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McCandless EAC forms subcommittees for trees, rain gardens and community outreach; schedules follow-ups
Summary
The Environmental Advisory Committee agreed to create subcommittees for tree programs, bird/biodiversity work and communications, set meetings with town staff on tree program history, and advance a rain-garden and speaker-series schedule ahead of summer events.
The McCandless Environmental Advisory Committee on June 10 agreed to organize subcommittees and follow-up meetings to advance tree giveaways, rain-garden maintenance and a revived speaker series.
Joanna Cameron, an EAC member who works on native-plant and pollinator projects, described rain-garden locations installed in 2010 and 2017 and flagged invasive-species problems. "There are two plants of poison hemlock that are currently in the rain garden," she said, and asked whether volunteers should document removal methods and coordinate with public works.
Committee members agreed that invasive management needs coordination with public works and that some removal may require herbicide or other methods that should be documented for public accountability. Staff noted public-works crews can only treat municipal property and that private-property cooperation and education will be necessary to prevent re‑infestation.
On the tree program, members discussed planning for the remainder of 2026 and next year (including whether to hold one or two tree giveaways), and requested a meeting with town staff to review the program’s history, prior budgets and logistics. The EAC will hold a "tree history" meeting with staff and the tree subcommittee to align future events and funding requests.
The committee also discussed the EAC speaker series: members recommended restoring a quarterly schedule (four speakers a year), suggested library and Heritage Center venues, and proposed modest stipends for presenters. Potential speakers include a permaculture designer and local native-plant educators; organizers plan to book a permaculture presentation for August and consider a native-plant speaker next spring.
Other items: the group reported a $1,000 grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation earmarked for bird‑habitat items and said Bird Town onboarding is underway (a committee web page exists and a logo will be uploaded). Volunteers were reminded to log EAC-related hours for certification reporting.
Next steps: schedule a town‑staff meeting to review tree-program history and budgets, form the proposed subcommittees, set speaker-series dates (John Cy in August), and assemble communications materials (graphics, short McMail tips and social posts) to promote summer events and volunteer opportunities.
