Andrews Community Forest 8/18/25

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ACFC Minutes 08-18-2025 updated 101 KB

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Andrews Community Forest Committee
Monday, August 18th, 2025 - 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Location: Richmond Town Center Meeting Conf Rm C, 3rd Floor, 203 Bridge Street
Present: Jim Cochran, Bradford Elliott, Sonya Mastersen, Julian Portilla, Wright Preston, Sam
Pratt, Dan Wolfson (all in-person)
Minutes: Sam Pratt
Note: The audio for the Zoom meeting was apparently turned off or muted during the stream.
6:00 - Committee business
6:15 - Revisions of Management Plan
The committee proceeded with edits on the Recreation section, B6_Recreation_08-18-2025.pdf.
Changes to the plan were made live with all members reaching consensus on each change
before moving on.
There was discussion about the forest monitoring plan, which doesn’t exist yet and will live
outside the management plan itself. Sam mentioned he was planning on working on a more
formal plan in Sep/Oct and to seek professional guidance from experts in the community (RCC,
VT Fish and Wildlife, etc). Hope would be to finish the plan by the end of the year, and seek
Conservation Reserve Funding for the expense of cameras, audio traps, and a firm to do initial
setup and training.
Around 6:40, consensus could not be reached for the following point: “Designate trails in the
northern zone as pedestrian only. Limit dogs and mountain bikers to the southern zone.”
Julian brought up that he did not think that the bullet represented reasonable compromise or the
will of the town and suggested that only dogs should be limited; bikers should not be excluded
from the northern zone.
Wright suggested that we amend the point with additional text that clarifies that we may revisit
the decision in the future, once more data is collected (via the monitoring plan).
There was much discussion on this point from both sides.
Arguments for removing the bike restriction:
- Excluding bikes is likely to be contentious and frustrate members of the community
- Trail closures would give wildlife seasonal periods without traffic
- Foot traffic is slower and may be more likely to disrupt wildlife than bikes, so excluding
bikes is unnecessarily discriminatory
- Bike traffic will be limited by parking in the ACF lot and won’t increase trail use by much
Arguments to keep the bike restriction:
- Bike users may favor more disruptive forms of trail use, moving faster and further
- Allowing foot traffic in the northern zone is a compromise from leaving the zone
untouched/as a preserve
- Adding bike traffic on top of foot traffic will only increase volume and therefore
- Other routes may be possible with neighboring landowner permission, which would leave
the majority of the northern zone undisturbed for wildlife
- Removing the bike restriction does not specify or limit the number of bike trails; it could
be one or many
Ultimately it was determined the committee could not proceed without a vote. At 6:55, a motion
was made by Wright and seconded by Brad to amend the existing point. After brief discussion,
the motion was rescinded. More discussion followed.
At 7:10, a motion was made by Julian, seconded by Jim to:
Remove the language “Designate trails in the northern zone as pedestrian only. Limit dogs and
mountain bikers to the southern zone.” from the recreation section, and replace it with “Use
restrictions in the northern zone are greater than in the southern zone, especially regarding
dogs and bicycles. ACFC will review trail proposals per the Trail Development Parameters.”
Votes in favor: Julian, Jim, Sonya
Votes against: Brad, Sam, Wright, Dan
Motion failed.
At 7:23, a motion was made by Sonya, seconded by Dan to:
Leave the text in question (“Designate trails in the northern zone as pedestrian only. Limit dogs
and mountain bikers to the southern zone.”), and append “Re-evaluate designations as usage
data are collected and organized regarding mountain bikes, and amend the management plan
accordingly.”
Votes in favor: Sonya, Dan, Jim, Brad, Sam, Wright
Votes against: Julian
Motion passed. The management plan was updated to reflect this decision.
The committee finished work on the main section of the recreation section, and moved on to
6.1.2 Trail Development Parameters. It was determined that a “wetlands” section was
warranted, as the parameters include riparian areas and vernal pools, but no guidance on
wetlands. Because wetlands have slightly different needs than other sensitive areas, a new
section was added. The committee was in the midst of discussing this section when time ran
out.
Jim brought up that the committee continually starts some of these sections from the top and
suggested a placeholder be added to speed up work in the next meeting, and to prevent further
comment and discussion on sections that have been visited already.
6:45 - Business for Upcoming Meetings
● Election of chairperson(s) for next meeting (Aug 25th)
○ Sam will run meeting
○ Ian will be back and do the agenda (in coordination with Sam)
● Any additional topics for agenda? No
● Is there a need for additional meetings to meet the management plan deadline? Yes, the
committee decided it will likely need more time to complete the management plan in
September. The committee decided to add a meeting on 8/8, and extend the next three
meetings by a half hour. The next three meetings are:
○ 08/25, 6:00-8:30pm
○ 09/08, 6:00-8:30pm
○ 09/22, 6:00-8:30pm
8:00 Closure