Environmental Sustainability Committee
April 14, 2015
AB7 402
1:30 pm
Attendance: Win Everham (representing Greg Tolley), Tom Mayo, Katie Leone, Vikki McConnell, Guy Cicinelli, Julie
Yazici, Gerry Segal
Absent: Rhonda Holtzclaw, Sarah Davis, Anne Hartley, Sim Komisar, Ron Dalton
Guests: Willie Baca (EH&S), Chris Schmiege and John Bryson (Florida Forest Services), Patty Krupp (Colloquium), Joe
MacDonald
Review of Minutes:
Katie reviewed the 3/31/15 meeting minutes. Guy motioned to approve, Vikki seconded his motion, and all were in
favor.
Guest Speakers- Chris Schmiege and John Bryson from Florida Forest Services
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Chris and John had the opportunity to review the meeting minutes and slides from our 2/17/15 meeting in which
Win's students gave their presentation on controlled burns for FGCU’s campus. Both agreed that the students
were, "pretty spot on with their information and recommendations."
Chris and John reiterated some of the benefits that controlled burns would bring to FGCU and the surrounding
community:
o Native Florida ecosystems are adapted to fire. When they don't burn regularly property owners are at a
greater risk for property damage from wildfires and numerous ecological issues are exacerbated (e.g. there
is decreased habitat space for endangered species like the gopher tortoise).
o Compared to mechanical burning, controlled burns are more affordable and are more beneficial for
biodiversity.
Burning would require writing a land management plan, writing a burn plan, doing the necessary community
outreach/education (e.g. educate the neighbors through door knockers and press releases illustrating the benefits
burning), coordinating with the Fire Department, and receiving approval from the Army Corps of Engineers and/or
South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). FGCU may have the knowledge-base to facilitate the burns
internally; George Brown has been trained by Florida Forest Services and holds the needed certifications. Or, FGCU
could contract Florida Forest Services and they would handle each of the aforementioned steps from start to
finish. They assisted us in 1997, which was the last time we had a controlled burn on FGCU's property.
John and Chris discussed smoke management and health concerns:
o Doing community outreach is key.
o They recommended keeping the burn area smaller than 2 acres in size.
o It is important to consider buildings, smoke sensitive areas, identify where we might need fire breaks,
consider how to avoid lingering smoke overnight, etc..
o They suggested burning over the winter break so that less people would be on campus.
 Win asked if it would be better to burn while classes are in session as a way to educate our campus
community. This would be okay too, but they recommended shooting for winter break because it
happens to be an ideal time of year to do controlled burns. It is very standard that scheduled burns
need to be rescheduled due to weather. We could aim to burn over winter break, but should be
prepared to postpone and not be deterred if rescheduling is necessary.
Win asked about opportunities for students to receive career training and get involved with the controlled burns
on campus. John suggested that interested students register for their 130/190 classes (they usually offer 2 per
year) as an introduction. Students can pursue their interests further after completing those classes by registering
for the full certification (usually held in LeBelle annually). Win will encourage students in his department to
become certified so that FGCU will have a trained labor force available.
Vikki asked how long coordinating logistics for a burn would take if the university decides to contract Florida
Forest Services. Chris and John said that it would not take very long. Once the specifics and costs have been
outlined and granted approval, they could mobilize people and facilitate logistics in a few weeks.
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Vikki asked is we could see examples of land management plans and burn plans that Florida Forest Service has
done for other clients. John and Chris would be happy to share those with us. They could help us put together a
specific plan tailored to FGCU’s needs. This would be the next step we would need to take before seeking
approval from the PBC.
The Physical Plant has been on a steady mechanical burn cycle for the past 7 years. John was happy to learn about
our mechanical burn regimen and thinks that it would be ideal to use it as an opportunity conduct research that
the Forest Service could report back on to Tallahassee and FGCU faculty could publish. The research could look at
the difference in burning an area that was mechanically chopped one year ago versus one that was chopped four
years ago and consider other variables that would help inform best practices and future recommendations.
Master Plan Update- Tom Mayo
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April 21st- Preferred Concepts Presentation to BOT in the Cohen Center Ballroom at 10:30 a.m.
o The presentation will cover transportation and space utilization and how it overlays onto our campus. They
will talk about recommended facilities based on needed growth.
May 14th- Informal Public Information Meeting from 10:00-11:00 am in Cohen Center 214
June 10th- First public hearing and beginning of 90-day review period. All comments must be submitted during
the 90-day period and they will be digested and incorporated into the final iteration that will be presented to the
BOT on December 11th.
Vikki asked for more details about the front entrance timeline so that we could coordinate volunteers to relocate
plants. The demolition zone has not been finalized and they are unsure of the construction start date because
they are coordinating with the county. It is likely that the county will get the notice to proceed around April 24th,
but a demolition start date has not been set. Vikki and Win said that we would only need a day or two to remove
the plants depending on the amount that are possible to salvage before the construction starts. Katie mentioned
that we would need a few weeks to organize a volunteer workforce. The ideal time to get volunteers would be
after summer sessions A & C begin on May 11th so that we can partner with Colloquium instructors and get
students involved.
Environmental Sustainability Plan Update- Katie Leone
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Our job is two-fold. First, we must review the plan and identify when stated goals have or have not been achieved
or note that they are ongoing. Second, we should identify gaps in what we are doing and recommend
sustainability priorities to be incorporated into our strategic planning process.
Julie asked about ways to ensure accountability. Should we recommended tasks to specific departments as any
project manager would do? The committee members mostly agreed that it was beyond the ESCs purview to
assign goals to departments since we were not tasked to do that.
Vikki was the only person to provide feedback thus far. The remaining committee members will send Katie, Sarah,
and Rhonda their updates via email by Tuesday, April 21st. After we get the updates from everyone on the
committee, we can assign remaining ones that are unknown to specific committee members. Those members can
reach out to departments and to ask for updates.
Guy pointed out that some departments (such as the library) are not included. Despite working to incorporate
sustainability into their programs and operations, the library did not set specific sustainability goals in SharePoint.
As such, there are many departments not listed. Tom suggested that we include all departments but simply write
"no goals reported" in the "2015 Update" column of the spreadsheet.
Announcements
Next meeting will be on April, 28th at 1:30 in AB-7 conference room 402