Open Space Committee
Open Space Committee meeting minutes for August 8th, 2023
Present: Rick Gardner, Deb Cary, Susan Downing, Karen Rossow
Excused: Laura Reynolds, Annie Charrette
The meeting began at 7:06 p.m.
Minutes from the July meeting unanimously approved.
Princeton Day on September 30th: the committee will be represented at this event at Krashes Fields by Deb Cary and/or Annie Charrette. We’ll also work on finding a few people to sit at an OSC table for Hey Day on September 23rd.
The Stern Trail project is moving along well. The kiosk design is ready. Ethan Stern and neighbors, including some on Matthews Lane, are looking forward to clearing the trails and using them. This is a major connection for two other trail routes and we are excited to see this happen.
Valuable Parcels analysis: Rick devised a method of prioritizing parcels, giving points to those most valued by committee members. We received more clarification on parcel locations. We’ve chosen 17 parcels and will add 3 more for 20. We will host a separate meeting with the North County Land Trust and the Princeton Land Trust to appraise them of our plan. After that we’ll hold a public meeting after notifying the 20 parcels’ landowners about our process and intent.
Goodnow Park Kiosk is nearly complete.
Thomas Prince School trails: Deb reports that the trails will be cleaned up by Wachusett Meadow volunteers before school resumes. The ponding platform is a hazard and should have tape across it until such time as it can be removed and/or replaced. Deb measured the boardwalks and they’re in reasonable condition. Butterfly garden will be moved by the Wachusett Garden Club (lead is Dot Odgren) to a location just north of the school building.
Nature walk series: Considerable changes from last month’s meeting, including holding a larger number of walks, spreading them out over six weeks, and having Rick and Susan spearhead the behind scenes logistics. Deb will contact the potential naturalist leaders. The Environmental Action Committee (EAC) representative (Corey) has communicated their willingness to co-sponsor the fall walk series.
Princeton Hikes! program is going well with good turnout for hikes. Upcoming hikes include:
Little Wachusett/Minns, Saturday 8/12
Crow Hill Pond and Paradise Pond, Wednesday 8/23
Red Fox Farm to Holden or W. Boylston, Saturday 8/26
Hollbrook Forest in Holden, Saturday 9/16
Wachusett Meadow North, Wednesday 9/13
Cobb Brook , Saturday 9/30
Rick has also been spearheading some adventure hikes as an extension of the Princeton Hikes! program, especially over this summer. We decided this should be separate from Princeton Hikes! and OSC. A separate email list will be maintained, and we will not post this information on the OSC website.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 12th, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. in the large conference room of the town hall annex.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30.
Tasks: Deb will email our list of nature walk leaders to gauge their interest in leading fall walks for us. Rick will continue with details for Stern trails, Goodnow Park kiosk and valuable parcels list.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Rossow