[MassChestnutOrchards] Draft MATACF January Minutes 2009

[Federowicz, Yvonne Marie]

Note - we mistakenly did not include discussion of this preliminary Trustees of Reservations letter in our meeting, so I'm including it again here. I believe that they are a very well-established organization. - Yvonne

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MATACF January Meeting 1/18/09  

Dear Kathy,

Hope this finds you well after a happy holiday season. As we are buried under snow and cold The Trustees of Reservations ( of whom I am a member) and I are making plans for the Peaked Mountain property here in Monson. There are a couple of fields, available , volunteer help and professional horticulture and land management experts who could help with a chestnut seedling project. We had spoken of maybe using a part of my farm also but the required open field for rows of trees is better suited at the Peaked Mountain land which is in the Trust. It would be a great educational site also as visitors come to hike the trails throughout the year and marketing is extensive, beautifully done and quite professional. Please let me know if we could begin a dialogue about the collaboration between the Trustees and the Chestnut Tree project.

Also - is there an annual meeting coming up soon?

Best wishes for the new year!

Judy

413-267-5009

"Share the Vision of Peace"
  NAMASTE

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MORNING ORCHARD MEETING MINUTES

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Present:  Roy Najecki, Jim Garland, Rufin Van Bossuyt, Brian Clark, Charlotte Zampini, Brad Smith, Lois Breault-Melican, Denis Melican, Yvonne Federowicz, Jamie Donalds, John Meiklejohn, John Emery

Inoculation for 2009  (Kendra sent ideas)

1.5dbh trees minimum, longer wait the better
3-4” dbh should be able to duplicate

Want to get best “bang for the buck” from each orchard

Staggered is possible but whole orchard at once best

Kendra will come down after planting time

We will be inoculating for 5-7 years minimum

Jamie concerned about needed backup for inoculating

Charlotte: need help of orchard managers, they often know orchard best.  They can all get the measurements each spring.  Also – how many can we do each year?  Possibly 2-3 max.

Jamie would like minions for Charlotte.

Jamie:  planting and pollination this year as well.

Charlotte: this year we may have 3 so let's focus on training and see how it goes

Kendra is willing to do training and inoculations

Charlotte:  if 4-6 people, not that hard.

Brad:  weather a big issue.

Jamie:  spring training a good thing. 

Charlotte: we can do it in our spring meeting.  Timing:  2nd or so week of June, 1 month before pollination. We will get sprouts and Kendra will be there.

“Elderhostel” pays to help with this in Virginia; possibly more careful than high school students.  Also “Earthwatch”. Fred Hebard might know.

Charlotte will check with Elderhostel.
Lois will check with Earthwatch.

Jamie concerned about us being overburdened by doing this all ourselves.  Getting help would be good.

Frank Howard's $5K gift was specifically for inoculation.

Jamie: we could also think of hiring a place to do future trainings.

Jamie: 

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New Mother Trees needed for 2009:

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Charlotte:  would like at least 4 more trees.  Need to redo Quabbin to fill out that line.
1 more Nanking for MA.

South Kingstown Land Trust.  Nankings 

Dartmouth?

3 more – 4-5.

Sudbury, others - 

Ones to check out:
Sudbury/Cochituate – John Emery
Middleton – Brian Clark or Guy Shepard
Coventry, RI - Yvonne
Groton – private yard, Susanna – Charlotte – probably not doable because owners don't want truck
Carver – Rufin
Mike Meixsell has one
Grandal State Forest – Lois & John MeikelJohn
Several possibilities near John Meiklejohn – Westfield
John Emery has several possibilities descended from a Rte. 495 MA tree
Carlisle tree – Rufin or Kathy


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Orchard reports: Please have ready for May
Request for possibilities in Mother trees – send to MASSCHESTNUTNEWS mailing list

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Yvonne: we may want to get more RI
Jamie doesn't want to spread us too thin once seed orchards started

John Meik. - each orchard manager can build up a set of volunteers

good to have a trained base of volunteers

RI can use Charlotte as a resource.

Charlotte: MA has more tree leads.

Planting and orchard management – possibly too much for Charlotte et al.



Irrigation for Glocester:
Roy – got the water buffalo.  
140 nuts last June. Town had USArmy Water Buffalo, will be moved next spring.  About 12-15 foot elevation difference, 3-4 feet from Water Buffalo itself.  They will get their fire dept. volunteers to fill the Water Buffalo.  

Jamie: from highest point watered needs about 15 feet.  Lowest part will be fine but lower won't.
Could get pump worked from car, do about 4 hours to empty the buffalo. Jamie: inexpensive sump pump.  Really only need this at dry sites.

Roy: one area over ledge didn't germinate well.  Low area worked very well. Expanded some and will more this spring for next line.  Can't just take water from a river though, DEM has permitting issues.


Jamie: mostly July and August.

John Emery: also helps equalize the tree growth 

Yvonne: also very important during inoculating because trees need water to fight blight.

Jamie:  we have $$ for irrigation, can help with pump for Glocester buffalo.
Jamie needs to know how long the rows are and how far apart, including the new line.

Yvonne will ask Westerly if they are going to clear or not.  We might not have enough for a full second line there.

The bits and pieces can be bought at Home Depot.

Roy – they were planning to chip the pine trees – getting lots of mulch. Have a chipper.  

Jamie: pump needs a hose fitting on both ends. Can't drop end into buffalo.
Standard filters seem to work well.   Jamie will order the pump for Glocester.

Land trusts for more RI 
March 13-14 NRCS – could have a table – way to get more Mother Trees and possibly land trust land for more orchards.

Inoculating:  John Emery did a very nice set of graphs showing numbers of trees in each size category.  Would like to inoculate Wayland, both lines.

Showed that some trees are blighted and size goes way back down.

Lost lots of Americans early on.  About half are blighted.  Has lots of controls.  May lose all.

Need to compromise between size of trees and blight loss likelihood – can't wait forever.

Jamie still hesitant to inoculate one line and not do another within one orchard, unknown.  

One of Jamie's lines suddenly has blight.  None of the controls has blight, inc. Americans.  

Charlotte: some trees may escape blight longer because bark may not allow blight in as often 
National's inoculating methods doesn't help differentiate that.

New systemic fungicide - “fosamax”?  Rufin has journal with study on that.  Greg Miller in Ohio has been using it, it seems viable.  We should consider getting some of that.

Rufin will send Jamie information on that.  Good for mother trees.  May not want to use too close to inoculating

Rufin:  Tree cookies.  One will be sanded nices.  Guy has the lumber at his house.  About $100 for the work.  Rufin will pay, we have some lumber.  Can use for plagues.  

Stockbridge orchard.  Rufin.  Jointly owned by 2 groups.  The planting help has disappeared.  Having problems with the orchard, deer browse.    Most seedlings not above hardware cloth shelters.  Heavy grass cover also.  Adjacent to beaver wetland.  Used 3-ft landscape fabric, next year 6.  grass coming up thru fabric.  Difficulty in mowing between rows.  
Craig would like deer fencing.  John Emery doesn't put it on the tiny new leaves, it burns them.  Tends to put them on slightly older leaves near the tips, about once a month.  Wholesale spraying a waste.  Drips it on. John will help Rufin and Craig.

Rufin also showed digital pics showing Craig's chestnut poles, beam.  He is hoping for a reimbursement of materials for the sign's mounting.  He thought the steel would be donated.


Jim Coulle and Jim Garland both use Bitrex for good effect.  Roy Najecki will need some too, the deer are going into his wire cages.  

John Emery also had buck rub.  Used “liquid fence”  - suddenly very little buck rub.

SKLT – visit to Foster & Glocester OK with Roy and Jim

Deer Fencing:  John Emery said a company was donating deer fencing.  NRCS can help with RI deer fencing, perhaps getting a grant.

Jamie suggested MOU to be looked at by John Mirick.  Includes 20 year – is that for seed orchards?  

We may not want to commit to deer fencing, we use Bitrex on a lot of them  - we commit to “deer protection” in general.  We don't have deer fencing paid for in any MA orchards.  Seed orchard

drip irrigation we have fund for.

John Meiklejohn did a section where they plowed first
Harrowing
ground cloth invites voles
grass around trees slows growth - 
John Emery used nothing at all in one area, slower growth
landscape fabric in 3x3 areas 
plowing helps against voles for a bit
thicker landscape matts might work
flame throwers can be used – get collars around trees
black plastic over growing grass gets grass coming up through it.
Quabbin has no herbicide.  Black plastic killed grass.  Pine voles from adjacent woodlands.

John Emery used plastic with wood chips.  

Plowing , then acidification, then landscape fabric

Is plowing donated?  Need to know beforhand.

We will cover landscape fabric for startup – want to know before the fact on all possibilities $$$ not after the fact.

4-foot

Need to know $$$ BEFOREHAND – tell Clark and 

Brian will bring a box of possible other deer repellants

LUNCH

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Afternoon Board Meeting 1:15 pm

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Attendance: Added John Mirick and Rich Hoffman, Kathy Desjardin (late), lost Jim Garland and Roy Najecki – otherwise same attendance as morning orchard meeting.

Treasurer Report given for Mike N. by John Mirick

Nonprofits end up with “fund balance” not “retained equity”

John Mirick said about “real world” - Good to have an accountant go over treasurer's raw data and input it in fashion that goes into a financial statement.  Also provides a review of the treasurer's procedures.

John mentioned that he is happy to do this in future also as long as Mike is ok with this.

Brad unclear about how Annual Meeting $$$ got so high – ask Kathy & Mike when here.

Kathy not present, skipping Secretary Report

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MOTION: Approval of minutes from Annual and Autumn meetings – Jamie – Second John Mirick.  Approved unanimously.

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Sign Reimbursement – Craig Moffit in Stockbridge had created a signage housing that incorporated some steel that he thought would be donated, but the supplier then billed him.  Total is about $400.00.  He requested reimbursement.  One other time he bought landscape fabric for poison ivy area without clearing this beforehand.  Chapter reimbursed him for this, Rufin had mentioned to him that purchases require prior approval.

Suggestion was made to reimburse him $200 and mention that he won't be reimbursed without prior approval in future.

Jamie:  we had not paid for signage mounting in past either.

Rufin – sign is very nice, well-designed, visible.

John Mirick: should thank him for his good work and mention that we hadn't budgeted for it – have a policy of needing prior approval.

Rufin:  Craig doesn't tend to come to meetings – is 100 miles away.

John Mirick will draft a note to Craig to go with a $200 check.  Kathy can then sign it.

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John M. moved we reimburse Craig half of his cost, Rich Hoffman seconded – passed unanimously

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MOU with SKLT and URI Master Gardeners:  

We made several small changes
Need to send them a link to Germplasm agreement.    


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Yvonne will send Germplasm link to  John Mirick along with an electronic version of the MOU.

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We wish to include also the issue of prior expense approval in the  MOU.

John Mirick  will coordinate with Rudi Hempe and Clarkson Collins about the MOU. (with Yvonne's help)

Travel Reimbursements:  Jamie will have expenses for Spring Board Meeting

Rufin – proposed that we include a limit on expense reimbursed, John Mirick

John Mirick:  should we budget in advance?  There are two board meetings, Spring and Fall

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MOTION:
John Mirick Proposed $400 reimbursed for Jamie's attendance of Spring 2009 Board Meeting.
Seconded: Yvonne
Approved unanimously, Jamie properly abstained from vote.

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National News:  Rufin
Marshal Case retiring.  Professional search group hired.  Various possibilities, interviewed.  Narrowed to 2.  Position offered to Bryan Burnhans. Directory of Land Management Programs in Wild Turkey Foundation.  Very willing to move to Asheville.  Degree in Wildlife Biology from Penn State, MA also.
Has worked for several agencies.  
Bryan starts on February 1st, is moving soon.  Marshal Case voted as “President Emeritus”, continuing relationships with several prior donors.  
Bryan had won an award from a southern group of state foresters.  “High-energy guy”

New TACF headquarters is in Asheville, part of Forest Service.

No news on new Southern Regional Coordinator.  Paul Cisco had resigned.  

Jamie – thanked Brad, Charlotte, Yvonne, Kathy and everyone else for Annual Meeting coordination while his family issues were taking much of his time.

Paul Cisco's talk was very much appreciated by all.  Getting new attendees was great.
Masschestnutnews may have helped.

The Tower Hill Room was great.  Could have used a bit more space.  Presenting a good picture of our work for new people was great.

Frank Howard's work at videorecording was appreciated.

WEB 2.0 
Brad would like to get YouTube items up
Yvonne would like to get Flickr things up

Putting these videos on our website might be good

Other chestnut trees exist near Tower Hill

Rich Hoffman would like to affirm keeping some introductory information at Annual Meetings for our guests

Jamie – we need to be inclusive

Could have a “newcomer” session before everything.

PERMANENT ANNUAL MEETING AGENDA ITEM: Introductory information, also a chart with breeding program etc.

We should also try to talk to all the new people.  

Reporter, Robin, for Northern Woodlands.  Just submitted a final draft.  Unsure when it will be published.  

Possible lists of Annual Mtg Locations – SKLT Building – quite lovely – Yvonne

Orchard Activities Summary
Need 5+ Mother Trees for next year
Inoculations: Between 2-3 orchards

NEED MOTHER TREE LEADS

Rich Hoffman: has 30-40 F1 trees – very useful as controls
Most are 1 years growth.

Charlotte will contact Rich once she knows who needs F1s

RI may need F1s – Yvonne

U.Tenn. has a number of F1s that we sent - Jamie
1yr ago 100 nuts went down; this year 48 of 50 germinated this year

Leila will drive these up this spring

Jamie will go down to CT to pick them up.  If $$ Jamie will spend, get reimbursed we OK'd

These may be quite tall when arrived - 

Previous F1 batches were very healthy from there.

We may use all, but CT and VT would like some if not.

International Society of Arboriculture Meeting (Rufin) – potting up trees for the event?
85th meeting is in Providence July 24-29 2009

Marshal was interested also.  However deadline for speakers is past.  But we can have a table.
Rufin will contact Megan about a table.

People willing to Staff ISA Table
Jamie
Rufin
Brad
Charlotte
Denis
Lois
Yvonne
John Emery

Potting up trees:  
F1s being sent up?  in March.  Jamie will get the bare root trees to Charlotte.
Rufin also has several BC3 trees he can bring.

Gary Jacob mentioned MA Association of Conservation Commissions- we have had table in past
half table – shared - $250
We thought we should concentrate on free/new publicity opportunities

Signage – John Meicklejohn
3 RI
Granville
Princeton
1 panel – Lois – blight panel replacement – got bent

We'd already approved these signs, we believe.
Wording re. mother trees being sought is good ongoing;
Additional mother trees could be added for different Chinese lines, we could send to CT or NH/VT

Panel – include contact for Mother Tree sightings

Jamie has waterproof boxes that can be attached to signage for pamphlets

Framing costs – each individualized one has been covering that themselves – we cover the signs themselves.

Would Rudi Hempe make a few extra mounts?  We can ask Rudi for future needs although we don't have a current need.  We might cover the materials.

John Meiklejohn will also ask a few people about framing.

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Motion:  Jamie – amend quantity of sign sets from 5 sets to 7 sets (3 spare sets).  John Mirick seconded.  Passed unanimously.

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Seed Orchards:
Draft Agreement between MATACF and MA DCR (John Pelczarski, Blackstone Valley District Manager) 

Probably 2011 would be earliest we could start planting – need about 1 year from agreement.  

Need deer fence.

Some at Tower Hill might work this summer for a closed pollination.

We don't need a full block to do seed orchard planting. 
We also could pot up nuts if the seed orchard isn't ready for BC3F2s.

Generally people thought the draft agreement was good, with a few modifications.

Jamie will be the contact person with John.  
Denis thought that getting the Governor, Gov. Patrick, to come out and help plant chestnuts would be great.

Moore State Park

Land Trusts in RI
Kate, SKLT?

Reusing existing BC3 orchard sites... Jamie is interested in doing

Seed orchards can be broken down into...  blocks
  Each block is a collection of 20 plots, each plot has same parents
need about ¾ acre for 1 block

John Emery understands us to need 18 blocks

Jamie has ¾ acre, John Meiklejohn, Brian , others are probably also interested.

John Meiklejohn would like to work with John Mirick about an easement agreement for his property

John Emery has Weston town land access

John Mirick – private property can be negotiated with current owner, locks up chapter's right to use that land.  if it's state or town land, there are other restrictions on giving rights to use land for a lengthy time.

If you get something going with towns, you get a constituency going and it can keep going

Weston schools interested in adding section on chestnut to curriculums

Fencing around seed orchards only needed until trees above deer height

John Mirick – the harvest is very concentrated; Columbus Day and a couple weeks around it.  (Chinese chestnut)

So – nonbinding agreements best you can do with Town Councils – can't bind future politicians

Easements or notices of agreements are recorded at the registry.  Should be done with a private landowner situation.  
APRs sell certain rights to the land to the state.  You can get out of these.  

Chapter 61 filing?

Kim Steiner's “Notes on Restoration Plan” handed out by Rufin

Not all science review points are being followed

John Meiklejohn – good to document what we do so in 20-30 years can someone else pick up this ball.

Charlotte:  good to map where we are putting in forest planting experiments.
Jamie has some data, Yvonne will collect these locations and map them.

Spring Meeting Location: Central MA
April 25th, 2009 Saturday 

Gardiner Pond State Park is available – Lois

Summer Meeting: Brian's Farm in Western MA

Lois & Denis suggested that the loss of so many trees to Asian Longhorn Beetle in Worcester is very traumatic – we could put an open letter in Worcester media about the historic loss of the chestnut trees and allude to the restoration work on chestnut

Adjourned at 4:02pm

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