Dutchess County/Putnam County AT Management Committee
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Announcement & Agenda for 169th Meeting
Tuesday, March 12, 2001 7:00 PM East Fishkill Library Cross Conference Room
SNOW Date: Wednesday, March 13th , same time, New Hackensack Reformed Church

2. . The Mitzvah Day for 2002 will be held on Sunday, April 28. Please let Walt Daniels and/or Jane Geisler know if you can help at either project site for that day!

3. Monitor Supervisors: The fall Corridor Monitoring supervisor reports, if not yet turned in, are now overdue to the Chair! Get your outstanding reports in NOW!

1. Review and approval of minutes of the 168th meeting, January 15, 2002. The minutes of the last meeting can be found on the web at http://www.nynjtc.org/committees/trailscouncil/at-committees/DP/index.html

2. Meeting Centerpiece: Don Owen of the National Park Service AT Park Office will be joining us (and perhaps others from ATC and/or NPS may be here as well). Don will highlight (a) current activities regarding cultural resources along the Trail and (b) the NPS work on a plan for managing cultural and natural resources along the A.T.

A. Area Supervisors Summaries: Jane Geisler, Frank Dogil, Mike Arthur, Jim Haggett, Walt Daniels

B. Other reports

All Committee members, please attend this meeting; or please call the Chairman (Ron Rosen: 845/454-4936 (be persistent) or 454-1721 (leave a message if not in) if you CANNOT attend. ALSO, call Ron if you are unsure as to whether we will invoke the weather date, but please call on Tuesday, March 12th no later than 6PM if you are unsure if we are likely to proceed with the meeting as planned. The alternate location is the New Hackensack Reformed Church, which is on the East side of Route 376 approximately 6 miles north of the East Fishkill Library, near the Dutchess County Airport. Enter near the church office (north end of the parking lot between the church and the highway), and the meeting will be in Room 12.

2. We have received notification from NPS of the specific tracts to be surveyed by Hartmann in the new contract. The list includes the following tracts: Segment 265 (Schaghticoke, all 5 new: 32,34, 35, 36, and 37). Segment 267 (Leather Hill to Pawling Nature Preserve area, new marked with ) 21*, 08, 23* [Youngwood], 25* [Girl Scouts/Stevens addition], and 26* (CMH near Johnson Road). Segment 272 on Hosner Mtn.: 06, 07, 08, 09, 10 (Ron is inquiring about 272-28 the Kelly addition, and the new DOT acquisition just north of the Taconic Parkway, which we don't think have been surveyed). Segment 273 (Shenandoah Mtn.): 01, 05, and 10. Segment 277 (Graymoor to Route 9): 31* [Graymoor, presumably including the new changes], 29, 33, 35, 28* [OSI tract that includes Curry Pond, not clear if the Colt Estate boundary has been settled and will be surveyed], and 40* [which is probably the additional OSI tract on the west side down to the vicinity of South Mountain Pass]. Tract 278 [South Mtn. Pass to Bear Mtn. Bridge]: 02 and 08 along Route 9D, 06 and 09 on South side of South Mountain Pass.

The $64 question to ask: are there any additional parcels that should be/should have been included in this survey addition? If you think so, please contact Ron Rosen ASAP!

Also up for discussion re acquisition are two other items: (1) Could NPS drop the acquisition plans for the 10' Right-of-Way easements on Schaghticoke [Parcels 265-38 and 39] given the four fee parcels recently acquired? There have been some problems in negotiations, apparently. (2) A remote (?) possibility that the Girl Scouts may be interested in selling some interest in land on Camp Ludington on Depot Hill; this "opportunity" may be nothing more than a misunderstanding, but we should pursue it a little further.

3. On February 13, Ron Rosen accompanied Pete Irvine (NPS/USFS/AT Park Office) and Michele Miller for a review of the plans to use the Hosner Mountain Boundary Incursion fine money to remove the Yegella Farm spring house and well house. The question for us at this time: the NPS would like to permanently close and abandon the well that was previously "well-banked" for possible future use. Given our recent history of major problems and maintenance issues with our wells, do we have a problem acquiescing to their request/preference to abandon this well. The well is NOT at an overnight use area (where all of our in-use wells are located), and this impending contract could fully remove all man-made structures from this site (including the large spring house foundation, two smaller spring boxes discovered in our visit to the site just behind the big foundation, the well house foundation and the well itself, and three power poles and the electric lines on the poles. The project may also include additions to the electric fence along the brook (the outlet from the springs) to protect the east bank of the brook from the cattle except for one location that would be designated as an animal watering point). Such a fence addition may also require an additional stile near the present AT bridge over this brook. We may also choose to make a recommendation concerning the Peni well, which is similarly not located at an overnight use area.

Ron, Pete, Michele, and Jim Haggett also reviewed the RPH well modifications with Ray Strohm of the Dutchess County Health Department. Present plans call for removal of the concrete well pit (at least the upper two feet or so, perhaps more if there is a concrete bottom), extending the well casing about 30", installing a new top flange and new pump, importing a large amount of fill [mostly clay] to raise the terrain around the well casing about 6" above the level of the present concrete top, and building a new sloped concrete pad with a drain to the west. If you have any suggestions or concerns, bring them to this meeting.

4. Gail Neffinger (Orange/Rockland AT MC) has contacted us to investigate the possibility of jointly employing a trail ridgerunner this summer (probably mid-May through mid-September). New Jersey presently has three ridgerunners, two funded by the state and one directly employed by NYNJTC. This NY ridgerunner would probably be employed by NYNJTC, although it might be worth investigating the possibility of involving Americorps (through YRDC) as the employer and NYNJTC would be the host site. By the meeting date, this proposal may have matured, changed, or disappeared. In any case, be prepared to discuss the possibility-Gail suggested their needs including trying to prevent major ATV activity that is plaguing some of their trail areas.

Fax from ATC regional office regarding Orsetti's application to the Town of East Fishkill for a special use permit to build and operate a Commercial Riding Stable on his farm (Public Hearing was held on 1/15/2002, we got fax on 1/17/2002. Pam Underhill (NPS AT Park Office) sent a letter to the town with concerns (apparently the attached map did not remove the lands that now belong to NPS). Do we need to try to attempt to intervene?

• Water Testing results from Sara's rounds of January 23 (ALL NEGATIVE!).
• AMC/CT Trails Committee minutes 2/5/2002
• Volunteer sign-up sheet for NYS Outdoor Writers Assn. Spring Safari, May 17&18, 2002
• Trails Council meeting plans and agenda for 2/14/2002
• Trails Council minutes from 12/6/2001
• NYNJTC Leadership List Update (1/31/2002)
• New (?) Trail Update form for NYNJTC
• Friends of the Great Swamp (FROGS) Winter 2002 newsletter
• Excerpt from Dutchess County Legislature insert in Poughkeepsie Journal re "Preserving Our Open Spaces"
• Request to assist DelDoc in a 2002 GPS resurvey of the entire AT
• Copy of letter and sketch map from Ron to Pam Underhill re Nuclear Lake trails network
• Letter to Mid-Atlantic region concerning the new group-use awareness/education initiative.