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.
|
