Westwoods Trails Meeting
May 17, 2004
Guilford Community Center
Chair: Paul Proulx.
Meeting began: 7:35 PM
Attendance: (11 members & 1 visitor) Bob Handschumacher, Peter Johnson, Joe Kaufman, Dave Middleton, Joe Ortoleva, Sandra Porter, Paul Proulx, Sally Richards, Fred Richards, Kevin Smith, Audrey Teofilo.

Approval/corrections of minutes: Minutes for April 12, 2004 were approved without corrections.

Resignations/New Members/Members news: No resignations, no new members

CT Forest & Park: Paul attended the 75th Anniversary celebration of the CT Forest & Park Association at the Governor's Mansion. Current Events: Paul circulated recent newspaper articles
-May 5th New York Times had an article about breeding programs for different varieties of Hemlocks that are resistant to the Wooley Adelgid
-It was also mentioned that Maryanne Lincoln Hall writes a number of Shoreline Times articles and is interested in supporting local conservation and stewardship.

GLCT Report: Susan Kukle
-announced the purchase of two new land parcels
-suggested that everyone check out the GLCT website at www.guilfordlandtrust.org
-there are efforts to sign up more stewards for properties (see more detail further on)
-the annual meeting is on June 8th at the AW Cox school at 7:30pm
-The Water Authority and the Land Trust are offering joint memberships

Trail Reports
Westwoods:
-2 hours (Paul Proulx)Orange Circle and Yellow Circle have been blazed.
-The trails appear to be in great shape
-Table rock is cleaned up and fire places removed
-12 hours (Paul Proulx, Kevin Smith, Peter Johnson, George Goss, Ellsworth Mathias) completed cutting dead hemlocks on the Yellow Circle. 79 trees since last report.
Nut Plains: The walk went well, about 30 people attended
Paul Trail: In good shape, but needs blazing
Kampmeyer: 6 hours (Joe Kaufman)A new bridge was installed
Eastwoods: No report
Hoadly Creek: No report
Spencer Creek: No report.

Past Work Parties:
-7.5 hours (Kevin Smith, Paul Proulx, Ellsworth Mathias, Peter Johnson, Tom Conroy) Two bridges were replaced at Nut Plains.
-9 hours (Paul Proulx, Peter Johnson, Kevin Smith, Ellsworth Mathias, 2 GHS students) A bridge was installed on the yellow square in Westwoods
-4 hours (Paul Proulx, Audrey Teofilo) A section of the yellow triangle was re-routed to put a larger buffer between private property and trail.

Future Work Parties:
-Sunday cutting parties may continue for the next couple of weeks
-Due to increasing amounts of bugs work parties will begin again in the Fall
-Cutting out brush at Peddlers
-Bridge on Nature Trail
-Rocks in stream near North end of the Lost Lake on the Yellow square

Old Business:
-Kevin is pulling together ideas about approaching the school system regarding stewardship

New Business:
-Connecticut Trails Day is on June 4 and 5
-Brochures will be available at Bishops the Food Center, Trailblazers, Pages, and Breakwater Books
-Kevin will host the end of the year pot luck on June 21. It is proposed for Chaffinch Island Park , or at his house on Chaffinch Island Rd if weather is unfavorable. 6:30pm start time.

Stewardship:
Susan Kukle is very involved in organizing stewards for the Land Trust properties.
-The Land Trust is looking for people to be involved in monitoring properties
-There are guidelines available
-And there have been regular stewardship meetings
-The next meeting is on May 24th and new people are welcome
-There are currently over 35 people assigned to properties
-There are 170 parcels of Land
-There will be quarterly meetings for all stewards

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:40pm.
Recording Secretary: Sandra Porter