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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMay 11 2020 EAC MinutesEcological Advocacy Committee (EAC) Meeting 5-11-2020 Location: Tele-meeting (Zoom) Committee Members Present: Steve Sass Andrew Tucker Alicia Czarnecki Andy Schnabel Ally Pudlo Lindsay Chadderton John DiTillo Others Present: Garry Harrington – VPA Rum Village Park Supervisor Hannah Teshka – VPA Naturalist Matthew Moyers – VPA Partnerships, Community and Standards Coordinator Therese Dorau – City of South Bend Office of Sustainability Becca Plantz – City of South Bend, Public Works-Project Engineer Call to order – Steve Sass at 8:32 am. Vote to approve the minutes from the March 30, 2020 EAC meeting. Motion by Andy Schnabel seconded by Alicia Czarnecki. Discussion: Old Business – Wildflower mowing in parks – Garry Harrington Fredrickson Park was mowed in early fall 2019. Mowing should not take place until early spring. Rum Village Park’s wildflower hillside and triangle prairie area was mowed in early March of 2020. Veteran’s Park was also mowed in September or October of 2019. The strip of wildflowers that was mowed might not be city owned but it is maintained by VPA. EAC would like to know if Facilities and Grounds (F&G) has park specific management plans. EAC is requesting that someone from F&Gs is present at all EAC Meetings. Land Policies sub-committee will be drafting a memo to the F&G division about best practices for mowing a prairie. This will include how to mow a prairie and when to mow. This will be sent to F&G and hopes to pass along the information to other departments like Public Works. New Business – Discussion of Landscaping Standards – Alicia Czarnecki Becca Plantz from the City of South Bend’s Public Works Department joined the meeting to receive feedback on the Landscaping Standards draft produced by Lawson Fisher. This is a new document that refers to other standards within the city including the Forestry website, etc. EAC Comments: o There are a few broken links. o It is great to link to other documents but most of those documents need updated as well including the Chapter 19 - Trees and Vegetation of the Municipal Code and the Street Tree Master Planting List. o The document is missing a section on how decisions are made to protect ecological sensitive areas. It is a lot easier to protect what is already there than to restore the damage. (Add a protection over restoration section.) o Add section on invasive species management including not planting any invasive species. o Suggestion to making right of ways act more like rain gardens. o Suggestion to do an initial inspection of the site. It might have a value that is not been seen. Timeline for a finished document is the end of June 2020. EAC asked for an update at the June 22nd EAC meeting. Discussion of EAC Sub-committees – Steve Sass There is overlap in the Natural Resource Management Plan’s (NRMP) Topic of Concern’s (TOC). Steve suggests that we write one strong strategy for those that overlap. Steve started breaking his TOC into Threats versus Strategies. His business partner, Amanda, has been assisting with the Wildlife Management sub-committee. It was suggested to find the ecological values (what we are trying to protect, enhance or restore). Once the strategies are done for the TOC’s, we can start working on the action steps (or Best Management Practices). Timeline: Finished document will need to be completed by the September 14th EAC meeting. Elizabeth Simeri-Sustainability student at IUSB – Garry Harrington and Steve Sass Elizabeth is a sustainability graduate student at IUSB. She has rough ideas of a project on educating people on how to create wildlife gardens in their own backyard. She has suggested doing a Lunch n Learn at Rum Village Nature Center or Howard Park. EAC is requesting Elizabeth to come up with a formal proposal to submit to the EAC. Planting of pollinators in city parks – Garry Harrington Garry Harrington met with Amy Roush, John Martinez, and Andi Force (VPA employees) regarding planting some pollinator gardens at Rum Village, Pulaski and other VPA parks. EAC suggestions/comments: o Need a plan to maintain the pollinator gardens. o EAC would like to review the plant list. VPA and Updates – Patrick Sherman and Matthew Moyers Due the current pandemic, the work been done at VPA parks is moving slowly. All facilities are set to open on June 14th except O’Brien Fitness Center which will open on May 24th. Playgrounds will remain closed until May 24th. Work has continued at Pinhook and set is to be completed by the end of July. Miscellaneous – 35th Street Wetland: o Notre Dame students gave their final presentations. o Alicia has requested copies to share with the EAC. Action Step for the EAC: 1.Land Policies sub-committee will draft a letter to the Facilities and Grounds Division of VPA explaining best practices for mowing prairies in ecological sensitive properties. 2.Continued work on Topic of Concerns in sub-committees. Next meeting is June 22, 2020 at 8:30 am. Garry Harrington will decide where the meeting will be held as we get closer to the meeting date. Motion to Adjourn by at 10:00 am by Steve Sass.