Westwoods Trails Meeting
May 20, 2002
Guilford Community Center
Chair: Paul Proulx.
Meeting began: 7:30 PM
Attendance: 13 people. Eleanor Epler, Bob Handschumacher, Peter Johnson, Jessica Johnson, Karen Klugman, Joe Ortoleva, Peter Otis, Sandra Porter, Paul Proulx, Fred Richards, Sally Richards, Dia Robinson, Audrey Teofilo

Approval/Corrections to Minutes: Minutes were approved as written.

Resignations/New Members/ Member News: none

Correspondance: Connecticut Forest and Park Administration (CFPA) did not schedule a Westwoods hike for trails days probably because most trails are closed.

GLCT Report: Paul Proulx and Sally Richards attended the annual meeting of GLCT. The speaker, who is a biologist, gave a talk on the gypsy moth, the wooly adelgid, and the long-horned beetle. There are still no known wide-spread controls for the wooly adelgid, which has two cycles of reproduction per year. The Asian long-horned beetel affects selected hardwood trees, including maples, by drilling perfectly round holes through the wood, destroying the structure of the tree. So far, the only method of controlling the long-horned beetle has been to cut down and burn any tree found to be infested.

Trail Reports:
Westwoods.
-Team A - 12 hrs (Bob Handschumacher) Richard DeNardo cleared Cable Rock and emptied the trash barrels again. Bob H. will replace the sign on the Branford end of that trail. Paul, Peter J, David, and Sandy did ground clean up of the entire Green Rectangle in preparation for the re-opening.
-Team B. 6 hrs. (Dia Robinson) --- Dia and her sister marked the Orange Circle Trail from Sam Hill to Three Corners Road. They noted that there was heavy erosion from the rain in the areas where the scidder had left tread marks and that the entire area was a mess from the wide-spread cutting. Because there is no overstory left in many areas, we expect brambles to take over this area. There are a few young hardwoods, however. Where the Red Triangle and Orange Circle Trails intersect, there has always been a puddle. Now, because there are fewer trees to take up the water, the problem is much worse. Paul cut down 25 trees on the White Circle starting at Lost Lake and working north.
-Team C. (Karen Owen-Buckley) no report
Paul Trail - no report.
Nut Plains - Bob made signs, including one for private property, which contains the trail entrance. He talked to the owners, who were agreed to the sign posting.
Kampmeyer 2 hrs-Liz clipped and cleared a large portion of the trail. She found that much of the trail needs to be re-blazed because the paint is fading.
Eastwoods 4 hrs - Eastwoods ends near East Bearhouse Road. Sally and Susan found a way to clear a ½ mile trail through George Goss's property to connect Eastwoods to Nut Plains. They will start on that project soon.
Hoadley Creek -- The area has been very wet and the stream is roaring.
Spencer Creek -- no report

Work Parties.
-Community Work Party (CWP) - No community members showed up to work with Peter Johnson, Sandra Porter, David Scarpace, and Paul Proulx.

Old Business
-Status of Trail Re-opening Huber Hurlock was very happy with the work we had done on the Green Rectangle. It has not been officially re-opened yet, however, because two trees need to be felled with the help of rope pulleys. The Orange Circle has been cut from the Blue Rectangle to midway between Lost Lake and the Sam Hill entrance. Much of the White Circle Trail still remains to be cut.

New Business
-Westwoods - For the next meeting, everyone should think about what we should do about the remaining trails ---- keep cutting all of them, officially keep some closed yet continue to maintain them, permanently close some of them, or some other idea.

Adjornment - The meeting was adjourned at 8:30.
Recording Secretary --- Karen Klugman