Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – April 15, 2015

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

 

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

Visitors: Andrew Hatch, Jim and Jen Dana

 

The Dana’s said they recently bought the Hertel property on King Street and they were interested in finding out what the Conservation Commission does and wanted to find out about the Natural Resource chapter of the Master Plan update that we are helping to work on. Nan provided them with the most recent version of the chapter to read and will email them a link for the comprehensive NRI and Conservation Plan.

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: Approval of Minutes from March meeting, Arin motioned to approve the minutes, Nan seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

 

2.0    Permits Committee  - No new permits

 

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee  - No recent meeting. Jed spoke about the piece of property that K. Bartlett is hoping to give to the town for the Conservation Commission. The Selectmen spoke with the Town Attorney who says it can be done. Jed is speaking with her and the Selectmen to work out the details.

3.2   Energy Committee – Andrew Hatch was visiting as a representative of the Energy Committee. They recently held their April meeting. He brought us up-to-date with their “Warm Neighbors” program. They engaged a few new people to help with projects but didn’t get any new members out of it. He and Al attended the Local Energy Conference and found it very helpful in moving along their “Warm Neighbors” project. They got some fundraising ideas and found out more about the grants available for seed money with up to $1K for the weatherization program. They did 3 pilot projects last year using referrals from the Welfare Department. At the conference they met someone from Dunbarton who had used the grant to get a thermal imaging camera to use for energy auditing. Andrew said he found that people don’t want to have outside energy auditors in to evaluate but if EC had their own camera they could work with homeowners to show them where the problems are. He said that the Library has a Kill-o-watt meter and if we had the imaging camera he could make the technology available to townspeople. They are going to pursue getting a grant for the camera. He said they are also going up to Vermont to visit Rob Shultz at ReCover to see how they do these sorts of projects. He said committee members are going to attend the Upper Valley Energy Committee meeting soon. Jim Dana asked whether the EC would charge for using the Thermal Imager to find leaks in houses. He suggested you could ask for a donation with a price target to use the money to buy materials for more projects. Andrew said they could put a commercial value on the thermal imaging to let people know what they are getting. Nan asked if they have checked in with the 3 projects they did to see how it worked out. Andrew said they have heard good things from one of the recipients but they haven’t checked with the others. He said they are meeting next on the 7^th of May to work on the Energy Chapter for the Planning Board’s Master Plan update.

3.3   Planning Board – Nan reported that the Master Plan Update Committee has 5 chapter drafts done, they are being reviewed by the Planning Board, in anticipation of a June 2^nd public hearing at 6:30PM.

3.4   Forestry Committee – Tom was not in attendance, but Nan said the committee is meeting in the next week or so. They are still working with their forester on the Forestry Plan for the Town Forests and are planning a cut on the Farnsworth Hill TF.

3.5    Legislative update  - No news.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1   WoW visit – Arin coordinated with the WES principal on a date but WoW coordinator hasn’t gotten back to her yet. She will try to contact the WoW coordinator again. Nan will look for the email address we had for them and send it to Arin.

4.2   Speaking for Wildlife – We will incorporate a presentation on EAB and do the Bat presentation this summer. We will talk scheduling at our May meeting.

4.3   Tracking Invasive Plants project – Arin is working on input for the sheets we have. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html Andrew asked about Japanese Knotweed and what we can do about it. He mentioned a large spreading patch on Millen Pond Road. Jed said we are inventorying any spots we find but aren’t trying to attack them yet. Arin said that it seems to be staying along the roads and hasn’t spread into waterways so far, which is fortunate. Nan said you can deal with it on your own property, she has a neighbor that kept mowing it and after a while it hasn’t come back. She had a small patch that she hand pulled and eventually it didn’t come back. Unfortunately, it seems to crop up where the road crews (local and State) do work along the roadsides.

4.4   NHACC workshop - Big Puddles in the Woods: Exploring Vernal Pools (Come to this workshop if you're interested in learning more about vernal pool ecology and identification!) - Merrimack - April 25th, 2015. Nan asked Arin if she had seen any salamanders crossing the road this year. She hadn’t yet but we will look for them on the next rainy night.

 

5.0   New Business:

5.1   Arin reported that the Long-eared Bat has been federally listed as threatened and it may become endangered, soon. This means there are protections put in place and the 4D rule is in effect. This still allows for forestry but conservation measures apply and there is no cutting allowed during pupping or roosting (during June & July). Arin is going to do a data review of USF&W for our area. She suggested we might want to do a bat survey where the long-eared bat was found before. She is having some surveys done at the Guard facilities and will speak to the guy, from NE Ecological, about doing one for us. He also teaches at Saint Paul’s. Everyone agreed to get a price for doing one this summer.

5.2   Election of Officers – We decided to wait until we have more members present to do the election.

5.3   Adopt-a-Highway – We picked our first date for trash pickup on Saturday, May 16^th at 9AM, meeting at the Library parking lot, Nan will send a reminder.

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   Warrant article for funds to update the NRI maps – We received a favorable vote at Town Meeting and have $5000 to spend. Arin and Nan will look over our list of maps and discuss our needs. Arin suggested we do an RFP for the update.

6.3   Barker easement – we will invite Pete Martin and Tom Marshall to our next LPC meeting to discuss the trails on the property.

 

7.0   What’s Happening in Nature?

Nan said the snow is melting fast.

Arin said she heard peepers in Hillsboro but we haven’t heard them here yet.

Jed has had a large turkey flock come by his yard and visit the birdfeeder.

The Dana’s saw turkey’s on Valley Road.

Andrew sais he had a very persistent Bard Owl and took a picture of it sitting on his barn rooftop.

Arin mentioned that the bird songs she is hearing are different now.

Jed said it is time to bring in your birdfeeders.

Andrew said he saw bear prints going down toward Barden Pond.

Jed said that his neighbors had a bobcat stalking birds at his birdfeeder, Jed saw the tracks. He also saw some young moose tracks in the woods.

Arin saw a fox on the Hillsboro town line.

Andrew said he hiked down the snowmobile trail on Farnsworth Hill and saw lots of moose poop and also a set of cat prints that had a stride of 30”. He believes it was a Mountain Lion or Cougar. He shared a picture of the tracks. Nan said several people have reported to have seen them but NH Fish and Game doesn’t recognize that they live here. Arin said that there are lone cats seen here but there isn’t a breeding population. To learn about mountain Lions in NH, click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:

DES notice Shoreland Permit, Ferlins, TM 12-85, Walnut Circle, garage construction

           

9.0   Adjourned at 8:30 PM, our next scheduled meeting is May 20^th, at 7PM at the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary