
October 26, 2009
Attendees:
Ralph Nimtz,
Shannon Pytlik
, Peter Upton, David Klock, Kim Blodgett, Tim Chila, Anne Miller, Debbie
Scranton
(1)
Commencement of meeting
7:15pm
(2)
Approval of minutes and
agenda as amended
Old
Business:
(a)
Walking brochure:
Shannon
has more brochures for dissemination. Plastic
brochure holders would help at some locations.
The group was reminded to maintain the supplies at their assigned venues.
(b)
Town Plan:
Tim has not yet heard anything back from the planning commission
regarding inviting Jens Hilke as a speaker/facilitator.
(c)
Website “teaser”:
Keep alert to something we could do on the Home page of the town
website to get people to go the WCC page
(d)
Railroad hut:
Ralph has tried to get in touch with railroad folks in regards to
painting the hut but has had no success. Ralph
will pursue this on his own however, we will remove it from our agenda.
(e)
Strategic Plan:
Kim will bring a flip chart and dots and we will plan on spending time at
the next meeting brainstorming to prioritize our activities
(f)
Library Kiosks:
David took pictures of Kim’s kiosk. David’s vision is to include a
map of the town that shows locations of businesses and other sites of interest
along with a message of welcome. There
is already a kiosk at the library for posting notices so the purpose of this
kiosk is to welcome out-of-towners and provide general town information.
Kim is still trying to purchase one however, we may have to consider
building one or two (Kim’s is a 4’X 4’). David,
Tim, and Kim will follow-up and get back to the Committee.
(g)
Otter Creek Hydro: Nothing
to report. Group decided to defer to
the energy committee.
(h)
Energy Committee:
Tim has approval from the Selectboard for 5 people.
His has tentative interest from Joyce, Ralph, Ed Safford, Ken Welsh, Kim
or Doug. Tim is going to call Burt
to see if he has an interest. He is
planning on hosting the first meeting in November.
(i)
Social Gathering: Kim
offered to host a pot luck at her house. Sunday,
December 6th or the 13th.
We could meet, eat, and go for a hike (we will check the moon cycle).
Kim will get a locker ham and everyone else will bring a potluck dish.
New
Business:
(a)
Pine
Hill
Park
Follow-up:
Tim, Shannon and Steve Pytlik walked the Pine Hill trails on Saturday and
took photos. Ralph and Carol met with Michael at
Pine
Hill
Park
on Sunday. Michael has a lot of experience and made the following suggestions:
Don’t ask for volunteers to show up –you can expect a poor turnout.
Schools are the best and most reliable source of workers.
An eagle scout designed and built tree identification tags.
Don’t advertise until you have the trails ready to go.
Michael is willing to help design trails etc.
Shannon
will email Alan Quackenbush regarding a board walk into the bog (design, need
for permits, etc). If we can find a
short traverse, we might be able to use a less expensive skidder bridge as
opposed to a boardwalk.
(b)
Trails and Greenways:
Shannon
attended a Trails and Greenways conference last Saturday and learned a lot.
The T&G grant is due in January and the Watershed grant is due in
December.
Shannon
has taken the lead on the grant writing. She
has invited Ethan Swift (watershed coordinator) to assess the area for the
appropriateness of a rain garden to minimize erosion into the
Lake
. In addition, VTrans pays for 6 weeks of VYCC work in locations around the
state that provide alternative safe routes. Our bridge and associated trails
would qualify.
(c)
Aerial Photo mapping:
Shannon
has access to ArcView and Steve (Pytlik) has a backpack GPS.
He will walk the proposed trails and create a trails map on ArcView.
Steve and/or the regional planning commission have plotters that can print out
48” maps.
(d)
Pit Committee Joint meeting:
There is a joint meeting on November 11th between the WCC and the Pit
committee. Tim is going to contact
the Recreation Committee and invite them to attend as well.
(e)
AVCC annual meeting:
The annual meeting is on December 4th or 5th.
Tim is thinking about going. Anyone
who plans to attend and wants to carpool should contact Tim.
(f)
Community Composting:
Joyce contacted Tim about beginning a community composting
effort at the transfer station. The
school is already composting their
waste and taking it to a local pig farmer so it may be possible to piggy back on
their efforts (no pun intended). Tim
will investigate what other towns are composting and what the costs and manpower
needs are. Tim, Kim and Shannon will
work on this as a subcommittee and prepare to present it at town meeting for
feedback on local interest and use.
(g)
Button Up:
Nail it down donated “The Complete Home Energy Savings Kit”.
We will give everyone a ticket as they come through the door (
Shannon
will bring the tickets). In
addition, each attendee will receive coupons for 15% off energy products as well
as, a coupon for $150 off an energy audit.
Shannon
got 10 energy videos and will contact the library to see if they will oversee
lending them out to interested folks.
(h)
Content for December
Newsletter: Kim sent off the 10 energy suggestions for the October
newsletter. Due November 20th : Ten things you can do to reduce,
reuse, recycle during the Christmas Season.
Tim and Kim will research and write.
·
LED lights
·
Use newspaper for wrapping
·
Insulate your chimney
·
Buy local presents
·
Take your tree to be mulched
(i)
Possible winter
presentations:
(1) January/February: Moonlit
walk on New Year’s night, January 30th (Sunday), or Sunday, February 28th.
Tom French has offered his camp. We
could also show some movies once the new screen and projector arrive.
(2) Thank you cards for speakers:
We owe thank you cards to Bob Murphy (Efficiency Vermont), Anna Talley,
and Tim
(composting and worms), and Ryan Smith (bats).
Debbie will write the cards.
(j)
Next meeting: November
11th with the Pit committee and the Recreation Committee.
The November meeting will be on Monday the 23rd.
Respectfully submitted,
Kim Blodgett |