Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – January 19, 2011

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

 

Present: Carol Andrews, Arin Mills, Johanna Young, Nan Schwartz, and Jed Schwartz

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: Minutes from November, Jed made a motion to approve, Arin seconded, all voted in favor.

 

2.0    Old Business:

2.1   Permits Committee – There were no new permits to discuss. We talked about getting someone from DES to come out and talk to us about wetlands permits. The Permits Committee has questions about what DES wants us to focus on when we go out on a permit application. Carol mentioned the wetlands workshop at the NHACC annual meeting. She said they get into a lot of deep information there. Nan mentioned that we are looking for more practical tips. Arin would like to talk with them about how they take our comments about wildlife areas and protection when they are making decisions about permits. We talked about shoreland permits and asking Sandy Poole to give us a copy of the applications when she receives them.

2.2   Land Protection Committee – Nan gave an update on the Eccardt Farm conservation easement project. She had a draft copy of the LCHIP easement agreement for us to look at. We are waiting for the updated appraisal and we have everything other document needed, we hope to close on the easement in a month. Sandy put up posters around town to let people know we were successful raising the money for the Eccardt Farm project and to say thanks to everyone who contributed.

        You can still visit the project's web pages for information: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/EccardtFarm.html, http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/EccardtFarmHistory.html, and http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/EccardtFarmOHRaffle.html.

2.3   Cell Tower – Nan reported that the cell tower has been put on hold for now. The company that was interested in putting up the cell tower was looking for a 180-foot tower and didn't want to go through the process required to exceed the 120-foot limit in the telecommunications ordinance. The Planning Board is working on updating the existing ordinance and has held one public hearing so far, the second hearing will be held before their regular meeting in February 1st at 6PM in the town hall for anyone interested. They worked with the regional planning commission and a consultant to bring the ordinance up to date.

2.4   Town Owned Lots Map -  Arin is working on a map that will show the entire town owned lots, including municipal lots and town forests. Nan is working on getting the lot numbers for all the lots. We looked at a printout of her first draft and commented. We will all look more closely at the map at home and email Arin our feedback. We discussed how this map could be helpful in assessing the lots taken for taxes with the Planning Board and the Selectmen. Arin mentioned that NHB checks can be done on all the parcels and we could overlay this map with other NRI maps to look at habitats, wetlands, etc. Check list will need to be designed by CC and PB to look at all the issues we need to look at with these lots.

2.5   Energy Committee – Johanna said the Energy Committee's solar project for the Highway Garage is almost done. They still need to do the wiring. She said it will help power the Highway Garage building. They have decided that a fence should be put up around the panels for protection. Arin asked if they will put up a sign to educate people about the solar array. Johanna said that there is an educational element to the grant. Nan mentioned that it is usual with grant projects to have a sign with information including funding information.

        Johanna said that the EC is trying to schedule a movie night in the spring; she will give us more information about this as it becomes available.

        Johanna spoke about doing a memorial swim in honor of Rich Cook across Millen Lake next summer. She would need a kayak to follow her and would seek sponsors. Carol mentioned that the Forest Committee has now decided to put a bench somewhere at Camp Morgan in honor of Rich. We still would like to designate the land we bought and merged with the Twin Bridge Town Forest as the Rich Cook Memorial Conservation Area. Jed spoke about finding a rock on the land and either carving this on it or doing something similar to David Phillips' pieces on the Burns property. We visited many of his environmental art pieces when we went on a hike with Chris Kane a few years ago. We will continue to discuss.

2.6   NHACC membership dues – We had a bill from NHACC for our membership dues. Carol recused herself for the discussion and vote. Jed made a motion to pay the bill for our dues out of our funds, Johanna seconded, all voted in favor. Nan will sign and give the invoice to Michelle, who will forward it to Lynda for payment.

 

3.0   What's Happening in Nature?

 Jed mentioned that he went for a cross-country ski recently, on his trail through the woods, and didn;t see a single animal track. Last year he was seeing lots of tracks on the trail. He did see some bobcat prints when he went on a hike earlier in the winter, when the snow wasn;t as deep. He and a neighbor saw an actual live bobcat on his road, in the fall. Arin mentioned that NH Fish and Game is conducting a bobcat project and wants to know if you see one. For more information about bobcats click here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html

Jed mentioned that there is word of a wolf/coyote hybrid in East Washington. George Eccard thought that it had taken down a deer near the manure lagoon and other people in the area reported spotting it, one person on Sugar House Road was menaced by it. Carol mentioned other wolf/dog hybrid crosses that were living in Lempster, she has heard of them loose around the area. She thought that maybe the lack of animal tracks was due to a large predator (or more than one) in the area.

        Johanna said that she saw about 20 wild turkeys nesting high up in a big tree. Arin though she saw the same flock of turkeys in the road near Johanna's house when she was driving to work one morning.

        Arin had a large flock of Common Red Polls at her birdfeeder for several days. She said that Audubon says they are rare in this area. She also had a flock of Evening Grosbeaks, which she hadn't seen before.

        Carol saw 2 moose traveling together on Mountain Road. She said her brother found a deer carcass near her house complete with a rack. She is keeping an eye on it over the winter.

        Arin saw an owl flying near the Rt. 31 wetlands at the Windsor town line, and she saw it land on the power line. Carol said she may have seen it also, she said these owls nest in early February.

        Johanna saw a lot of beaver tracks near her pond and wondered if they move around a lot in the snow. She could see the trail left in the snow by the beaverŐs tail.

       

4.0   Other Business: None

 

5.0   New Business: None

 

6.0   Correspondence:

Letter and donation for Eccardt Farm project from Joyce Karpowski, Flat Rock, NC – donation made in memory of Marie and Victor Dyer

DES Request for more information Pollack File #2010-02444

DES Wetlands and Non-site Specific Permit Pollack File #2010-02444 

DES Shoreland Impact Permit Lavallee File #2010-03238

DES Shoreland Impact Permit Bosetti File #2010-03141

DES Shoreland Impact Permit Beam File #2010-02785

DES Application denial Libby File#2010-02832 Nov. 15th, 2010

DES wetlands and non-site specific permit permit, Libby File#2010-02832 Jan. 5th, 2011

DES Complete Forestry Notification, Mata File#2010-03254

DES Complete Forestry Notification, Van Hertel File#2010-03345

DES Complete Forestry Notification, Hurley File#2010-02978

DES Complete Forestry Notification, Abreau File#2010-03026

DES Complete Forestry Notification, McGranahan File#2010-03404

Upton & Hatfield title opinion

Forest Notes, Society for the Protection of NH Forests

           Society for the Protection of NH Forests letter to Guy Eaton with a copy of an editorial in the NH Union Leader arguing that LCHIP is non-essential and that state funding for projects could be replaced by other grants or more fundraising. The letter urges the town to contact legislators in support of the LCHIP program. 

           Invoice from NHACC for 2011 membership dues                                 

6.0   Adjourned at 8:30 PM, our next scheduled meeting is February 16th at 7 PM in the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nan Schwartz

Secretary