Meeting+2011+Jan+20

Thursday 8:30-10:00 1214 Jordan Hall, NCSU Campus
 * Wake County Nature Preserves Meeting**


 * Attendance Notes**

Present: Anderson, Bockhan, Hess (notes), Steelman (presiding), Sullivan, Lobsinger, C. Smith, Ramsey, Yu-Fai Leung, Perlmutter, Trickel, Snow

Annual Review and Planning session [our planning may be curtailed somewhat because of the need to hear from Yu-Fai about the class projects related to Turnipseed. The rest of the meeting will be devoted to Review and Planning and may have to carry over into the next January meeting]


 * Turnipseed Preserve is officially our first WakeNature Preserve!!**

Results from vote on Turnipseed Property 14 YES :: 0 NO :: 0 ABSTAIN :: 47 people on email list ~5 people requested to be removed from list

~3 people requested to be added to list


 * Healthy Spaces Grant (Ross** Sullivan) - not on agenda
 * County is working on a proposal for "Healthy Places, Active Spaces" to NC Division of Public Health
 * "improve infrastructure that supports physical activity" category
 * Thinking Turnipseed would be a good location - could propose trail building and some programming
 * Would like letter of support from WakeNature - Ross will draft and then we'll work with it.


 * Results from Park Planning course for development of Turnipseed: (30 minutes max)**

Dr. Yu-Fai Leung's PRT451 Principles of Recreation Planning and Facility Development: Planning activities analyzed as decision-making processes. Identification, interpretation, evaluation and utilization of data and resources necessary for recreation planning. Planning principles applied in the analysis of proposed and existing recreation sites. Four groups from this course's Fall class decided to work on planning facilities for Turnipseed for their final projects. Much of the class visited the site with Chris and Meghan on October 20th. Yu-Fai will summarize their project designs for us today.


 * NOTES**
 * Match needs of people to resources available on a particular site
 * Did work on the Turnipseed Preserve
 * 22 students worked on the Preserve for half the semester; separated into 4 groups to develop ideas
 * Built their work around nature-based recreation and the experiences associated with that; then worked toward the facilities needed to support those experience
 * Used google earth / maps to draw their plans
 * Proposals included various combinations of hiking, cycling, and horse trails; almost all unpaved
 * Picnic shelters, bathrooms, education centers proposed
 * Education was also a focus
 * C. Smith will continue this work with her class - Wake County will provide a little more information about specific constraints and needs - would like more of a focus on the natural resources on the site and meshing recreational use with those resources


 * Annual Review & Planning**

Need to develop a budget for the year - create priorities instead of chasing things as they come up WE DID NOT GET THE FULBRIGHT GRANT. THEY LIKED OUR IDEA, BUT DIDN'T WANT TO FUND WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT. THEY ENCOURAGED US TO TRY AGAIN NEXT YEAR.

What have we accomplished in 2010? (Thanks to Kaytee for pulling most of this list together)
 * Designated first WakeNature Preserve at Turnipseed - effective 2010 December 10
 * Application and review process for designating WakeNature Preserves is in place
 * Wake County Commissioners endorse collaboration of Wake County Parks with WakeNature
 * Submitted application for Raleigh Environmental Awards (declined)
 * Worked with NCSU Communications Class on creating communication plan
 * Lichen Inventory at Turnipseed - catalogued about 175 species
 * Worked on organization branding – developed WNPP logo
 * Participated in outreach events at Wake County Parks
 * Working with Raleigh Parks to create a process for designating nature preserves within their park system
 * Received first donation ($200 from the Osborne Family)
 * Presented Turnipseed Designation to OSAPAC
 * Applied for Together Green Grant (declined)
 * Book chapter about WakeNature submitted and published
 * Attended and paneled NCSU Outreach Scholarship Conference
 * NCSU created WNNP video
 * County wide Natural Resource Database
 * Discover Life Partnership
 * Lake Raleigh Woods Management Plan
 * Implemented Application and Review process and presented to County Commissioners
 * Registered domain name: [|www.wakenature.org]
 * Graduate student projects: Ecosystem Survey
 * Volunteer Day: June – lupine planting at Turnipseed
 * Memorandum of Understanding in process
 * Volunteer Day: September - invasive plant removal at Turnipseed
 * Sign Research
 * Additional ecological surveys in progress on Turnipseed
 * Turnipseed Press Packet
 * Potential future sites
 * Fulbright Ecoleadership Grant submitted (pending)
 * PARTF grant application
 * Turnipseed Preserve Vote


 * What do we want to do in the New Year? Here are some potential items (from Steelman & Hess)**
 * Announce / Celebrate Turnipseed Preserve as the first WNP
 * Continue with biotic survey of Turnipseed WNP (bryophytes, mammals including bats)
 * Signatures on Memorandum of Understanding - we should really have NCSU and Wake in place by the Turnipseed announcement, others as soon as possible.
 * We need some discussion about WRC involvement in light of continuing budget cuts (Scott Anderson has some comments). This might be an issue for other organizations as well - do they have the resources to commit to partnership?
 * Establish a website and develop other promotional and marketing materials - and other activities to increase public awareness of what we're up to and about
 * Get some signs
 * Swift Creek Bluffs (Triangle Land Conservancy) through the designation process
 * Raleigh signed on to MOU
 * Biotic surveys of other potential WNP candidate sites (Swift Creek Bluffs, Temple Flat Rock, Lake Raleigh Woods) - how to get students and other professionals involved
 * Pond restoration at Turnipseed, with Leopold Wildlife Club
 * Reach out to Cary re Hemlock Bluffs (new director Danny Hopkins) - also talk with Laura White (director of Hemlock Bluffs) about this
 * Finding out a way to get Turnipseed open quickly


 * What do we want for the longer term (when are we finished?)?**
 * (from Gary P.) Perhaps we could incorporate our work with the Museum's new Nature Research Center (NRC), currently under construction: []. We could do outreach through the NRC to better teach the general public about our mission, showcase our WNP sites and explain our efforts. I'm in contact with the new NRC director and could suggest this as further partnership with the Museum.
 * **NOTE** - Gary will be taking the director of the NRC (Meg Lowman) on a tour of Turnipseed - current dates being considered 19/20 February


 * NOTES**
 * Turnipseed road bridge is being replaced in the near future, so DOT might be able to help with access and parking


 * NOTES on priorities**
 * Promotion / marketing / website - keep in mind that Dan Holly at the N&O is interested in doing an article
 * Other WakeNature Preserves designated - Hemlock Bluffs, Swift Creek Bluffs, others?
 * Get Turnipseed open for some kind of use
 * Organizational and funding issues - MOU, grants for materials and activities


 * We should organize the things we need to do around these four categories and develop an action list at the next meeting


 * Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) Grant**

Wake Parks is applying for a PARTF grant to help purchase the Medlin in-holding at Turnipseed. They have asked WakeNature for a letter of support. Please review and comment.

[|WakeNatureLetterOfSupport.docx]


 * UPDATES**


 * Results from Lake Raleigh Woods presentation**: FOR784 students presented the proposed General Management Plan for Lake Raleigh Woods on Centennial Campus Wednesday, 8 December. The presentation led to discussion of several matters sparked by the assessment and planning effort and how to follow up. University administrator clients attending praised the effort and results, noted plan parts that need to be developed further, and suggested specific steps to follow. Archival and data management issues were discussed. Decision processes were considered. Priority areas for management actions were identified. Designation as a WNP is probably down the road a ways and dependent on building university community support to offset some administrative resistance to potential curtailment of future options. Blank has been invited by the chair of the University Physical Plant Committee to present the plan and assessment findings to the committee in the spring.

**Website Discussion**

We can certainly buy a "project locker" at NCSU, which is essentially some space that takes on the path [|www.ncsu.edu/project/whatever] and we could point [|wakenature.org] there. This is a pretty inexpensive solution with annual recurring cost for space (<$50). Not sure what other options are available at NCSU.

One issue with this approach is how we get an outside person to be able to work on the site. S/he could build it elsewhere and then zip it up for us to copy to the NCSU host. Or perhaps there's a way to get an ID for such a person - I suspect there is.

I do think we need a conversation about what exactly will be on this site vs the wiki and how it will be maintained longer term.


 * Raleigh Environmental Award**

Application submitted 2011 Jan 19