Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – April 15, 2020

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM, Meeting conducted online using ZOOM.

 

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

Visitors: None

 

Arin thanked Jed for setting up the ZOOM meeting for tonight.

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: January minutes – We will approve January and April minutes next month. No meetings held in February and March.

 

2.0   Permits Committee  -

New: Calabro, Review of Shoreland permit application for Calabro, Lake Ashuelot Drive, TM 14-184. Arin said we were an email from Barbara Skuly asking us to do a site visit and send her our comments on the application and plan. We visited the site on Saturday the 11th and sent our thoughts to Skuly. Arin thought it was a worthy visit. The application said that there is a wetland permit application pending so we will watch out for that. The site is just under an acre with some wetland areas and a slope to the pond frontage.

Arin mentioned a Shoreland SPN on Cove Road (Highland Lake) for a dock structure. No comment on these.

Previous: Dicarlo, wetland permit for access structure, expansion and replacement. Nan said DES approved the Shoreland and Wetland applications. Arin and Nan did a site visit last month and sent comments after the deadline.

Quinn - Wetland permit application, Arin and Nan did a site visit in January and sent comments to DES. The Shoreland permit was approved but the Wetland permit requires more information to address our comments and other issues.

Chidester – We will keep an eye on the project. Silt fence is up and site work is being done. The stream crossing work should happen in low flow.

Camp Morgan Beach and field project – The fieldwork is permitted to be done this year.

Mill Pond dredging – Jed said $5K was passed at Town Meeting to do further work. We will check the ARM website for more information on grants.

Ayers Pond Bridge project - Jed said that the project will be done later this year, the BoS have signed off on the work. Jed will drive by and look at conditions

Longval wetland issue –The logs have been removed from the site but BoS hasnÕt heard from him.

           

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee – Jed will contact Anne McBride at Monadnock Conservancy about the Barker property again.

3.2   Energy Committee – No news. The Selectmen have contracted someone to switch the streetlights over to LED bulbs.

3.3   Planning Board – Nothing new.

3.4   Forestry Committee – No news.

3.5   Legislative update  - No news, not in session.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops: None          

 

5.0   New Business: None

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet – Arin will work on maps and Nan will work on words and layout.

6.2   Facebook Page – Arin said she is continuing to post items when she can. To check out the CCÕs Facebook page go here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2173271309586226/  

6.3   Master Plan goals for 2019 – This is a placeholder.

6.4   Tracking Invasive Plants project – We are coming out of the dormant stage right now. Look for plants emerging. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

6.5   Johanna asked about trash pickup and we decided to revisit this next month. We havenÕt had any word from DOT on safe pickup practices.

 

7.0   WhatÕs Happening in Nature?

Arin reported that the snow is gone, Jed says his pastures are turning green.

Nan said that sugar season is over and it was a good season. Jed said the syrup grade was very high all season.

Johanna shared a picture of the odd ducks she has on her pond with the Mallards. She thinks they are a hybrid of Mallard and American Black ducks.

Arin saw a pair of Common Mergansers at the dam end of Millen Pond. Johanna said she has a pair on her pond every year. Jed saw Hooded Mergansers on Mill Pond.

Arin said that the Loons are back on Ashuelot Pond (they arrived March 22) and they have been calling. She said that Ashuelot was drained so they could do the dam work, the work is done and the water level is back to normal depth.

Arin said a bear took her bird feeder down (she said we should take our feeders in for the year now). There has been a lot of bear activity around Ashuelot.

Johanna had 2 Canada geese that used the old beaver den for a home. She still has 5 beavers; 4 large and 1 small. She said people came up her driveway to take pictures of the beavers.

Jed has seen a beaver in Mill Pond.

Arin said she heard Wood frogs calling recently and heard Peepers on April 7th. Johanna has just heard Peepers near her house now.

Jed said he had a flock of about 40 Robins in his yard, they were social distancing from each other. Arin said she saw a flock of 75 behind Town Hall recently. She said when they are in large flocks they are a group that is migrating north together. This is probably a feeding stop on their way.

Jed said his bluebirds are starting to build their nests in the boxes. A fun project to do while you are stuck at home is to make some Bluebird nesting boxes using recycled wood you might have sitting around. Do it soon so the Bluebirds have time to nest. For a plan and some facts about Bluebirds click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:  

None

 

9.0   Adjourned at 7:40PM, Jed will set up a ZOOM session for our next meeting on Wednesday, May 20th at 7PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,           

Nan Schwartz, Secretary