Thursday, June 8, 2006 7:00 PM

New Garden Township Building

Landenberg, PA 19350

Attendees:

Steve Allavand Chuck Barscz Sally Cheyne

Martha Corrozi Marilyn Flannery Scott Gantt

Arron Guenzi Nancy Geist John Gysling

Janet Kalb David Hawk Carla Lucas

Rick Mickowski Dorothy P. Miller Aileen Parrish

Linda Stapleford Jack Stefferud Adriana Tomas

Kristen Travers Andy Urquhart Leon H. Wilkinson

Andy Urquhart called the meeting to order, welcomed visitors, and asked attendees to introduce themselves.

MINUTES April 6, 2006

Ø The minutes of the April 6, 2006 meeting were read and approved by members.

NEXT MEETING

It was decided to hold the next Management Committee meeting Tuesday, Sept. 12, 1-3 p.m., at the Judge Morris Estate.

USFWS Bog Turtle Presentation

Bonnie Dersham, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service spoke about her work with bog turtle protection in the White Clay Watershed. Her goal is recovery of the bog turtle population. While they are listed as endangered in Pennsylvania and as federally threatened [and as extremely rare in Delaware – S1], the White Clay watershed remains one of the best potential areas for its recovery. More sightings of bog turtles occur here than any other area in PA, NJ, and DE and the watershed includes more sites (between ½ a. – 30-40 a.). To date, because of staffing, much of Bonnie’s work has been reactive: reviewing development plans for potential impacts. But she can now use half of her time for landowner contacts to make owners aware of the value of the sites on their property. She welcomed assistance from both of our open space partners, Natural Lands Trust and Brandywine Conservancy. They can assist by informing Bonnie of their landowner contact work when properties have potential sites. Bonnie requires a 300 foot buffer around potential bog turtle habitat wetlands. Army Corps of Engineers will not grant the 404 permits for stream crossings in bog turtle habitat. However upland areas with wetlands don’t need an ACOE permit so only recommendations can be made.

In response to a concern raised, Bonnie did not see a conflict with municipal riparian buffer ordinances. She explained that bog turtle habitat is always spring-fed so it is very unlikely that stream side areas where buffers would be installed would also be bog turtle habitat.

Citizen education on this topic is very important so she would consider giving a lecture in the future.

Bonnie was accompanied by Andrea Teti, a private consultant in environmental and biologic sciences. Andrea has done a lot of work on bog turtles in New Jersey and is qualified by USFWS to do bog turtle survey work. Andrea provided a power point with bog turtle photos during a short break.

SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

Education Subcommittee

K. Travers noted that the first large poster for tackboard display in WCCSP is completed. The Park officials will be notified to see when the tackboard kiosk will be installed. Two hundred copies of a smaller poster version were also printed and some were available at the meeting. In addition to giving to municipalities and schools, it was suggested they might be displayed at commercial sites like Wawa that have a high community visibility. The Watershed Welcome packets, a community educational outreach project, are at the designers and should be completed and ready for production in a few weeks. This is a Stroud Water Research Center project funded in part by a Dockstader grant with a contribution from the Management Committee. The teacher minigrant program is being revised.

Ø C. Barscz will follow up with Sen. Pileggi’s office regarding the information he sent to PennDOT for approval of roadway signage and potential sites as well as manufacture. The desire is to keep the same design approved, manufactured, and installed by DelDOT. London Britain and New Garden Twps. would be willing and able to install any in their townships.

Historical and Cultural Resources

No report was made as Martin Wells was out of town.

Fish & Wildlife

There was no report but a short discussion on the desire to extend surveys to include fauna and in particular the bog turtle. The Committee was reminded that Jim White, although well qualified, is not USFW approved. D. Miller suggested that Jim could still conduct the fauna surveys and assess whether a property appeared to be bog turtle habitat. A follow-up USFW person or USFW certified consultant could then be contacted to verify the habitat. That would save someone coming from out of the area to do an official investigation of each site and allow us to obtain other general fauna data.

Ø The F&W subcommittee should pursue the fauna surveys with the Open Space subcommittee.

Recreational Trails

L. Stapleford reported that the Delaware Parks and Recreation staff review of the final trail brochure text is still in progress. It is hoped that the text and map information will be ready for the designer shortly.

Open Space

J. Stefferud reported that the Howard property 20 a. parcel is now fully funded. A creek-side 40 a. parcel (Goddard property) was donated to London Grove. Natural Lands Trust submitted applications for preservation of three more parcels last month and is working on four this month. Of these 5 parcels are in the watershed and total 300 a. Brandywine Conservancy is working on submitting 2 parcels this month.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE REPORT

Section 7 Review

C. Barscz informed the Committee of a renewed effort to place a cell phone tower in White Clay Creek State Park. Land and Water Conservation Fund money was used for the purchase of this property and therefore the project would need the Dept. of Interior’s approval. Chuck will send a letter to State Senator Sorenson and Miro noting that point and reminding them the state signed the Memorandum of Understanding to support the Wild and Scenic Management Plan goals for White Clay Creek watershed. There is a meeting Monday, June 12 at West Park Elementary School from 7-9 p.m. This is an important matter also because of the precedent it would set for commercial projects within the park.

Chuck also noted that the National Interagency Wild and Scenic Rivers Council created an interpretive brochure for private landowners on Wild and Scenic Rivers.

Ø C. Barscz will see if we could obtain a pdf version to place on our website.

ADMINISTRATOR REPORT

L. Stapleford reported briefly on the following items:

· Dorothy Miller Park – The City of Newark’s Council voted to honor Dorothy Miller and her five decades of work to preserve the environment by naming the 7 a. woods (on the south side of White Clay Creek and behind the houses on Old Capitol Trail, near Porter Chevrolet) after her. A. Urquhart congratulated Dorothy on this achievement and thanked her for her years of service.

· Fall lectures – Plans are moving forward for the joint workshop with University of Delaware Dept. of Agriculture that will focus on the university farm as a model of stormwater management, agriculture best management practices, and habitat restoration. [NOTE: subsequent to the meeting, it was decided to delay this event until fall of 2007 when more of the demonstration projects have been fully installed and operating.] In addition a lecture, possibly on some aspect of watershed history, is being considered in partnership with another group or groups.

· Homeowner Association Habitat Restoration workshops – Three workshops (this Oct. and Nov., and Feb. 2007) will be held to assist Homeowner Associations on habitat restoration in the open spaces they manage. The project is being done in coordination with Delaware Coastal Programs and is funded by one of their grants. The task force has begun developing the agenda and finding presenters. All Homeowner Associations in the White Clay Creek watershed will be invited to learn the cost savings and environmental advantages that can be achieved through this type of open space management and the sources of funding to further reduce costs.

· Partnership 07 Funding status – The 07 appropriation for Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers is currently in trouble. The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee cut the funding from last year’s $1.12 million by $247,000 as did the President’s budget. (This occurred last year also but was restored by the Senate). In addition a $75,000 earmark was placed for an additional river. If the Senate does not restore the funding and remove the earmark or increase funding to cover it, our 07 budget could be reduced to $54,000 from $110,000 in ’05 and $95,000 in ’06.. We are in contact with all of our senators to remedy the situation.

· Pileggi interview – Pennsylvania White Clay Preserve was the theme for Pennsylvania state Senator Pileggi’s July’s cable TV program, The Pileggi Report”. L. Stapleford represented the White Clay Wild and Scenic River program in the report and was able to focus on the role of residents in watershed stewardship. It will air on Pennsylvania cable stations (see www.senatorpileggi.com/pileggi-report.html for details or to watch it online).

OLD BUSINESS

None.

NEW BUSINESS

· Citizen inquiries regarding vendor stormwater management services – We have received a few inquires requesting information about vendors to provide stormwater management services. J. Gysling, New Castle County Special Services, said that NCC has developed a list of stormwater basins that are deficient. The county will handle major management issues.

Ø R. Mickowski said he would check with M. Hardesty, Natural Resources Conservation Service to see if the they or the NCC Conservation District have a list of vendors that could be shared and to which firms could submit their qualifications to be included.

· Rainbarrels – There have been requests for information on locally available rainbarrels. It was suggested that possibly municipalities could offer them at a reduced cost as a part of their stormwater education requirements.

Ø Helping to find a way to make rainbarrels more available and affordable is an idea the Management Committee should pursue possibly in conjunction with a workshop on stormwater.

Ø It was suggested that since the Wilmington Trail Club represents many users of the watershed, the Comm. should investigate ways to involve them in our activities and in promotion of our watershed stewardship message.

Meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m. A brief Exec. Subcomm. meeting was then held to discuss the Brandywine Conservancy’s request for some financial support for a conservation easement on a previously identified high priority parcel. It was determined that more information was needed and an Exec. Subcomm. meeting was set for June 15^th, 2:00 p.m. at London Britain Tw. building.