Franklin-McElheny Working Group Hosts Public Walk - October 3, 2019

Published October 3, 2019

The Franklin-McElheny Working Group hosted a walk on the Preserve the evening of Monday, August 26th.  The walk gave the opportunity for the public to visit the Preserve, hear about the management consensus from Working Group members, ask questions and provide feedback.  The walk was well attended with great questions and discussion about the management activities that would occur.  

Following the walk, at their September meetings, both SELT’s Land Stewardship Committee and Board of Directors unanimously voted to accept the Working Group’s recommendation for the two-phased management plan.  An overview of the two phases can be reviewed here 

For the first phase of management, SELT will contract with Licensed Consulting Forester Charlie Moreno, who will mark the areas to be included in Phase One in late fall of 2019 or early winter of 2020.  After the areas are marked, SELT will hold a public tour to view those areas that will be included in Phase One and answer any questions about the planned work.  We expect the public tour will occur in late January or February of 2020 with the actual management activities for Phase One expected to occur in late winter/early spring of 2020.   

After Phase One is completed, the forest will be continuously monitored to determine the timing for Phase Two.  As part of this monitoring, SELT plans to install several picture posts as a Citizen Science initiative and we’ll be looking for local volunteer photographers to assist in gathering data.  This initiative will help us document, through photographs, the changes to the forest after Phase One has occurred.  Look for more information on this next year! 


   

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