Minutes Brookfield Conservation Commission 3-21-22

Minutes

Brookfield Conservation Commission Meeting

March 21, 2022

7:00 Regular meeting via Zoom

Meeting called to order at 7:02.

  1. Review Agenda – two items added – VT AOT and Natural Resource Inventory
  2. Public Comment – none
  3. Approval of Minutes of the February, 2022 meeting. Moved by Starr Strong, Seconded by Sue Shea. All approved
  4. Discussion of Brookfield Town Forest Management Planning, with County Forester, AJ Follansbee – AJ said that Orange and Windsor Counties have the largest enrollment in Current Use of any other counties, with about 5,000 enrollments in each. He explained how he would start to craft a management plan for the town forest, and then put it out for public input. The Cons Comm could be involved in the whole process, including field visits. All agreed that we wanted the Town Forest management to be different from the surrounding landscape, emphasizing quality and possible old forest characteristics in some parts, recognizing that the town forest is not unique, but management could be exemplary. Recreation was something we wanted to consider more fully. Commissioners thanked AJ for joining us and helping us think about possibilitie
  5. Community Values Mapping
  • List of contacts for the event – Commissioners have been talking up the event and trying to get a diverse representation of Brookfield people to show up. There were several questions about how to get better representation of the diverse opinions of residents.
  • Confirm date for first meeting with Jens and come up with some dates for our second meeting where we discuss overlays. May 18th was confirmed for the date to discuss the findings and the ‘heat map’ of the town.
  • Read Mapping VT’s Natural Heritage pp 87-106 to help determine what maps we want Jens to overlay the heatmap on.
  • Approve Kathy’s expenditure for the first month of Miro: $20 This was moved by Jon Jickling and seconded by Starr Strong. All voted in favor.
  1. Other business

Dept of Transportation – Sue reported that she has not heard back from her letter to VTrans about the wildlife crossing                       upgrade.

Natural Resource inventory – talked about an inventory of the town forest, and the cost of an inventory of the whole town                 ($20,000+). This was tabled for a future discussion.

  1. Adjourn – next meeting is April 18, 2022

    Respectfully submitted,

    Jon Binhammer

 

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