Andrews Community Forest 8/25/25

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ANDREWS COMMUNITY FOREST COMMITTEE  
Committee minutes for August 25, 2025, 6:16 pm to 8:50pm meeting  
(Note: The ACFC was unable to get the public Zoom function to work during the meeting.)  
Roll call and confirm quorum.   
Committee Members Present: Sam Pratt (Meeting Co-chair), Ian Stokes (Co-chair), Brad 
Elliott, Wright Preston, Sonya Mastersen, Jim Cochran, Dan Wolfson, and Julian Portilla   
Members absent: zero 
Public, in person: Bruce Hennessey (Maple Wind Farm) and Merrick Gillies (Richmond 
Mountain Trails)  
No other members of the public were present.  
Minute taker: Wright Preston 
Timekeeper: Sam Pratt  
The ACFC minutes of 7/28/25 and 8/18/25 were reviewed and approved.  Motion made by 
Jimmy, seconded by Sonya, approved unanimously. 
6:19PM.  Bruce introduced Merrick, and they shared with the ACFC the new public 
multiuse trails that have been designed and installed on the north forest and meadow 
property of Maple Wind Farm, adjoining the ACF..  One trail ties into the ACF trail, currently 
called the old eastern VAST Trail. Public parking for use of these trails will be at Maple Wind 
Farm on Rte. 2, with some overflow allowed at the ACF parking lot. This new Maple Wind 
set of trails is considered to be low impact.  It was stated that these trails are an example of 
Agri- Tourism.   The committee with Bruce and Merrick talked a little about the need for a 
board walk for the wet section of the eastern old VAST Trail.  The boardwalk might be 
installed in the woods, adjoining and north of the old Vast Trail.     It was stated that VYCC 
allows some mtn bike trail use but does not promote it.     Someone suggested it is worth 
visiting with the ACF neighbors to the west to see about a public trail connection to the 
Valley View Road. 
Bruce indicated that he would be pleased to assist in trail maintenance at the ACF.   He 
also indicated that he felt that Merrick put in about 1,000 hours of trail work, all by hand, for 
the new Maple Wind Farm trails. 
The committee next discussed electing new co-chairs or a chair and vice chair for the next 
year.  Sam agreed to be co-chair and oversee the meetings, and Brad would be co-chair 
and handle administrative and communication matters. Jim made the motion to support 
Sam and Brad as co-chairs, and it was seconded by Julian.   The vote was 8 yes, zero no’s.   
The committee issued a big THANK YOU to Ian for all of his work over the last year, plus! 
7:00PM: The committee then discussed the RFP process for copying editing and reviewing 
of the draft ’25 ACF Management Plan.   Ian said it could take up to 34 weeks.  We agreed to 
establish a committee picked, small working group of three, to include Brad, Sonya and 
Ian.   Jim asked if we could self copy edit with a small group.   We then discussed using AI.  
We agreed the working group should report back to the committee with their initial 
thoughts on the RFP and how best to proceed with the copy editor work.   We discussed 
having the working group try to compress the RFP timeframe from 34 weeks to 16 weeks.  
7:30 -8:30.   The committee then worked on live revisions to the management plan with 
Sam sharing his revisions on the screen.  (Please note:  We still did not have the Zoom 
function running, so the public could not see and review our committee edits.) 
Wright and Jim agreed to brush hog the lower meadow in September. 
It was agreed that Jim, Brad and Sam would work further on the Trail Development Draft. 
The meeting ended at 8:50PM.  Brad motioned to adjourn, seconded by Jim.  All voted in 
favor to adjourn.