The Kingston Open Space Committee met to coordinate a series of spring cleanup and expansion projects, highlighted by a new partnership with Eversource for the Tree Farm Landing site. Lauren informed the committee that recent outreach to Eversource representative Jeff Guin yielded a promising collaboration for site maintenance. The guy who answered was very nice... and he said that they sent out their own crews just to check out like their right of way area, Lauren reported, noting that the utility company has already begun securing gates to prevent illegal access. The committee plans to conduct a sidewalk meeting with Eversource on February 12th to discuss the potential use of company trucks to haul away large debris from the property.

The committee also reviewed a recent meeting with Bay Circuit Trail Coordinator Amber Sterns, who offered to provide a dedicated crew for local environmental efforts. During the discussion, Jada suggested that the committee perform an audit to determine whichever property has the most litter right now to best utilize the visiting volunteers. The group is exploring a trail connection between Three Rivers and Hathaway to move hikers off Grove Street, though Chair Megan noted significant logistical hurdles, explaining that the only problem with that... is that the trail crosses over the railroad tracks, which may necessitate the installation of bog boards or boardwalks.

Access issues at the proposed High Street parking area were also a major point of concern following a recent site visit. Lauren shared observations that neighboring residential structures appear to be encroaching on town-owned land, stating, it looks kind of like the neighbor has put some sheds and stuff on it. To address the potential encroachment, Megan suggested the town could request official plot plans from the neighbors, noting that the Conservation Commission would have the authority to settle that or to call somebody in and say, 'Can we have discussion?' Meanwhile, Jada advocated for the creation of a temporary staging area to aid workers, suggesting that even it's just a pulloff off the side of the road... we could clear the ground and maybe get some gravel.

Finally, the committee received an update on wildlife monitoring and trail inventory management. Recent trail camera footage from the Senior Center area has captured images of deer, coyotes, and raccoons, while a more dramatic encounter was reported near the cranberry bogs. Megan recounted a recent wildlife sighting, remarking that according to Brian, the owl got the hawk... he saw a dead hawk with an owl next to it. As winter continues, the committee plans to pivot toward indoor work sessions focused on GIS mapping to design a figure-eight trail system that would better connect Kingston's disparate conservation parcels.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:32 p.m.