HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-02-04 Town Forest Committee Minutes Town of Reading
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Town Forest Committee
Date: 2020-02-04 Time: 7 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Lower Level Conference Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street
Purpose: Town Forest Management Session:
Attendees: Members - Present:
Farrukh Najmi, William Sullivan, Thomas Gardiner, Nancy Docktor, Kurt
Habel, Dan Ford
Members - Not Present:
Rick Wetzler, Michael Bourque
Others Present:
Mike Rogers DCR, Laura Dooley DCR Forester, Mary Ann Higgins Chair
Garden Club, Jane Kinsella
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Farrukh Najmi
Topics of Discussion:
• Review status of status of thinning project
I The small amount of gravel on causeway was very helpful
o A few people walked into work area despite abundance of signs
o Use of scarification a machine is beneficial to White Pine regeneration
o Rutting of the trail will get evened out over the course of a year
o Planting native species under a proposed Eagle Scout project would be great.
Try and find a nursery within 300 miles of Reading. New Hampshire state
nursery is great place for bare root seedlings
o Oak seedlings will need to be protected from Deer in plastic tubes
o Any oaks, any maples, fig nuts, shag bark hickory, chestnuts are good. The
Scout should run species list by Conservation Commission for plantings in the
100' wetland buffer zone.
o Scattering seeds is great way to regenerate. People collecting acorns should
do a float test and discard the floaters and only keep and plant the sinkers.
Red oak requires a year to germinate while white oak takes off right away.
Red oaks last 150 years White oaks last 1200 years.
, Discussion 90th anniversary celebration of Reading Town Forest:
o Date: Saturday 9/26/2020
o DCR representatives will attend
o There should be a family / kid friendly track. Spread these events out
throughout the day
• Scavenger hunt for leaves where kids walk through forest and find a
leaf that matches one they are given
• Laura mentioned an Owl expert in Dunstable
• bird walk, couple of woods walk
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• building Bat boxes, DCR has tree cookies to give away
https://Idahoforests.org/content-item/tree-cookies/
• buckthorn removal and burning
o Possibly a second track for professionals / adults
o Potential speakers
• gcfm.org is a group that we could provide a master gardener as a
speaker
• Mass horticultural society https://masshort.org/ may also be a goad
source of speakers
• Doug (unknown last name) is a bee keeper gives talks on urban bee
keeping for me
• Russ Cohen, Edible Plants guy may be good to have
http://usem.rcn.com/eatwild/blo.htm
o Communicate any need for financial or logistical support to DCR well in
advance
o West Springfield Town Forest Conference is on April 19, 2020. Towns have
been cooperating to pool conservation areas and trade them for Carbon
Credits. About 5000 acres is minimum viable area
I Event Theme: The Buckthorn stops here
• Review of grant application forthinning project
o DCR does not provide funds after project is complete. In future we should apply a
2-3 months before the project
• Review and approval of previous meeting minutes
o Not reviewed due to lack of time
• Next Meeting: Will be March 10, 2020
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