BSCL met on November 2, 2017.

Minutes

President Chris Siple called the meeting to order at 7:30pm. The minutes of the October meeting were approved as drafted.

The old Dominion Energy substation in the 400 block of S. Pershing Dr. continues to be a concern. (Dominion recently removed trees and other growth from the fenced in property without reference to the Chesapeake protection regulations, and there is now Kudzu growing in the lot.) Chris sent a letter to the County about the Kudzu, with a copy to Dominion with a note that we are concerned. Chris also sent a letter to the County asking them to trim the vegetation over the sidewalk on their property just south of the substation, since it is interfering with pedestrial access. Chris got a response from Christin Jolicoeur indicating the County is aware of the problems and has met with Dominion. Dominion intends to plant four native trees in the Resources Protection Area closest to Grandma's Creek. Chris will follow up.

Michael Nazaretz updated us on the tee shirt project. Expect to make about $1500 for the Barcroft Community House Fund over expenses. We adopted unanimously a motion to amend the budget to authorize spending $1500 to purchase the tee shirts.  A $1500 revenue item would also be added, in the expectation that at least that much would be brought in in the current budget year via sales. The design contest to pick a design continues. The tee-shirt committee was encouraged to take pre-orders and to give a small discount on them to encourage early sales.

Our program was a follow-up to this spring's Arlington BioBlitz. Andrea Reese of the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust (areese@nvct.org) made a presentation about programs of the Trust. She also suggested ways of preserving our local environment. The Trust can receive conservation easements that can prevent unwanted development of your own property in perpetuity.

Ecologist and naturalist Rod Simmons described some of the geology and plants of our area, particularly along Arlington Run between Barcroft and Arlington Forest.

Notes:

--Alyssa Morel is a coordinator for the Audubon at Home wildlife sanctuary program. Details at audubonva.org/wildlife-sanctuary-program/

--Shirley Gay noted that english ivy and porcelainberry are growing invasive problems.

Rod Simmons recommended caution using Glyphosphate (Roundup) near streams because the surfactant included to make the chemical adhere to leaves can be deadly to aquatic life. English ivy can be pulled, or even smothered with newspaper, plastic etc. if there are no desirable native plants mixed in.

For invasive cleanups, people can contact Sarah Archer, the County's invasives coordinator for help organizing. sarcher@arlingtonva.us   She is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06IeFrOSM5M

Next month's program will be our annual holiday party.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00pm.

Respectfully submitted
Randy Swart
Still awaiting a volunteer to be Recording Secretary