Meeting+2017+Apr+6

//**WakeNature Preserves Partnership Meeting**//
Thursday 8:30-10:30 Wildlife Resources Commission, 1751 Varsity Dr, Raleigh, NC 27606 in the 4th floor conference room Parking is available on the __top deck __ of the parking garage located directly behind WRC: []


 * Professional Development Theme: WRC in Wake (Presentations on Birding Trail, Wildlife Action Plan, Green Growth Toolbox, AND MORE...) **

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 * Introductions as needed**

David Shouse (Raleigh Parks), Brooke Massa (Wildlife Resources), Brian Smith (Raleigh Parks), Seth Yearout (Raleigh Parks), Scott Pohlman (Natural Heritage), Scott Anderson (WRC), Gary Blank (NCSU), Emily Nash (Soil & Water), Naiomi Avasar (Wildlife Resources), Frances Ferrell (Army Corps, Falls Lake), Deborah Fowler (Wake County), Megan Teten (NCSU, Presiding), Anna Stefanowicz (WIldlife Resources), Stephanie Jeffries (NCSU), Jackie Trickel (Wake County), George Hess (NCSU, Notes)

// **Steering** ** Committee **// (Chair TBD) GOAL: ** Increase momentum ** by growing active signatory membership.


 * 1) Announcement of new Steering Committee member from digital vote
 * 2) Recommendations for committees going forward:
 * 3) Would like to see at least 3 members per committee
 * 4) Chairs will be expected to take the lead on their committees for at least 2 years
 * 5) Each of the three Steering committee members will support one of the committees
 * 6) Deborah Fowler - Promotion Committee
 * 7) Scott Pohlman - Inventory Committee
 * 8) Meghan Teten - Capacity Committee


 * NOTES**


 * Shouse started the meeting as outgoing chairman
 * Annual meeting on 15 September will be about managing riparian habitats
 * Steering committee has restructured meetings and is re-staffing committees
 * MOU was tweaked last year to have an auto-renewal option
 * Blank will ask Perlmutter to join inventory committee

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

> Kaytee made a nice graphic on the front page to click on for more info. A link to this should be easy to share with any potential members. If you have any suggestions, please send to Kaytee.
 * 1) A new WakeNature Gmail account has been created (WakeNaturePartnership@gmail.com); will be used as the login for all social media accounts: Twitter (@wakenature), Facebook, etc.
 * 2) Committee met to assess needs--Deborah, Kaytee, Meghan, and Steph. Kaytee has since updated the website and tracked down social media accounts.
 * 3) Steph will work on a contacts database, probably in Google sheets--sortable by partners, meeting attendees, etc. If you would like us to publicize something, please let us know the intended audience; e.g. annual meeting will need a broader reach than current mailing list; events should target public audience, etc.
 * 4) Please send photos from WakeNature Preserves to the Gmail account--pictures tell 1000 words.
 * 5) Seems like this committee might be better described as a communications committee.
 * 6) The website has been updated with information about call for proposals for bioblitz! @https://wakenature.wordpress.com/


 * NOTES**
 * Who is audience for the different WakeNature events - quarterly, annual, bioblitz?
 * Please send items for publicity to WakeNaturePartnership@gmail.com - Stephanie is monitoring
 * If you want to promote things to the FB or Twitter account, photos are really good - please send to Stephanie for now - will consider whether committee wants to share access
 * Teten - Bioblitz is only available to signed members. She sent out a note to potential members saying that they could participate if they signed the MOU. She will recontact those folks after the bioblitz to let them know what they missed.
 * Hess - We should think about getting the press to our bioblitz

//**Inventory Committee**// (John Connors, Chairman) GOAL: ** Places on the ground ** - designate publicly accessible WakeNature Preserves.


 * 1) Present applications for May/June bio-blitz
 * 2) Update on partner needs survey?


 * NOTES**
 * Fowler talked to Connors - there are at least two applications for the bioblitz (Raleigh Parks, Wake County)
 * Pohlman will follow up with Connors on how to select
 * Target date for bioblitz is June

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


 * 1) An initial planning meeting for the annual workshop was held on 3/20 (Massa, Smith, Fowler, Teten)
 * 2) Decided to use Lake Raleigh for any outdoor workshop programs, demonstrations, hikes, etc. due to its proximity to WRC (workshop host)
 * 3) Will allow us to avoid having to deal with arranging for vans, etc. and cut down on the amount of time needed to drive somewhere else in the middle of a workshop
 * 4) In line with our previously-selected workshop theme (riparian management), we brainstormed some possible workshop activities/speakers:
 * 5) Managing water levels for different species - flow from dams, etc (Goodrow)
 * 6) Stream restoration/restoration ecology and sustainable landscaping, etc. (Barbara Doll, BAE NCSU)
 * 7) Wood duck/prothonotary warbler boxes and management
 * 8) Beaver management (WRC)
 * 9) Lake Raleigh management plan & invasive species (Blank)
 * 10) Discussed multiple things that could be said and done regarding dams, but decided that this could almost be its own full day workshop


 * NOTES**
 * Had meeting on 20 March
 * Wildlife Resources is hosting annual workshop (Friday 15 Sept) at their Varsity Drive HQ and will use Lake Raleigh to host any demonstrations or field trips
 * Theme is Riparian Management.
 * Blank - there's lots we can do on Centennial Campus in terms of stream restoration and Lake Raleigh. Tom Kwak (NCSU) is also involved.
 * Beaver management can be covered.
 * Gene Hester can talk about wood ducks and prothonotary warblers
 * Format: Approx 10A-4P. Morning presentations. Maybe concurrent sessions out in the field during the afternoon. Networking opportunity over lunch.

//**Other Business**//
Toddi Steelman will be in town and presenting as part of a Women in Science speaker series hosted by NCSU CNR on Wednesday, April 19 at 3:30PM in Biltmore Hall room 2010

At our last meeting, Jackie Trickel of Harris Lake County Park mentioned they are doing a workshop called the Science of Fire Program on April 20. Registration is now open! Click here to register for Science of Fire You will need to set up an account for online registration system, if you do not have one already. **NOTES - Jackie Trickel**
 * Program is for people 16+ and open to public and free of charge - cap at approx 25 people
 * Wake County staff and burn boss will introduce people to the importance of fire and then do a small burn
 * Longleaf festival is Saturday 20 May - would like a WakeNature presence - neither Blank nor Fowler can help this year - Teten can do
 * Ferrell said he might be able to get someone from Jordan Lake to come
 * Nasher said Soil & Water might participate
 * Montgomery Community College does fire training and might be interested in participating
 * Chet Buell or Joe Roise at NCState might be interested as well

Bats on NC State main campus - call for funding sponsors, suggestions for bat house designs, etc. - Dr. Chris Moorman and Dr. Lara Pacifici, NCSU FWCB **NOTES - Megan Teten** Please remember the City Nature Challenge is Friday 4/14 - Tuesday 4/18: EcoVillage at NC State students have recruited older students with ID experience in CNR to help with a citizen science service project the evening of 4/18 (5-8PM) to ID as much as they can around Lake Raleigh and submit to the competition - all are welcome to join them! Competition Details: Join the NC Museum of Natural Sciences for the City Nature Challenge! This competition pits several American cities against each other to see who can document the most biodiversity on the iNaturalist app over a 5-day period. We’re going up against cities that are a lot bigger than we are (Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and others), but North Carolina’s amazing biodiversity and the great urban wildlife we see every day can help us win!
 * Mary Frazer, NC Bat Working Group brought to attention bats in Coliseum parking deck and transportation put up excluders. Now bats are showing up in residence halls. They are Brazilian freetail bats.
 * Trying to get excluders removed from the parking deck or figure out alternative roosts
 * NCSU Leopold Wildlife Club asked transportation but have had no luck so far
 * Meeting last week to look at options. UF has created a bat barn to deal with this problem - it has become a bit of an attraction for people. Architects office is not opposed, but looking for funding. Potential site is between Sullivan Drive and the baseball field. Moorman is going to look at bat house designs. Costs currently unknown.

We likely need over 15,000 submissions to have a shot of taking home the gold, so we need YOUR help snapping photos of Triangle Area plants, animals, or fungi, April 14-18, and submitting them to iNaturalist by April 30.

We’ve got PRIZES for the top three local contributors as a thank you, too!

You can participate in the City Nature Challenge: Triangle Area by doing one or more of the following: 1. Create a FREE iNaturalist account and practice submitting your sightings now. 2. Join the "City Nature Challenge 2017: Triangle Area" Project on the app. 3. Join us at the downtown Raleigh campus of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences on Friday, April 14 for special biodiversity-themed talks in the SECU Daily Planet Theater, hands-on training in how to use iNaturalist, and opportunities to go outside and collect data around the Museum with an iNaturalist expert. Be sure to stop by the cart outside the Naturalist Center for more information on how to get involved in the event! 4. Visit Prairie Ridge Ecostation on Saturday, April 15 to help us document the wildlife of our grounds as you participate in the City Nature Challenge: Triangle Area. We’ll have guided nature hikes throughout the day and hands-on iNaturalist training to help you get started. 5. Visit any outdoor space in the Triangle Area from April 14 to 18, take photos of the plants, animals, and fungi you see, and submit them to iNaturalist on your own! Download the iNaturalist smartphone app for Android or Apple and submit as you go or carry a camera with you and upload them through the website.

Follow along with the event, view the leaderboard, or check out the map of the area that’s included in the event at http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2017-triangle-area-nc.

**NOTES** **Wildlife Resources personnel made a series of presentation about the agency and the various services they have.** Massa Stefanowicz
 * Created in 1947 and regulate hunting, fishing, boating, and wildlife in the state
 * About 600 employees
 * Talked about boating and fishing access
 * Butner & Harris Gamelands are in Wake County
 * WRC has recently been creating single-car parking spaces for kayak and canoe boaters so that they don't have to use trailer spaces
 * WRC has an interactive gameland map online. Also ncwildlife.org/Hunting [|ncwildlife.org/Boating] ncwildlife.org/Fishing

Anderson
 * NC Birding Trail - 6-agency partnership - marketing tool as a one-stop shop for people interested in birding - they do not manage any land
 * Explicit link to economic impact of bird watchers
 * This is a good model for how WakeNature can evolve
 * 22 sites in Wake County are on the birding trail

Avasar
 * Wildlife Education Division also visit @http://www.ncwildlife.org/Learning/Learning-About-North-Carolinas-Wildlife-Resources
 * Provide train-the-trainer workshops, also Project Wild, Aquatic Wild, etc
 * Most workshops are free of charge

Massa
 * NC Wildlife Action Plan 2015 version is the latest
 * NC Green Growth Toolbox to help local governments plan develop to conserve wildlife and habitat
 * There is interest in GGTB sessions in Wake County - Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Rolesville
 * Durham - Orange Counties are developing a joint conservation plan for the Jordan Lake and New Hope Creek areas