Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes – March 16, 2016
Assembly time: 7:00 PM
Members present: Doug Cook, Johanna Young and Nan Schwartz.
Visitors: None
1.0 Approval of Minutes: February minutes were tabled because Nan forgot to bring a copy of them to the meeting, we will approve them at next monthÕs meeting.
2.0 Permits Committee - No new permits.
3.0 Committee and Board reports:
3.1 Land Protection Committee - Nothing new, Nan said we have one last bill to pay from the Bartlett project.
3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna said the EC didnÕt meet this month.
3.3 Planning Board – No news.
3.4 Forestry Committee – Nan said that the FC got the money to upgrade Old Marlow Road for the logging on the Farnsworth Hill Town Forest (FHTF) property at Town Meeting. Jed still plans to get a copy of the foresterÕs report on the FHTF.
3.5 Legislative update - Nan said that the Forest Society reported that House Bill 1686 was proposed to repeal LCHIP (the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program). The good news is that the House Finance Committee voted the bill ÒInexpedient to LegislateÓ (aka they killed the bill) by an overwhelming 25-1 margin.
4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:
4.1 School Presentation – We had a very successful visit to the elementary school on February 19th for the tracking presentation.
We had to cancel our winter hike on March 6th, because of icy conditions on the trail. We decided to reschedule a hike to the Bradford Bog when the rhodura are blooming, we set a tentative date for April 17th. Nan will speak to Arin and Jed about that date and we will see how the spring progresses and when the plants will blossom. Nan said they stay in blossom for a while once they go so we can play it by ear.
Arin got in touch with the Watershed on Wheels coordinator to set a date for a visit to the school this spring and due to funding problems they canÕt do any visits this year. We discussed what else we could do for a school project this year. Doug thought maybe we could do a workshop on mushroom growing. He is doing this at his farm, inoculating logs with mushroom spores. He is cutting logs; Red Maple, Oak, Beech and Birch for growing Shiitakes, LionÕs Mane and Oyster mushrooms. You drill holes in the logs and hit in wooden plugs inoculated with spores with a mallet. You keep the logs in a damp place (outside) and eventually the mushrooms sprout. It would probably be next fall before they had mushrooms on the logs. We talked about the need to do some education about mushrooms in the wild and that kids should never pick and eat what they find outside. Doug thought that it would be about $25 dollars for materials (spore plugs) to do the project. We will talk about it more with Arin and Jed.
4.2 Nan and Jed attended the Cottrell-Baldwin Environmental Lecture Series on Ticks & Tick-borne diseases on Tuesday night. It was very informative and they said this should be a bad tick year so do lots of tick checks and be aware. There are two more lectures to go: March 22 – Bats in NH, March 29 – WhatÕs bugging NHÕs Moose?
4.3 Tracking Invasive Plants project – Project is on hold until spring emergence and growing season. Nan received 2 reports from Phil Barker at Town Meeting and she will pass them along to Arin so she can map them. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html
5.0 New Business:
5.1 We received one last invoice from Drummond/Woodsum for the Karen Bartlett property deed work, Doug made a motion to pay $143 for services rendered, Johanna seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Nan will bring the invoice to Lynda for payment.
5.2 Nan had a copy of the Bobcat letter we sent to the JLCAR, there is a hearing you can attend on April 1st at the Statehouse in Concord in RepresentativeÕs Hall at 9AM.
6.0 Other Business:
6.1 Master Plan goals for 2016 – We will talk more about goals in April.
62 Natural Resource Inventory Map updates – Nan said she sent Chris information about newly protected land in Washington and she is working on getting the tax parcel data from the mappers to send to Chris. She will send the data to Arin as soon as she receives it.
6.3 We discussed the Corvus development issue. Doug had some information to share and we will stay on top of the issue as it progresses.
6.4 Barker trail easement – No new news.
7.0 WhatÕs Happening in Nature?
Nan said it seems to be spring, the ice was out in Mill Pond on March 5th.
Doug said his soil thermometer read 40-43 degrees on the surface and 45 degrees under his row cover but there are still ice chunks in the soil.
Johanna said the mud has settled in her driveway, finally. She has seen a Kingfisher and had moose footprints in her driveway.
Nan had a flock of Red-wing Blackbirds and saw a Robin last week and lots of songbirds.
Johanna has seen Red Tailed Hawks near the highway close to Concord.
Nan and Doug have both had big flocks of wild turkeys visiting everyday. The Tom is strutting around and showing his plumage off for his ladies.
Nan said that Jed reported hearing a loud buzzing sound out on his trail, coming from up in the trees and thought it might be a bee swarm. He couldnÕt locate it, to actually see what it was.
Doug asked about the mild winterÕs effect on the bat population. Hopefully it was helpful to the hibernating bats.
Johanna reminded us to look out for frogs and listen for peepers. Doug asked about locations where salamanders cross the road and Nan talked about a few spots she knows of. The vernal pools are thawing and things will be on the move very soon.
Doug said the Canada Geese showed up two weeks ago flying overhead. Nan said they were swimming in the pond last week along with several other kinds of ducks.
Johanna has Wood Duck pairs in her pond and a few Mallards, too.
To read about Wood Ducks, click here: NewinNature.html
8.0 Correspondence:
Invoice from Drummond/Woodsum
Copy of Bobcat letter
DES notice of application acceptance for Wetlands Permit for a NHDOT project on Rt. 31 ROW
9.0 Adjourned at 8:05 PM, our next scheduled meeting is April 20th, at 7PM at the Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz, Secretary