Memorial Day celebration special section pg. 9
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COMMUNITY
NEWS
TAKE ONE May 26, 2018
Serving Addison, Rutland & Chittenden Counties
Tree awards to Middlebury, Rutland By Lou Varricchio
SOLAR PROJECTS MOVE AHEAD From News & Staff Reports
THE V ERMONT EAGLE
THE V ERMONT EAGLE
MIDDLEBURY | The Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program (VT UCF) recently recognized several tree and forest heroes at a special awards ceremony in Montpelier. Recipients of the 2018 Vermont Tree Stewards Awards were announced at the Vermont Arbor Day Conference on May 3. Winners of National Arbor Day Awards for Tree City, Tree Campus and Tree Line USA also were recognized at the ceremony. Steven Sinclair, who has worked for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation for more than 40 years, was honored with the Vermont Arbor Day Award. He was recognized for his strong leadership as director of the Division of Forestry for the past 16 years, his decades of service to the state forestry industry and his success in establishing the urban and community forestry program in Vermont almost 30 years ago.
MIDDLEBURY | The Middlebury Selectboard conducted a public hearing last week to take comment regarding a request from Middle Road Ventures, LLC, for a letter of support for a proposed solar project, known as the South Ridge Solar II Project. The project will be located to the south of South Ridge’s existing solar array, within the existing planned unit development. Middle Road
Ventures managing member Charlie Kireker provided an overview of the project and the draft letter, which included endorsement of the proposed facility as a Category III Preferred Solar Site Designation under the Vermont Public Utility Commission’s Rule 5.100. Kireker noted that the project and letter had already been endorsed by both the Middlebury Planning Commission and Addison County Regional Planning. Following the hearing, the board voted to approve the letter of support for the South Ridge Solar II Project. » Solar Cont. on pg. 4
OTHER AWARD WINNERS WERE:
HAMILTON AWARD: Brad Goedkoop, Hartford. Th is award is given in memory of the late Dr. Larry Hamilton, a Charlotte tree warden, to a tree warden who has advanced the goals of urban and community forestry through public education, sustainable forestry practices and other means. Goedkoop, Hartford’s tree warden and former Hartford Tree Board member, has worked with various town and state departments for a number of years on tree management issues, strategic planning for invasive species, hazard tree evaluation protocol and development of a town tree management policy, among other activities. » Tree awards Cont. on pg. 4
A new solar project will be located to the south of South Ridge’s existing solar array in Middlebury, within the existing planned unit development. Pictured: Solar array construction in Ferrisburgh. Photo by Lou Varricchio
Not everyone supports mosquito spraying By Lou Varricchio EAGLE EDITOR
TOWN-WIDE ASSESSMENT: David Ingelse, a municipal accessor employed by the New England Municipal Resource Center (NEMRC) of Fairfax—and contracted by the town of Middlebury—is one of several accessors visiting 3,000 properties in Middlebury during the spring and summer. Last week, Ingelse is assessing properties in East Middlebury, south Middlebury, and the Farmingdale district. A public meeting will be held later for citizens to respond to any changes in the new assessments. Photo by Lou Varricchio
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University of Vermont HEALTH
NETWORK
Porter MedicalCenter For more information and to apply, please visit and click on “Careers”
» Spraying Cont. on pg. 3
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Part 3: This is final installment in a series on spraying in the BLSG Insect Control District which includes Brandon, Leicester, Salsibury, Goshen and now Pittsford. SALISBURY | Being an ecologist living within a mosquito-invested area, Chris Fastie of Salisbury has a holistic view of the problem that may be decidedly different from other district residents and summer tourists who spend a lot of time swatting at insects and applying DEET (diethyltoluamide). “Well, there might be an ecological difference her,” Fastie said. “There are lots of wet, boggy, marshy habitats in Vermont, but
the Otter Creek floodplain between Rutland and Middlebury is a very big one. It’s very wet, very low area. It’s so flat that it drops 165 feet in 30 miles (from Rutland). It floods and the mosquitoes can lay a lot of eggs in the floodplain forests and agricultural fields. And if the next summer is just right for those eggs, there can be a huge hatching.” Fastie said certain mosquito species may be better adapted at laying eggs and living in the Otter Creek floodplain. “That’s why I think there’s an ecological reason for more mosquitoes being in this area, but there are also a lot of species. At Lake Dunmore there are other species that breed in the woods and wet places,” he noted. “But most mosquito eggs are laid in the fields, not in the woods.”