HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-09-03 Town Forest Committee Minutes Town of Reading
Meeting Minutes
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Board - committee - commission - council:
12: 35
Town Forest Committee
Date: 2019-09-03 Time: 7 PM
Building: Location: Berger Room
Address:
Purpose: Town Forest Management Session:
Attendees: Members - Present:
Farrukh Najmi, William Sullivan, Kurt Habel, Dan Ford, Thomas Gardiner,
Nancy Docktor, Michael Bourque
Members- Not Present:
Rick Wetzler
Others Present:
Jane Kinsella
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Farrukh Naimi
Topics of Discussion:
• Discussion of Town Forest pilot thinning project including preparation for bid
package
o Forrester Phil Benjamin unable to attend
o The critical path is getting a draft Bid document from Phil
o There is enough funds to get through the bidding process
o Kurt shared draft application he has prepared for Community Forest
Stewardship Implementation grant. This is a 75/25 matching grant.
Grant amounts cover up to 75% of project cost within range of$1000-
20,000.
• Discussion of Town Forest Conference 2020 (September 28, 2020)
o Ideas for this community event included education about Town Forest
and invasive species, group activity to remove invasive Buckthorn from
forest, food vendors
o Kurt has started an email list for Forest Volunteers to coordinate
Buckthorn removal and replacement with native species
o Question whether Boy Scouts require formal training for use of certain
tools
o Best way to get rid of Buckthorn is to use a burn pit. May need fire
department oversight
o Discussion about start a "Friends of Reading Town Forest" Facebook
group to have community participation for the education campaign.
• Review and approval of previous meeting minutes
o Minutes from August 5, 2019 approved unanimously
• Next Meeting: October 1, 2019
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