Meeting+2009+July+02

Thursday 2009 July 2 8:30-10 1214 Jordan Hall, NCSU Campus
 * Wake County Nature Preserves Meeting**


 * Attendance Notes**

Steelman not attending. Louise Alexander not attending Kaytee H. not attending.


 * Annotated Agenda Items**

//Please add items you'd like to see on the agenda by 5PM Tues before the meeting.//

//Please add your pre-meeting discussion of these items under the item right here on the agenda, or on the appropriate linked page.//


 * Introductions as needed** (5 minutes)

What are the next action steps? What are Wake County's priorities for the Turnipseed Preserve site? John will have suggestions for rock outcrops ready by end of June-- where will these go? Kim Shumate has a list of major exotic spp from her management plan at the Art Museum-- where will these go?
 * Follow up on Recipe Book**


 * Notes:** Nobody present to speak about this.

We need a firm date-- is Sept too early? How should we time with the designation of Turnipseed Nature Preserve? <<from george 1 July: The decision on Sept being too early requires careful consideration of our purpose in inviting Michael. While making a big splash has appeal, I personally don't think we should push this to January for the 6-month publicity requirements we're hearing about. Although Sept might be tight, I think Oct is about as long as we should wait. I'm not convinced that we'll gain enough by waiting, rather than getting him in front of the right people sooner. I believe our main purpose is to facilitate the creation of a nature preserve designation by Wake County and the declaration of the Turnipseed Road site as the first preserve. How does this visit interact with that objective? Or does it?>> << i am in agreement with george, but admittedly don't have a good feel for the politics of this. i'd really like to get some input from jamie on it. i think the sooner the better. we can continue to promote the idea, identify potential problems, consolidate support before, during and after his visit. i would love to hear other perspectives on this.>>
 * Kirschman 2 day visit**

Need to book Science Museum if we want it. Need to check on availability of muni/county staff Need to check on availability of elect officials Need to raise money to pay for expenses

Two-day schedule sketched out in notes from 18 June meeting

Kirschman not available weeks of 11 Sept and 12 Oct.


 * Potential Schedule for Declaring Turnipseed Road a Nature Preserve**

Open Space & Parks Advisory Committee (OSAPAC) - 27 July - preliminary discussion - talk through criteria, draft resolution, strategies - 31 Aug - final approval - seek approval of resolution recommending that the County (a) create a nature preserve category and (b) declare Turnipseed Road the first nature preserve

County Commissioners - July - find forum in which they can meet Kirschman in Sept - August - after first OSAPAC meeting, meet with a couple of commissioners (Bryan, Gurley?) to discuss - Sept/Oct - Kirschman visit and interaction (current dates possible are 16/17 Sept, 21/22 Sept) - Oct/Nov - bring OSAPAC resolution before County Commissioners

< > tas

- Stewardship by the county is something that has to be addressed in any move toward creating nature preserves. There is a sense among many that "it's just trees" and it can just be left alone - not a good sense of the need to manage to control invasive species, damage by people, etc. We'd have to make a strong case for the need for stewardship. - Wake County has something called "natural areas" in their system, but nothing called "nature preserves" - there still seems to be some pushback on that term, though the source of the pushback is unclear - we have to be very clear that we're not talking about "lock it up and keep people out" - In order to move forward we need
 * Notes**
 * clear definition of nature preserves (what is and is **not** a NP)
 * clear criteria
 * a case for stewarship

- there seems to be a lot of support for the "WakeNatural Wonders" or "Wake Wonders" idea, but some concern about it being the overarching brand - some preference among the group for the idea of "nature preserves" or "natural areas" as very special places, and "Wake Wonders" as educational opportunities within parks of any kind - WakeWonders concept has to respect branding of municipal parks systems - so there might be "Raleigh Wake Wonders" and "Holly Springs Wake Wonders"

- feeling that above timeline might be too aggressive given our capacity and that we should have Kirschman in January 2010 - Connors suggested a panel discussion as part of the Kirschman visit, including NR managers from WRC, TLC, NCSU, botanical gardens, state parks, museum, etc to help focus discussion on the need for stewardship and approaches to getting it done

- Hess, Ramsey, Connors, Snow, Thompson to pursue clarity on Nature Preserve definition and branding

In preparation for putting this in front of the open space committee and the county commissioners, I've (george) made some modifications for discussion. Visit the Nature Preserve Criteria page to see them.
 * Proposed Revisions to Nature Preserve Criteria**

I plan to announce the start of the lichen survey at Marks Creek and report on initial visit observations / results.
 * Marks Creek Lichen Inventory** (Gary Perlmutter)

Gary has done some initial inventory, both southern and northern sections. Habitats are very diverse and likely to have a high diversity of lichen - estimating 150-200 species to be found.
 * Notes:**

Has tabulated 50 species just along forest edge, on southern end along power corridor. Has been putting information on Marks Creek assessment page of wiki.

Is pre-selecting sites to inventory based on maps and topography and habitat - not a statistical sample. Willl also look at individual rocks and boulders.

Expected completion in October.