Valley Futures

January 20, 2012 VFN Minutes

NEXT Meeting –> Friday, February 10 – Mark yer calendars!

Present: Robin Morris, Dotty Kyle, Eric Brattstrom, Nancy McHugh, Jordan Diez, David Sellers, Joshua Schwartz, Lisa Barnes, Wendy Cox, Jasna Brown, Rob Williams, Dave Benedict, Geri Procaccini, Teresa Langston, Ginny McGinn, Kathy Meyer, Don LaHaye, and Marge Keough.

VFN web site and listserve migration (Rob)

Thanks to CRAIG GOSS for all his tremendous hard work on building and hosting our VFN web site and list serves! Words do little to express how grateful we are for his pro bono citizen service. Craig is moving on, and Dan Holtz at “Footprints on the Web” has graciously agreed to take over our VFN web site and list serve responsibilities. We hope to have the migration complete by March 1. Any questions, contact Rob @ rob@vermontyak.com.

Mad River Food Hub Update (Robin and Josh)

GREAT celebration of our FOOD HUB opening this week! Kudos to Robin, Jacob, Kathy and the whole Food Hub team for their hard work. Moving forward–>Goal #1: How do we quickly build out ag programs like “Grow An Extra Row” in 2012 to meet the FOOD HUB’s goals? A small group has been formed to expedite the Food Hub’s vision. Goal #2: Pursuing USDA certification so we can process and sell more local food. Goal #3: Wastewater – we need a decentralized wastewater system for the Food Hub to succeed. Look to the bond vote for March town meeting. Let’s support our local businesses who are desperate for a new and improved wastewater system. Josh – “the #1 limiting factor to economic growth in MRV is our lack of a wastewater system.” Our new decentralized wastewater proposal is innovative – do your homework and learn more about how it will work and how it will be funded. Contact Joshua Schwartz with your questions and comments.

MRVPD Update – Planning Recovery in MRV (Josh)

EPA $80,000 federal grant (ANR, VtTrans, and Housing and Community) to identify policies to make communities more resilient in the face of climate change and natural disasters. Their focus is on Mad River Valley – a 12-18 month study to learn how to make communities more resilient. MRV is in the spotlight. An exciting opportunity for the MRV. For more questions, contact Joshua Schwartz .

Theater/Performing Arts – MRV COOP idea (Teresa and Jasna)

Can the arts be harnessed as an “economic engine” for the MRV economy (like the Food Hub is beginning to do?) How do we harness the arts in this manner? This group is looking to create two entities – a 501c3 for a performance space, and an L3C to help incubate and fund new arts ideas, marketing, involvement from the broader business community, towns, citizens – serving the needs of the community. Why? We can develop the “middle ground” for performing arts here in the Valley, connecting professionals from “away” with professionals who live here, offer classes, arts opportunities, relationship building etc. Interested in getting involved? Contact Teresa Langston . Good discussion – networking – etc.

Irene Flood Recovery HQ (Dottie)

We’re still working! HQ is open 4 days a week. Seeking volunteers with construction backgrounds and general “heavy lifting” (Trinity college students who are working weekly, for example). 6 houses closed for the winter, stripped to the bone. We also need “case workers” to help support families-in-need, suffering from PTSD.
Find out more and volunteer by calling HQ @ # 496.6089 or emailing dotty kyle @ .

Vermont Town Meeting “Corporate Personhood” Petition (Marge)

Our four Valley towns are working on a “Move To Amend – Corporations Are Not People” petition for town meeting day, introduced by Ginny Lyons in the Vermont State Legislature. The petitions are all signed and delivered in all four towns – ask your select boards to support a public discussion about this amendment on town meeting day. To get involved, contact Marge Keough and Teresa Langston . National progressive political speaker David Cobb will be speaking to this issue on March 15 @ the Big Picture Theater.

Vermont Hyper/Zip/Electric Car discussion (Wendy and Dave)

Local inventors/entrepreneurs Bill Parker, Don Mayer, Dave Sellers and others working on a prototype for a hyper-car and tram/transportation system – looking to “demo” a vehicle – either rail or wheeled – by year’s end. Look for monthly @BigPicture meetings to start exploring how to support/launch this idea in a feasible and sustainable manner. For more information, contact Wendy Allison Cox .

Be the change,

Rob the Weaver

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Saturday night, Sugarbush Gatehouse Lodge, premiere of Charlie Brown’s new film, Irene in the Mad River Valley @ 7 pm. Come one, come all. Admission is FREE with a CASH BAR. (Just sayin’).

Today’s Meeting–>Present: Wendy Cox, Kathy Meyer, Josh Schwartz, Stan Ward, Rob Williams, Dottie Kyle, Jasna Brown, Jordan Dietz, Charlie Hosford, Eric Brattstrom, Nancy McHugh, Conner Soderquist, Leah Cameron, Tom Barefoot, Quayle Rewinski, Robin Morris, & Liza Walker.

Next meeting: Friday, January 13, 2012. Happy Holidays!

Here are the December 9, 2012 VFN Monthly Minutes

MRV Flood Relief HQ Update (Dotty, Jasna, and Josh)

Flood relief will continue for a LONG time. Plenty of good work to do. Stress levels are high among families and individuals impacted by the flood. We are still in need of VOLUNTEERS to do some good work. Call the FLOOD RELIEF HQ #, temporarily located in the Universal Microsystems Building, but moving back to the Masonic Lodge on Monday –> #496.6089. Email irene.waitsfield@gmail.com. http://www.mrvhurricaneirene.com/. Still dialing in a fiscal agent for donations for the Irene “reconstruction building materials fund.” Already received several small grants.

Josh from MRVPD

1. November 13th “It’s A Mad River” Flooding History/Dynamics of Mad River – public presentation for 140 local citizens. Powerful community event – reminder of our history and the need to plan for the future around the River. HUMS students, working with Nancy Spencer’s class, created some engaging river-focused projects around Irene, and helped create useful dialogue between our middle school and citizens in the community. Presentations available at MRVPD.org.

2. November 17 – Vermont state all day “Listening Session” @ Valley Players Theater: Vermont state officials from 5 different agencies met with local citizens for dialogue and planning around the Mad River for the future.

3. EPA Grant application – 3 different state agencies proposed funding to study Irene and the problem of “silo management” with regard to natural disasters like Irene – can we think and act more holistically by changing policies to promote more collaboration?

One BIG NOTE – the state of Vermont is looking at our long-term flood relief HQ as a model for future disaster relief.

Food Sovereignty (Dotty and Eric)

Eric mentioned Ben Hewitt’s book THE TOWN THAT FOOD SAVED as an interesting look at Hardwick, Vermont and the idea of “food sovereignty.” How do we make it easier for MRV residents to access local food from our farm neighbors? Town meeting petition in the works. Contact Rural Vermont for more information –> rob@ruralvermont.org. Find out more by Googling Joel Salatin, organic farmer (http://www.polyfacefarms.com/).

Food Hub (Robin)

The Mad River Valley Food Hub is open for business – all three rooms are OPEN! First food safety course already run. Supplying food to Red Hen in Middlesex, City Market in Burlington, and beginning to run a truck network in central Vermont. NEEDS –> more meat processing, beyond Knoll Farm sheep (Baaaaa!), and small custom orders. Robin suggests embracing a BOTH/AND approach with regard to selling in versus out of state, and embracing organic or local (go with both).

Update on Gross National Happiness USA (Tom)

Follow up to the first-ever Gross National Happiness conference in the country (last summer) with an August 2012 GNH conference. Stay tuned. Tom shared the results of the GNH survey – find out more at http://www.gnhusa.org and contact Tom Barefoot for more information.

Zip Car/Transportation ideas for MRV – A Proposal (Wendy)

Thanks to Wendy Cox, Norwich U prof and Warren resident. for submitting what is a fascinating idea for an electric zip car transportation system that she envisions running along the spine of the Green Mountains. She will submit her notes on this idea to the VFN. More information about CarSharesVermont’s 10 car fleet in Burlington–>http://www.carsharevt.org/our-fleet/ – they all have really nifty names, each car. “Clementine” is my favorite.

VFN/UVM partnership finale summary (Josh)

Josh provided a summary of the FOUR projects our UVM/VFN partners worked on this fall through the Local Community Initiatives course: PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) program; Compost Power; Community Solar, and MRV Health Center survey. “Phenomenal” presentations, and so inspiring to see UVM students partnering with our MRV organizations. Special thanks to UVM teacher Erin Buckwalter for taking over the reins from UVM’s Chip Sawyer and ROCKING IT. Let’s do it again NEXT fall!

Happy holidays, everyone!

Be the change!!

Rob the Weaver

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UVM students participating in the 3rd annual Local Community Initiatives course will be making their final presentations to the MRV on the evening of 12/7, 6-8 PM, at The Big Picture.

Students and community members have been hard at work on four projects through the fall semester:

• Compost Power - Students are researching the Jean Pain Method, developing educational materials for agricultural enterprises in the MRV, surveying potential users, and providing a final report.
• Waitsfield Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program - Students are researching PACE programs nationwide, identifying barriers and opportunities for PACE, providing a synopsis of key housing data metrics, and provide a report that will serve to inform best practices and next steps.
• Mad River Valley Health Center - Students are developing a snapshot of the MRV from a health perspective by mapping local health resources, developing a strategy and survey to assess community health needs, collect data, and providing a final report and recommendations for improving the health status of MRV residents.
• MRV Solar Farm - Students are researching other co-operatively owned/managed solar projects nationwide, surveying and compiling responses regarding potential interest in such a project, developing education materials, and providing a report on education materials and survey responses.

Please come out and make this a true celebration of the students hard work and community togetherness!

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The fourth installment of the MRV Renewable Energy Series will take place on Tuesday, 11/15, 7 PM at the Big Picture Theater. Biomass will consist on four presentations followed by Q & A.

• MRV Biomass Analysis | Cecilia Danks, PhD & Susannah McCandless, PhD. Cecilia and Susannah will summarize the work of the Community Biomass Project, a partner project of UVM, VT Family Forests, and the National Forest Alliance. For the past few years the CBP has focused on opportunities for increasing the sustainability of the MRV’s local wood supply as part of an overall goal of achieving energy independence in heating and power generation. Results of wood consumption and forest practices in the MRV will be presented.
• Harwood Union Forest Project | Kimberly Coleman, UVM. Kimberly will share a variety of forest education and mapping projects focusing on Harwood’s 180 acre forest. This project sprang out of the Community Biomass Project and is a partnership between teachers, staff, and UVM. More info here.
• Biomass Heating Systems | David Frank, Sunwood Biomass. David will provide an overview of biomass heating systems, from chips to pellets.
• Heating Homes & Greenhouses with Compost | Gaelan Brown, Compost Power Network. Gaelan will talk about the Jean Pain Method of woody biomass compost – heating with wood without burning wood.

The final event in the series will be Energy Conservation, Efficiency, & Weatherization on December 13th.

These talks continue the dialogue of energy in the Valley through structured, information-based public discussions exploring a range of issues related to the Valley’s energy future. Summaries of all events and copies of presentations are available at www.mrvpd.org.

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The Mad River Watershed Conservation Partnership, a consortium of the Vt Land Trust, Friends of the Mad River, and the MRV Planning District, is sponsoring an evening dedicated to understanding flooding in the Mad River Valley and how we’ve attempted to manage it.

It’s a Mad River: A look at flooding in the Mad River Valley & the evolution of river management

A presentation led by river scientists from the VT Department of Environmental Conservation, local river experts & historians.

November 10th, 6:30-8:30pm
1824 House Inn, Waitsfield

Agenda:

• Intro and welcome
• Irene: Holy Cow, that was A LOT of water
  • What happened during Tropical Storm Irene?
  • How did it compare to other flood events?
  • How did the river change (before and after orthophotos)
  • What did we do “right”?
  • Areas for improvement?
• The history of the Mad River
  • Major flood events since the 1800′s
  • How the river channel has changed over time (historic orthophotos)
  • How our management of the river has changed
  • How the watershed has changed
• River Dynamics and Management
  • Brief review of basic river science
  • How flooding and erosion impacts our communities
  • How our communities impact flooding and erosion
  • How gravel extraction, straightening and rip rapping changes/impacts rivers
  • Inherent conflicts with the river and our development
  • Current management strategies (active and passive)
• Success stories
  • What we have done right so far (i.e.: conservation projects)
• Questions

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The third installment of the MRV Energy Series will take place on Monday, 10/24, 7 PM at the Big Picture Theater. Financing Energy Projects & VT’s Energy Plan will consist on three presentations followed by Q & A.

• Marianne Tyrrell, Esq., Fellow at VT Law School, will provide an overview of financing options for residential energy efficiency improvements. Mrs. Tyrrell co-authored the recently released Financing Residential Energy Efficiency in VT, an investigation of financing tools and procedures that can enable lenders to accelerate the pace of home energy improvements.
• Peter Adamczyk, Energy Finance & Development Manager with VT Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC), will explore one financing option for green improvements: Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE). PACE provides energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements for residents funded by taxable municipal bonds  and repaid via ones property tax bill. Waitsfield is one of the “quick start” towns in this new and exciting program.
• Elizabeth Miller, Commissioner of VT Department of Public Service, will talk about energy programs at the state level as well as the draft Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan (CEP). The CEP addresses Vermont’s energy future for electricity, thermal energy, transportation, and land use. This is a great opportunity in advance of the CEP’s 11/4 public comment deadline.

The last two events in the series are Biomass & Hot Water (November 15th) and Energy Conservation, Efficiency, & Weatherization (December 13th). These talks continue the dialogue of energy in the Valley through structured, information-based public discussions exploring a range of issues related to the Valley’s energy future. Summaries of all events and copies of presentations are available at www.mrvpd.org.

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Present: Robin Morris, Conner Soderquist, Betsy Jondro, Rob Williams, Josh Schwartz, Jordan Dietz, Ginny McGinn, Eric Brattstrom, Dottie Kyle, Stan Ward, Quayle Rewinski, Jasna Brown, Kathy Meyer, & Wendy Cox.

Join VFN in seconds for free @ http://www.valleyfutures.net.

Note: Our November VFN breakfast will take place on Friday, November 11 @ the Big Picture.

FLOOD RELIEF HQ UPDATES (Jasna+Betsy)

Jasna.Brown@gmail.com is your contact for any ideas and questions.

Masonic Lodge Flood Relief HQ phasing out by October 30. Shrinking office, moving into Phase 2 – General Contracting Phase – working with individual families on construction projects to try and get buttoned up by winter.

Volunteer Labor and Donated Materials in need! And need to raise more money for Contracting Phase – ideas, everyone?

How much? $30,000 for insulation, drywall, flooring, sheetrock needs in all these homes. (Thanks to Allen Lumber and Bisbees for their reduced prices on Irene rebuilding supplies!)

Discussion ensued.

Masons will be throwing a party for all volunteers – invitations out soon. (Let’s party).

FOOD HUB UPDATE (Robin)

Officially in business for meat processing! Start processing lamb on Monday. Kudos!

Working with UVM Extension to put together a food safety course.

New web site – http://www.madriverfoodhub.com with blog for promoting local food businesses.

First employee – Jake Finsen, working 7 am throughout the day. Meat processing – let’s go.

Thanks to Joey Nagy, Dan Holtz, Robin Morris, and everyone else who has helped get this going.

And don’t miss Joey Nagy’s Vermont Meat Company’s new product on shelves now – among the first meat to be grown, slaughtered and processed in-state.

SOIL CARBON CHALLENGE (Stan Ward)

Friday, October 21 @ 4:30 @ Three Springs Farm on Old County Road. Kick off event for Vermont. Check out related email from Stan for more information.

Back story: Ten year program to measure the amount of “soil carbon” in various places across the country, connected to soil fertility, climate change mitigation, etc.

MRV PLANNING DISTRICT UPDATES (Jordan+Josh)

Jordan reported on a “When Disaster Strikes” conference call, in which folks involved in disaster relief efforts shared their stories of transformation (exploring Greenberg, KS, etc).

Josh briefed everyone on Richard Heinberg’s Statehouse/legislature talk that happened yesterday – Senior Fellow at the Post-Carbon Institute and author of 10 books, latest is The End of Growth.

Josh briefed a UVM Sustainable Community Development class on the VFN and our model of a “non organization” to network and connect people.

Chris Badger, Waitsfield’s energy coordinator, announces $250 rebates for home energy audits – pick up apps for rebate forms @ Waitsfield town office.

MRV Energy Series continues – Monday, October 24 on Financing Energy Programs/PACE program – Big Picture @ 7 pm.

MRV River Meeting – October 27 – to explore Irene’s impact on the Mad River.

UVM/VFN Local Community Initiatives kick-off event on September 14 – 40 folks – final presentation date on Wednesday, December 7 @ Big Picture.

Decentralized Wastewater Study continues – looking at Irasville and Waitsfield. Contact Josh Schwartz for more details.

Be the change!

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The Mad River Valley Planning District’s second installment of its five-part Mad River Valley Energy Series takes place on Tuesday, September 20th – 7 PM at the Big Picture Theater. Residential & Community Solar brings professionals in the renewable energy field to speak on different aspects and opportunities for solar in the Mad River Valley. Fayston resident Gaelan Brown will provide an overview of solar with Photovoltaics 101. This will be followed by a discussion of the MRV Community Solar Farm project via the Mad River Valley Energy Network co-operative. Last, James Moore will provide a description of VPIRG’s Solar Community Program, which is making its way to the broader MRV in 2012. All are invited to this free community event.

Subsequent events will be held monthly through the end of the year: Financing Energy Projects (October 24), Biomass & Hot Water (November 15), and Energy Efficiency (December 13). These talks continue the dialogue of energy in the Valley through structured, information-based public discussions exploring a range of issues related to the Valley’s energy future.

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