Washington
Conservation Commission
Minutes -
February 20, 2008
Assembly time:
7:00 PM
.
Present: Carol Andrews, Jed Schwartz,
Nan
Schwartz, Don Richard, Richard Cook, Tom Taylor
Visitor: Arin Mills
1.0 Approval of Minutes: January minutes, Jed motioned to accept as written, Don seconded, vote was unanimous to accept.
2.0 Old Business:
2.1 Dredge and Fill Committee - None
2.2 Energy Committee - No report
2.3 Planning Board update - Several new ordinances and initiatives will be on the ballot at Town Meeting on March 11th. The Planning Board has a new website: http://www.washingtonnh.org/PB_Html/PBindex.html, everyone should check it out. Information on the coming ballot questions can be found on the site as well as most of the documents, ordinances, permits and applications needed. The information page is found here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/PB_Html/PBinfo.html
2.4 NRI and Town Meeting plans - Everyone has reviewed the maps and offered changes or comments. We still have the Historical map to check. Jed will show it to Charlene Cobb for comments and anyone else who has an idea of someone to show it to should do that soon. We will also do a concise document, summary version of the Conservation Plan for Town Meeting to promote the Conservation Plan and ask for donations for land conservation. Carol will get something started and we will work on it together electronically.
We need the finished maps to display at town meeting.
Nan
will get some half size maps printed to display and we will display the Co-occurrence and Conservation Priority Area maps with the tax lot overlay at full size. Tom made a motion to spend no more than $250 to get the half size prints done. Jed seconded, all in favor.
Nan
will get the prints done.
We will also have a few copies of the Conservation Plan on the table as well as information about the new Shoreland Protection Act, which takes effect
April 1st, 2008
. It is very important that people are aware of the new provisions because they effect all waterfront development. Tom will check into chalkboards or bulletin boards that we can use for our maps and presentation materials. Rich will contact Ron Jager for an OK to display our materials. Rich shared some nice maps that Harrisville had done showing their conservation lands, trails and current use land. These were nicely done and a handy size for people to have. We will think about doing something similar. Carol will talk to Chris about printing our final maps on better paper and laminating them or high quality mylar. We need them to be durable. Tom made a motion to spend $300. more for printing on quality stock if needed, Rich seconded, all in favor.
2.5 EW Watershed Grant - Jed reported that the DES watershed grant was awarded to the
East Washington
group. More information will be available on this later.
2.6 Don will follow up with Jen Fay (sp?) about the Granit idea he talked about last month. He feels they may just want a few of our map layers such as the Conservation Priority Areas.
2.7 Tom went out to the town forest in the Farnsworth Hill lot and walked the lines. He commented on how beautiful it was and offered to take anyone who wants to go up there, for a snowshoe trek.
3.0 New Business - Rich talked about the town owned land on
Nuthatch Way
and the Meadow lot. The house lots on Nuthatch have deeded rights to the common land, which is now owned by the town. Selectmen could possibly offer this land and the Meadow lot to the Conservation Commission as conservation land. He also spoke about the selectmen having an abutters sale of properties in LAE. Tom suggested first getting all the town boards together for a talk about the bigger picture of LAE, road and water issues, health and safety, and watershed issues. Carol suggested the selectmen look into what can be done legally. We will brainstorm a talking paper to bring to the selectmen. Tom will start a document and send it around for input.
4.0 What's Happening in Nature? There is a lunar eclipse tonight, the last one until 2010. Arin's husband saw two moose running down
Faxon Hill Road
near
King Street
. He thought it was a bull and a cow moose. Don has contacted the Chestnut Society about his chestnut trees and he thinks he has a significant mother tree. He wants to get the word out in
Washington
for people to be on the lookout for chestnut trees. We will ask on the website if anyone has seen one and to remind people to think twice before cutting a tree for firewood. The chestnut can look similar to an oak, so make sure of what you are cutting. The chestnut should be left to grow and propagate. Check our website for more information about the chestnut: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html
5.0 Other Business - The Forest Society is sponsoring the Cottrel Baldwin Lecture series at
Fox
Forest
again this year. This year's speakers will address broad changes in
New England
forests - forest history through time, succession trends, historical disturbance regimes including the Chestnut blight and restoration efforts and the possible effects of global climate change on New England Forests. The series will conclude with a history presentation to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Caroline A. Fox Research and
Demonstration
Forest
. Click here for the series brochure (324 KB PDF). We will add the lectures to our events schedule.
6.0 Correspondence:
NH Division of Forests and
Lands
Fox
Forest
flyer for Cottrell Baldwin lecture series
Rinker Materials promotional flyer
NH
Local
Government
Center
Land
Use Clerks Works: Building a solid foundation educational training for land use boards Monday March 24th
9:00 - 3:30
($40).
NH Department of Resources and Economic Development Urban Forestry newsletter
NH Department of Environmental Services The Source newsletter of the Drinking water source Protection Program
NH Lakes Association
Lakeside
newsletter
7.0 Adjourned at
8:40 PM
, our next scheduled meeting is March 19th at
7 PM
at the Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan
Schwartz
Secretary