Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – March 19, 2014

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

 

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

 

Visitors: None

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: Minutes from January 2014 meeting, Arin made a motion to approve, Nan seconded, all voted in favor.

No February 2014 meeting held because of weather

 

2.0    Permits Committee  - No permits.

           

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee  - A couple of LPC members met with Brian Hotz (Forest Society) in February. Jed reported that there are potential projects in Washington but he has no details. Nan updated us on the money in our Commission account. Arin asked about how we keep track of money donated for a specific purpose such as land protection. Nan explained that Lynda Roy does the accounting and keeps things in line items that name their purpose. She will ask Lynda about whether we need separate accounts for projects and other purposes (such as conference attendance and educational costs). We receive the land use change tax money that the town gets when land is taken out of current use and sometimes receive other donations for general use.

3.2    Energy Committee – Johanna was not able to attend but Nan mentioned their display about energy savings at Town meeting and their questionnaire sheet.

3.3   Planning Board – Nan reported that the Planning Board’s Master Plan Community survey is complete and available to read online here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/Pages/WashingtonNH_News/01C2E721-000F8513

The subcommittee is back to work on setting up a community-visioning workshop for next summer. They are working with Dan Reidy from the UNH Cooperative extension, who will help facilitate and do a report of the workshop when it is done.

3.4   Forestry Committee – Tom is out of town but Jed had spoken with him recently. They talked about doing trail building on the Farnsworth Hill Town Forest property, the SPNHF forest connecting to the Lempster Town Forest property. He said there was a recent Q2C grant round for trails but they aren’t ready with a plan yet. Arin asked about the trail on the Ashuelot Headwaters property and whether it was a snowmobile trail or not. We don’t think it is. Arin thinks putting in a place to park up on Farnsworth Hill would be good for hikers. Jed agreed and will mention it to Tom and Brian. Arin thinks that the Oak Hill trailhead needs a sign, people don’t know where it is. Jed agreed and will speak to Steve Hanssen about it.

3.5    Legislative update  -

Jed said there are three bills in committees right now and  NHACC is keeping an eye on them.

SB388 - establishing a committee to study the current status of land conservation in New Hampshire and the state's role in encouraging the voluntary protection of land in the future,   report filed (ought to pass) Bob Odell is a co-sponsor of this bill, floor date is 3/27/14. HB1100 - establishing a committee to study the ownership by public entities of land for conservation purposes, has been deemed inexpedient to legislate. HB1271 - establishing a committee to study the powers and duties of conservation commissions, has been send for interim study.

Ken mentioned the legislative bulletin that he receives.

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1   Tracking Invasive Plants project –We didn’t discuss the project this month.

        The reporting sheets and guides are always available on our web site here: InvasiveProject.html

4.2   Saving Special Places 2014 – Land conservation conference, takes place on Saturday, April 5, 2014, at the Laconia Middle School, please register by March 28^th to take advantage of lower registration cost.

Conference website: http://savingspecialplaces.org for registration, workshop information, etc.

4.3   Vernal Pool Workshop – Arin said we should set the date for the Vernal Pool workshop and visit. She said that school vacation week is April 21-25. Jed thought that with the weather this might be too early so we decided on Friday, May 2^nd for the school visit and May 3^rd, Saturday for the pool visit. Arin has a possible vernal pool on the Lovewell Mountain Rd, she will check it out as soon as she can. Arin will contact the school to see if this date works for them. Nan will see if she can find a few new activities/games for this year.

 

5.0   New business –

5.1   Nan reported that CC members who need to reup their membership terms this year are: Johanna Young, member, Nan Schwartz, member and Peter France, alternate. Nan will follow up with whether these members want to continue and will draft a letter for Jed to send to the Selectmen for approval. We discussed needing some new active members and alternates. Ken will put an announcement in the Selectmen’s minutes

5.2   Election of officers          - not enough members were present so we will put this off until next month.

5.3   Nan reported that she got word that ARM Fund Grant Opportunities for Wetlands Restoration and Conservation are now available. The grant round was announced and pre-proposals are due due 4/28. She said there are funds available for projects in the western part of Washington (the Ashuelot/Connecticut River watershed). We didn’t feel we had any projects we could use these funds for at this time.

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   NRI update  - We all read through pages 13 through 27 and made our comments on these pages. Nan brought up the passage that discusses prime wetlands designation. She wondered if we want to work on designating some of the town wetlands. Arin said she worked on the New Hampshire method when she was in college and did a lot of wetlands identification in the town of Atkinson. She said we might reach out to UNH or Antioch to help with documentation. We could look closely at a few places in town. Jed said that for designation you need to go to town meeting and the town votes to designate. We discussed the Ashuelot headwaters area and the existing aquifers in town.

        Arin mentioned on Table 2, page 14, she thought we should add the percentages of the town that these wetland acreages represent. Arin said that the NWI data maybe getting an update but she thinks it is only for coastal areas. She thought we could add a discussion of the limitations of the NWI data. On page 16 it discusses the extra protection placed on wetlands by the state when wetlands are designated as prime wetlands. Arin thinks we could go into greater detail about the wetland buffers and explain why it is important. Ken asked if we have local restrictions on buffers and Nan said no. There is a building setback from wetlands but no protection of buffers. Arin thinks we could discuss wetlands rules here and talk about the Army Corp of Engineers approval process. She feels we could put in a statement that we don’t have any designated prime wetlands and update the number of towns that do.

        On page 19 we need to update the “Shoreland Protection Act” to Shoreland Water Quality Protection Act, as it is now known and reference the RSA 483.b that established it. Also, we should correct the number of lakes and ponds and the wording. Nan mentioned on page 20 there is a sizable unnamed pond on Table 3, we should try to find out which pond this is, also fix the wording about CSPA on pages 20 and 21. On page 21 we need a better explanation of the CSPA permit process. We should check for changes on the fourth order streams, DES has updated their list. Jed mentioned on page 22 the Island Pond outlet stream is referred to as Beards Brook but he thinks it is Purling Beck Brook, becoming Beards Brook below the dam. We will check this. Arin said that on page 23 we should add that Ashuelot River is designated protected and give the reasons. We need to discuss the status of land protection adjacent to streams in Washington. Arin mentioned on page 25 the protective radius for the wellhead at Camp Morgan. She said the sanitary protective radius for well can be up to ¼ mile and is usually 75 to 400 feet according to the maximum water withdrawl. She said that there can’t be any fuel tanks within this radius according to DES rules. She feels we should describe this.

        On the water resources map we need to check the active dams.

        We will continue reading through the document and go up to page 49 for next month. Nan will begin to make some of the changes we talked about and use “track changes” for approval by everyone else.

6.2   Barker – We discussed the conservation easement possibility on Phil Barker’s property. We looked at Arin’s and Nan’s maps. We need to contact Monadnock Sunapee Greenway trail group and also speak with the Snow riders club about trail protection. There is possible grant money from Q2C. Jed will discuss this with Sandy and see if she would like to look into what could be done.

     

7.0   What’s Happening in Nature?

Jed said it has been brutally cold and there is still lots of snow around and new snow falling.

Ken said that Charlie saw a Puma crossing Millen Pond over the ice. They went for a camera but a snowmobile came along and the Puma ran away. He said it was daylight when she spotted it. He mentioned that Bob Bachand saw a Bobcat in his yard.

Arin said she saw a Fisher crossing Faxon Hill in the middle of the day, she saw something similar scamper across the road in the early morning. She has seen a few deer killed along the road on the way to Concord.

Jed saw skunks out and about recently. He also saw an owl one afternoon, it flew across the road and landed in a tree. He thinks it was a Bard Owl. He has had large flocks of wild turkeys come through the yard. Arin also had large flocks at her house.

Arin said she hasn’t had any Red Polls this year, last year they cleaned out her bird feeder.

Arin mentioned an Owl Walk they are having at the Harris Center at Willard Pond, March 22^nd at 7PM.

Ken asked if anyone had any news about bat populations in New Hampshire. Jed said he though that White Nose Syndrome had hurt the population but didn’t have any recent news about it. Arin said that the NRI mentions a possible population of Long Eared Bats in Washington, this bat is up for federal designation for protection. We shoud try to get the 2002 report that mentions them in town. She has contacted the Federal Fish and Game to get a copy of the report but hasn’t heard from them. Nan suggested she talk to some one at NH Fish and Game to try and get it. Jed will ask Lionel Chute if he knows anything about it.

Jed saw another flock of wild turkeys and this time they were being stalked by a Red Fox. It was a comical scene with Mr. Fox occasionally being stalked by the turkeys. To see the pictures, click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence: None for March

February correspondence:

8.1 DES notice of acceptance of Wetlands Permit Application, ROW East Washington Rd, DOT pond front project

8.2  DES - Restoration Plan approval, Antonio Jorge, 101 Point Rd, TM 16-38

8.3 Copy of Dredge and Fill application for ROW East Washington Rd, DOT pond front project

 

 

9.0   Adjourned at 8:40 PM, our next scheduled meeting is April 16^th at 7PM at the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary