HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Natural Resources & Conservation Committee - 06/01/2022NATURAL RESOURCES & CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
Meeting minutes June 01, 2022 6:10 pm
Attending: Jean Sebastien-Chaulot (Chr), Larry Kupferman (Vice Chr), Lisa Yankowski, Drew Shatzer, Bill
Wargo, Katherine Boyk & John Bossange
Missing: Andrew Bolduc & David Crawford
Virtual meeting set up by Holly Rees- thank you
1) No additions, deletions or changes.
2) No public attendees, no comments from the public.
3) Meeting minutes for May 06, change Sponge moth to Spongy Moth.
a. John motioned to adopt the minutes for May. Lisa 2nd. Approved unanimously.
4) Small grant application status.
a. Katherine has been checking and has not seen where recipients have been announced.
She will check with Andrew to see if he has received anything. Hopefully the
notification will go to him and not Ashley.
5) Strategic Work Plan and priorities.
a. Committee member submitted their priorities by rank. Jean compiled and reviewed the
list. The city actual decides some of what we can work on. There was a question about
the budget affecting our work plan. They are separate issues and if we need funding for
a project we need to be proactive and go through our city liaison to get an addition into
the budget.
Re WORK PLAN PRIORITIES.msg 6) Canopy increase and planting fruit trees.
a. Jean has mentioned working with the airport to use some of the land where homes
were removed to use for community good by planting fruit trees that the local
community could harvest or the fruit could go to the food shelf. It would go towards
increasing the tree canopy and possible noise control. Larry questioned how much help
they could be for noise. Lisa mentioned seeing this area suggested for community
gardens. Katherine expressed concern about PFAS contamination. Drew mentioned
how there is an adjacent piece that the city owns which maybe could be used.
b. We have to be careful not to interfere with any other negotiations that may be
happening. Diplomacy is the key word.
7) VT Herbicide policy. Drew has expressed concern about spraying along the railroad rights of
way and reached out to the state and invited Cary Giguere (State of VT Dept of Agriculture) to
join us. Spraying occurs along utility rights-of-way as well.
a. Cary works for the pesticide & fertilizer permitting division. There is lots of spraying
since the 70’s.There have been impact studies done because many of the rights-of-way
are not actually owned by the utilities. Application must be approved by a permit. The
Agency offers information and suggestions for product which may have less
environmental impact. They take comments from the public and more feedback has
increased since the process went online.
b. John asked about a city or town establishing its’ own herbicide/pesticide ordinance. The
state law takes precedence. A city would have to have a charter change, which has to
be approved by the legislature for the change to be legal. John inquired since Burlington
has such a policy. If it was challenged in court- it would not be legally enforceable. And
what happens on private land…, but if private actions start affecting the public- talk
about it. Have the discussion.
i. Larry asked about when the state offers suggestions. Cary said most applicants
are willing to comply. Of course, if they don’t, their permit may not be granted.
The state works with the department of health and they look at the toxicity of
chemicals that may be used. Provisions are built into permits to protect
Vermont’s waterways.
8) Ash tree borer and Spongy Moth infestation. With Craig Lambert (City Arborist)
a. The state had sporadic areas affected by an infestation of Spongy Moth caterpillars,
(formerly known as Gypsy Moth). Does South Burlington have a control policy? The
caterpillars are starting to hatch. Per Craig, there isn’t much to do. He doesn’t feel we
need to be overly concerned. Healthy trees can handle an infestation and survive.
Burlap or tape around a tree trunk is not real effective.
Drew mentioned that Colchester is using an aerial applicator for BT. Could we partner
with them? Cary will email him the name of a contact person.
b. There exists a fungi released years ago that affects the caterpillars. Last year and the
tear before were drier than normal. This year is wetter and the fungi should start
activating.
c. More questions regarding the ash tree removal and replanting of other varieties to
offset any potential Emerald Ash Borer infestation. Per Craig, “We did a thorough
comparison of different control methods. “ He opted to remove and replace as best for
the situation. Long range tree treatment can get expensive over time since the tree will
need to be treated for the rest of its life. And many of the city’s ash trees are growing in
root restrictive conditions- not optimum for healthy growth. When a tree is infested it
loses its integrity very fast and treatment will not help. It can be hard to detect if the
tree is compromised until it is too late. Having trees voluntarily treated by communities
will vary and hard to track.
d. Larry would like to pursue possible ARPA funds to be used toward canopy restoration
and Craig advised checking with Tom DiPietro at the DPW. We also discussed the
knowledge the NRCC is the Tree Board of South Burlington. Craig feels that will change
with changing laws from the state. Future disputes will end up in front of the city
council. The NRCC could be called upon in an advisory capacity. Larry will check with
Andrew Bolduc about the ordinance and find out about the state rules. We would like
to invite Tom to join us.
9) Staff and members report.
a. Is the work group going to still meet-yes. Katherine will have to miss 6/8, will attend
6/15, and show up if you can- Wednesday 5-6 pm at the library.
b. Climate Action Task Force- reference the information Bill sent for the meeting. The
CCRPC has tasks for the NRCC. On the spreadsheet- Natural Areas N1.1-N1.5 and
Adaptation & Resilience AR.1. Katherine reminded us that we are not charged by the
city to oversee some of the tasks the Climate Action group would like us to be involved
in. Larry wants to find out who suggested we should handle community gardens- we’d
need a budget to help establish any. This may already be covered by the city. We really
do not have the capacity to manage or implement or make policy. We can support &
advise. John suggested we make a statement for Bill to take back to the task force. Lisa
sent this to Bill to use:
The NRCC cannot write nor generate policy regarding climate action, community gardens, tree
cutting. We can and do support the creation of community gardens that are done in an
environmentally friendlier way, the preservation of our natural resources, protecting and
increasing the tree canopy protecting our water ways and the work the Climate Action Task
Force is working on.
c. Land Trust- they are still advocating to not pave the path across Hubbard Park. Involved
with organizing for the annual meeting and looking at the SB Comprehensive Plan which
is due for an upgrade. The members have split it into sections they are going through
evaluating for any recommendations they may want to suggest.
Next meeting July 7, 2022 at 6pm
-Followup reflection on the herbicide policy & Ash Tree/Spongy Moth
discussion
-Larry will reach out to Tom DiPietro and invite him to join us.
- Work group Wednesday, library, upstairs, 06/8, 06/15 5-6pm
Larry moved to adjourn 8:11pm