Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - January 14, 2015

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – January 14, 2015, Seabury Retirement Community, Bloomfield  

Present:  Kevin Gough, Paula Jones, Dale Bertoldi, Sten Caspersson, Doris Johnson, Chip Caton, Vic Herson, Jim Trail, Vikki Reski

1.  Minutes for the December 10, 2014 Board Meeting were approved.

2.  There were two agenda additions (items b and c under New Business).

3.  2015 Planning – The Board began its discussion of goals for the coming year.  Additionally, Vikki Reski provided a copy of a Finance Committee preliminary 2015 Budget, based upon goals being considered by the Board.  We will continue the discussion during the February Board Meeting. 

 

4.  Committee Reports

a)      Grants –

1.      Discussion of Hawk Hill was tabled. 

2.      Evans Property - Chip Caton reported that the Bafflin Foundation has awarded the Land Trust $25,000 towards the acquisition of the Evans Property.  Chip has also applied for a Fields Ponds Grant, but an award decision will not be made for 3 months or so.  Vikki, Dale, and Chip attended a presentation regarding two Grant programs, the DEEP Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Program (OSWA), and DEEP Urban Green and Community Garden Initiative.  Under the 2015 OSWA Grant program, the Land Trust could hold both title and easement on the Evans property if we were to apply and be awarded this grant.  The grant award can be as high as 65% of fair market value per a “Yellow Book” appraisal.  (Note:  A Yellow Book appraisal is more detailed than the summary appraisal we have already obtained for this property.)  Obtaining both a Yellow Book appraisal and an A2 survey of the property is an application requirement.  After much discussion, Paula Jones & Kevin Gough agreed to take the lead in writing the grant application which has a due date of March 1, 2015.  We agreed that some type of broader public appeal will be pursued to close any funding gap.  A motion to approve the expenditure of up to $10,000 to secure a Yellow Book appraisal and A2 Survey passed unanimously. 

3.      Lisa Lane Farm – We briefly discussed whether we would be eligible to apply for a DEEP Urban Green and Community Garden Initiative.  Doris offered to further investigate.

b)      Financial – December 31, 2014 balances:  $4,138.34 in checking; $39,417.50 in savings; $239,611.34 in restricted funds.

c)      Events

1.      Hawk Hill celebration – This event is now planned for late April. 

2.      Annual Meeting & WLT celebration – We briefly discussed Seabury Retirement Community as a possible venue.  Jim Trail reported that Seabury will have several construction projects in 2015, but hosting the Annual Meeting might be possible and that he will look into it.   

 

5.  New Business

a)    Next meeting date:  (2^nd) Wednesday of month – This was not discussed, but current scheduling calls for February 11^th, 6 – 7:30 p.m.  at Seabury Retirement Community. 

b)   Request for Leave of Absence – Board member Pat Sullivan has requested a 6-month leave of absence from the Board due to business obligations.  Pat indicated that he would be better positioned to know in six months whether he could continue his term.  A motion to approve Pat’s request passed unanimously.

c)    Hikes: 

1.      Trails Day/Celebrate Bloomfield - There was consensus to offer Kevin Gough’s proposed hikes:  June 6, Saturday morning:  Stout Family Fields/Penwood Loop.  Easy and moderate alternatives to Lake Louise/The Pinnacle will be offered.  June 6, Saturday afternoon:  Short hike to Van Otterloo waterfall.  June 7, Sunday morning:  Hike on Seabury Trail system.  Kevin Gough/Paula Jones will be hike leaders on Saturday and Jim Trail will be the hike leader on Sunday.   Kevin will write up descriptions for the Trails Day publication.

2.      Other hikes:  We agreed to mention winter & spring hikes in the January newsletter rather than attempt to list a full year’s offering.  Jim Trail mentioned that the Seabury Trails Group would be interested in hiking on the Evans property.  Hikes on this property and winter walks on Wintonbury Hills Golf Course could be used to increase awareness of the Land Trust and for project fund raising. 

d)  Seabury Telescope – Jim reported that someone interested in astronomy at Seabury has      donated a telescope.  All agreed that “no-moon” star gazing would be a good event to offer.

 

Recorded by Paula Jones       

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - December 10, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – December 10, 2014, Seabury Retirement Community, Bloomfield  

Present:  Kevin Gough, Paula Jones, Dale Bertoldi, Sten Caspersson, Doris Johnson, Chip Caton, Vic Herson, Pete Cruikshank, Solomon-David Jones

1.  Minutes for the October 8, 2014 Board Meeting were approved.

2.  There were two agenda additions (items b and c under New Business). 

3.  Goals for 2015 – discussion tabled due to higher priority of agenda additions.

 

4.  Committee Reports

a. Events:  Celebrate Hawk Hill – A tentative date of February 21^st was suggested for the celebration of closing on Hawk Hill.  Depending on snow conditions, we will offer either a snowshoeing or hiking event on the property at 2 P.M., with a reception to follow at 4 P.M.   We will ask The Duncaster to host the reception from 4 to 6 P.M.  Chip and Dale offered to talk to our Duncaster liaison and to Amy Patterson of Connecticut Land Conservation Council about some of the event particulars.  Paula and Kevin offered to talk to Rosedale Farm and Back East Brewery about offering wine and beer tasting at the reception.  During this discussion, we briefly talked about the format of the 2015 Annual Meeting.  We agreed to consider including a social element in that meeting to more broadly celebrate 2014 accomplishments.  Solomon-David suggested we offer a silent auction.

 

d. Capacity Building

1.  Logo Design – A motion was made and seconded to eliminate all but the arch logo design, and for Chip to work with Robin to refine the arch design.  Motion passed four to one.  During discussion, we agreed that we should retain the first “footprints” logo design for potential future use.

2.  Kevin reported that the dates for “Celebrate Bloomfield” week will be May 30^th to June 6^th, 2015.  Since National Trails Day will be June 6^th, the Land Trust can offer a couple of hikes to support both “Celebrate Bloomfield” and National Trails Day.

 

5.  New Business

a. Next meeting date:  (2^nd) Wednesday of month – January 14^th at Seabury Retirement Community. 

b. Hawk Hill Closing: 

1. Several technical problems with the conservation easement were identified during DEEP’s review.  To allow all stakeholders’ attorneys adequate time to address those issues, Dale requested from the sellers an extension to January 15^th to close on the property.  Since the sellers are incurring additional attorney fees by extending review and the close date, they in turn have requested that the buyers increase funding available toward their closing costs as a good faith gesture.  The Land Trust had already allocated up to $15,000 towards the sellers’ closing costs within the overall project budget.  Dale reviewed allocations within that budget, and determined that WLT can afford to increase the allocation by $3,000.  The following motion passed unanimously:  “Up to $18,000 is to be made available to the sellers to help cover their closing costs as a good faith gesture.  There will be no further negotiations to increase this amount if the closing date is later than January 15^th, 2015.”

2. The following motion passed unanimously:   “RESOLVED, that Dale Bertoldi of Wintonbury Land Trust is hereby authorized to execute on behalf of the Wintonbury Land Trust, a Grant Agreement and Conservation and Public Recreation Easement and Agreement under the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Program with the State of Connecticut for financial assistance to acquire permanent interest in land known as Hawk Hill Farm, OSWA# 460, and to manage said land as open space land pursuant to Section 7-131d of the Connecticut General Statutes.”  (Note:  The vote was taken via e-mail on December 11^th in order to provide the exact language required by the State of Connecticut.)

3.  The Board agreed that the Finance Committee should meet prior to the next Board meeting to review the Hawk Hill project budget, actual and projected expenses to date, and present a report to the Board at the next meeting.

c. Raising funds & increasing awareness:  There was a brief discussion about fund raising (apart from writing grant applications).  Paula will talk to Claudia Bell, since Claudia had suggested some ideas at the 2014 annual meeting.  Sten noted that we need to increase awareness beyond our e-newsletter.  He suggested we create a “Meet your Land Trust” poster featuring the large map highlighting our properties to place in highly visible, high-traffic areas (e.g. the libraries).  That could be timed with the release of our new logo; we might ask Robin for help with design.  We agreed to pursue this.

 

Recorded by Paula Jones 

 

 

 

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - October 8, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – October 8, 2014, Seabury Retirement Community, Bloomfield  

Present:  Jim Trail, Kevin Gough, Paula Jones, Vikki Reski, Dale Bertoldi, Doris Johnson, Chip Caton, Christopher Shepherd, Diane Bernier

Checking out the chicken coop at Lisa Lane Farm

       

1) Minutes for the September 10, 2014 Board Meeting were approved. 

 

2)      There were two agenda additions (items b and c under New Business). 

 

3)      Committee Reports

a)      Grants – (1) Evans Property – The Environmental Review is scheduled to be done by the end of October.  Dale and Vikki will follow up on timing of review completion, since information from it would be useful for the Bafflin grant submittal, due at the end of October.  Chip Caton indicated he would be approaching Duncaster as well.  (2)  Hawk Hill – The paperwork submitted by Town attorneys is still under review by NRCS.  We have submitted a request for funds for the closing to Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

b)      Financial

1.      Our August 31, 2014 account balances are as follows:  Checking - $1,916.27; Savings - $23,221.40; Restricted - $113,547.98. 

2.      Vikki reported that our annual insurance renewal invoice had come in.  She will forward that material to the Finance Committee.

c)      Events

1.      Stewardship work days:  A work day is also scheduled for Van Otterloo on October 11^th at 10 AM; rain date will be October 12^th.

2.      Lisa Lane Ribbon Cutting on September 20^th – see the attached NRCS Article.  Thanks to Lois Hager for donating the hay bales (which Lois will reuse in her yard).   

3.      October 4^th hike from Stout Family Fields to LaSalette – Including Land Trust “guides” Dale Bertoldi, Kevin Gough, Paula Jones, and Vikki Reski, 19 hikers participated in this event.  Jim Trail reported that this hike generated more interest in the Land Trust among the Seabury Community participants.  Jim agreed that a presentation at Seabury on the Land Trust this winter would be well-received.

d)     Membership/Community/Website

1.      Membership Presentation – WLT member Christopher Shepard presented his analysis of our membership database structure, and led a discussion of what to consider as we think strategically about Membership goals.  He provided the Board with a written report that will be very useful for a (planned, yet-to-be-formed) Membership Committee.  Christopher has an extensive background working for non-profits, including running The Nature Center in Wethersfield.  He started teaching Middle School this year, so is adjusting to this new role, but graciously agreed to help us work on membership going forward.  Thank you, Christopher, for you time and interest!

2.      Newsletter – We briefly discussed content for the October newsletter.  Vikki suggested we include some of the feedback from Seabury participants in the Oct 4^th Hike recap article.  Doris Johnson offered to make copies of our previous newsletter for a mailing to those few members whose e-mail addresses we lack. 

3.      Guest Diane Bernier reported that she had noticed the sign at our Thrall Farm project, and followed up by calling to find out more about the Land Trust.  Diane is a Master Gardener, lives in The Walden Woods Complex in Windsor (located near Thrall Farm), and started their Community Garden.  Welcome, Diane!

e)      Capacity Building –

1.      Dale reported that he had seen Joel Neuwirth, and that Joel was firming up plans about Bloomfield Pride Week next June.   Kevin Gough offered to help as needed.

f)       Stewardship

1.      Chip Caton offered to set up a meeting with Mark Dodd to walk on The Schaffer Property.  Paula Jones, Kevin Gough, and Jim Trail asked to participate.  Paula committed to doing some work on this property as part of her Coverts Cooperator seminar participation in September. 

2.      Community Garden at Lisa Lane Farm – Vikki Reski is working with Nancy Bowden to plan a teaching/demonstration garden at Lisa Lane.  Ultimately, this could generate community participation in the larger planned Community Garden at Lisa Lane.  The Land Trust will be seeking help from the Town for this project.  Vikki talked about raised beds; Kevin Gough suggested the consideration of straw-bale gardening.  Vikki proposed using some stewardship funds for demonstration garden preparation; she will determine amount needed and e-mail the Board for approval.

4)      New Business –

a)      Next meeting dates:  (2^nd) Wednesdays November 12^th and December 10^th at Seabury Retirement Community.  In general, we are planning on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month for Board meetings.  Start time:  6 P.M. 

b)      Doris Johnson expressed her appreciation for a letter to DEEP Commission Rob Klee from Bloomfield Town Manager Phil Schenck on behalf of the town for all of Doris’ work on Lisa Lane.

c)      Dale Bertoldi reported that Windsor Land Trust President Jim Kandik had approached him about the possibility of a collaborative project around Mill Brook on the Windsor-Bloomfield line.  The Acquisition Committee will meet to consider this.  There was consensus that in principle collaborative projects with neighboring Land Trusts are beneficial, particularly in fostering a regional approach to conservation practices.

Recorded by Paula Jones 

 

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - September 10, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – September 10, 2014, Seabury Retirement Community, Bloomfield  

Present:  Jim Trail, Kevin Gough, Paula Jones, Vikki Reski, Dale Bertoldi, Doris Johnson, Vic Herson, Sten Caspersson

Great Blue Heron

                                                                               

1)      Minutes for the August 20^th Board Meeting were approved. 

2)      There was one addition (discussed under Financials), a $630 structural engineering bill for the Thrall Farm Potato Barn.

3)      Committee Reports

a)      Grants – (1) Evans Property – The Environmental Review is scheduled to be done by the end of October.  

b)      Financial

1.      Our August 31, 2014 account balances are as follows:  Checking - $2,559.16; Savings - $23,219.49; Restricted - $113,536.83.  Vikki reported that a number of contributions had been made in memory of Paul Hughes.

2.      Vikki requested Board approval to purchase a laptop and software for (approximately) $330 from Techsoup.  Money had been budgeted to do so.  The Board unanimously approved a motion to do so, noting the appropriateness of Wintonbury Land Trust owning a computer dedicated to Land Trust business.  We also discussed different options for data backup.  Paula will pass along a copy of Simsbury Land Trust’s Record Retention Policy to the Financial Committee.

3.      Vikki reported that we had received a $630 bill for structural engineering work for the Thrall Farm Potato Barn that was not budgeted for.  We briefly discussed how we could avoid this in the future by including in our annual budget any potential expenditures included as part of grant applications.

c)      Events

1.      Stewardship work days:  A work day is scheduled for Stout Family Fields on September 13^th (rain date September 14^th).  A work day is also scheduled for Van Otterloo on October 11^th at 10 AM, with a follow-up beer tasting at Back East Brewery at 2:30.  Rain date will be October 12^th (with no tasting since the Back East is closed on Sunday).

2.      Lisa Lane Ribbon Cutting on September 20^th – There will be local, state, and federal government representation at the ceremony. 

3.      October 4^th hike from Stout Family Fields to LaSalette – Jim Trail is planning this hike for the Seabury Community, with Land Trust members invited to participate.  Details will be provided in the September newsletter. 

d)     Membership/Community/Website

1.      Trail Guide for website – After some discussion, we decided to collect some examples of trail guides in order to determine upfront what format we would like to use.  Kevin offered to scan some pages from Simsbury Land Trust’s Walk Book; Doris also offered to provide some examples.

2.      Board Members Bios – Paula will send Diana Hughes the Board bios used at the Annual Meeting in June, with Jim, our new Board member, copied in.  We agreed that Board Bios should be used as filler material in newsletters.  We also agreed that it would be good to have a group photograph of the Board.

3.      Paula set up a Land Trust account for The Hartford Courant’s My Towns section.  We can use this to submit articles for upcoming events.  She will send the account information out to Board members involved with Community Outreach.

e)      Capacity Building –

1.      Volunteers –

(1)   Nancy Bowden would like to do a Community Garden project.  We are planning a demo garden at Lisa Lane Farm; a plot there has been identified.  Bloomfield’s Leisure Services has offered assistance. 

(2)   Christopher Shepard will attend an upcoming Board meeting to provide his analysis of our membership data, and to make some recommendations regarding building membership.

(3)   Catriona Horstmann has volunteered to serve on a Committee.

2.      Kevin reported that he had met with Joel Neuwirth about WLT’s participation in Pride Week Bloomfield next June.  Kevin conveyed that the Land Trust wants to participate, and suggested ideas generated during our August Board meeting.  Joel was receptive to those suggestions, and indicated he would be setting up a meeting at the end of September or early October.  Kevin offered to represent the Land Trust at that initial meeting.

f)       Stewardship

1.      The Stewardship Committee has completed a Baseline for Hawk Hill.

4)      New Business –

a)      Next meeting dates:  (2^nd) Wednesdays October 8^th and November 12^th at Seabury Retirement Community.  In general, we are planning on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month for Board meetings.  Start time:  6 P.M. 

b)      No Community Q&A.

 

Recorded by Paula Jones 

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - August 20, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – August 20, 2014, 52 Duncaster Road, Bloomfield  

Present:  Jim Trail, Kevin Gough, Paula Jones, Vikki Reski, Dale Bertoldi, Doris Johnson, Sten Caspersson

Territorial Toms

          1)      Minutes for the July 16^th Board Meeting were approved. 

          2)      There were no additions to the agenda.

    3)      Committee Reports

           a)      Grants – (1) Hawk Hill – As noted on the agenda, the   paperwork submitted by the Town attorneys is at NRCS for review.  We did not submit a 1772 Foundation barn grant application for Hawk Hill.  (2) Evans Property – The Environmental Review Team is scheduled to be done in late August/early September.

 

b)      Events

1.      Lisa Lane Ribbon Cutting on September 20^th – There will be local, state, and federal government representation at the ceremony. 

 

2.      Wildwoods Trail Hike at Seabury – Jim Trail will be leading this hike on August 30^th at 9 AM.  Brief descriptions will be posted on the Land Trust website and blog.  Paula will submit an article to The Hartford Courant. 

3.      Stewardship work days – Lisa Lane:  A work day has been scheduled for August 21^st.  The head of NRCS may be visiting the farm, depending on his schedule.  Stout Family Fields:  September 13^th; Van Otterloo:  October 11^th, (Rain date of October 12^th).  If we have the workday on Saturday the 11^th, we’ll follow up with a tasting at Back East Brewery.

4.      Jim is planning a hike ending at LaSalette on October 4^th for the Seabury Community.  He reported he had many requests to repeat the route offered on Trails Day in June.  He graciously agreed to open up the hike to WLT members as well.  Once he determines the exact route that will be offered, he’ll provide a short description for the September newsletter.  Paula offered to help him coordinate that with Diana Hughes. 

c)      Membership/Community/Website

1.      We discussed having a membership day at Back East Brewery next Spring or Summer.   

2.      Trail Guide for website – Jim reported that the IT department at Seabury is working on moving Seabury Trail information from Seabury’s internal resident-only site to their public-access site.  Once that work is complete, we can talk to Diana about linking our newsletter to the Seabury Trails link.  Ultimately, we can provide that link on the Land Trust website.

d)      Financial – July account balances:  $2,457.81 in checking; $21,015.59 in savings; $113,525.31 in restricted.  The 2013 tax filing was submitted on August 1, 2014.

e)     Capacity Building –

1.      Paula made the following motion:  “In accordance with Article VI, Section 3, of Wintonbury Land Trust Bylaws, I nominate Jim Trail to the Board of Directors for a term expiring at Wintonbury Land Trust’s 2015 Annual Meeting.”  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.  Welcome Jim!

2.      Paula offered to take the lead in setting up a Nominating Committee this fall in preparation for the 2015 Annual Meeting.

3.      Since Chip Caton was unable to attend, we tabled the Logo Design update.

4.      Dale reported that Joel Neuwirth had contacted him about the Land Trust participating in the 2015 Bloomfield Pride Week (June 8 – 13).  We brainstormed ideas for the event, including extending it to the full month of June (to offer more weekend activities), or at least to the preceding weekend, which would encompass Trails Day.  Either Kevin or Paula will follow up directly with Joel.

f)      Stewardship

1.      Stewardship Days - Our fall stewardship days are scheduled for the second Saturday of the month.  Vikki suggested we try the 3^rd Saturday of the month during the spring.  She also suggested we follow our workdays up with a social activity.  All agreed this is a good idea.  As mentioned above, if the Van Otterloo workday is not rained out and is held on Saturday, October 11^th, we’ll try a tasting at Back East Brewery.

2.      The Stewardship Committee plans on working with the property stewards to establish Baselines for Hawk Hill and Thrall Farm. 

2)      New Business –

a)      Next meeting dates:  (2^nd) Wednesdays September 10^th and October 8^th.  In general, we are planning on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month for Board meetings.  Start time:  6 P.M. 

b)      Jim Trail offered the use of a large lounge at Seabury to us for a meeting space if we think it would be suitable.  Jim suggested someone from the Board take a look at the space to make sure we agree; Paula offered to do so.  We’ll plan on meeting at Seabury Retirement Community for at least the next couple of meetings (to try it out); room details and directions will be provided prior to the September meeting. 

 

Recorded by Paula Jones

 

 

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - July 16th, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – July 16, 2014, 52 Duncaster Road, Bloomfield  

Present:  Chip Caton, Vikki Reski, Kevin Gough, Vic Herson, Sten Caspersson, Dale Bertoldi, Doris Johnson, Pat Sullivan, Paula Jones, Jim Trail

                                                                                          

1)      Minutes for the June 9^th Board Meeting and June 18^th Annual Meeting were approved.  We agreed that we will post the newly ratified Bylaws on our website.

2)      There were two announcements:  i) The 2014 2014Trust Alliance Rally will be held in Providence, RI, September 17^th to 20^th.  If someone wants to attend, Amy Paterson, Director of Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC) has offered CLCC members a $100 subsidy to help defray the cost. ii)  Kevin and Paula will be participating in the COVERTS program from September 11^th to 14^th.  They will focus on the Schaffer property for their projects.

 3)      Committee Reports

a)      Capacity Building – Chip Caton presented 4 new logo designs prepared by Robin Sherwood.  We quickly reached consensus to focus on the second option, with a few specific suggestions for Robin to consider.  All agreed that Robin had done a great job!

b)      Grants – Vikki is working on a 1772 Foundation Barn Grant since the Hawk Hill barn will need some stabilization work before winter.   She expects the closing on Hawk Hill to be sometime this fall.

c)      Acquisitions

1.      Evans Property:  Dale reported that we did not receive a grant award from Community Foundation of Northwest Connecticut on the Evans property.  He did get some feedback on our application, and reported that although there was interest in the Evans project, there was a lot of competition.   Vikki is pursuing an environmental review of that property through the Connecticut Environmental Review Team (ERT).  This report, besides its value to the Land Trust for management purposes, will be helpful by providing an objective view of the property’s resource values during fund raising.

2.      Roditi project:  The landowners have established they have a right-of-way into the parcels.  That determination is needed for an accurate appraisal of the parcels.

d)     Membership/Community/Website

1.      We had approached Back East Brewery last fall about ways they could support the Land Trust.  We reviewed what the Brewery owners had indicated they could do to help.  Flat Bread in Avon might also be willing to provide some support as they’ve done with other area non-profits.

2.      Membership – Paula will follow up with Christopher Shepard regarding his volunteer work on the membership data base, and ask if he could report his recommendations at an upcoming Board meeting, perhaps August.

3.      Trail Guide for website – Developing a Bloomfield Trail Guide was one of WLT’s 2014 goals.  Dale suggested that we launch this effort by asking volunteers to write trail descriptions using a standard format.  Connecticut Forest and Parks’ Walk Book and Simsbury Land Trust’s Walk Book were suggested as possible models for formatting purposes.  In addition to Land Trust property trails, we would provide links to other trails in town, including Seabury’s wonderful trail system.  We decided our publishing/publicizing process would be to feature a trail in our newsletter, followed by posting the description on our website.   Since we will be co-sponsoring a hike with Seabury Labor Day weekend, Paula and Jim agreed to launch the process with Seabury’s Wildwoods Trail by providing a description/link for the August newsletter.  Jim Trail suggested we consider using Picassa.  Since Picassa will overlay GPS-tagged photos on Google maps, we could take photos along the trails and create a Picassa album for each property.  Jim will send us a link of one Picassa Album he created for Seabury’s Trails Day in late June. 

e)      Financial – June account balances:  $2,457.81 in checking; $21,015.81 in savings; $113,511.25 in restricted.  Pat introduced a 5-year financial model that he has been working on.

f)       Events –

1.      Doris provided a short report of the many festivities planned for the Lisa Lane Farm Day on September 20^th.

2.      Pat reported that planning has begun for the progressive dinner.   It will be scheduled in late fall, prior to the (human) winter migration to warmer climes.

3.      WLT and the Seabury Trails Committee will co-sponsor a hike on Seabury’s Wildwoods Trail on Saturday, August 30^th, 9 A.M.  Rain date is Sunday, August 31^st.

g)      Stewardship –

1.      Vikki will e-mail some proposed dates for fall stewardship work at Stout Family Fields and at Van Otterloo. 

2.      Doris and Vikki described the good work done by the Nexus youth group at Lisa Lane Farm:  “On June 28, 2014, in an effort to create a publicly accessible farm, the joint efforts of the Youth Program of Leadership Greater Hartford, The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Office of Environmental Justice, The Town of Bloomfield, the Farmer and Wintonbury Land Trust worked with great success to pick up three designated areas on the Lisa Lane Farm.”  There was a nice article about this project in The Hartford Courant.  The youth group also solicited donations of tools for the Farm and Land Trust as part of their project.

3.      Paula suggested we set up some 2015 stewardship work days at our August Board meeting.  Diana Hughes (at the Annual Meeting) had suggested establishing some work dates so that people could hold the dates and plan to participate.

4)      New Business –

a)      Next meeting dates:  (3^rd) Wednesday, August 20^th; (2^nd) Wednesdays September 10^th and October 8^th.  In general, we are planning on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month for Board meetings.  Start time:  6 P.M.

 

Recorded by Paula Jones