Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes
- January 18, 2012
Assembly time: 7:00 PM.
Present: Jed Schwartz, Carol
Andrews, Arin Mills, Nan Schwartz, Johanna Young, Sandy Robinson, and Ken
Eastman
1.0 Approval of Minutes: Minutes from November meeting, Sandy made
a motion to approve, Carol seconded, all voted in favor. There was no meeting
held in December.
2.0 Old
Business:
2.1 Permits
Committee – No new permits to look at.
3.0 Committee
and Board reports:
3.1 Land Protection Committee – Jed reported that the
Q2C grant application that we submitted was approved for funding for the
Eccardt Farm Conservation Easement addition project. The Forest Society and
LCHIP have both approved adding the property to the easement. The project
should wrap up quickly. Sandy made a motion to spend up to $6,000 for the
transactions costs, Carol seconded, all voted in favor. All but $1,000 for the
stewardship fee will be refunded by the Q2C grant.
Jed mentioned they are
meeting with a group from the Millen Pond area to talk about conservation
easements.
3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna
reports that the Energy Committee didnÕt have a meeting in December but they
will be meeting tomorrow night. She said the Elementary School energy audit is
done and she will send us copies of it to look over. Jed said that we should post all the
energy audits online so people can read through them, Nan will do that. It was
felt that the town could do a few of the projects to help save the money by
saving energy. Johanna said they are still hoping to do a ŌButton-UpĶ
presentation in Washington this year and pair it with a practical
demonstration. Ken mentioned he learned through Charlie that all the town
buildings have 2 meters, one for demand and one for time of use rate. He will
check into this to see how the town is actually charged for electricity.
3.3 Planning Board – Nan reported
that the PB will have 2 items on a special ballot at town meeting. The updated sign
ordinance and an update for LUO section 200 concerning minor home businesses,
which will help make it easier to classify businesses and decide whether or not
they need permits.
3.4 Forestry Committee – Tom
wasnÕt here tonight but Jed mentioned that Tom spoke with him about the town
forest additions and the warrant article he is proposing for town meeting
concerning the additions. He also mentioned that the Nuthatch Way TF is a good
candidate for replanting and a possible project for later this year.
3.5 Legislative update – Carol
said that there are many bills being considered this session in the legislature
and some are worrying to CCs. She attended a hearing for HB1515 yesterday that
went well and the hope is that this bill will be killed. Next Tuesday there is
a hearing for HB1540, which will take away our ability to place a conservation
easement with a non-profit group. Contact your legislator on this one.
Municipal organizations are against it so they will be arguing against it also.
HB1586 is attempting to make it so you have to go to town meeting to make a
conservation land purchase, this will make it very difficult to close on some
time sensitive projects. NHACC is keeping an eye on all pertinent bills and
will keep us informed.
4.0 Public Presentation possibilities:
4.1 Arin said we are booked for
Watershed on Wheels visit to the Elementary School on May 21st. They
will have the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders
participate. It is a 1 hour and 40 minute presentation for each group. They
have a 10Õx28Ķ trailer that they bring in with some kiosks that they set up
separately. They will need power and a good flat spot to park and set up. Maybe
Camp Morgan parking lot if the school parking lot canÕt accommodate it. She
received a power point document from the WoW coordinator that she needs to go
through. She will send it to Nan also. Ken asked if the public could
participate and Arin will ask the coordinator. We decided we would do this
instead of the annual vernal pool outing this year. Arin was wondering if we
can make it about Washington. Everyone volunteered to help out if we can, Arin
will let us know what is needed. Thank you to Arin for spearheading a visit
from WoW. More information on WoW here: http://www.fws.gov/r5soc/educational_resources/watershed-on-wheels.html
For other presentation
possibilities Carol suggested we could bring in Steve Taylor to talk about
agriculture at some point. Nan had a list of some other presentation
possibilities; we will keep it to refer to for future ideas. She also looked
into CarolÕs suggestion last month that funds are available through the NH
Humanities Council to bring in speakers. Arin mentioned doing something
historical or archeological, maybe stonewalls. Jed said that Kevin Gardner does
a great talk on stonewalls. Arin suggested maybe we could do a project on rain
barrels. Ken said that the Town Hall 225th birthday party group is
looking for presentations or projects to go on during their celebration this
summer. We will continue the discussions next meeting.
We forgot to talk about a
winter hike but we will talk to Tom Taylor about it next month and try to plan
something for later this winter.
5.0 Web
Mapping:
Arin went to a
presentation/workshop on GIS based web mapping and shared with us a map she has
been working on showing the recreation opportunities available in Washington.
She said these maps can be embedded in a web site; Nan will work on figuring
out how to do this with our web site. She said we could do maps with wildlife
sitings or plants and that you can import different tables and layers to add to
your map. The possibilities are huge. We had a great time playing with the map
she had done and will brainstorm more ideas we can use for these maps.
6.0 New
Business:
6.1 Ken brought up an article he found
in the LGC magazine about New England food systems and VermontÕs Farm to Plate
Strategic plan. It emphasizes how important it is to have a communityÕs food
grown locally and the savings that come from food not being trucked long
distances. Nan said we are lucky to have the Eccardt Farm store right here in
town where we can buy meats, milk and more that is produced locally. John
Carroll wrote the article and he is a UNH professor of Environmental
Conservation, who has written several books on food, agriculture and
sustainability.
7.0 WhatÕs Happening in Nature?
Jed
mentioned that NH Fish & Game are conducting a wild turkey survey from
January 1st to March 31st, and they would like to know if
you see a flock. You can fill out a simple form on the F&G web site here: http://www.wildnh.com/turkeysurvey They ask that you do not report multiple
sitings of the same flock. This is the 4th year they are doing the
survey.
Johanna
said she has a lot of mice in her house this year. She even had one sitting up
on her shower curtain rod and she wondered why there were so many around this
year. Arin said she has noticed a lot of mice at her house, too.
Sandy
said she has had some bluebirds in her back yard and has seen the sitting on
the nesting box. She wondered how unusual this was at this time of year. For
more information about bluebirds overwintering in NH click here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html
Jed
said that they had to have their big maple tree taken down last week and there
were some flying squirrels that had been nesting in the hollow part of the
tree. They all escaped safely and swooped off across the street where there
were some suitable places to nest in old tree hollows.
Arin
said she went snowshoeing and saw lots of snowshoe hare tracks. Sandy commented
that there seem to be a lot of snowshoe hares around this year as she has also
seen lot of tracks up beyond the BurnsÕ place.
Johanna
saw a bobcat on the way to Lempster.
Arin
said she has large flocks of Juncos under her bird feeder recently.
Sandy
saw a group of eight crows behind her hen house.
Carol
asked about the recent moose rescue on the ice at Pillsbury State Park, Jed
told his story of taking part in the rescue. NH Fish & Game and Washington
Fire, Rescue and Police members all teamed together to save the moose, who
couldnÕt get her footing on the slippery ice. It was a happy ending for the
moose and the rescuers.
Ken
asked if Great Blue Herons overwinter but no one knew the answer to his
question. He thinks he saw one take flight about an hour before sunset this
evening near Millen Pond. Nan will see what she can find out about what herons
do in winter.
Carol
mentioned the Forest Society was successful in their fundraising for the
BalsamÕs project. Now a significant property in the North Country will be
protected. Arin said that as part of the Northern Pass project survey they did
an inventory of some of the GuardÕs properties up north and they found some
rare species.
7.0 Correspondence:
Letter from Q2C notifying us we received the
grant we applied for, signed by Jed and returned.
DES notice of emergency authorization for
culvert replacement, by road crew for TM 11-ROW, Millen Pond Road
DES copy of Wetlands permit, for TM 12-ROW, Mill
Street Bridge replacement
DES, copy of shoreland permit for Butcher 455
Washington Road, TM 12-103, Island Pond
DES notice of acceptance of septic application
for TM 11-40, Millen Pond Road
DES notice of acceptance of septic application
for TM 24-66, 2 Lookout Point Road
Resource - NHANRS newsletter
NHANRS Annual meeting agenda and information
Postcard from SPNHF asking people to call their Senator
in support of Bragdon/Forrester amendment to HB648
6.0 Adjourned at 8:45 PM, our next
scheduled meeting is February 15th at 7 PM in the Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz
Secretary