Charlestown Township Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) Meeting Minutes Monday, January 10, 2022

Meeting was held in Great Valley Middle School, Chorale Room, # 154.

Goodman opened the meeting at 7:19 pm.

There is an issue with the EAC email address receiving minute corrections from Armstrong and Solomon. Goodman will send out corrected minutes and we will vote next meeting to approve the December minutes. Goodman will follow up with Linda to diagnose the problem with the email address.

New:

1. Armstrong: per Vic Laubaugh, “I really like the idea of the EACs joining the Homegrown National Park (https://homegrownnationalpark.org/) movement — it seems to cover a lot of what people are interested in — pollinators, productive native plants (https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/keystone-plants-by-ecoregion), pesticide use.”
   Armstrong had distributed Northern Chester County EACs’ collaboration on this project. Laubaugh is also encouraging EACs to work together on the Homegrown National Park— we could purchase plants as a collective.
   Goodman likes the idea of Homegrown National Park vision.
   Solomon cautioned against taking on too much for our EAC amongst our other goals. Richardson suggests that we could educate residents about Tallamy’s 10 steps to create a “homegrown national park” for private landowners — maybe bring it up during our Earth Day or Charlestown Day Events.
2. Richardson congratulated Maany for promoting volunteerism for Chester County boards and committees.
   https://enewspaper.dailylocal.com/?token=621727267bd331fe66c58313f2471b80_61ba9d30_98a_0&selDate=20211212&goTo=A01
3. Richardson recognized Armstrong for her presentation to the Immaculata University Lifelong Learning Institute today on Plastics, as well as Solomon’s talk on Food as Medicine. It was so interesting and informative — the audience was attentive.
4. Request to have EAC pay for Brightside buffer sign modifications- Armstrong had sent around revised version of sign- the sign was given as a gift from Nurture Nature Center. A graphic artist is doing the sign modifications and adding to the logo. Armstrong suggested we vote on spending EAC budget. There was a suggestion of putting a cap limit of $200 to pay for the expenses but open for discussion if that is not enough- Armstrong will still need to consult P&R and BoS, Green Valley Watershed Assoc., and Chester County Conservation District. Walker made a motion to approve the $200 limit - Richardson seconded it— all were in favor.

On Going:

1. Recruitment of EAC member and associate members:
   We were too late to make it into the prior township newsletter. Armstrong has a recruitment piece with a graphic and will send to Linda for the Jan. 15 newsletter deadline. Solomon, Armstrong and Goodman will work together on a job description revision via the drive.
   Solomon, Richardson may know someone who may be interested.
   Armstrong recommends giving bylaws to interested residents, so they have a better understanding of expectations for participation.
2. EAC Plans for 2022:
   Weed warrior program– Goodman had sent around Valley Forge Weed Warrior program— it is very comprehensive. Not all members had seen it. Goodman will resend.
   Maintenance of plantings: Deerfield and Brightside.
   Website & Technology: Social Media, does Friends of Charlestown on Weebly provide us with some data space? Do we want to have invitations with RSVP for our events/talks? Can we join P&R on their Facebook page? Solomon and Walker have some tech background. The goal is outreach to residents and creating a database. Is this topic a priority or should we table this topic for a future discussion or placeholder? What is most urgent at this time is having an email list for invitations for future talks.
   Solomon wants emails from EAC members who they would want to invite to our next talk so we could pilot an invitation to collect RSVPs.
3. Natural Resources protective ordinances (trees and others) request per PC & Thomas Comitta Assoc. This was sent around to all members with requests for revisions. Goodman also has reviewed Schuylkill tree ordinance as comparison (which seems more restrictive) — Goodman will send around to members to review.
   Clarification was made that the PC document we are reviewing is an enhancement of existing SALDO ordinances, not individual lots.
4. EAC bylaws– Armstrong, Goodman & Solomon on this subcommittee have finalized bylaws. Goodman will send around (as PDF) the final work after Armstrong does her final revisions. We can discuss via email any revisions or suggestions.
5. Richardson: Tree I.D. program will be on Saturday, April 30 at 10 a.m. tentatively. We will post a ‘save the date’ on Nature News going out soon.
6. Solomon – Nature News is ready to go: (Jan., Apr., Jul. & Oct.) Update. Need April topics.
7. Township newsletter articles have been submitted for the 1/15 deadline. Next deadline is 4/15, 7/15, & 10/15.
   By the way, a second kestrel box was installed in Brightside in center of the field near Hollow Road.
8. Armstrong: Friends of Charlestown.us website. We had discussed in a prior meeting whether the EAC wants to assume operations and maintenance? Solomon has volunteered to be in contact with Chis Lawrence by March.
9. Weed Warrior program - Carol and Ashley met and decided that the #1 priority for pulling invasives is Multiflora Rose in Brightside and on Pickering trail. P&R has people that will pull them, but they want community involvement. Ashley wrote an article for the January township newsletter to provide education about this invasive plant.
10. Carol and Ashley want to have a Weed Warrior kickoff meeting at Brightside Park by the community garden. Date is Saturday April 2 with rain date the 3rd. Meg will add to NN before sending.
11. In the summer, want to attack Mile-a-Minute. Carol suggested writing small articles about each invasive and putting it on our EAC website page. Volunteer targets are gardeners and garden enthusiasts. It is manual work. Carol and Ashley added Bitter Grass and Johnson grass to Ashley’s already extensive list that she shared with the EAC (Excel spreadsheet).
12. Next education series is the Ecologist that Sharon solicited to do a tree identification walk. She sent an email with the details. We need to find out what he provides vs what we need to bring (e.g., handouts).
13. No update on Riperian buffers.
14. Spring – want to plant a persimmon tree in Esther’s honor.
15. Meeting ended at 9:50 (YES, we actually ended early).