Friends of Taylor Wildlife Preserve
Annual Meeting Minutes
Sunday, March 18, 2018
- Attendees- Mike Zickler, Peter and Lily Taylor, Susan Snipes-Wells, Jonathan Snipes, Steve Sobocinski, Suzanne Day, Lee Colley, Michael Robinson
- Approval of 2017 Annual Meeting minutes- Minutes from the 2017 meeting were approved and can be found on the website.
- Officers and Executive Board members and Terms - (current list is available on website).Susan Snipes-Wells agreed to serve as a new Board member. All current Board Members who were present agreed to serve for additional two year terms, for 2018-2019. Board members who were not present will be contacted to confirm that they are willing to serve for additional two year terms.
- Treasurer’s report - see attached.
- Past Year’s Activities
- Annual Meeting held March 8, 2017
- Bird and butterfly walk with Steve Sobocinski held first Saturday in May, 2017.
- Cleanup days held: March 25, August 27, Sept. 25 and Nov. 5, co-sponsored by Raritan Valley CC and Clean Ocean Action at Wright’s Cove, and NJ American Water.
- Contributed $500 to WFS gala.
- Several bluebird houses were installed by NJ Bluebird Society President Allen Jackson. We agreed to join the national and SJ Bluebird Societies. A member (need name) agreed to serve as a nest monitor
- Update of Ongoing Activities:
- Maintenance work on the kiosk area (mulch/wood chips; mowing of grassy areas during growing season; water flowering plants.)
- Plum Point river bank trail stabilization
- Deer/Turkey/Beaver control – no specific actions needed, but there is one tree stand that is not documented and should probably be removed.
- Need to decide what projects to work on for 2018. Possibilities include another platform, trail improvements, additional cleanups, etc. Our landscape contractor, Genarro Morphin, will be requested to maintain the narrow lane trail this year. It was noted that several trees were illegally cut down near the bench commemorating Syb and Joe’s 50th wedding anniversary. Also, one of the supporting pillars for the bench needs to be repositioned.
- Bird Walk: Steve suggested first Saturday in May, which was approved. Date is Saturday May 5 at 0730, with rain date for Sunday May 6.
- Newsletter: It was agreed that the web site will take the place of newsletters.
- Westfield Friends School Gala – a donation of $500 was approved again this year. Suggestion was made to try and involve WFS more by having site visits, picnics, environmental awareness, etc.
- Other issues - Additional links to local environmental groups will be investigated.
The meeting agenda was completed and adjourned at 3 pm.