Charlestown Township
Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC)
Meeting Minutes
Monday, March 13, 2023

Meeting was held at Township Office 11 General Warren Blvd., Suite 1. Armstrong opened the meeting at 7:02.

Attendees:
Carol Armstrong, (Chair), Dan Walker (Vice-chair), Meg Solomon (Secretary), Pete Goodman, Stephanie Yocum, Sharon Richardson, Anu Soundararajan. Visitors: Jill Green, Lisa Tull

Note: Chris Heleniak is our township manager. c.heleniak@charlestown.pa.us.

February Minutes approved.

Welcome Anu!!

Place Holders:

Reminder of EAC-initiated projects for next 6+ months:

New Business

  1. RApril EAC monthly meeting - 3rd Monday (17th of April) - just an exception for April.
  2. RHazardous Waste disposal schedule - The listing of dates and locations is on the Township Website under Latest News for Feb. 21st. Thanks to Linda Csete.
  3. Wild Flower walk –Is EAC interested in taking this on from Parks and Rec? Armstrong will get back to Cordelia Kane and suggest she go back to Parks and Rec. and solicit another member of that committee for help.

Ongoing Business

  1. RES Meeting with EAC and the Public - First wave of hedgerow removal has been completed and was comprehensive. Still log remnants remaining where hedgerows removed. RES painted trees with herbicides. No signage regarding what they were doing or plan to do.
  2. Birdtown - We are officially the 37th Birdtown in PA. Signage - the first 2 street signs are free. The Township ordered 5 more street signs. Goodman will create other signs to put in the park kiosks and the township office. Once the township gets all 7 street signs, they will be installed at township gateways: both ends of Phoenixville Pike, both ends of Charlestown Rd., both ends of Whitehorse and Route 29.
  3. Keep PA Beautiful - Walker will follow up with township to get allocated funds. Charlestown Road is the target clean-up road. Won’t be part of Earth Day.
  4. Mushpekat Creek - Goodman still working on completing the application for official naming - the USGS contacted him. More is required because it is an Indigenous name. Goodman has written letters to organizations who can give permission to use such names. Received no responses. Goodman responded back to the USGS naming officials explaining he did not receive responses. No response from them either.
  5. Pennsylvania Native Species Day, May 18th, 2023 - Goodman is the chair of subcommittee. Armstrong hosted meeting of committee with Green, Judy Goodman, Armstrong. Goal is to attract adults and children to Brightside. Art contest for young’uns, native species Q&A for adults. Include birds, animals, water species, plants/trees. Give away - native seeds. Goodman creating questions for adults. Incentives for adults? Possible free meal or drink for most correct answers? Another suggestion - educational books on native species. Put children’s artwork in the newsletter. Will request RES to be doing some work at Brightside this day and be able to share what they are doing. Judy Goodman researching where to get donation of seeds (Uhlers). Green is willing to contact RES to see if they would be willing to furnish giveaways. The township owns the FB site. Include native species day as event and a notice about the battery collection.
  6. Invasive Species - State exploring programs for invasive species. Money has been allocated in PA budget. Richardson suggested giving incentives to residents who will remove invasive species from their property. She also suggested putting a notice in newsletter with a list of xx number of invasive species to remove for a ’prize’. Nature News topic for April will discuss this topic. Main take-aways: Don’t buy- Burning Bush, Japanese Barberry, Olive, Butterfly Bush, Forsythia.
  7. Nature News - Solomon sent Csete all back issues of NN. She will post all on website. Solomon will look to see what Linda posted and Armstrong suggested creating an index to post along with it.
  8. White Pine Disease - Line of white pines along Whitehorse Rd around post office that are not looking well. Armstrong did contact Jim Thompson. He will check this problem and report back.
  9. Battery Collection - Proposal is to place bucket in foyer of township building. BoS concerned about putting outdoor one in Charlestown Park due to vandalism. Suggestion was made to put one at Valley Forge University. Armstrong contacted them but didn’t hear back. The Devault Post Office is willing to have one. Soundararajan asked Charlestown Meadows HOA if they would be willing to put one in their club house. They denied the request. We will move forward to put one in township building and Default Post office where we have permission. Also take one to Charlestown Day. Must advertise. Can show people the bucket at election day (to educate that there is a bucket in township). Soundararajan will solicit permission to put a bucket at the Baptist Church on 401. Also have one at Earth Day and Charlestown Day. Walker suggested collection days at schools, maybe for October. 3 sites- church, PO, township if church willing. Otherwise the 2 sites. Armstrong has a poster which she will send around. We all need to review and give her feedback asap.
  10. Naming of headwater tributary at Charlestown Park - perennial stream that starts at Charlestown Park. There is a process for naming. Armstrong researched historical records. No atlases or maps have names for this or other southern French Creek tributaries. The only historical reference is to the Wagoner family. Armstrong suggested Wagoner. Tom Comitta suggested Foster Run. Armstrong will follow up with Comitta to discuss.
  11. Township Newsletters - (due dates are;1/15, 4/15, 7/15, 10/15): Csete suggested we try to keep our newsletter articles to a page. April submission to include native species day event and Hummingbird article that Goodman wrote. Future topic ideas include:
    1. what to do when you hit a deer (good topic for fall).
    2. tour of invasive species.
  12. Community Education - no update. Will see how native species day goes.
  13. Brightside and Deerfield riparian buffers- The EAC will have a workday to clean them up and do a status check. Goodman needs to contact Deerfield about mowing the meadow in March. Goodman and Walker to contact Heleniak to get permission about mowing at Brightside so the EAC can work on riparian buffer phase 1.
  14. Charlestown riparian buffer opportunities - The EAC will look at the site in Charlestown Park near the playing fields. Sunday April 23rd at 3:00. Meet at high end of park - parking lot closest to Township Line Rd. Wear wet-appropriate gear.

Meeting adjourned at 9:10.