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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-01-12 Trails Committee MinutesReading Trails Committee Minutes: Joan Hoyt January 12, 2010 Attendance: Members Others: The meeting came to order at 7:00 p.m. The Minutes of the June 24, 2008 (yes 2008) meeting were approved as amended. Joan will look into what other Minutes are outstanding for 2009. ROLT (Reading Open Land Trust) w Q p cn N 'o :rmm cr> Pat Lloyd and Joe Cloonan representing ROLT (Reading Open Land Trust) attended the meeting. They were there to discuss the possibility of adding some of the ROLT trails to the list of Adopt-a-Trail (AaT) trails which need adopting. The AaT program was described briefly to Pat and Joe and they were directed to the AaT booklet to become more familiar with it. Fran mentioned the new town wide permit that she has been working on with respect to trail maintenance and trail work in the future. Discussion - What trails are available for adoption? What adopters still need a trail to adopt? The Trails Committee should keep a running list of trail projects and areas that need work. Nichols Wood Lot: The possibility of creating a new trail connecting Nichols Wood Lot to Kurchian Woods was discussed. Boyd Lot: Currie Bird Sanctuary: Current access to the parcel for ROLT members is by an "implied easement" over the property of an Evergreen Road resident. The parcel was donated to ROLT by a previous property owner. The plan is to connect this parcel of land to Kylie Drive by a trail which needs to be developed. Swamp Island: Discussed a possible clean-up of the trash from the former dump that has been dragged or blown there. Fran mentioned concern about how wet it is there and how tick infested the area is. No plans were made for a clean-up. Tom Gardiner (Chair), Dave Williams, Alan Rosh, Joan Hoyt Fran Fink, Kim Honetschlager Patricia Lloyd (ROLT Clerk) Joe Cloonan (ROLT President) r%J Reading Trails Committee - Annual Report Does the Town require the RTC to submit an Annual Report? Tom Gardiner will call Paula Schena and find out. If it is required we will put one together based on the recent presentation to the Board of Selectmen and submit that as our Annual Report . Adopt-a-Trail Program (AaT) The program needs a boost and some regrouping. It was discussed that we could begin by sending an e-mail message to the adopters. Alan will be drafting the e-mail for our review so that everyone gets the same message across. Once it is complete we, as Ambassadors will send it to the adopters of our assigned trail areas. We then will follow up with Fran with the feedback in order to update the Master List. By doing this the Master List can be updated with new contact information, trails that either continue to be adopted and those that need to be taken over by a new adopter, as well as, trails that need help from the Trails Committee etc. It would be advantageous if the Ambassadors could meet with adopters in their trail areas a few times each year. Signage We discussed the many types of signs and blazes that are available and that we've each seen at other places and what might be appropriate for Reading trails. Fran suggested using aluminum nails for a few reasons. They should not be nailed into a tree completely but nailed partially in. If someone is cutting a tree, an aluminum nail would be less dangerous if a chainsaw blade were to come in contact with it. RTC Site Visit - Saturday January 30, 2010 Meet at Ward Reservation at 10:15 a.m. Proceed to Goldsmith Reservation Proceed to Bare Meadow Fran suggested the committee do a site visit to Ward Reservation to see what the Trustees of Reservations uses for signs of the property. We will also stop at Goldsmith Reservation in Andover to see the kiosk that was built and is maintained by the Andover Village Improvement Society. Dave suggested the committee do a site visit to Bare Meadow and begin talking and planning signs, blazing and posting maps. For directions to Ward Reservation, Andover/North Andover go to: http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/list-reservations/ Future Work Day - Department of Conservation and Recreation - Recreational Trails Grant - Bare Meadow Trail Enhancement A future work day at the Haverhill Street boardwalk was discussed and the logistics of getting the piers and materials into the trail in preparation for the workday. A work date will be discussed at future meetings as weather and ground conditions will dictate the planning of this. The project will be broken up into two phases a pilot or practice project (using the 10 piers that we have on hand) and possibly a National Trails Day (June 5, 2010) project will complete the rest of it. Next Meeting - Monday February 8, 2010 - 7:00 p.m. Adjourned at 9:15 p.m.