TOWN OF SOUTH HERO
Conservation Commission Meeting
Tuesday, November 19, 2024, 4:30 P.M.
at the South Hero Town Office and via Zoom
Minutes
1) Call to Order – The meeting was called to order @ 4:45p on November 19, 2024
Attendees
Members: Robert Fireovid, Mark Naud, Cynthia Kelley
Public attendees: Kathleen Magill, Guy Maguire
2) Public Input (items not on the agenda) –
3) Finalize Agenda – moved Natural Resources Inventory to position 5
4) Approve minutes from October 22, 2024 meeting
Bob Fireovid moved to approve. Mark Naud seconded. Passed.
5) Natural Resources Inventory update
Guy Mcguire on Natural Resource Inventory
Guy reports that the South Hero Land Trust has been working on the Natural Resource
Inventory (NRI) Phase 1 with Parker Ruse, an Intern who works with the SHLT. The
South Hero Land Trust presented a rough draft with the South Hero Conservation
Commission. The NRI web map has many layers including rare species. This
information, with the community values that we gathered when we held our event at the
library, will be turned into a story map. Parker received the community values
information from Yens. The darker areas on the map are the overlapping values. The
goal is to add prime agricultural soils to this as well as Vermont Conservation Design
such as wildlife crossings. Much of the information comes from the State of Vermont
and is publicly available. Some of the plants and their location are not publicly available
in order to protect the plants. The resulting document will be able to be shared with the
community.
Plan is to use this Arc GIS to create a PDF version that will allow viewers to add layers.
Guy will talk with the Conservation Commission to hear input as to the best way to
share with the community. Much of the Community Values Mapping is already shown
on the areas of places that have already been preserved.
Bob Fireovid inquired about the date as to when we could publish some of this
information to share with the Selectboard. Guy thinks we could have some information
soon and would like to meet in January 2025. Mark believes we might be able to report
on this information at the Town Meeting. The budget was planned for about $1500 for
Phase I to the South Hero Land Trust.
In Phase II, SHLT will add information on agriculture and other South Hero based
information. There may not be the manpower for this Phase II for next year. The
Conservation Commission would need to work with the Planning Commission on the
next phase (Phase II), a phase which is more costly as we would be working with a
consultant.
6) Budget discussion for 2025
November 29 is the day the budget request is due to the Selectboard. We discussed
potential budget requests that Bob will present to the board. We are going to request a
$1500 budget to include $1000 for a consultant to begin looking at Phase II of the
Natural Resources Inventory and $500 for base administrative work, outreach and
community member engagement. Mark Naud moved and Bob Fireovid seconded to
accept the budget request.
7) Kestrel Nest Boxes Event and monitoring responses
Bob Fireovid has shared the Google Docs that 37 people responded to our request for
Kestrel box locations that Cynthia Kelley posted on Front Porch Forum on November 9,
2024. These individuals have shown interest to wanting to have Kestrel boxes placed
on their properties. Some people have agreed to monitor the boxes on their property,
but some people travel and would not be available for monitoring. We received interest
from South Hero and Grand Isle residents.
Most of the responses were sent to the SHCC email at [email protected]
Bob knows a woodworker who will give us an estimate of the cost per kestrel box for
white pine.
8) Tiny Grant: Progress Reports
An update to the Tiny Grant process is due December 19, 2024. Mark will submit this
progress report paragraph. The final update is due in May 1, 2025.
9) CC Membership Effort – Nominations and process
Mark moved to nominate and seek approval at the next Selectboard Meeting for Kathy
Magill to join the South Hero Conservation Commission. Cynthia seconded.
Unanimously approved. Kathy will send a letter of interest to the Conservation
Commission and Mark will forward to Skip. Mark has two potential people who might be
interested in becoming members of the Conservation Commission. We will post a
membership request on Front Porch Forum. Cynthia will write a notice and forward to
the group for approval. Cynthia will post on Front Porch Forum.
10) Next Meeting December
The next meeting will be held on December 17 at 4:30.
11) Adjourn
Mark moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Bob. Meeting was adjourned at 6:27
pm.