Springfield Naturalists’ Club
Minutes May 17, 2006
Monthly meeting
Recording Secretary: Nancy Condon

Attendance: #43

Sightings: swallowtail butterflies, hummingbirds, tree swallows, local news story of ~250 Great blue Herons, Eagle & osprey shot by a man in sunderland at the mowawk Trout hatchery) 2 peregrin falcons, nest of ravens

Past Programs:  Bullard Woods program rained  out; Quabbin hike, ~12 folks April 30th; Mittineague bird hike - #14, pileated woodpecker sighted; Writing walk rained out, but will be re-scheduled for summer

Upcoming programs:  Evening with Naturalists, Spider Hunt, canoe trip, Discovery Center, camping weekend, Dan Conlon’s bee place with afternoon tea.

Steve Rossi, a guest who requested to come speak to us tonight for a few minutes, presented slides and background of the proposed Robinson State Park tree felling by the state.  Park supervisors claim the red pine stands, planted by the CCC in the 1930’s are dying and presenting a liability.  The proposed “treatment” is cutting them down.  However, many hardwoods are marked for cutting as well, for road construction purposes and harvest.  Of the 852 acres of Robinson State Park, 133 acres are slated to be cut.  Steve showed pictures of Chicopee State Park where this clearing has already occurred.  Of its 545 acres, 120-140 acres had been cut.  Steve brought along information and 2 petitions to sign – one to stop the cutting and another to call for a community meeting on the proposed cutting.  

Next, Dave called Ed Dzelinski to run the election of the new slate of officers for next year.  Proposed are Pres: Dave Gallup, VP: Nancy Condon; Treasurer: Dave Lovejoy; Secretary: Sonya Vickers; Directors: Tom Condon, Jack Megas, Kietrich Schlobohm, Bill Fontaine.  Ed called for nominations from the floor, and conducted the voting process for the complete slate.  The officers were elected into service.

Dave Lovejoy presented paper reports for the treasury and made them available to the members.  He inquired about the prudence of sending 40 newsletters to libraries, asking if anyone has seen them posted there.  Sue Bosman said it is received at Storrs Library in Longmeadow, but suggested a different format so it could be posted better.  Agawam receives it and posts it.  No other input.

The evening’s speaker, Dan Conlon was introduced.  He won the  state Beekeepers award for 2005.  He started beekeeping at age 12 and is a beekeeper by profession.   Tonight’s program was however on “Our Changing Landscape”.  His powerpoint presentation began with the huge picture – of the earth today, and a conceptualization of the arrangement of continents 250 million years hence.  Looks like Gondwanaland may after all reunite.  Here in MA we have undergone 4 ice ages in recent history.  He reviewed some human history – 100,000 years ago Homo sapiens appeared, 1,000 years ago ideas of order we have today prevailed, etc. Dan recommended visiting the Harvard Forest to get a good idea of the history of our forests.  Native American impact, white settlers era,  the opening of the west, and other phases of events affecting our forests were covered.

The evening concluded with snacks and drinks and purchasing of raw honey from the Conlons.