MINUTES
Open Space Committee February 28, 2007 / 7:00 pm
Eastham Town Hall
Present: Bob Cook, Frank Dobek, Laura Freeman, Henry Lind, Dave Read
Sue Horton, Loretta Nielson
Approval of Meeting Minutes
MOTION: Sue Horton moved and Dave Read seconded to approve the January 31, 2007 meeting minutes.
APPROVED: unanimously.
New Business:
Katelyn Merrill is in the private sector now. We will miss her – she did a great job for us. We wish her well and all the best.
Open Space Management
Henry brought some new trail maps of the parks for us. The trails have been located with GPS and plotted on these maps. Katelyn had brought a large preliminary print of Wiley Park at our last meeting. Discussion ensued with respect to signage, social trails and possible new trails. Another map shows the GPS located trees in the 1651 Forest using the third and hopefully last numbering system of the trees in the arboretum.
Wiley Park Bridge/ Nickerson
A lot of clearing has been done to make way for the bridge. Americorps has been in to help with the clearing for the bridge and also cleared a lot of brush out of Nickerson. We are going to spend the remaining county grant money to do some major chipping and clearing out of the rest of the windfall from last December in Nickerson.
Fire Management Plan
There is a preliminary fire management plan which is a result of a Barnstable County initiative that started 5 or 6 years ago to protect nearby houses in the event of a fire.
Wiley Nickerson and Cottontail were nominated to have a fire management plan. The initial research was done to develop recommendations. Then a draft report was written based on the three sites. Three goals were identified: 1) increase public safety and fire fighter safety 2) reduce the wildfire hazard 3) educate the neighbors how to protect their properties in the event of a wildfire.
The issue of the turpentine beetles was revisited and the fact that the pitch pines are infested with them. Initially there was debate as to whether the trees should be removed to take the beetles off site. It was decided there are so many of them it would not make a difference.
Wiley Park Signage
Loretta said that it would be appropriate and appreciated if the Friends of the Arboretum could be mentioned somewhere in one of the bigger signs. The 1651 will be incorporated into one of the big signs either the History of Wiley Park sign or the Succession sign. Dana continues to work on the signs and has been incorporating suggestions and contributions by Bob Cook and Sue Haley.
Next Meeting: March 28, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.,
Frank Dobek moved to adjourn. Bob Cook seconded. APPROVED: unanimously
Adjournment at 8:15p.m.
Respectfully submitted by,
Laura Freeman
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