Town of Rochester Environmental Conservation Commission
Meeting Minutes April 10, 2014
Facilitator: Hank

Recorder: Chris
Attendance: Laura, Hank, Ian, Barbara, Steve, Angela, Stu, Chris, Larry

I. Call to Order: 7:08
-approved minutes

II. Reports
A. Rail Trail (Steve)
-worked on trail maintenance and encountered ATVs. We need signs to post about No ATVs. There is a $250 fine for unauthorized motor vehicles on the rail trail. Looking into signs and costs that will come from ECC budget.
-There will be an article in the Blue Stone Press about the rail trail

B. Stream monitoring (Angela)
-river sampling going on starting May 31, then every last Saturday through October. Through Riverkeeper. DEC is also doing mapping of sewage treatment plants and septic around the watershed, so this is an opportunity to work with them. The Surfing the Shed Project can be an ECC project that allows us to monitor on an ongoing basis.

C. EMC Report-Hank
-March 26 was last EMC meeting. According to Amanda LaValle, ENBs and grants that are available will be posted on Ulster County website. Emerald Ash Borer workshop was cancelled. An auction for land is being done, but they check on whether the property is under water after the purchase, so then it goes back on the rolls. EMC made a resolution to the county to explore the undesirable lands so they stop coming back on to the auction. April 23 is the property tax auction at the Community College

D. New York Rising (Laura)
-a report was created, which is on the county website. So now we’re waiting to see. The bridge in the flood area of Route 209 is being rebuilt and raised. We’re pretty sure that this funding will come from the DOT instead of the NY Rising money. Other than that we haven’t really heard anything. Marbletown and Rosendale were not included in the NY Rising plan.

E. Rondout Creek Watershed Council-Angela
-RCWC was initiated through Clearwater. Nonexistent for about two years.
-Angela met about it recently.
-focused on the Rondout because they say this is a very easy stream to clean up. We will need to get a team together. Larry has been wanting to do some hands-on work of cruising the Rondout by bike to assess before the growth all comes in. He is also tentatively scheduled for next week to do a first float. Start at Ellenville and see how far they can get. Doing information collection. They hope someone can take over from where they leave off. Hank is also interested in helping with this effort. Water samples and turbidity levels will be done. Larry wants people to call or email him to schedule more times to do this. Ian has already committed for at least a day. Larry will reach out to the group. Larry has a camera with GPS so each spot downloads to Google Earth.

F. Biodiversity-no go for this year
-we didn’t have a project in time this year. Hank passed around the large files from Hudsonia that he received during the workshops. As we look at the possibility of doing something in the future we should keep in mind that Wawarsing isn’t participating, so maybe a project that’s further north.
-Hank shared a project that was done in Dutchess County that put together a Natural Resource Inventory, which is similar to an Open Space Plan. It would be great if we gather the things that have already been done for our town together into a larger plan/report. OSP is more detailed and involved than a NRI. It has to be adopted by the town board.

G. DEC mini grants
-we have to go through the municipality for this. It was supposed to come out in February. Not out yet, but they’ve been pushing it back. We’ve brought up the idea of intermunicipal cooperation on this throughout 209 corridor. ECC can’t apply, but nonprofits or municipalities can.

H. Round table report
-Cary Institute, Riverkeeper, Estuary Program, Hudson River Watershed Alliance all came together for this event. Communities reported on what they’re up to. Scott Cuppet was happy with all that we’re doing. Laura recommends that we definitely go to the next one. Great networking opportunity. Larry said that Laura’s presentation was great. Tim and Angela are going to try to recreate the catamaran idea from last year that Joe and Avery built.

III. New Business
A. Earth Day planning and promotion
-Barbara put up 18 signs and has 2 left. She also hung all of the flyers, and submitted letters to the editor to BSP and Shawangunk Journal. We have bags, trash pickers, and safety vests. Orange bags can be picked up at the Youth Commission/Community Center. In order for the town to pick them up someone has to call Carol Dennin. Barbara also makes a personal flyer for every resident on Boodle Hole. She also gives everyone on that road their own orange bag. The deadline for pick up is around Earth Day. Our group is getting together at 9am on April 26. Barbara will pick up 20 bags to bring to group.

B. Natural resources map
-Laura and Chris will get together this month to update the plan with items that may be missing or need updating.

C. Open space plan review and suggestions
-see above under biodiveristy

D. Mapping-trails, rail trail, greenways
– -see above under biodiveristy
E. Clean Sweep
-Riverkeeper work. This is what will culminate with the party with beer that was donated by Keegan Ales and food. Registration must be done on the website. The ECC is registered, but each individual also has to register. Angela will send out a link to the group. We’re one of 80 communities that are doing this on the same day. The party afterwards is at Keegan. CWN will run a brief about it. Angela will email this Chris. A press release will also go out to all local publications. This is very similar to the Creek Week that we did last year, but this event is insured.

F. OWL (Online Watershed Library)-walk the watershed or Surfing the Shed: A proposal for our group to take ownership of Rondout Watershed monitoring. Angela would like to use the OWL resource to create a guide and a short reporting form then propose our team walk the watershed quarterly so we can document.

G. Possible GMO Education talk
-Laura is looking for other things that we want to take on. We’re looking at Open Space, NRI, etc., and Barbara recommended that we look into GMOs. Maybe the issue of oil being transported through out area, coming down through Albany. There are things that we should all keep our eyes on, so that we have more to do in the future. Hank mentioned the large trains that are coming through the area and how he wants to get away from them when waiting at the crossings.

I. Facebook as an educational tool
-More sharing, more posts. We should have a point person that posts go through; this is Angela and Laura right now. We’re using it as outreach right now. Big issues can gather interest, but we need to stick with our mission. Facebook thrives on conversation and fresh content, so there is a balance. We may not want to skate around major issues. But we may want to take stances sometimes. One thought Laura had was about a traveling farmers market that can garner interest. We can say things in a more objective standpoint without picking a side. We can present an issue and ask the Facebook community for feedback. GMO, for example, we may not want to take a side because we can make local farmers angry, but as an environmental group we should provide important information. We will forward ideas to Angela for her to post so that we can have consistency on posts.
-Hank feels frustrated sometimes when something comes out but he doesn’t hear about it.

IV. Old Business
A. Any old business
-Hank passed around the wonderful compost that the county is producing. A person can fill all the containers that they want for $20. People can pick up at 999 Flatbush Road in Kingston. April 26, Hudson Valley Mall truck-load sale. May 3 for hazardous waste collection.
-Hank mentioned the Omelet Breakfast that he attended this morning & read the agenda.
-Hank also brought up the NYC DEP meetings that he has been attending.

V. Next meeting May 8. Stu will facilitate.

Adjourn: 8:30pm