[MassChestnutOrchards] FW: matacf minutes aug. 2009

Fri Aug 21 10:09:15 EDT 2009

Hi All –

I read through the mins and looks like there were a few questions for me.  I plan to make the Oct 3rd meeting, but will try to respond briefly here.  

Selections and Rogueing –

Selections are made in a couple steps.  A first round of canker ratings in the fall after inoculation should identify about ½ the trees that don’t have the resistance we are looking for.  These can be rogued out, and now that I’m better trained on selections I should be able to get that data to you more quickly.  Then the following summer (ideally before trees flower) we rate cankers again.  Of those that rate the best for resistance, we then look at morphological traits and choose the most resistant and American-looking trees in each line.  We will probably keep the best two or three trees from a line in the orchard and let them cross.  Everything else will get rogued at this point.  My understanding is that after the first year or so canker expansion is more closely tied to environment than genetic resistance, so we want to get these ratings done in the first full year and then trust the data.  My one concern for how this will play out in the MA orchards is that it seems there are lines duplicated in more than one location.  This will make things a little trickier, but I’ll work with Fred and Sara to come up with a good approach.

Data –

Yvonne and John – please send me your pollination data.  I attached the form I use, so please fill it in while the details are fairly fresh and send it my way.  I should have the tree codes, so don’t worry if you don’t have that, but pollen used and all the bagging and pollination info would be great.

And yes, we need to get all the orchard data into the “standard” format.  I’m happy to help folks with this, and have been plugging away at some of it myself.  We can talk more about this is October, but I would be thrilled to see more updated data, especially for the orchards.  (Wow – that makes me sound really boring!)

Orchard Maintenance –

I’m always happy to help organize orchard work days.  You just need to let me know if you need help that a work crew would be good for, and we can organize something.  August and September are the best times for general maintenance, as I’m usually pretty flat-out from planting through pollinating.  But please feel free to ask anytime.   I think there was a suggestion for an intern next summer, and realistically if there is a lot of maintenance and upkeep that needs to be done around the state, this would be a good plan.  

Annual Meeting –

I have the 15th on the calendar and plan to be there.  Let me know if there is anything I can help with or you would like me to present.  I visited the SKLT orchard while I was at ISA last month (great job with the Arbor Fair!) and tentatively planned with Rudi Hempe to give a talk to the local groups involved with that orchard sometime in November.  Please keep me posted as the plans for the Annual Meeting firm up, as I would like to plan with Rudi around this date.  

Best to all –

Kendra

Kendra Gurney
The American Chestnut Foundation®

New England Regional Science Coordinator
USFS Northern Research Station
705 Spear Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
Tel: 802.951.6771 x1350 Fax: 802.951.6368

Cell: 802.999.8706
 <mailto:Kendra at acf.org> Kendra at acf.org or kgurney at uvm.edu

From: masschestnutorchards-bounces at masschestnut.org [mailto:masschestnutorchards-bounces at masschestnut.org] On Behalf Of Yvonne Federowicz
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 6:00 PM
To: masschestnutorchards at masschestnut.org
Subject: [MassChestnutOrchards] FW: matacf minutes aug. 2009

****************************************************************************************************
*
*    MATACF Morning Growers Meeting  8/2/2009  Brian Clark's Farmhouse, Ashfield, MA
*
****************************************************************************************************

Present:  Rufin Van Bossuyt, Charlotte Zampini, Mike Novack, Brian Clark, Rich Hoffman, Bruce Spencer, Jaime Donalds, John Emery, Brad Smith, Mike Meixsell, Guy Shephard, Lois & Denis Melican
Ruth Anderson, Mr. Anderson

F1s  are doing well in various place
Some have gone to SKLT, Glocester, Yvonne's yard temporarily

Controls went to SK.  Rufin planted short Nanking line at Dartmouth.
Dartmouth is having trouble
Riverbend may have gravel underneath, having trouble in areas
Exeter line went there.
Doing well, dug holes.

Westerly still needs seedlings planted

Pollinations: 
YF did Exeter & E Greenwich Nanking, Exeter & Glocester -Clapper
John Emery did several also

Brain Clark did a great job on the large Conway tree

There is still an issue on how we can get the nuts ˆ Board meeting issue on money expenditures

Charlotte has agrifos/Pentrabark mix.  Mix it just before use, wet bark completely.  Becomes systemic.

Inoculations done in June ˆ did 200-250 trees ˆ had two four-person crews, that part worked well.  Was a big job though.
Pre-chosen trees ˆ that was important.  (flagging) with labels
Borer & marker, inoculator, taper, and recorder
Put two sets of holes in a few trees.  That would make for a bigger task though.
We moved fast, was fairly tiring.

Rufin:  early Medway ones are gettings much larger.  All the moisture has enabled many to put on 2-4 feet of growth, with no fertilizer.

We would like more feedback from Kendra  about what we are judging on before we rogue things out.

John Emery:  EP inoculation sites are about 10% smaller than the other...  Could have been condition of the inoculant.  Diameter of colony shouldn't matter.

They do a snapshot approach on judging inoculation sites.

Jamie & Charlotte:  Orchard reports needed by September 15th.  Easier in the autumn to measure. 
National would like the data for the annual meeting but Charlotte needs to compile them.

We aren't all in National's standardized format yet...

Stirling has no orchard manager at the moment.  Two people is better.

All F1s distributed this year were Upton x Fitzburg ˆ KJ1.

Under 10 feet ˆ measure height
Over 10 feet ˆ estimate and caliper

SK/MG orchard doing well
Glocester needs its pump ordered

Westerly ˆ additional irrigation equipment delivered yesterday
Brian Pistolese ˆ 1991 TACF

Might need calcium ˆ Mike N.
Soil test very important
Yvonne will ask the Master Gardeners
Scrubby white oaks there are also fairly short

Rufin:  orchard maintenance
lots of effort has gone into pollinating and planting
difficult when people have moved

Conway and Stirling were left without managers for a while
Lancaster also
Stockbridge
Craig Moffit has back problems

Lots goes into pollinating and getting orchard established
Mike M. isn't that a function of orchard location?

Roving crew could help

Can we get Kendra involved with the roving orchard maintenance?

CT, VT, NH have been utilizing Kendra's time a lot

Getting crews out to do maintenance is harder

Making sure that each orchard has a monitor/manager
A lot of the work doesn't take much time

Can Kendra help organize a work day?  Bring out food etc.
An intern next year could be good.

Next year pollinations:
One for John Emery's in Nankin
Possibly another for SK?

Others?

May do one or two more if we have good partners
Yvonne: suggested that new orchards be vetted partly on their availability of people to help rather than just land.

Jamie:  we need people to look at what we have, it's difficult

Letting people know when you have help important

Can we assign Stockbridge to Kendra? Jamie will talk to Kendra about Stockbridge

Kathy: Vincent Hebert Arboretum interested ˆ lots of foresters available but need to know what to do

Organic mulches for Stockbridge
Yvonne will get name of organic fertilizer she used on blueberries

Mike N.: our „development‰ is different from many nonprofits ˆ it's person -time

Trustees of Reservations contact ˆ can they adopt an orchard?

Lois:  We should make a simple document to organize all the summer tasks and share it

Next summer is lots of inoculations: Elder Hostel?  Earthwatch?

Charlotte and Lois will work on the Earthwatch.
Trustees of Reservations ˆ how can we move that along? Guy is involved in his local TR group.
We haven't heard back from the Mount Gracie person.
Anne Myers had contacted TR but nothing developed ˆ they are active inareas slightly different from us.

Guy will try to make some contacts and get back to Jamie.

Deer repellants tbd.

Seed Orchard
DCR has been pro-seed orchard ˆ Lois and Denis.
A MOU is underway but still in the works
This is about the large seed orchard at Moore State Park.
They would send us a MOU
Denis: chestnut chocolate ice cream was made... it went over very well with the DCR personnel
Ben & Jerry's should have a chestnut ice cream flavor...
Denis has promised us all some at our annual meeting...

Mt.Gracie might be willing to do an easement for a long-term seed orchard
also Mike Novack has volunteered land
Charlotte: excellent fields near Wachusett Reservoir
Large open fields
DCR land also

Existing orchards can be reused as a single „block‰ for seed orchards

Seed orchard maintenance will be different
Once selected, they just get to grow
Initially will be very close together

Need water access or truck
Water buffalo not big enough for DCR spot?

There is a well in the field nearby

Mike Novack's area has plenty of water available ˆ stream that never dries, several springs

Need soil testing done on area ˆ Bruce Spencer
soil structure too

Lois and Denis will get a comprehensive soil test done

John Emery:  should we plow/treat in advance?

John Meiklejohn did plowing and it helped a lot

Next year we could be doing crosses for the seed orchard, then plant in 2011
Do some test plantings, soil testings, irrigation, etc. next spring -

****************************************************************************************************
*
*      Afternoon Board Meeting   1:25pm Brian Clark's Farmhouse, Ashfield, MA
*
****************************************************************************************************

Board Members Present: Jamie Donalds, John Emery, Brad Smith,  Mike Meixsell, Guy Shepard, Lois Melican, Denis Melican, Kathy Desjardin, Yvonne Federowicz, Rufin Van Bossuyt, Charlotte Zampini, Mike Novak, Rich Hoffman, Brian Clark, John Mirick

Guests present: Ruth Anderson, David Anderson, Barbara Clark Graves, Susan Clark, Penny Novack, Phil Ewnip(sp?) curator of birds and mammals at San Diego Natural History Museum, Nelson Cawkins an original MATACF charter member, Bruce Cawkins his son, Judy Hoffman

Brian Clark says farm has been in family since grandfather bought it in 1886
 Original farmhouse was up the hill
In the 1920s they added a second floor
Was dairy and apples, now just apples

Chestnut orchard is up road,Hawley orchard is on another piece of their land.  They have about 70 acres of apple trees -
Tens of thousands of trees

Trees have gone in over several decades
Apples are the commercial crop.  Whole Foods and Trader Joe's main markets.
They use IPM

* Treasurer's Update Mike

No funds restricted right now

Normally this time of year we'd be negative ˆ shows that we haven't spent as much on orchard supplies this year.

Rich Hoffman: he never gets notified if his donations to our chapter thru National actually get to us.  Mike N. does get that.  No one has asked him to verify that independently that we have the money in the accountˆ he will. Organizations should periodically verify this by more than just Mike.

* Jamie:  we will ask Mike N. to bring in a bank statement to verify. 

Also members can send Mike note via email and he can verify that we received the donation directly to chapter

*****************************************************************************
*  Motion: approve Treasurer's Report: Mike M., seconded Brad.  approved unanimously.
*****************************************************************************

* Secretary’s Report:
Kathy: Membership is 337 members.  Contacts: reports of possible mother trees, forwards to Charlotte and Rufin.

At the ISA Fair we had a “Learning Box” from National, it was very nice

Kathy renewed our mailing permit.

*****************************************************************************
* Motion to Approve minutes from last time ˆ Brad, seconded Jamie.  Approved unanimously.
*****************************************************************************

Our membership is down slightly.  It fluctuates a bit.  Economy is bad.

Kathy receDonations over $250 in a year require a special letter from the donee.  kathy will ask National how this works.  We need at least 1/3 of our support to come from the general public.

Executive Committee ˆ how does this work?

Jamie ˆ usually officers plus one at large.

Jamie will use the Committee:Mike Novack suggests $1000 as the limit.

Executive Committee is 4 officers plus past presidents.

*****************************************************************************
* Motion: A phone bridge will be usable for Executive Committee Votes; 
* expenditures will not exceed $1000.
*****************************************************************************

Board of Directors should be notified when we decide to spend any money this way by the next Quarterly Board Meeting via Email and then a report at the meeting.
 Mike Novack. seconded by Rufin. Approved unanimously

Tower Hill event:  25 year anniversary honoring John ?.  Brad: let's give a plaque from Guy with an inscription

NC Newsletter has an article about a scientist who worked with Dr. Graves, in Berkshires.

Jamie and Brad will work on covering the Tower Hill event.

The ongoing saga of the weedwhacker...

Guy will donate a good steel weedwhacker to the chapter.

Everyone thanked Guy.

Chapter reimbursement for Jamie's travel. 

*****************************************************************************
* Motion: cover Jamie's autumn meeting National TACF travel not to exceed $400.  Guy.  
* Seconded: John Mirick. Approved unanimously
*****************************************************************************

We should plan for this to be in the budget and not approve it on a case-by-case basis ˆ John Mirick.

Mike N. - we will be getting into a period of significant fluctuation.
John M. - usually in nonprofits budget is approved in advance, Executive Committee can then go ahead and spend it as long as it does not exceed  this.

Annual Meeting ˆ Location and Speaker

Asian Longhorn Beetle? Guy volunteered to find us a speaker.  Rufin:  oaks and beech are not preferred ALB hosts.
Federal people have mentioned chestnut but they could be meaning horse chestnut.

New National CEO could come ˆ Rufin? Perhaps next year after he settles in more
Lois ˆ Collin Novick is a very good ALB person from near Worcester. He is very interested in chestnut.
National Grid facility in Worcester a possibility. Guy will look into the spot.  Brad ˆ we could also connect with other beetle groups.  Clint Neal also is with USDA ˆ came to speak on ALB. 

Newcomer sessions at Annual Meeting ˆ how elaborate should it be?
The Learning Box works well for that.

Brad wouldn't mind making up an introductory slide show and bring people up to speed quickly, early on.

15 minutes before the meeting starts, Brad will hold this.  Opportunity for questions.
Also a section: where we need help.

*****************************************************************************
* Annual Meeting Date:  Tentative is November 15th if this works for the venue.
*****************************************************************************

Kendra:  not present.

Rhode Island: SKLT: John Mirick to get them a modified Germplasm agreement?  Yvonne has the basic one.

Westerly needs assistance (see morning minutes)
Has new orchard manager, Brian Pistolese.  Will be getting soil tests, etc.
Seed Orchard Development
John Mirick & John Meiklejohn.  Very difficult to bind municipalities.  Private land can be difficult to obtain 30-year commitment on.  MOUs get something into municipalities but still can't bind the public.
Easement agreements for existing orchards.
Deeded easement vs. deed.  Landowners might want a charitable donation and deed property over.  They would get fair market value deduction.  Deeded easement gives lower tax deduction,. (John Mirick)

Would want access to water and a few other similar things.  Particular situations would differ. 
John Mirick: at end of 30 years, what do we want with the trees and land?  Logs?
Land donations: we might be stuck with taxes to pay
John Mirick:  getting a financial aid to people donating use of lands is good

In a perfect world, what would we want from landowners?

What is the minimum we can accept?

*********************************************************************************************************
Everyone:  email John Mirick & Meiklejohn answers to those questions. They will put together a report for the next meeting.
*********************************************************************************************************
Lois & Denis will forward anything from DCR to Jamie.

An electrician friend of D&L have put in solar-powered deer fencing.
Brian: solar fencing has been very reliable for them, more so than regular
Leo Miller ˆ Friend of Melicans

Rufin: Norcross Foundation has donated to the CT chapter, perhaps we can get something from them as well

Mike N: materials need to last 30 years
Jamie: try to get donations

Trustees of Reservations
Rufin:  Trustees were interested in having a seed orchard in Munson but smallish, better for demo orchard.  however they do have a field that is overgrown, needs work on invasives. Not sure about irrigation.

Mike N.: Demonstration orchards vs. 4-blocks sizes ˆ less than 100 by 100 feet ˆ can be put in.

Rufin will look into site again ˆ would need to be investigated for next summer.  Josh from Trustees of Reservations

Charlotte ˆ orchard report
John Emery and Yvonne did pollinations
We will have several inoculations to do next summer

„Trees in the Urban Landscape‰ - Lois ˆ would like Chestnut Foundation to do presentation ˆ Elm tree is part of it, can chestnuts be part of this?

That is 2 days before our annual meeting.

Who can take the day off work...
Lois will find out the time.

ISA (International Society ... Arboriculture) Meeting: 

We put together a table with display, talked to many people. Rufin, Kathy, Yvonne, Guy  - canopy, Learning Box from National helped quite a bit.  Lots of spontaneous conversations. Tree Climbing competitions.  Tour de Trees
Different groups donated a great deal of money for research and scholarships.

Hazelnuts also will have to be crossbred to make resistant European hazelnuts to an American disease.  Rutgers and Oregon State have a breeding program. 

Spring National Board Meeting:  proposal to have regional representative on Board instead of States.  Possibility of valid points with „greenness‰ of some Presidents going in.  Jamie wanted continued Chapter representation but not necessarily Presidents.

Mike N.:  might be best to let Chapters decide.  Might want President or might want other. 

Some people thought Board was too large and too green.  Some Chapters elect a President for one year. 
Susan Cormier had suggested that President can appoint someone to represent chapter to National meeting. 

ISA has 37 chapters.  Each chapter elects a President and a delegate to National. 

Rufin:  make terms at least three years on National representation

Some people are „at-large‰ members

Bennington Office being closed at end of year.  Asheville is new place.  Unknown if Daphne to continue. 

Orchard Signs finally all done!  Paid for, etc.

Elections:  Is Frank Howard still on the Board?
Yvonne will email who is going to be over their term limits, who is up for elections etc.
Would Dave Anderson like to be a Board member?
Lives in Lancaster.  Jamie will give him a call.

Denis: fall fundraiser at Moore State Park.  What if it raised funds for MATACF?  Seed Orchard?  Mid-October?   Get a resistant chestnut for Governor of MA to plant next spring?  media event.

Denis & Lois did an excellent paper on chestnut for their class at the Landscape Institute, passed them out.

Might grow into a harvest festival with chestnuts in a few decades

Please email Denis and Lois if you would like to work on this

Autumn Meeting:  Let's shorten the growers meeting

1 hour for the autumn grower's meeting

Start at 1 pm -> 4pm

October 3rd 1pm-4pm

Possibly Riverbend

TACF President is offering Legacy Trees ˆ 25 seedlings

Adjourned 4:22 

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