New Town Forest Planning Committee

MINUTES of June 10, 2008

Opening

The meeting of the New Town Forest Planning Committee was called to order at 7:30 pm on June 10, 2008 in the Town Hall by Paul Wieczoreck.

Present

Lenore Budd, Susan Mead, Andrea Morgante, Stewart Pierson, Matt Probasco, Kristen Sharpless, Paul Wieczoreck

Absent

Jean Isham

Guest

Mike Snyder

Vision

Kristen presented a draft vision statement. Following is a list of comments offered in the discussion of the vision statement. Kristen agreed to revise the draft to incorporate.

The project brings an ecosystem perspective to our conservation activities and gives us a snapshot of the bigger picture of our local ecosystem. The project underscores the diversity of our ecosystem even within Hinesburg. This, in turn, provides us with the opportunity to learn more about managing and living on the land in our area. There can be a strong research element in managing this land in addition to its recreation value.

There are different ecosystem values between the new town forest and the other town forest highlighting the roles of each.

The project is near the village and the schools making it accessible to the broad community.

The connectivity to other tracts of conserved land means a reduction in fragmentation.

We want to allow systems to regain their natural processes. We are observers, not active managers, of some of these processes and active managers of other processes such as the river restoration. In any case, we want to focus on monitoring these processes so that we can improve our efforts to be good stewards of the land.

The focus on improving water quality is important since having clean drinking water may be an issue in the future.

This project bucks the trend of converting land from its natural state. We are converting it from farm to forest.

The land is a rich example of the town’s natural history because it is one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the town. It captures the “natural heritage” of the town that could have been lost. The land provides an opportunity to be within a preserved ecosystem that is unique – a Sistine Chapel of the natural world.

Harvesting of timber will be within the bounds of good silvicultural practice as opposed to commercial harvesting.

Mission Statement

We agreed that we needed a short mission statement that encapsulates what we believe are the most important criteria for managing this land. Matthew agreed to do a first draft.

Following are our collective comments:

The highest value is to learn from the land. We should always be asking: “what are we going to learn from this?”

Monitoring management is key to learning and improving.

Having this land available to us provides a spiritual view – a view of the interconnectedness of all things.

Preserving this land allows ecosystems to function naturally, and underlying this natural functioning is the presumption that “keeping the balance” is critical for many species including ourselves.

The land provides a range of recreational opportunities.

To-do List

We agreed we needed to do a more detailed to-do list.

Structure

We agreed we needed to formalize our structure. Susan is willing to continue as secretary/organizer. We will discuss who might be willing to Chair.

Name

We agreed that the working name of the land will be the Bissonette Town Forest or BTF.

Next Meeting

June 24 at 7:30 in the Town Hall 3^rd floor meeting room

The meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted by Susan Mead