Meeting+2016+May+5

//**WakeNature Preserves Partnership Meeting**//
Thursday 8:30-10, in the park office at Harris Lake County Park (after you turn into park, follow signs. It will be the first right turn). Harris Lake County Park

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Shouse, Fowler, Teten, Blank, Perlmutter, Brooke Massa, Jackie Trickel, Hammerbacher
 * 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. //

//__**There will be NO general partnership meeting in June – please consider attending the June 3 and/or 4 inventory event(s) at Walnut Hill instead, and bring a friend (that's why we canceled the June meeting)**__//


 * Introductions as needed**

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


 * See Capacity - Local agency contact
 * Who is inviting: Cary, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Garner...others?
 * Follow up on Cary Park and Rec. signing MOU- Chris Snow
 * Follow up with NC Native Plant Society - David Shouse

//**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.


 * Promo materials for May 21 and June 3-4 events
 * There is a Facebook event for the Longleaf Festival
 * Leigh Ann will make sure the Festival is on TLC’s community calendar
 * Need Kaytee to advertise the Longleaf Festival on the WakeNature website


 * Longer term: rebranding/logo for WNPP?
 * Need more promotional items to advertise the WakeWonder idea (make people proud to be designated as a WakeWonder)


 * UPDATE from Jackie: May 21st Longleaf Festival at Harris Lake – 11am-3pm (official for public)
 * Gary Perlmutter's Lichen Hike is at 10AM
 * The tar pitch and turpentine people (Brian Avery, The Tarheel Boys, and Linda) will be from 10am-4pm
 * They have a youtube video in the works about the history of the longleaf pine
 * All vendors are therefore invited to be here as early as 9am, but set-up must be by 10:30
 * Jackie would appreciate more volunteers (has a volunteer blurb – request it to send to your contacts)
 * Will send it to Meghan (for dissemination to WakeNature) and Kaytee (for public outreach)
 * Gary would appreciate more volunteers to help him at the WakeNature table

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


 * Walnut Hill bioblitz planning underway
 * Connors' invitation to natural resources specialists for the Walnut Hill inventory was shared with Massa, Perlmutter, and Trickel for dissemination to their own contacts
 * Have we received anymore volunteers? The group unsure of which professionals have already responded to Connors
 * Resource professionals Friday & Saturday doing inventory
 * 3PM or 4PM public hike on Saturday for agency professionals VERSUS 1pm hike on Friday?
 * Lunch idea on Friday to bring the resource professionals back to a central location to talk with invited guests and then maybe go back out to specific locations to talk in the “field”
 * Deborah volunteered the event trailer from Wake County Parks with tents, tables, chairs for a lunch - confirmed AVAILABLE
 * Brooke volunteered to reach out to a/some herper(s) for the inventory
 * Meghan will forward John’s emails to Brooke, Gary P, and Jackie for recruiting WRC and other resource professionals - DONE
 * Need to invite the Native Plant Society and the Botanical Gardens (Gary P.)
 * Brian Bockhahn wants to do a nocturnal insect survey
 * Hammerbacher will set up two-three registrations – one for resource professionals for both days, one for the agency professionals lunch/public hike on Friday, and possibly one for the public hike on Saturday?
 * Invite Leigh Ann and John to Steering Committee meeting last week of May - DONE
 * Summer support for events? Invasive plant removal? - NOT DISCUSSED AT LENGTH
 * Fall strategy - new Wake Wonders, events
 * Fall Beaver Management Event? – Brooke says her contact seems flexible
 * Can we combine it with a WakeWonder location to continue the showcase of the Wonders?
 * Other Potential Future WakeWonder Events:
 * Prairie Ridge never happened – Deborah can still do a burn
 * Mitchell’s Mill Rock Outcrop
 * Turnipseed Nature Preserve opening in 2017 with parking
 * Lake Johnson’s big leaf magnolia (new facility in August)
 * Horseshoe Farm
 * Forest Ridge? Challenging if no staff
 * Durant Nature Park
 * Anderson Point is trying to revive the Neuse River Festival
 * Downriver canoe/kayak race?
 * Music?
 * Local craft brewery?
 * Walnut Creek Wetland Center needs a lot of restoration before it’s a WakeWonder
 * Master plan for walnut creek wetland park (50-60 acre tract) is somewhat in the works
 * Received grant for stormwater management and public engagement

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


 * Invite local agency contacts for both May 5 meeting, May 20 Harris Lake event, and upcoming June 3/4 Walnut Hill event
 * Who can we invite, in terms of capacity-building, to both the Longleaf Festival AND the Walnut Hill inventory hike?
 * From Brooke – was with Triangle Greenways Council in northern Wake and Durham counties for salamanders (they expressed a real need for salamander inventories on their properties, including Walnut Creek Wetland Center greenway) – contact Bill Flournoy
 * What about the Army Corps of Engineers? MOU? Invite to events?
 * We need a master list of agency professional contacts to draw from for future events
 * Have had some success in Cary and at Bass Lake (Holly Springs) – need to follow up with those MOUs (including Native Plant Society)
 * Need Garner, Fuquay Varina, Knightdale, Zebulon, Rolesville?, Wendell, Apex
 * Specific plan for June 3/4 event - agency and/or public focus?

//**Other Business**//
THIS AFTERNOON - 5 May 1:30-3:30PM ...

Hi folks, On Thursday 5 May from 1:30-3:30PM at the Nature Research Center (the building with the big globe in front of it, 2nd floor, navigate to 117 W Jones Street) in downtown Raleigh, students from my Natural Resources Measurements course will hold an open house covering the findings from their study of Raleigh's Capital Area Greenway System. Their inventory was conducted in collaboration with Raleigh Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Resources.

This will be an open house format, so come at any time during the presentation period - we would love to have you join us. And please spread the word far and wide - all are welcome and a large turnout would be great.

Their work covers four elements:


 * Milburnie Dam - documentation of conditions around the Milburnie Dam, which is scheduled to be removed within a year. Includes repeat photography, water quality sampling, and rapid stream assessment of current conditions.


 * Invasive Plants - just how severe is the invasive plant infestation along the new section of Crabtree Creek Trail leaving Anderson Point Park? A team has mapped the occurrence of 5 key invasive plant species to help Raleigh personnel develop plans to remove and manage them.


 * People - in our 2014 study we documented the number of people using the trail system. This year we administered surveys to learn more about __why__ they are using the trails - recreation? transportation? exercise? Some interesting findings and a new way to determine if people are using trails for recreation or transportation.


 * Wildlife - see an update to our 2014 inventory of wildlife - we saw a lot fewer animals - why is that?

Visit [|go.ncsu.edu/GW2016] for details as they become available.

Feel free to forward this to others you think might be interested.

All the best, george | [|go.ncsu.edu/GeorgeHess] | 919.515.7437