New Town Forest Planning Committee

MINUTES of November 20, 2008

Opening

The meeting of the New Town Forest Planning Committee was called to order at 7:30pm on November 20, 2008 in the Town Hall by Kristen Sharpless.

Attendees

Stewart Pierson, Susan Mead, Kristen Sharpless (chair), Lenore Budd, Jean Isham

Absent

Paul Wieczoreck, Matthew Probasco, Andrea Morgante

Trail Access and Maintenance

Stewart and Lenore noted that some logs at trail head have been moved. Members agreed that we may need to put more logs down to block access to the road for motor vehicles and take them up when field is mowed next season. We decided to ask Mike Snyder to drop one or two more trees and put in a notch for skiers. Andrea will type up an existing activity plan saying that we will keep existing trails open.

Annual report

Susan agreed to write a summary of our mission and short report on our work thus far.

Record Article

Stewart will write Record article for January publication covering the public forum including that a name will be brought up at town meeting and that the public is encouraged to use the trails for skiing and foot travel this winter.

Notes on Forum

Members further reviewed Susan’s notes from the forum. It was agreed that recreational uses will be the most contentious area and that our committee should seek targeted feedback from representatives from different user groups in town. The forum provided some useful glimpses into people’s interests and concerns, as well as potential conflicts.

Next Steps on Drafting the Management Plan

Members decided that we should attempt to draft management objectives, guidelines and recommended actions for each of our identified goals for the Town Forest. Kristen and Mike Snyder will work on a forest and wildlife section with input from F&W staff. Lenore and Stewart will draft a recreation section. We will ask Matthew and Andrea if they would draft a water section. Kristen presented a draft education section as a potential template. The group agreed to adjourn for holidays and meet again after the New Year to begin review of these draft sections.

Next Meeting

January 22, 2009

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted by Susan Mead