Open Space Committee
March 26, 2008
Eastham Town Hall
7:00 PM
MINUTES
Members present: Sue Haley, Frank Dobek, Bob Cook, Glenn Collins
Prospective member present: Steve Gulrich
Members absent: Sue Horton, Dave Read
Staff present: Rachel Hutchinson
Meeting was brought to order at 7:05 pm. Mr. Dobek made a motion to accept the minutes from February 27th. Mr. Cook seconded. All approved.
The Committee is still in need of a Vice Chair to fill in behind the Chair when necessary.
All waysides at Wiley Park have been installed and the Herring Run sign was moved to a better location.
There is $1500 left over from a grant to be used to continue the signage improvement project at all 5 town conservation properties. The Committee will pick up where we left off with the review of smaller plant label signs, at the next meeting. Before that meeting, members will review the sample plant label signs that had been drafted by last year’s Americorp volunteer. The larger entry signs will also be improved under this grant. The South Upper Boat Meadow and Smith Lane signs appear to be in good shape. All others might need to be replaced. Ms. Haley suggested that we should try to create some uniformity to the signs and to ensure that they should have a professional appearance, if possible.
Work on the Fire Management Plan moved ahead. The burning of brush piles took place under the leadership of Dave Crary and the Cape Cod National Seashore fire crew, with assistance from Eastham Natural Resources Department. They hope to get into Nickerson for one more day of burning. Much debris was also moved out of Nickerson.
The State claims it never received the Open Space and Recreation Plan, so Mr. Lind will resend it to them.
A parcel of land on Dyer Prince Rd. abutting the Rock Harbor area is being considered as an Open Space purchase. There is another parcel there that is also available. The email from the land owner will be forwarded to Mr. Lind and the Town Administrator.
Mr. Collins informed the Committee that the bridge project is nearly complete, however, he also informed us of an incident there where the bobcat driver accessed the bridge via a trail through the Nickerson property. This was a prohibited activity and should not have happened, but did due to a possible break down in communication. The incident is under investigation.
David Hoerle, a Conservation Committee member, addressed the Committee to provide an opinion, based on his expertise in landscaping and experience operating a bobcat, in support of action to take place as soon as possible, to re-grade and clean up the path to mitigate some of the damage done by the bobcat operator to the trail. It was noted that it is important to get ahead of the growing season in order to allow for the best chance of restoration and least disturbance in the future. Ms. Haley made a motion to draft a letter, from the Committee to Henry Lind at the Natural Resource Department with a copy sent to the Board of Selectmen, in favor of moving ahead with the mitigation of the damage done in Nickerson. Mr. Cook seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion also stated
that there was a benefit to moving quickly for natural regeneration, due to potential safety hazards, and to take advantage having a bobcat on site.
We looked quickly at the internal flow chart for managing open space and decided that we needed to discuss when there was more time. We will pick it up at the next meeting.
Ms. Haley made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Dobek seconded and the meeting was adjourned.
Next meeting is scheduled for April 23rd at 7 pm.
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