Attendees: Robin Dexter, Amy Kahn, John Mordes, Benjamin Kahn, Evan Weststrate

Special Guest: Kathryn Howard

1. Treasury Report
   • No update on the treasury. $7316.62 in account
2. Recap if the results of the January election of officers and the Board
   1. Officers: JPM, Evan, Robin, Amy
   2. Board, Chris, Karen, Paul, and Rena
3. 501c3 renewal
   1. Federal done
   2. State in process. Evan has an email from the state Friday. Evan has to review and sign before John can submit and pay the fees.
   3. John met with Chris and Karen Osborn while filing the Form 990 and had them set up personal accounts so they can do those submissions. This was the first time the form was filed online, easier process than expected. TBD: John to meet with Ben to set up FoHG mailbox with all of the access credentials/information. Karen and Chris will take it on after that. Karen will act as co-treasurer to assist Robin.
   4. TBD: Get keys to PO box to Amy/Evan so Amy and Evan can check the mail
   6. TBD: Set up Restaurant Depot membership. Ben and John will go together. https://www.restaurantdepot.com/
4. Bad news: Spotted Lanternfly is in Newton
   1. Guest Speaker: Katherine Howard
      Egg masses discovered in Newton Upper Falls. The insect is destructive – it likes the Tree of Heaven, which is invasive. It also likes maple trees and birch trees. The state is not planning on eliminating them using chemicals, especially not on a watershed.
5. Feedback on the annual report to our members.
   • We got a few donations as a result.
   • Need to clean up email/contact list. Karen is setting up a sub-organization through Constant Contact for modernizing email lists. Ben to meet with Karen next week to set up FoHG Email Management System, which will also manage donations and automated messaging to members.
6. Do we have any possible Eagle Scout projects to communicate to the Scouts?
   1. We have had one inquiry from a scout requesting to do a project
      • Maybe turn the big fallen tree into a bench or something equivalent?
        • Can we follow up with Greg Schwartz to see if we can do something here?
      • Maybe fix the broken fence
      • How about railings/walkway/box steps to the pond?
      • Graffiti cleanup/prevention? It’s an MWRA issue.
7. Update on the Public-Private partnership grant opportunity announcement.
   1. There have to date been no suggestions.
   2. Could we consider fixing the railings on Echo Bridge? Original estimate to rebuild historically accurate railings was around $1M. https://hemlockgorge.org/2007/04/the-restoration-of-echo-bridge-2007-documentation/
      Report on options here
   3. How about railings/pathway toward the pond?
8. Matters arising
   • Walk through Hemlock Gorge coming this May. John to send out information and we will post an event to the website.
   • TBD: Need a date for Spring Cleanup. Proposal: Saturday April 26. We will post to the website.