Joint Meeting: Forest Advisory Committee
& Friends of the Eastham 1651 Arboretum
Minutes
April 28, 2016
FAC Members present: Steve Gulrich, Chair, Debbie Abbott, Henry Lind, Mike Harnett, Steve LaBranche
1651 Friends present: Debbie Abbott, president; Al Sette, Peter Lancellotti, Steve Gulrich, Bob McLuckie, Mike Guzowski
Staff present: Mike O’Connor, Senior officer, Natural Resources Dept.
Meeting called to order: 4:00 p.m.
Introduction of Ms. Amy Hackworth, Search committee Liaison to FAC. Ms. Hackworth gave an overview of the search committee function and informed us that she will be posting material seeking new volunteers
1651 treasurer’ s report delivered by Mr. Gulrich. $6,147.73 in account. Report unanimously approved with no changes.
1651 clerk’s minutes of Dec. 15, 2015 joint meeting delivered by Debbie Abbott. Unanimously approved. No changes.
1651 Friends Report Ms. Abbott noted that the Eastham Public Library has a One Book/One Town series and this year’s selection is Douglas Tallamy’s book “Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife With Native Plants”. The library has extra copies of the book. In addition on Saturday Sept. 17 & 24, a nature walk through wetlands bordering out glacial ponds, as well as upland forests & fields will be conducted by ecologists Bob Cook & Steve Smith. Steve Gulrich stated that he will begin to put together items for the spring newsletter, due in June, and that the friends will need to coordinate tasks to complete the project
FAC Report At the last meeting it was noted that several species (elm, holly, mockernut hickory, red cedar) were struggling and that Mr. Henry Lind had conducted several soil analysis tests showed that the soil was deficient and methods of watering were discussed. As a follow up, Mr. Lind reached out to the Barnstable County Cooperative Extension and to seek advice and on April 26, 2016 Steve Gulrich, Debbie Abbott, Al Sette and Henry Lind met with Mr. Russ Norton from the Barnstable County Cooperative Extension in Wiley Park and walked through the park to assess plantings, soil etc. Mr. Lind gave a preliminary report of the walk and advised us that Mr. Norton suggested that the struggling species might not be the most suitable for the project. A mature 1651 forest with its large organic soil
component may have contained those species but today’s soil profile consisting largely of sand with a minimal ½” organic layer will not. Watering the struggling species over time is not cost effective. Mr. Norton offered to provide a map of the soils in the area as a first step towards planning the appropriate species mix. He stated that the plantings should be able to survive on their own after a year. The survival rate of New plantings may be helped by using a slowly leaching water bag, TreeGator, gel water material around the roots or driwater during the first year. It was noted that the pitch pines are very healthy. (A copy of Mr. Linds preliminary report is attached).
A discussion followed regarding the healthy growth of the cat/bull briar understory in the low ground/beach area and the best way to prune it back. It was decided that cutting the stems in small pieces 8-10” and leaving them behind is the preferred method. Small pieces will break down sooner than longer pieces and will not become trip hazards to people enjoying the park. We could look into some selective pruning of dead wood on the elms and holly. Two possible avenues to look into for pruning work projects are either organizing a work party using FAC and friends members or using AmeriCorps project members No plans were set or discussed to actually begin pruning at this time
Forest Planting Map: Mr. Lind informed us the Paul Lagg; the town planner suggested we use a cloud database system to maintain records of planting locations, age, health, and soil conditions, GPS etc. within the park. It would be easy to add/delete fields as our needs change and registered users could access the database from almost anywhere. We could begin by incorporating the existing information we already have, add the 2014 & 2015 plantings and identify the low lying areas with GPS for possible future work. The park could be surveyed to fill in areas where information is lacking.
Nest Meeting: July 13, 2016, 7:00
Meeting Adjourned: 5:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Harnett, acting clerk
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