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Subject: September 19th Greenbelt Committee Meeting Minutes

Greenbelt Committee Meeting Minutes for Sept. 19th

Meeting brought to order at 8:05AM
Present: Tim Abel, Steve Nichlas and Pam Malmstead

The first order of business was to discuss the Chair position.  Steve had heard I was interested but was not sure if he was still considered chair.  Pam decided that there was so much indecision about the current position 'vacancy' that she made the motion to elect Tim Abel as Greenbelt chair and it was seconded by Steve.  We agreed this info now should go before the board for a formal acceptance and I have contacted Jeanne Whitlow via email and conveyed this information.

We discussed the fire-safe zone, the vision of Bruce Mirighi regarding the clearing of the zone, the work involved and the purpose.  Bruce has requested we clear all trees and shrubs from the plateau and partially down the slopes.  This has apparently been done in the past but not unkept and the new pines are getting taller while a few shrubs have taken to the past pruning as if it was a good thing, spurring growth and becoming brushier than ever.  The purpose of the Fire-Safe zone, as explained to me, was to allow an area of relative safety in the event of a need to retreat from a wildfire.  I expressed my view of the zone as a futile waste of our time and money if it is only to be used as a place where fire fighters can group while our homes burn, but the Catch-22 part of this is that the fire dept. will not respond to wildfires in our developement without a "safe zone", which makes sense.  Steve mentioned his recollections of past talks with representatives of District 9 FD, saying they did not require a safe zone in our developement, adiing that they considered the fields in Plain as a natural Fire Safe zone.  It was decided that more research will be required before we invest the time and money into this zone.

We discussed prioritizing the numerous issues confronting the Greenbelt Committee and in doing so we discovered that the most pressing projects (Fire-Safe Zone and the clearing of the Ranch Reserve along Camp 12, aka as the Boy Scout project) had scopes of a proportion much larger than our little Greenbelt Committee.  The clearing of the Camp 12 road was agreed upon as the most pressing issue as this is our only entrance and exit from the Ponderosa and a large fire could easily make it impassible for the Fire Dept to arrive and the community members to flee.  This is our only portal to safety, though we did discuss the option of rafting the river to safety!  But again, we threw around this idea, agreeing that this ongoing problem is more complex one than just a Greenbelt 'chore'.  Steve mentioned the repeated attempts he has made at getting the County to open up the other end of Camp 12 down to MP 7 along the Chumstick for such an evacuation route but the County has balked at such an idea.  He added that the next step may to approach the County with a 'liability' angle. Would the county be liable for any damage/injuries/deaths which would occur in the event of an evacuation?  Camp 12 IS a county road, is it not?  Again, further investigation and discussion with county personnel re: this issue is needed... and is it Greenbelt responsibility?  We really need to develope a more lucid fire egress plan which includes more than 1 viable exit.

Tim has agreed to talk to John (Boy Scout liasion) re: the assumed Oct. for the next troop clearing of this area.

Trail maintenance:
Tim has brushed out Mock Orange and worked on the far end of Bridge Trail to make it easier to walk/find.  Other trails are in the works including one which is flagged and just needs a work party to make happen.  This trail would take off from Stirrup between Arabian and Shetland, then split, one path west to upper Shetland while the east branch tapped into existing Balsamroot trail.  This would open up more areas currently unvisited by members.  Also, Tim suggested we need to find a way to connect the Bridge Trail to the rest of the trail matrix by developing some sort of connecting trail out to that Thoroughbred Lane trailhead.  Maps of the Ponderosa show there is Ranch Reserve access available and Bruce Mirighi, a member who lives in that area, has offered to show the trail that he uses to walk that area to see if a trail is plausible.  These are our tenative projects for spring 2010.

The trail projects are the projects we felt were more in line with the Greenbelt Committee responsibility, however we felt everything we managed as a committee required an increased partnership with Fire Department/Forestry/BLM/and other land agencies for future direction regarding the larger projects (i.e. Fire Safe zone and Camp 12 clearing).  Are there grants?  Is there a clear liability issue with the County for inaction on the upper Camp 12 road?  Is a Fire Safe Zone a imperative in the Ponderosa or is there already a plan in place with FD 9?

I guess you could say, by the time the meeting was over, we had more questions than answers.  The gray areas surrounding the definition and responsibilities of the Greenbelt Committee might be our biggest problem.  Many issues seemed to fall into Board matters more than the three people weilding the gavel at this 8:00 AM meeting.  What are the expectations and what is realisitic?

The committee members came to the concensus that our next meeting should occur January 9th for planning of our spring projects... and maybe some sort of membership drive?