April 30, 2025, Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

23 of 48 sheets Page 89 to 92 of 116 05/12/2025 02:23:28 PM 89 And I strongly believe all four of these species1 A. would breed in this parcel of land. Mostly, especially2 the top two and red eyed deer and a wood thrush,3 squirrel, good likelihood that, that would be the one I4 put on this list I was hoping to find there.5 So going back to the concept of like if you take6 away habitat you have fewer birds, that's not true.7 Some times you take away habitat you have more birds but8 you have birds that are there for the new habitat.9 So this is the data from the exact same study10 that I've been showing you and what you see as you11 shrink the size of the forest patch you get more and12 more American robins and you get the most American13 robins when the forest -- when there's little patches of14 woods for them to use, but they mostly hang out in open15 areas. So that's a native species. They, you know,16 they contribute to the function. But, you know, you17 like robins, they sound pretty, look pretty and, you18 know, ecologically they serve a function in the system19 that they're in.20 The other thing you do when you convert21 continuous habitat into habitat that's disturbing22 especially dominated by human development, is you tend23 to add numbers and the occurrence of exotic endangered24 species. So the example on the right here is European25 90 starling, you can see how much it protects large patches1 of forest. How much more likely it is to occur as the2 patches of forest get smaller and smaller. And as an3 example European starlings are a particular menace to4 native bird because they usurp from their canopy nest,5 they'll kill chicks, they'll destroy eggs, even kill6 adults if they can. So not only do they compete for7 space, directly compete for space, they directly also8 cause mortality in native species. So this is what --9 this is the birds you add when you take away forest10 space.11 And the threats aren't just to, as I mentioned a12 moment ago in terms of what European starlings tend to13 do to nesting birds, but it's not just a survival or14 longevity of adults or those types of aspects of the15 biology of the birds, but specifically within the16 nesting stage it's a very particular time of year among17 life history of all these different species and you can18 see wood thrush their nesting success drops to one in19 ten nests succeeds in a forest

sting stage it's a very particular time of year among17 life history of all these different species and you can18 see wood thrush their nesting success drops to one in19 ten nests succeeds in a forest patch that's about ten20 hectares, which is not that small of a forest patch21 actually. Forest patches that are about, probably left22 in the proposal around in this area of the scale and so23 it's not just direct mortality it can also be strong24 effects of other particular life history stages.25 91 MR. AFRAN: Can you identify, go back if you1 can, what was a hectare size, when you said the graph2 showed an analogy of what would be left here?3 THE WITNESS: This one? This one here?4 MR. AFRAN: In the last graph. The5 scattergram. Yes, you pointed to several dots and you6 said that's analogous to what would be left here. How7 many hectares on that scale were you referring to, acres8 or hectares were you referring to?9 MR. KLEIN: Four dots?10 MR. AFRAN: Yeah.11 THE WITNESS: Right. Sorry.12 MR. AFRAN: You circled the dots near the13 corner and said that's analogous to the size of this14 acreage. How does that translate into hectares so we15 can have a point of reference.16 THE WITNESS: So this is a long scale so17 it's a tricky to judge where we are because the18 intervals between 10 and 20 is about this big and the19 intervals between 20 and 30 is about that big and 40, 5020 and 60 is in here. So this is probably around 3021 hectares, which is a little smaller than the forest that22 would be left, I believe.23 MR. AFRAN: So you're saying 30 hectares24 equates to around 9 acres, is that what you're saying?25 92 In other words, first how many hectares equate to acres1 because most of us think in terms of acres.2 THE WITNESS: Two and half acres per3 hectare.4 MR. AFRAN: Okay. So when you speak of 305 hectares, are you referring to existing core forest or6 what are you referring to?7 THE WITNESS: Let's see. So I wrote that8 down. The core forest of -- oh, I'm sorry. So the9 total, the total habitat size of the plot is 143 acres,10 which is about 58 hectares. So around 60 hectares is11 about right here currently, so that's what's currently12 there and then after the development it drops to about13 45. So that would move to about here on the scale. So14 you'd have to scale the line to estimate what the change15 is. It's probably about a ten percent drop across

the development it drops to about13 45. So that would move to about here on the scale. So14 you'd have to scale the line to estimate what the change15 is. It's probably about a ten percent drop across the16 scale. Ten percent drop.17 MR. AFRAN: Are you referring to, when you18 say 45 hectares will be left after development, I want19 to be clear we're speaking along the same forest?20 THE WITNESS: That's total forest. Not21 just --22 MR. AFRAN: That's total forest?23 THE WITNESS: Yeah. Yeah.24 MR. AFRAN: Okay.25