Minutes, January 17, 2005

Dutchess County/Putnam County AT Management Committee
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Minutes of 188th Meeting
Monday, January 17, 2005 7:00PM New Hackensack Reformed Church

Attendance: Jim Haggett, Ron Rosen, Frank Dogil, Jane Geisler, Salley Decker, Mike Arthur, Fred Gerty, Steve Klauck, Fred Lauf [Dutchess County Coop Extension Youth Development]

Chair Jim Haggett called the meeting to order at 7:09 PM.

The following FYI and FYA items were circulated:

• FYA items: Business cards (draft version) – corrections asked from those requesting cards.
• FYI items:
• Dover Knolls development’s first informational meeting January 31 at Dover High School
• YRDC final report for 2004 for work done on AT in Dutchess/Putnam
• Article on Benton MacKaye trail designed to take pressure off southern AT
• New Kittatiny Trails Guide available
• CT – AMC October 2004 minutes
• CT – AMC November 2004 minutes
• AT Museum News (Tim Messerich’s interest)
• Press release on hunting and the AT
• Bear Mountain Overview presentation

• Review and approval of minutes of the 187 th meeting (November 15, 2004): The minutes for this meeting can be found on the web at http://www.nynjtc.org/committees/trailscouncil/at-committees/DP/index.html. The minutes were accepted as published, except that it was noted that Jim Haggett had done some post-processing after Ron’s recording.

• Meeting features: review of 2005 goals and plans—the following notes are in addition to the changes to the document.
• Monitor status—Jim has one more vacancy, Frank is down one, Walt needs at least one, and Mike has a few monitors who are not actively serving (plus some official vacancies).
• Fred Lauf suggested his Youth Group could help with Water Testing starting perhaps sometime this summer. Jane Geisler will check with the colleges in the area for water testing.
• Mike Arthur will attempt to determine status of Cunningham Easement on Depot Hill (check to see if he filed a map defining the easement)
• Discussion on Old Route 55 bridge replacement at Steve Klauck’s request. Jim will contact Larry Wheelock to see if Tibor Lantincsics ( New Jersey) can be used to review the bridge to determine the best course of action

• O ld Business, short updates, etc.: NOTE: ITEMS with no comments were discussed during the review of the annual priority list.
• Acquisitions and Survey update
• Bulletin Board replacement (Mike Arthur, others)
• ATC Regional meeting – meeting is week after this one (Ron Rosen). Fred suggested we get more field staff out to deal with the organizations such as Metro North, Contractors, etc.
• ATC Board meeting (Walt Daniels) – meeting is next week. Items for Walt to present? Trail Assessment project update (Walt Daniels) - next steps...
• Water Projects status – RPH, NL, testing
• Relocation plans ( Nuclear Lake & Harlem Valley State Hospital) – environmental assessment—Don Owen is likely to be here in May, so it is not likely we can do this project for National Trails Day.
• Mitzvah Day 2005 on May 15 – projects? Response due Jan. 7, 2005
• Bear Mountain AT redesign/relocation/rebuilding. Planning meetings Dec. 5 & 6
• 2005 meeting schedule – location change for March
• 2006 – 2011 projects requiring funding
• Nuclear Lake access road work
• Other items?
• Reports:
• Area Supervisor Summaries:
• Walt Daniels had no report
• Jim Haggett had no report
• Mike Arthur checked out the Cat Rocks area with Jim Haggett, and decided that the route around a large blowdown can stay as is in the upper area.
• Frank Dogil had no report.
• Jane Geisler removed her “no hunting” signs with her daughter’s help. They worked on the stile near the water tower. Jane will get the maintainer to stabilize the railing on the bridge. They used a railroad tie for a step to the bridge. The gutter on the Wiley Shelter is not working well; it has not been cleaned, and the heat from the fireplace has caused it to sag. The Johnson Road rock has been moved; Jane has had contact with Mr. Ford on Johnson Road, who keeps trying to convince us to let him bury the stonewall, which is on our side of the boundary. Jane has lost two maintainers and has feelers out at ADK for new ones. Jane is talking with Lynn Murphy, who has an Adventure Girl Scout group, who may be interested in helping with the trail.
• Other reports:

Chair’s report—Jim needs supervisors to submit their reports ASAP! Tim Messerich was telling Jim about Ken Boyd, who lives in Millbrook. He is associated with a metalworking shop, and perhaps Ken could build bear boxes or other trail fixtures. It was suggested he be contacted to rebuild fireplace grates. Jim brought a friend to maintain on 12/30 near Nuclear Lake; the friend slipped and broke his arm close to the road. Bob Gray sent Jim a medical claim form, but noted he might not get much help from the federal government. Jim has additional claim forms as needed. These NPS claims forms should be used whenever there is a volunteer injury and the reporting of injuries should be done immediately.

• The meeting adjourned at 10:00 PM.

Submitted by Ron Rosen
Post processing by Jim Haggett

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