Dutchess County/Putnam County AT Management Committee

New York-New Jersey Trail Conference

Minutes of 162nd Meeting

Monday, April 23, 2001 7:00 PM East Fishkill Library

Attendance: Ron Rosen (Chair), Salley Decker, Jane Geisler, Michelle Miller (ATC), Jim Haggett, Fred Gerty, Sarah Ohliger (Americorps/Dutchess Land Conservancy), Frank Dogil, Pete Senterman, Alyssa Silberstein (Americorps/Public Lands Corps), Dick Redfield, Jim Robson, Pam Underhill, Rita Hennesey, Walt Daniels, Mike Arthur, Gerry Richardson (count=17).

0. The following AFor Your Action@ (FYA) items were circulated:

Registration forms for ATC Biennial Meeting, July 13-20, 2001, Shippensburg University, PA [TAKE ONE!]

The following AFor Your Information@ (FYI) items were circulated:

Biography of Fred Gerty from his retirement dinner; Hudson Valley River Ramble Memo and Materials from Jane Daniels

Trails Council 2/1/2001 Minutes and 4/5/2001 Agenda; AMC/CT Chapter Trails Committee minutes (March 13, 2001)

Dutchess County Planning Federation Short Course in Planning and Zoning 4/24, 5/10, 5/15; AMC Volunteer Trail Opportunities 2001 mailing; Town of Beekman letter and resolution approving Gerry Richardson as Town Representative to the DPATMC; 4/6/2001 Water Test Results for Wiley, Morgan Stewart, and RPH [all Negative!]; TechSmart article in USA Weekend magazine [technology in the great outdoors]; Letter to Scenic Hudson endorsing Mitzvah Day projects as AGreat River Sweep@ events; Article from Neil Zimmerman on Preventing ATV damage in NJ.

1. The minutes of the 161st meeting, March 19, 2001, were approved as (slightly) clarified.

[To break up the discussion, we did some of agenda item 3 before the Amain topic@]

3. Other business, short updates, etc.:

A. Acquisitions and Survey, if any; PamUnderhill gave a status report on the Youngwood parcel near Leather Hill Road. Mr. Youngwood has negotiated a slightly modified severance line, slightly reducing the acreage, but with the understanding that he will donate the land (about 4 acres). The Hartman survey work is now mostly completed; we will check with the Lands office to see when/if they have new maps in. Finally, Pam gave an overview of the current status of acquisition totals for New York, noting that 0.1 mile of Trail is still listed as unacquired. She will check to determine just what parcels this represents.

B. DOT project update (Jim Haggett)

Jim reported that on March 23, Don Owen, Karen Lutz and Jim met with DOT representatives at the Taconic/Miller Hill Intersection and looked at the steep pitch which eroded badly over the winter. To the surprise of all, DOT actually proposed a plan to improve the grade, including some steps, and indicated they will arrange to have the work done in the near future [they hope to attach the work to an existing contract and not have to go through a lot of paperwork to get the project done].

C. Bulletin Board inventory and review update

Walt Daniels agreed to send a list of all existing bulletin boards to Salley Decker [from the Trail Assessment]. Salley will try to meet with Joe Hrouda before the next meeting and bring back a report of the resources needed to complete the project. There was a short discussion of the material that should be used to cover the bulletin boardsBi.e., whether we should try to locate 1/4" Lexan or use hardened Plexiglas. Supposedly both are available from Home Depot.

D. Cell tower update

Jim Haggett reported that he took Don Owen to the site after the DOT meeting in 3B above. In the meantime, Dave Ruess of ATC has drafted a letter to go to the cellular company, and a copy was circulated. For now, the ball is in the cellular company=s court.

E. Outside project assistance plans

1) Mitzvah Day 4/29: Jane Geisler will lead a group that will start at Route 22, and will remove the remaining old materials from the work done last year on the Swamp River puncheon. They will work there for the morning, and then move to Hoyt Road to work on the short Atemporary@ relocation in the first field and then go to the Deuel Hollow bridge site to clean up the remaining old decking materials. George Muller will lead a second group (arranged by Jim Haggett) to relocate the trail between Hortontown Road and Miller Hill road [based on new acquisitions from Mr. Orsetti]. The small relo is intended to move the trail a little further away from the house across the street from the RPH shelter.

2) Jane Geisler has not been in touch with the Westchester High School group that is willing to work in May. Jane may wait until after the Mitzvah Day project to see what remains to be done, and then call this group.

2. Meeting Centerpiece: Nuclear Lake Caretaker House and site plans. Pam Underhill introduced the discussion, indicating that she and Rita wanted to have an in-person discussion with us to better understand the recommendations we sent them over the winter. In the meantime, the NPS has conducted a survey (using Roosevelt-Vanderbilt staff) of the structure, and the report indicates the structure is in better shape than was expected. However, if the structure is retained, work will need to be done on the well soon. Pam did indicate that (given the survey results), they are increasingly willing to consider retaining the structure and recognize that it has a definite trail purpose.

Fred Gerty likened the NPS acquisition of the Nuclear Lake parcel as a place where AThe anaconda swallowed the pig.@ The large parcel and the presence of an easy access road provide lots of opportunities for mischief. Fred reiterated that onsite management will prevent all sorts of potential problems. He suggested that the NPS, ATC, and the caretaker should develop a MOU with basic responsibilities stated clearly.

Ron agreed that the DPATMC will convene a subcommittee to draft a job description for the position of Nuclear Lake Caretaker. Pam and Rita agreed that the NPS should be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the structure, presuming all agree that it should be retained. [The alternative would be delegation of the structure to ATC and perhaps to NYNJTC for such issues, but NPS now recognizes that it should retain these responsibilities]. Ron noted the subcommittee will send a draft job description to the NPS for review and comment; Fred Gerty agreed to develop the starting draft for the subcommittee.

3. Other items, continued

F. Request for Bog Bridge repairs (Bob Marshall, Margaret Douglas): Margaret sent in to Ron a detailed description of the Bog Bridge (Puncheon) just west of Route 9 below Graymoor. Walt feels that the condition is not as dire as Margaret indicates. Walt will talk with Bob Marshall and Margaret Douglas and he will arrange for temporary repairs.

G. Ann Sherwood (CT/AMC) has requested a field visit to Schaghticoke Mountain to review the new acquisition and review the plans for a maintainer/monitor access. Salley Decker plans to go out with Ann once a date is selected.

H. Quick review of Structures Demolition Activities: Michelle reviewed the status of the contract. The Depot Hill stone structure is done—the house has been reduced to a fairly attractive boulder field. The cement pad they built for the Morgan Stewart well is a little small, but we can’t really complain since the contractor did it at no extra cost. The committee will expand the pad at a later time. The remaining demolition sites (Brown, Baker, and RPH garage) will happen soon, probably in May.

I. Monitor Workshop Saturday, May 5, 2001: Ron announced that Chris Florack will lead the program, with the classroom portion to be held at Haldane High School, Cold Spring, as part of the NYNJTC Trail Maintenance workshop. Field work will follow in the afternoon. Ron will assist. Encourage all potential monitor candidates to register ASAP!

J. Ron reported that the possibility of using the former Wildcat shelter pump (ORATMC) is not very feasible, as it is neither sturdy nor likely to have the lift power required for a deep well. Therefore, Michele will work with Jim Haggett on resurrecting his original grant proposal for a full replacement well.

4. Reports

A. Area Supervisors Summaries:

Jane Geisler has agreed to lead a Hudson River Ramble hike at Nuclear Lake. She has already described the plans for Mitzvah Day, but she clarified that the small relo planned for the field near Hoyt Road can proceed without further review. She indicated that she has scouted a larger relo that goes quite far north in the corridor to bypass as much as possible of the large wet area on the corridor. This relo would be long enough to need NPS environmental review and NYNJTC Trails Council review.

Frank Dogil had nothing new to report.

Mike Arthur commented that the Troop 40 Eagle Scout project is on for Telephone Pioneers shelter work, but will probably not include the privy moving [so we need to handle that part separetely]. Jane noted that Sanne Larsen was willing to help with monitoring, but that Sanne has told her she plans to move to GA soon. Mike also noted that some Gardner Hollow Road construction may be an incursion; he is checking and will update us.

Jim Haggett said the new side trail [yellow] at Nuclear Lake is about half blazed. He plans to lead a project to handle the small relo, with the main intent to stay further away from the house across the street at RPH. He commented that ConEd has had contractors recently trimming trees near their ROW on Shenandoah, and that they have done too much cutting.He also noted there are bad blow downs on the trail south of Long Hill Road. There was a short general discussion of AMC maintenance, and Jim agreed to ask AMC to provide some representative to our meetings for improved communications. Ron noted that Tom McCarthy is listed as a member of DPATMC but regrettably has not attended regularly for the last few years.

Walt Daniels B see above (3F) on puncheon repair.

5. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:45PM.

Submitted by Walt Daniels with post-processing assistance by Ron Rosen.