The Sierra Club - Lehigh Valley Group Executive Committee
Monday November 9, 2020 7:00 PM
Virtual meeting using Zoom

MINUTES

Executive Committee Members: Matthew MacConnell,  Nanci McGonigal, Marilyn Jordan, Brian Hillard, Don Miles, Andy Unger, Doug Roysdon, Al Wurth, David  Reber.

Guest: David Irvine

Minutes: Our October 12, 2020 meeting minutes were approved. Action Item: Marilyn will send the draft minutes for each meeting to all Ex-Com members henceforth.

Political Report (Al Wurth): We had endorsed Tara Zrinski for State Representative (she lost), and Susan Wild for United States Representative (she was reelected to a second term).

Conservation report (Matt MacConnell):

• Matt showed a video he took of removing two water quality monitoring probes from the Lehigh River at Palmerton (probe 1) and Laurys Station (probe 2) on November 1. He will clean the probes and check that they are still working in February. Action Item: He will send the video to Nanci to put on our group’s website in the required youtube format.
• Status update of the Buck Mountain 2 AMD Remediation Site Repair Project:  Matt showed a video and explained how holes were sealed in the #3 outlet pipe, and protected from future damage. Now 90% of the flow of acid mine drainage carrying toxic levels of aluminum passes through the flushable limestone bed, which removes aluminum by creating insoluble aluminum carbonate. He showed a picture of white aluminum carbonate precipitate deposited on rocks where water exits the limestone bed.  The leak repair work however is on-going.  Work on a filter installation is commencing as well.
• Status of an observation bee hive: A winterized observation bee hive will be installed on the rear deck of the Leigh Gap Nature Center’s Osprey House in Slatington. LGNC co-directors are very happy to have the bee hive at the Osprey House. The hive cost $1,600. A volunteer from the Beekeepers’ Association, volunteers from Sierra Club and volunteers from Lehigh Gap Nature center will maintain the hive.
• Ricky Park tree ring exhibit installation: A slice of a 120-year old tree cut at the Trexler Nature Preserve was sanded and varnished by Matt, and was installed at Ricky Park.  The exhibit also serves as a park bench overlooking the wetland we built.  The tree specimen was donated by Lehigh County Parks to the LV Sierra Club.
•  Firefly trout nursery: Matt will be meeting with the PA Sportsmans, the Lehigh River Stocking Association (LSRA), PA DEP secretary Patrick O’Donnel, and Mike Dedrian of the Northeast Region of the DEP on November 18. The purpose is to discuss how the Firefly Trout Nursery proposal might be able to satisfy NPDES requirements. The Parryville Dam fishway opportunity might also be discussed.

Beginning a century ago brown trout raised in the Kriss Pines trout nursery were released into the Sawmill Run. In 2011 the Cressleys bought the property, rehabilitated the hatchery, and named it the Firefly Trout Nursery. The Lehigh River Stocking Association (LSRA) offered to help the Cressleys get started. Matt MacConnell, president of LSRA, requested help from the PA Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC). During a routine inspection the PFBC discovered mature brown trout in Sawmill Run. Because of the trout and high water quality Sawmill Run is going to be declared a Class A stream. Because of the new Class A designation the Cressleys will have to remove all solid waste (fecal matter and remnant food) before the hatchery water drains into Sawmill Run. This would be cost-prohibitive. The situation is now a stalemate, despite the fact that brown trout are not native, and were only in the stream because of previous hatchery operations.

Treasurer’s Report: Dave Reber was listening in but could not share over the zoom meeting.  Treasures report will be updated at the next ExCom.

Executive Committee Election (Matt MacConnell): Ballots to Lehigh Valley Group members will be mailed tomorrow, Nov. 10, 2020. All nine current Ex-Com members are on the ballot, which includes duties of the Ex-Comm. Ballots should be returned by November 30. Action Item: The election should be completed by the end of the year. Our Group Bylaws are now on the website. The State Sierra Club Chapter will meet on Saturday Nov. 21. National Sierra Club wants to emphasize Teams rather than Groups. Teams work on specific projects.

Pedestrian Bridge Project (Doug Roysdon):

• WRT is the company chosen to do the Feasibility Study for the Bridge. One of the Councilmen wants to remove some of the funds allocated for the Feasibility Study. The Bethlehem City Council has the Bridge Project on the agenda for their next meeting. We need to inundate the City Council with letters of support. Action item: Doug has 30 letters of endorsement now, and will let us know tomorrow how we can send a letter.        
• Use of the Icehouse:  Since the Icehouse is closed for in person meetings Doug has created a Virtual Icehouse, and has hosted ten artistic performances so far. Doug thinks that performances could be done just as easily for conservation.  He suggested doing a presentation about Matt’s conservation work. We could work on this in December since we won’t have a Group meeting that month. Matt is interested cooperating. Action Item: Doug will send us information about a December meeting about making a presentation about Matt’s work.
• Charter Arts School: Dave asked if the Charter Arts School has a movie curriculum. If so maybe they would like to make a movie.

Website: (Nanci McGonigal). Nanci is making a new ___?___page which will include pictures and email addresses for each of us. Action Item: Nanci needs write-ups and pictures for Brian’s work and Doug’s Bridge work. Matt and Nanci participated in drupal website training, and learned that pdf files cannot be posted on the website. Only jpeg images, word documents, and youtube videos can be posted. 

Renewable energy (Brian Hillard): Action Item: Brian wants to email members to engage them in supporting the Recharge LV initiative, which will establish charging stations for electric vehicles. Don said yes, PA Sierra Club allows us to email members twice a month.  Action Item: Brian will email members about Recharge LV. Action item: Nanci wants information to post on our website about the Recharge LV initiative.

Other items: Doug said that in the future we should try to be more inclusive; we need more minorities and women in our Group and on the Ex-Comm.

Our next meeting will be on January 11, 2021

Minutes by Marilyn Jordan