Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - March 11, 2015

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – March 11, 2015, Seabury Retirement Community, Bloomfield  

Present:  Kevin Gough, Paula Jones, Dale Bertoldi, Sten Caspersson, Chip Caton, Vic Herson, Vikki Reski, Pete Cruikshank

1.  Minutes for the February 11, 2015 Board Meeting were approved. 

Snowshoeing at Wintonbury Hills Golf Course

2.  There were two additions to the agenda – Hawk Hill advertisement on Connecticut farmlink; Membership work in 2015. 

3.  There was no additional discussion on the 2015 budget. 

4.  Committee Reports

a)      Grants

1.      Hawk Hill – We will advertise on farmlink after the property closing.

2.      Evans Property – The Open Space grant application was hand-delivered to DEEP on February 26.

3.      Community Investment Act funding – Paula submitted a letter of testimony on behalf of the Land Trust objecting to the proposed sweep of CIA funds into the State’s General Fund.  Chip suggested providing a sample letter to legislators in our March newsletter.  Paula will e-mail the letter she submitted to Chip and the rest of the Board so that it can be used to craft the newsletter sample and other personal letters to legislators.  

b)      Financial

1.      Vikki is stepping down as Acting Treasurer after second quarter; she will be focusing more on stewardship of Land Trust properties.  She is joining the Board of Auer Farm and hopes to cultivate cooperative efforts between the organizations.  Many thanks to Vikki for her past, present, and future heroic efforts on behalf of the Land Trust!

2.      Vikki reported she will be updating the System for Award Management (SAM) registration for Federal grants and for the CT. Secretary of State this month.

3.      February 28, 2015 balances:  $5,434.34 in checking; $39,421.50 in savings; $264,657.86 in restricted funds.  There were two payments for work on the Evans Property acquisition:  $2,500 for the Yellow Book appraisal, and a partial payment of $2,124 for the A2 survey.  The total survey cost will be $3,500. Sten Caspersson and Mary Ann Henzler are working on the 2014 end-of-year statement.

4.      Vikki will be paying the bill to register our website domain for another two years.  The Board authorized her to request a debit card for the WLT account since online payments for such expenditures are preferred.

c)      Events

1.      The Hawk Hill celebration is currently planned for May 9^th at 3 or 4 p.m.  The Hagers will be providing the use of their barn for the festivities.  There will be a ceremony at the Hawk Hill Barn; Vic Herson will be the Master of Ceremonies.

2.      We will also be presenting at Seabury the morning of May 9^th.  Our host is Seabury’s In Support of Democracy (ISOD) group.  Thanks to Jim Trail for helping set this up. 

3.      Annual Meeting on June 10^th – Paula will contact Jim Trail after he returns from his trip to start planning the details of our Annual Meeting to be held at Seabury.  In the meantime, Paula will check on Julie Victoria’s (from DEEP) availability to speak about the State’s revised plan for wildlife conservation.  Ms. Victoria will be doing a presentation on this topic at the Canton Land Trust’s Annual Meeting in March.

4.      The Land Trust and Prosser Library will co-sponsor “It all Happened on the Farmington River:  A Story of Historic Sites, Fish, Factories, Floods & Flows” on July 1^st.  This is a fun and informative presentation by Eileen Fielding, Executive Director of Farmington River Watershed Association.  The Land Trust will provide light refreshments. 

5.      Hikes and work days – Given the snow cover and resulting expected melt and mud, the scheduled work days for Lisa Lane and Van Otterloo will be modified.  The Van Otterloo workday will now be on March 28^th.  Lisa Lane work days will be scheduled for April.

6.      Celebrate Bloomfield – Dale reported that the Bloomfield Journal will be publishing a special edition on this week-long event.  Participants have been asked to provide an article about their organization.  A quarter page article costs $200; a half page article costs $400.  Chip will research the two options and recommend a size/expenditure to the Board.

7.      Late summer fundraising event – There was general consensus we should hold a tag sale.  Dale suggested we have the sale at the Hawk Hill barn, since we will own the property at that point.

d)     Membership/Community/Website

1.      Lisa Lane Farm – Vikki requested approval to spend up to $2,000 from the stewardship fund to purchase straw wattles.  The wattles will be used as (start-up) bed edges in the community garden.  Renters of garden plots will be responsible for maintaining plot edges after the straw composts.   The request was approved.

2.      Membership – Paula and Chip will contact Christopher Shepard.  Christopher had offered last October to meet with Board members to help us get started setting some specific membership objectives.

3.      The Land Trust Alliance article on Wintonbury Land Trust has been submitted.  We will ask for permission to reprint the article after it’s published.

e)      Capacity Building

1.      New logo – The Board selected the second of three options for the new logo.     

2.      Summer Interns – Hartford Foundation for Public Giving will not provide funding for interns.  Chip offered to pursue other private donor options.

f)       Stewardship

1.      Thrall Farm equity report – Kevin reported the equity credited to Newgate Farms for 2014 work on the property.  The value credited was $11,306.  The Sedors have done a great job on the property. 

5.  New Business

a)    Next meeting date:  April 8, 2015, (2^nd Wednesday of the month), 6 – 7:30 p.m., Seabury Retirement Community.

b)   Community Question & Answer – As a follow-up to last month’s question from Sten regarding access to Land Trust funds, Paula confirmed that the President and Treasurer (Dale and Vikki-Acting Treasurer, respectively) are authorized to sign checks on behalf of the Land Trust.  Dale, Vikki, and Chip currently have check writing and depositing authority.  We agreed that we will discontinue Chip’s authority after second quarter when a new Treasurer has been appointed.  

 

Meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.

Recorded by Paula Jones       

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - February 11, 2015

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – February 11, 2015, Seabury Retirement Community, Bloomfield  

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

                                                                                              

1.  Minutes for the January 14, 2015 Board Meeting were approved. 

Snow & Cold?  Embrace it!

2.  There were no additions to the agenda. 

3.  2015 Planning – The Board agreed on six goals for 2015:

• Form a membership committee and update the membership data base. 
• Sponsor four community outreach events – Hawk Hill celebration; Earth Day celebration; Trails Day/Celebrate Bloomfield event; plus a 4^th event in the fall. 
• Update the Land Trust logo and website.  Link trails data sheets to the website.
• Close on Hawk Hill and the Evans Property.
• Update the web site and find a webmaster.
• Complete the LaSalette Trail from Filley House to Penwood Park.

 

We agreed that the 4^th community outreach event should be a fund-raiser (e.g., Progressive Dinner, Tag Sale, and Wine-tasting).  The numerous hikes being planned for 2015 are targeted primarily to benefit Wintonbury Land Trust members.

 

Vic Herson, who was unable to attend, requested that we consider whether or not to offer a Bike Tour in May or June this year.  Given our existing plans for late spring/early summer, Vic suggested it doesn't make sense to schedule the bike tour for May/June.  The Board agreed, but discussed the possibility of offering the bike tour in the fall (September?).  Would we potentially draw more participants since our impression is that there are less bike tours offered then?  Paula will follow up with Vic and ask him to get some input from others (previous riders, cycling friends) to gauge interest in a fall ride.

Regarding 2015 budgeting, Vikki Reski recommended budgeting $5,000 for stewardship, versus $500 shown on the preliminary Budget.  There was consensus to accept that recommendation.  Additionally, there was some discussion about increasing the amount allocated for events from $2,800 to $3,000.

4.  Committee Reports

a)      Grants –   Evans Property – Kevin Gough & Paula Jones are working on the DEEP Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition (OSWA) Grant Application, due March 1, 2015.  A question in the Eligibility Section of the application is whether the Land Trust has adopted and implemented the Land Trust Standards & Practices.  Wintonbury Land Trust did so in 2009, but Paula recommended that WLT formally resolve to adopt the recommendations from Danofsky & Associates LLC’s organizational assessment of the Land Trust.  Accordingly, the following statement and resolution was approved unanimously: 

Wintonbury Land Trust adopted the 2007 Land Trust Standards & Practices in 2009, and undertook an organizational assessment by Danofsky & Associates LLC during the fall of 2011.  Results of that assessment were subsequently presented to the Board in a report dated January 2012. Since that time, the Board has been implementing changes based on the report recommendations, and will continue to do so.  In order to formally acknowledge the Board’s acceptance of the report, the Board duly adopts and ratifies the following resolution:

RESOLVED, that the Board of Directors of Wintonbury Land Trust hereby formally accepts the recommendations of Danofsky & Associates LLC presented in the Organizational Assessment & Strategic Plan, January 2012, Prepared for Wintonbury Land Trust, in order to strengthen governance policies and procedures.  

It was also noted that the Connecticut Environmental Review Team report on the Evans Property noted the property’s value in connecting the neighborhood to local schools.  That aspect of trail connectivity should be noted in the grant application.  

Based on ideas Sten Caspersson e-mailed to the Board in January after reading the CT ERT report, he and Chip will work together designing a flyer on the Evans Property for fund-raising purposes.   

b)      Financial – January 30, 2015 balances:  $5,434.34 in checking; $39,421.50 in savings; $239,635.66 in restricted funds.   Vikki, Sten, and Mary Ann Henzler are working on a more comprehensive 2014 end-of-year statement.  There was discussion and general agreement that some funds be allocated from savings to general stewardship.

c)      Events

1.      Hawk Hill celebration – This event is planned for late April or the first week of May.  Chip will serve as the Board contact to the event planning committee.

2.      Annual Meeting & WLT celebration – Jim Trail reported that the Seabury Dining Room could be available for our annual meeting if the meeting is held the second Wednesday of June.  Seabury’s retiring Marketing Director (now Seabury resident) is very enthusiastic about the Land Trust having its Annual Meeting there.  Jim will be traveling and miss the March Board meeting, but will get the set-up process underway before he leaves.  On a related note, Jim indicated that Seabury’s ISOD (In Support of Democracy) group is also enthusiastic about WLT doing a Saturday morning presentation about the Land Trust for Seabury residents.  Jim will find out what Saturday dates are available.  Paula offered to help with Annual Meeting (& presentation) planning. 

3.      Hikes and work days – Dale reported that Sacred Heart Church has offered tables to non-profits on Friday (June 5^th) of “Celebrate Bloomfield” week for the purpose of increasing community awareness. 

d)     Membership/Community/Website – Yale School of Forestry Conference “Urban Nature as a Human Resource” – this agenda item was tabled since Doris Johnson was unable to attend (& report).

e)      Capacity Building

1.      Media Campaign – We will pursue the Land Trust “Storyboard” idea, assuming we can obtain an updated Bloomfield map from Town Planner Jose Giner.  Chip will also work with Robin to finalize our new logo, and to update our informational/membership brochure.  Konica-Minolta will donate printing services.  Chip suggested we target completion of these materials in time for one of our Community Outreach events.  

2.      Summer Interns - Vikki proposed summer internships for work on membership and community garden stewardship.  She suggested we consider offering stipends to interns.  The Board was in general agreement with this idea.  She will make calls to University of Hartford and Trinity for input on stipend amounts.  

5.  New Business

a)    Next meeting date:  March 11, 2015, (2^nd Wednesday of the month), 6 – 7:30 p.m., Seabury Retirement Community.

b)   Community Question & Answer – Sten asked who has access to Land Trust funds.  Dale Bertoldi, Vikki Reski, and Chip Caton indicated that they currently have check writing and depositing authority.  In (briefly) checking the bylaws, the President and Treasurer (Dale and Vikki-Acting Treasurer, respectively) are authorized to sign checks on behalf of the Land Trust.  The Vice President (Chip) is explicitly authorized to work with the President and execute duties on his behalf during his absence, including execution of papers.  The Board agreed we should review the Bylaws prior to the Annual Meeting to determine if a change should be proposed to the membership (explicitly) giving the Vice President signing authority for payments of money.  Paula also indicated that an Article be added to the bylaws, incorporating our (existing) Conflict of Interest Policy, since this was recommended in the WLT Organizational Assessment.   

Meeting adjourned at 7:35 p.m.  

Recorded by Paula Jones       

 

 

  

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