Green Saves Green Meeting Minutes

Monday, May 2, 2022

5:30 p.m.

Pasquotank County Library

Present: Karl Brandspigel, Nita Coleman, Rosana Castilho, Phil Donahue, Marlene Greer, Rodney Johnson, Bill and Sue Kruse, Lee Leidy, Julie Robinson, Dixie Sakolosky, Michelle Tangredi, Jared Tardiff, Tim Tolson, Curtis & Sheila Wrenn 

Chair Report (Nita)

The revised Conflict of Interest Policy was emailed to members prior to the meeting. The revised policy was accepted and approved by unanimous vote.

Nita is planning to meet with an insurance agent to look at a new policy which would cover us for water events.

GSG received an award from NEAAAT. We were honored as Community Partner of the Month for our litter sweep and Julie’s work with the Roots & Shoots team.

Donations (Sheila)

We received $4,000 from the Shell Oil Foundation as a match to a $2,000 donation we received last year from Steve Ownby, a Shell employee. The $4,000 was allocated to our general fund.

Rotary Community Corps and Fenwick-Hollowell Trail Restoration (Rodney & Phil)

The north end of the trail was completed last week. The tree/plant ID signs were not put back in place by the contractor. Rodney advised EC Morning Rotary and was told they will take care of putting the signs in place. Trail needs ongoing vegetation control. We’re hoping COA will take charge of it. COA is working with Visit EC to order roadside signage to direct visitors to the trail. The sign will be located at the school entrance on Road Street.

The Corps raised more than enough money to cover the cost of the north end trail restoration. A grant application for $10,000 was submitted to the Elizabeth City Foundation. If approved, the grant funds will pay for the installation of a security system and ongoing maintenance. 

COA is planning a celebration of the renovation of the trail on Wednesday, May 25. We would like to have GSG members at the event.

The next step is the development of an advisory board made up of members of the community to make decisions on the maintenance of the trail as well as developing the 3.5 acres of green space adjacent to the trail. Nita, Rodney, and Phil will be on the committee.

Albemarle Watershed Watch (Rodney)

The 2½-year extended water quality study in partnership with the ARC&D Council officially begins this month. Mark Powell, director of ARC&D, is stepping down. Rodney will coordinate this project for the ARC&D. We will be sending samples monthly year-round, with the first sample taken on May 18. Rodney is hoping to involve more students in the sampling. He can handle 10-12 students on his boats. Curtis and Sheila can take a couple students upriver for land-based sampling. Rodney’s boat insurance covers him as long as his boat leaves from his house. Need further discussion on liability issue before proceeding with student water-related field trips.

RISE (Bill, Rodney, Curtis)

RISE aims to support resilience in storm-impacted regions of NC. Purpose of GSG member involvement is to get money to our region. Bill’s sense is the committee will come up with a list of 5-10 projects to fund. Rodney thinks only 1 or 2 projects in our 10-county area will be included. It’s promising. RISE at least begins to set up a strategy to make the public aware of what we are facing with climate change. The study goes through November.

Roots & Shoots (Julie)

Julie, Nita, Rodney, and Phil are working with NEAAT middle school students on our first Roots & Shoots project – the “Bottle Graveyard” in the ditch behind the school. The students discovered the thousands of glass bottles during a litter sweep. The project is student led. They come up with the questions. Where did the bottles come from? How did they land in this one area? Ultimately, they want to clean out the ditch and recycle the bottles. Julie has coordinated classroom presentations with county solid waste, planning, and sheriff’s departments to help the students with the project.

R&S focuses on developing compassionate leadership skills in young people. We want to get educators familiar with the R&S model. This summer maybe get someone from R&S to come here and talk to educators. Julie will reach out to R&S and advise.

Spring Litter Sweep (Marlene)

We completed four very successful Campus Cleanups – NEAAAT, P.W. Moore, EC Middle School, and Northeastern HS. We were impressed by the students’ knowledge of the harmful effects of litter on wildlife and their enthusiasm to clean up their campus. The teachers and principals involved were appreciative and excited at the opportunity for their students to do a community project. We will offer Campus Cleanups for Fall Litter Sweep.

Nita reached out to all the businesses along Halstead Ext. to invite them to participate in our April 30 Business Corridor Cleanup. Only McDonalds replied yes, but no one from there showed up. We had 24 volunteers from GSG, YMCA, Rotary, USCG, NAACP, COA, ECSU and ECPPS. They collected 47 bags of trash in 2 hours.

Having all the supplies is what enabled us to do these cleanups. We plan to keep them on hand for future litter sweeps. 

Upcoming Events (Nita)

Plants for Pollinators, June 4, Museum of the Albemarle. We’ll have a speaker from a native plant nursery in VA to talk about the importance of native plants. Jane and Bobby Plough will talk about the NCWF Butterfly Highway program and hand out NCWF seed packets. We have milkweed plants to give away to our attendees. The room at MOA seats 40 people but can accommodate 50 including speakers and volunteers. Event promo will begin next week. GSG volunteers for the event are Nita, Jane, Bobby, Dixie, Michelle, Jared, Bill, and Sue.

Green Drinks, June 15. Rebooting after 2-year hiatus. John advised previously by email the room at Seven Sounds is not large enough. We’re looking for another space. 

Other Business

(Bill) NC DOT is developing a clean transportation plan. First workshop meeting is May 5. Point is to reduce emissions from transportation in 5 areas. Bill signed up for the committee on reducing vehicle miles traveled. He wants to get them thinking about bicycle trails.

(Dixie) Suggested we look into the NC Rails to Trails program.

(Jared) NC Forest Service reopened the Bradford pear removal program. Jared was not given any dates for our area. Program limit goes quickly. He will keep us posted.

Next GSG meeting will be 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 6 at the Pasquotank County Library.