Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – January 20, 2016

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM

 

Members present: Arin Mills, Doug Cook, Jed Schwartz, Johanna Young and Nan Schwartz.

Visitors: None

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: Approval of minutes from our December meeting and hearing, Arin motioned to approve the minutes as written, Doug seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

 

2.0    Permits Committee  - Arin mentioned that Aaron Wexler, a person she works with at the Guard, is working on permits for Faxon Hill culvert replacement and the new Fire/Rescue station.

 

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee  - Jed reported that the property donation from Karen Bartlett has closed and the deed is being registered. We have also closed on the Chute property and the deed is registered. We received a donation from them to help with closing costs. Arin said we should do a kiosk or sign and bench for sitting and enjoying the new property that overlooks the vast wetland complex. Jed suggested we talk to Steve Hanssen and Forestry about it.

3.2   Energy Committee – Johanna reported that she and Andrew met. She said that Andrew has gone to Dunbarton several times to learn how to use the new thermal camera and is ready to start using it now. She said the Dunbarton group does evaluations by invitation and EC may do the same. Arin asked about when they would start using the infra-red camera. Johanna said that Andrew is using it first on Gibson’s house and he is hoping to speak at Town Meeting about the camera to drum up interest. Nan suggested maybe he could do a demonstration at Town Meeting on the CM Lodge. Nan suggested that Andrew speak with the Selectmen about an appropriate time to speak at Town Meeting. Johanna said that the Cover program (based in Vermont) is doing a low-income project in Newport (NH) involving window kits.

3.3   Planning Board – Nan said that the PB is deciding which goals and recommendations they will work on over this year. They hope that other committees/departments/etc will do the same.

3.4   Forestry Committee – Tom was not in attendance. Nan said that she heard that the FC was proposing a warrant article to raise money ($8K) to upgrade Old Marlow Road to do the logging on the Farnsworth Hill Town Forest (FHTF) property. Arin said that we still want to see the Forester’s report on the FHTF and Jed said he would ask to for the report.

3.5   Legislative update  - No news. On a related note, Jed said that Nic Coates has left as director of NHACC and Carol Andrews has joined as director to replace him.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1   School Presentation – Arin set the date with the teachers at school for February 19^th and Fish and Game are set with that date for the kit. We went over our materials for the presentation. Arin said there are about 70 kids in the school now so we will have to do 3 groups. We decided we will take the older two groups outside and do the youngest group inside. We will do the gaits demo outside and then take a short hike to look for tracks in the snow. We will go do recon the week before so we know where to find tracks. Nan will look for information about hibernators. Arin will speak with the teachers about timing and how we can get all three groups done in the morning, before lunch.

Arin would like to do the bat talk again next summer and possibly one on gardening for wildlife.

4.2   NH Farm and Forest Expo – January 22 & 23, Nan said that the Farm and Forest Expo is this weekend, if anyone is interested in attending, she shared a list of the demonstrations and workshops, more info available at:www.nhfarmandforestexpo.org

4.3   Tracking Invasive Plants project – Project is on hold until spring emergence and growing season. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

 

5.0   New Business:

5.1   Master Plan goals for 2016 – We will talk about goals in February. Nan will put together a one-page piece with the goals from the Master Plan that concern the CC for next month’s meeting.

5.2   Arin wants to know if we want to plan a winter hike and we decided to set a date at our next meeting for late February or early March. Doug suggested a winter hike to the Bradford Bog and everyone liked the idea. Arin suggested reaching out to Bradford CC to see if they might want to join us.

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   Natural Resource Inventory Map updates – Nan and Jed got a signed contract with Chris Kane and the Selectmen encumbered the amount of the contract ($4970). We discussed having Chris attend our meeting in March or if it is easier Arin and Nan can meet with him in Concord at his office. Nan will ask the Assessors for the tax map data to give to Chris. Arin said that we need to get his MXD files at the end of the project.

6.2  Barker trail easement – No new news.

 

7.0   What’s Happening in Nature?

Nan said that winter has arrived, it is cold and there is a little bit of snow. Jed reported that the Center Pond in E. Washington finally froze over on January 5^th. He said that VLAP is now asking for ice-in and ice-out dates for the water bodies in the program. He said he went to Newbury a week ago and there was lots of open water still on Lake Sunapee and this week it was all frozen over.

Jed said he saw a healthy looking doe on the Bradford Road and an otter on the pond.

Arin asked about the beaver, Jed said it has moved up stream to its lodge.

Nan said she has seen wild turkeys around including a group of six males together. Doug thinks he has seen the same flock over near his place.

Jed saw several female cardinals but no male.

Johanna saw several hawks near the highway going to work.

Arin has goldfinches at her birdfeeder and said there are less purple finches around.

Johanna saw a tufted titmouse.

Arin said her boss saw a snow bunting on the guard property in Concord. It is an arctic breeder that comes south for the winter.

Doug said that he learned that ravens mate in the winter (now) and the male brings carrion to the female who would be nesting later in the winter. He has seen the male raven around his place.

Jed and Nan heard a Bard Owl recently.

Arin said her Wood turtle is on the cover of Fish and Games “Wildlines” magazine (Winter 2016 edition). She has been tracking the Wood Turtles at the Guard property for a few years, as well as Hognose snakes and doing other projects related to her work for the Guard.

To read about the work Arin is doing for the NH Army National Guard as their conservation specialist, click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:

Copy of Chute Deed

            ARLAC river monitoring report for 2015

            Thank you from Forest Society for our donation to the Colby land protection project.

            NHACC invoice for 2016 dues, $266, due in April.

Copy of paperwork for Karen Bartlett property.

Copy of Forest Notes, SPNHF

 

 

9.0   Adjourned at 8:10 PM, our next scheduled meeting is February 17^th, at 7PM at the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,                       

Nan Schwartz, Secretary