Conservation Commission Draft Minutes for 3.20.25

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 Guilford Conservation Commission (GCC) Minutes DRAFT 

March 20, 2025 

The meeting was called to order at 5:53 pm 

Present: Linda Hecker, Susan Bonthron, Steve Soszynski, Josh Farr, Bill Jewell. 

Absent: Anne Montgomery, Kate Shea 

Visitors: Bryanna Finnell and Alex Lacey 

Adjustments to agenda: 

* Vote for officers of the GCC 

*The April GCC Meeting 

*AVCC Tiny Grants 

*Patti Smith proposal re Beavers 

The February minutes were unanimously approved. 

*The following officers were unanimously elected: 

Chair: Linda Hecker 

Vice Chair: Bill Jewell 

Clerks: Anne Montgomery and Susan Bonthron 

*April 17th meeting of the GCC will be chaired by Bill Jewell, as Linda Hecker will be away. 

*We discussed the AVCC tiny grants now available again. 

*Patti Smith was unable to attend by Zoom due to technical problems; it was agreed Linda would meet informally with Patti to hear her proposal re making Guilford a “beaver-friendly” town and report back to GCC. 

Time sensitive items: 

-The GCC thanked Josh Farr for his excellent photo presentation of “What We Love About Guilford”. We discussed possible ways to further share or store the photos. 

-Background for Washout Town Discussion on March 26: Together with the Planning Commission, the GCC is hosting a public meeting with members of the Guilford road crew (upstairs in the BBCC), and including a stream table downstairs. The meeting will be led by Meg Mott and Hans Estrin. Cory Ross will oversee the stream table. 

-A tour of our new shared google folder was postponed due to Kate Shea’s absence. 

-We discussed the Vermont Butterfly Atlas Project, which involves teaching volunteers from the community to inventory butterflies, led by the Center for EcoStudies from Norwich Vermont at a cost of $250 plus mileage. There was general agreement that this would be a good late summer project to host at the BBCC and we voted unanimously to pursue an AVCC Tiny Grant for this purpose. 

-Conservation Fund contributions: We discussed ways to handle donations. Resolution: We voted unanimously that donors could send a check to the Town of Guilford with “Guilford Conservation Fund.” 

on the memo line, and that Linda would ask Erica Elder about including a donation line on our Town web page. 

Other Business: Alex Lacey expressed interest in joining the Conservation Commission. We voted unanimously to approve her as a new member. Linda will request the Selectboard’s approval. 

Action Steps: 

1. Linda will look into applying for an AVCC Tiny Grant to fund the Butterfly Atlas Project in Guilford. 

2. Linda will ask Erika to update the Commission member names on the town website (adding Josh Far and Katy Shea), and ask about adding a donation line on our web page as well. 

3. Linda will ask the Selectboard to approve the membership of Alex Lacey on the Conservation Commission. 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:05PM. 

Respectfully submitted, Susan Bonthron, Clerk 

Meeting Video: https://youtu.be/hKvFXlARyKo