Meeting+2013+Mar+7

//**WakeNature Preserves Partnership Meeting**//
Thursday 8:30-10 entrances on Salisbury Street and Fayetteville Street
 * Wake County Parks, Recreation, & Open Space - Wake County Office Building, 337 S. Salisbury Street, Raleigh, 10th Floor - **
 * Map to building
 * Please park in the Wake County Public Parking Deck located at 216 W. Cabarrus St. corners of Davie, McDowell and Cabarrus Streets - entrances on Cabarrus and Davie Streets - your parking pass will be validated.
 * Please sign in at the front desk. If you enter at the entrance on Salisbury Street, make sure you walk all the way down the hall to the 4 elevators at the end- DO NOT use the 2 elevators near the desk on Salisbury - if you enter on Salisbury, please use the elevators at the far end of the hallway.

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John Connors, Gary Blank, Emily Ander, Chris Snow, Scott Pohlman, and Charlynne Smith attended. George Hess, Brooke Massa and Meghan Lobsinger notified ahead of time that they would be unable to attend.
 * Attendance Notes**


 * 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**

// **Steering** // ** Committee ** (Scott Pohlman, chairman) GOAL: ** Increase momentum ** by growing active signatory membership.


 * The vote to admit Audubon with John Connors as a representative PASSED with 6 or 9 organizations all voting affirmative. Connors will report on Audubon's status - he was asking them to sign the MOU
 * **NOTES:** John Connors presented the signed copy of the the MOU to a round of applause. Scott Pohlman will pass to George Hess for safekeeping.
 * Snow and Hess are working to generated a meeting with Laura White and Mark Johns at Cary's Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve.
 * **NOTES:** One potential thought is to invite the Town of Cary to discuss planning and experience from management at Hemlock Bluffs at the May 14 management planning meeting. For that reason, there is currently space on the agenda, in case they are willing.

//**Promotion Committee**// (Kaytee Smith, chairwoman) GOAL: ** Tell the story ** of the highest quality natural areas in Wake County and the stewardship they have and need.


 * City of Raleigh will host a Neuse River Greenway dedication and festival at Anderson Point Community Park on Thursday, April 27. Goal is to get interpretive signs completed and installed before this event.
 * Update on trifold
 * Hess has created a public website about the work at Lake Johnson Park. Word of this work has been pushed out to NCSU's media channels - no bites yet.
 * Scott will be working with graphics specialist on a T-shirt design for WNPP. Gary will see if there is money in the budget for workshop participants to receive a T-shirt.

//**Inventory Committee**// (Scott Pohlman, chairman) GOAL: ** Places on the ground ** - designate publicly accessible WakeNature Preserves.


 * Update on Swift Creek Bluffs Assemblage (Salter). Salter contacted LeighAnn by email requesting the Swift Creek Bluffs Assemblage Management Plan in a word document so the Review Team could provide edits and comments on the plan. We have not heard back from her yet.
 * Since Leigh Ann might still be on maternity leave, Emily volunteered to follow up with Jeff Masten.


 * Barwell Road update? (Lobsinger) (From Salter- I received permission from Raleigh Public Utilities Assistant Director Kenny Waldroup for a small group of WakeNature volunteers to work at the Michaux Sumac site this spring.)


 * WakeNature mapper - it's connected to our public websitein the menu bar
 * we still need content for site pages before we can really push this site out
 * site pages should also be linked directly to the public website - perhaps a dropdown in the menu bar for "Highlighted Natural Areas" (not sure of best terminology for this, until we have more actual WakeNature Preserves)


 * Schenck Forest Natural Area: Blank drafted a proposal to the College Forests Committee This document will be sent to the committee chair and then presented at the next committee meeting for discussion. We anticipate no resistance to the proposed study and, depending on the outcome, complete cooperation in terms of the appropriate designation.
 * The proposed schedule is for George's class to work at Schenck Spring 2014. Part of the inventory will include analysis of potential qualification as WakeNature Preserve or Wake Wonder. The class will also compile and analyze all existing information, including the original work that Society of American Foresters would have done to designate the natural area. Gary noted that Joe Cox and other managers at Schenck expressed interest in having the management plan, and were receptive to the designation as nature preserve or Wake Wonder, as it wouldn't foreseeably change the management they are already doing.


 * A question came up about potentially transplanting some rescued individuals from the population of Michaux's sumac that was destroyed by construction of 540/64. Would the Turnipseed Preserve be a suitable place, and would it help to augment or enhance the poplulation that is already there? Unfortunately, Chris Snow had to leave before this topic came up for discussion. So there are two parts to the question: 1) The suitability of the site; and, 2) The receptiveness of landowner. Scott will check with USFWS (Dale Suiter) on the first part of the question, and we will ask Chris to check into the second part of the question.

//**Capacity Committee**// (Gary Blank, chairman) GOAL: ** Bring resource managers together ** to carry out appropriate stewardship of the highest quality natural areas in Wake County.


 * Mitchell Mill workday is this afternoon!!
 * Service Raleigh is Saturday, March 23rd! Lobsinger registered us as a SR Partner; still have not received volunteer information or agenda from Service Raleigh
 * We will need someone to rent a school van (or 2?) and driver(s) - Lobsinger can drive a van, but then someone will need to drive the County Explorer with the gloves/tools. John Connors suggested that perhaps the students could drive themselves, but that could deter some participation. Scott will check with Chris to see if someone from the County can drive the Explorer. Gary will check to see if someone has signed out a NCSU van for that date.
 * County will provide work gloves and garbage removal services at Pleasants Rd and Turnipseed Rd


 * Management planning workshop
 * We've reserved Yates Mill for 14 May (Tuesday). The County has waived the meeting room fee (thank you!).
 * A proposed agenda has been posted with the announcement for the meeting date and place (link to workshop webpage also in left navigation bar). Specific presenters and activities are still being determined but will be added here as confirmed.
 * The space will be limited to 36 people, total, so we're limiting registration to 32 people.
 * Overall plan is for us to be indoors in the morning with an outdoor planning activity after lunch. Participants will be asked to consider beforehand and bring with them information concerning needs, issues and obstacles.
 * Snow will send a "hold the date" including the Management plan workshop URL - that page contains a link to a form which people can use to indicate interest, get on a mailing list, and suggest specific topics of interest to them