Meeting+2009+Mar+5

March 5, 2009 Meeting

Thursday 2009 March 5 8:30-10 1214 Jordan Hall, NCSU Campus
 * Wake County Nature Preserves Meeting**

 Louise can't make it; Harry can't make it. Wallace will be absent.


 * Introductions as needed** (5 minutes)

Attending: Sabrina Thompson (Holly Springs), Trickel, Lisk, Snow, Ramsey, Reis, Hess, Steelman, Cheshire, Moody, Connors, C. Smith


 * PARKING NOTE - Transportation is ticketing aggressively around our building - please be sure to get a permit at the meeting.**

1. Review Capacity Building Workshop
 * Kaytee will present evaluation data
 * Overall, the workshop got great feedback. All participants thought it was helpful or very helpful.
 * One individual was still unsure how to use the wake county natural heritage inventory and the wildlife action plan as a open space/park planning tool
 * Most individuals felt they would use the wake county natural heritage program and wildlife action plan after the workshop, a couple didn't know
 * At least half the participants were uncertain as to the conditions under which wake nature would provide pro bono services, and most would like to use wake nature's pro bono services.
 * The outside field work was very helpful
 * Most participants understood the circumstances by which they would need site analysis, inventory, etc., a couple did not.
 * The participants felt that aerial photo, maps, GIS, management techniques would be nice to have assistance with.
 * The most useful parts of the workshop was explanation of maps and tools and the outside training.


 * Jamie has information from Ed Johnson in Garner to share, re White Deer and Lake Benson Parks (200ac total).


 * NOTES**

Connors asked what our //pro bono// services are. We don't have a good list of what we would offer - we might create one. In part, we are developing capacity for the munis to use tools on their own to do initial inventory. Then they can contact us for further help as needed. We can provide training and bring in experts to do training. We don't have the capacity to do the inventories ourselves. We might also act as a clearninghouse to make connections. Might also set up to have graduate students who develop management plans for their projects. We can also play a brokerage function.

Sabrina Thompson is here today to start figuring out how to get Bass Lake Park (as passive Nature Park in Holly Springs) inventoried through WNPP. Need to know how to manage natural areas in parks, because that's a non-traditional role for muni parks (they are focused on active recreation).

Next capacity building meeting in May at Hemlock Bluffs to show more detailed inventory procedures, stewardship approaches, and management. Target Thu 21 May 9-noon. Hess will contact Mark Johns and report back at next meeting.

Jamie has received a message from Ed Johnson (Garner) asking for some help with White Deer and Lake Benson Parks - he's looking for a way to work with WakeNature. Jamie will follow up on what Ed is looking for and what ther commitment will be. First, we need to see if the site meets our criteria (does it have element occurrences or SNHAs?) Jamie will follow up and report back at the next meeting.

2. Workday data analysis-- John, Heather, Louise


 * NOTES**

Cheshire and Connors presented data collected, analyzed, and put in GIS format (by Cheshire, Connors, Alexander). Boulders and rock outcrops not complete yet; not all boulders were mapped. Invasive plant data collected only along trail. Connors says that only a little more work needs to be completed on the tract.

Lessons learned:
 * put more attributes on the GPS records for collection (this requires more advanced thinking about what data are required) - this avoids need to match paper forms with GPS data. Need better tracking of paper forms - some might have been lost.
 * need better naming conventions to support long term monitoring
 * point features were cleaner than area features - more training is needed for area features (messy polygons, lack of attribute data, incorrect closing of feature files)
 * need external antennas in forest cover

Blank has enough for completing management plan. First draft by summer 2009.

Next steps:
 * Cheshire needs data sheets from Lisk.
 * Develop guidelines for mapping points versus areas, consistency in data collection and attributes.
 * Database organization and delivery - who keeps it, where stored, how delivered - ask Wake County
 * Lisk and Snow will look at attribute tables to think about what the items mean in terms of management action, what data might be missing, what data might be nice to have to help them do a better job of prioritizing and managing the site
 * Wake County needs to consider data management information

Future agenda item
 * Target 16 April: Data management - where housed, what are protocols, what is WakeNature's role (note that there is a meeting on 26 March of a county info services team to further discuss the idea of the state housing our data) - before this happens, the county needs to be able to look at the Marks Creek data - Cheshire needs to complete data first.

3. Discussion of George's proposed name change

4. Pictures-- what happened to the Roger Winstead Photos? george 2/22 - He has returned neither my calls nor emails. I can try to push through Tilla. Is this worth the trouble? What are we going to do with the photos? Hess will ask Tilla if she can get them.

5. Volunteer hours logged-- everyone needs to submit sheets! Please visit the new reporting page to see how you can do this.

6. Possible grant through Office of Extension, Engagement, & Economic Development. George will report on a proposal idea being worked by him, Chris Snow, Kofi Boone (NCSU Dept. Landscape Architecture), and Patti Clayton (NCSU Center for Excellence in Curricular Engagement). Basic idea is to run a special topics, service-learning course in Spring 2010 to design the Marks Creek site, as a pilot effort. The other key aspect of the proposal is for NCSU to develop a 3-year work plan with Wake County to move WakeNature work forward through service-learning partnership. We very much want WakeNature to be a player in all of this (well, we already are, but want to be explicit about that in the proposal).

7. Next steps? How do we want to prioritize our time?

8. From Charlynne:

FYI – saw a presentation this past week at the GIS Conference about LandScope from National Geographic. Thought you may want to check out their site (BETA version) with info on conservation and an interactive map through Virtual Earth. http://www.landscope.org/

Our state, through One North Carolina Naturally program (DENR) is planning to partner to place state data online as a way to improve their data delivery interface http://www.onencnaturally.org/pages/ConservationPlanningTool.html FYI – saw a presentation this past week at the GIS Conference about LandScope from National Geographic. Thought you may want to check out their site (BETA version) with info on conservation and an interactive map through Virtual Earth. http://www.landscope.org/

Our state, through One North Carolina Naturally program (DENR) is planning to partner to place state data online as a way to improve their data delivery interface http://www.onencnaturally.org/pages/ConservationPlanningTool.html FYI – saw a presentation this past week at the GIS Conference about LandScope from National Geographic. Thought you may want to check out their site (BETA version) with info on conservation and an interactive map through Virtual Earth. http://www.landscope.org/

Our state, through One North Carolina Naturally program (DENR) is planning to partner to place state data online as a way to improve their data delivery interface http://www.onencnaturally.org/pages/ConservationPlanningTool.html