Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – February 20, 2013

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

 

Members present: Jed Schwartz, Nan Schwartz, Arin Mills.

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: Minutes from January meeting, we didnÕt have a quorum so we will approve the minutes at the next meeting.

 

2.0    Permits Committee – No new permits received.

           

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

 

3.1   Land Protection Committee – no new business.

 

3.2    Energy Committee – Johanna reported that the Solar movie night had about 14 folks attending, for a very snowy eve of solar information and the documentary, ŌHere Comes the SunĶ. Folks who attended asked good questions. They are thinking about another movie night perhaps concerning wind, they will discuss in the future. Johanna attended a workshop on her own on organizing to work on climate change issues with 350.org NH the other week. She joined the legislative committee and one of the state reps is their liaison to keep us up-to-date on energy related bills. There is another bill this session in the legislature to repeal RGGI with a hearing to be held this week, they are against that bill.

                                               

3.3   Planning Board – No new news.

 

3.4   Forestry Committee –The Selectmen agreed to include a warrant article for cruising the town forests.

 

3.5    Legislative update –

         1. House Bill 513 - Shoreland Protection Act - hearing held on 2/5/13

         This bill modifies several provisions, including ground cover definition, unaltered state definition, enforcement or oversight by commissioner (allows entering property without written notification), no fertilizer including limestone within 25 feet of reference line, amends scoring of tree sizes and ground cover, maintenance of the unaltered state within the natural woodland buffer, requirement of professionally designed storm water system if impervious surface exceeds 30% within the protected shoreland.

         2. SB 124-FN Integrated Land Development Permit - hearing held on 2/7/13

         3. SB 102 - Election of CC members - hearing held on 2/13/13

4. 1/1/13 Congress passes enhanced easement incentive

Congress has passed a fiscal cliff deal that renews the enhanced income tax deduction for conservation easements through 2013, and retroactive to the beginning of 2012.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1   We rescheduled the winter snowshoe hike, the new date will be March 2nd meeting at Camp Morgan Lodge at 10-12.

        The school presentation was held on February 1st and was very successful. We had planned to take the kids outside for part of the presentation but since there was no snow we stayed inside for the entire workshop. Arin borrowed the kit supplies from Fish and Game with pelts and track molds. Nan had information sheets for the school kids showing animals and their tracks and  sheets about tracks and gaits that we used for the gait demonstration portion. We couldnÕt use the mold making with the kids because there was no snow but we will have the materials to use another time. Nan posted a page about the workshop here: http://www.schwartzgiunta.com/WCC_Html/tracking.html

        Check it out to see all the fun we had with the kids. Arin brought 2 books of thank you notes that the kids made for us. The pictures and the thank you notes were awesome and we enjoyed reading through them!

 

5.0   New business: None

 

6.0   Other Business: Arin spoke about a GIS Advisory Committee meeting she had attended about analysis and mapping for the state on invasive species. She though we might like to do a project this summer on mapping invasive species locally. We could document locations around town where invasive species are located and she could do a web map. We talked about what would be involved in locating and documenting invasive species. We would want identifying pictures, size of the patch, GPS locations, etc. Arin mentioned IPane (Invasive Plant Atlas of New England) who is creating a web accessible database of invasive plants, more info here: http://www.eddmaps.org/ipane/

        Arin will look into what is involved and we will talk about it further next month.

 

7.0   WhatÕs Happening in Nature?

Jed said it is cold and windy. We had a 2-foot snowstorm making it white out again. Hopefully the snow will stick around for our snowshoe hike.

Arin has had large flocks of Redpolls at her bird feeders, they wipe out her seed supply quickly and they seem to scare all the other birds away when they are there. She hasnÕt seen any Juncos this year but she usually has them at her feeder.

Arin went snowshoeing in Pillsbury State Park with her family. They took a trail that a couple of snowmobiles had run on and it made it easier than breaking a trail in the deep snow. They crossed the pond at one point and found open water.

Johanna saw two gangly moose on the back-stretch of Rt.31, near Pillsbury Park, licking salt from the side of the road. She had to beep at them to get them to move. She has the usual suspects at her bird feeder: nuthatch, chicadees, woodpeckers and a red squirrel. She still has not seen blue jays all winter and wonders where did they go? No one else has seen a Blue Jay either.

Arin saw 2 separate hawks, killed and laying by the side of the highway (on 89) today. She has seen several other birds of prey lately (alive). Someone she knows in Hillsboro saw an owl.

Jed saw lots of Snowshoe hare tracks and another set of tracks that were about 9 feet between bounds. He wasnÕt sure what animal it could be but it could have been a snowshoe hare.

Tracking animals is fun in the wintertime! Click here for more information about track and tracking in New Hampshire: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:

            None

           

9.0   Adjourned at 7:40 PM, our next scheduled meeting is March 20th at 7 PM in the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary