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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCanoe River Comm Minutes 02/04/2010CANOE RIVER AQUIFER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES — February 4, 2010 Minutes of the meeting held by the Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee on Thursday, February 4, 2010 beginning at 1 PM at the Mansfield Town Hall, 6 Park Row, Mansfield, MA. Members present: Wayne P. Southworth, Easton; Janice Fowler, Easton; John Fresh, Jr., Easton; Jennifer Carlino, Norton; Kevin O'Donnell, Mansfield; Bob Boette, Foxboro; Leonard Flynn, Mansfield; Edward Tartufo, Mansfield; Leo Potter, Foxboro. Guests: Adrienne Edwards, Easton GIS Specialist, Stephanie Danielson and Marti Nover, members of the Taunton River Watershed Alliance. L Call to Order - Meeting called to order at 1 PM by Wayne Southworth. IL Review Minutes of January 7, 2010 - Boette /Fresh moved to accept the minutes of January 7, 2010 with revisions (Page 1 under `Discuss Future Speakers' delete the word "owners" and substitute `someone that operates the' Mansfield cable. VOTED It was also noted the May 61" meeting will be at the Town Hall in the Selectmen's Room and the November meeting place is not booked. III. Update on the Taunton River Watershed - Members introduced themselves. Danielson introduced herself, noted she will give an overview of the TRWA and then turn the discussion over to Nover who will give an overview of what the Advocacy Committee is doing. Danielson: the committee was formed twenty years ago; there was a recognition of threats, no public awareness of important resources; the Taunton River had gone through significant improvement since the 1960's; a group was formed; individual groups have formed in certain abutting areas. One of the things the TRWA is doing is conducting monthly analysis along the watershed — not just for the Taunton River but its tributaries also; in addition to holding annual canoe trips and outings, the group helps folks on the local level; our membership is about 400 — the goal is for 1,000; also try to do programs that get people out, especially the children; headquarters of the TRWA is Bowden Refuge Center, off Cohannet Street, Taunton; staffing consists of a full -time executive director, a part -time secretary along with a contracted accountant. Never: lived in the watershed for about 20 years; have been on the Board of Directors for 12 years; just promoted to the Advocacy Committee; a goal that I have is to be more where "the rubber meets the road'; my hope is to help out with the project related impacts along the watershed — get more into the communities and put together a project tracking tool; another hope is to become more of an alliance between organizations like yours who are not aware of the regulations; in the future I would like to see some funding for an expert who can comment on projects. CRAAC 2 February 4, 2010 Highlights of follow up discussion: Flynn - as to the outreach programs, have been saying all along the tributaries are important; Southworth — the CRAAC is here to protect the water supplies for the five communities but there are similar tasks, have talked about doing more outreach, have received some grants, Leonard Flynn has been the advocate for the greenbelt project; Flynn — the greenbelt project we have been working on for eight years, has hit the wall on some key projects; Nover noted that the gist of the TRWA's conference on April 0' is creating greenbelts, would like to have someone come (Flynn to attend); Danielson mentioned the mini -grant program which should be coming along soon (the idea is to fund at the grass roots level); Southworth gave them copies of the newest CRAAC brochure to take back to their meeting. IV. 23rd Annual CRAAC Awareness Day — May 8, 2020 Sourthworth: everything is pretty well set, Masciarelli was working on a speaker on stream flow; we are working on a brochure, will bring some fishing poles for the children to try; O'Donnell — when I was at the Selectmen's meeting, I made them aware we would like another organization to share the day. V. Outreach Opportunities (Letters Sent to Boards of Selectmen and Conservation Commissions) - did put a letter together to each of the Boards and Commissions inviting them to our meetings, letting them know we are here along with our latest brochure; today was part of this outreach; Jenn Carlino has talked with George Yelle and he is willing to come to our June 3`d meeting in Norton and talk about the history of the mills along the river; received an email from Kathy Romero noting that we have done some great things in the past and offered the suggestion of working with scout groups and their parents, she also noted the President's Environmental Youth Awareness Program. VI. New Business and Old Business Southworth: the Town Clerk has informed us of changes to the open meeting law which takes place this July; will be sending out the agenda and the master list of members and meeting dates. Short discussion held regarding road salting; perhaps we could have a company representative come in and make a presentation. Carlino: asked if all water management permits were for twenty years — yes, but not all expire at the same time. Fresh/Boette moved to adjourn. VOTED Next meeting is March 4, 2010. Meeting adjourned.