Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes
– April 18, 2012
Assembly time: 7:00 PM.
Present: Jed Schwartz, Carol
Andrews, Nan Schwartz, Johanna Young, Arin Mills and Ken Eastman
1.0 Approval of Minutes: Minutes from March meeting, Ken said that
the discussion about climate was illuminating, he received a newsletter from
UNH where they had a picture of the university ski team with their skis mounted
on wheels. Johanna made a motion to approve, Carol seconded, all voted in
favor.
2.0 Old
Business:
2.1 Permits
Committee – We received a copy of a Permit by Notification for culvert
replacement and headwall reconstruction for the road within Pillsbury State
Park.
3.0 Committee
and Board reports:
3.1 Land Protection Committee – Jed mentioned a walk
coming up to look at a property.
3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna
reports that the Energy Committee members attended the Energy Conference on
March 30th, in Penacook. They held a networking session at the
conference where she got business cards and talked to many people about our
solar panel installation. She said the keynote speaker talked about how the
military is way out in front on Climate and Energy issues and hopefully their
innovation will spread into the public realm. They had a breakout group talking
about town wide energy policy and the need to work on an energy chapter for the
master plan.
They have a new potential
member that they will be bringing to the Selectmen for appointment.
There is a possible Button
Up presentation they are working on
for the fall, Bob Fraser is coordinating. She said they are hoping to do a
hands on component. They will coordinate with the Selectmen for a possible
project.
3.3 Planning Board – Nan reported
that the PB is working on a cell tower application for Farnsworth Hill and that
there is a special town meeting on Saturday the 28th at 2PM at Camp
Morgan Lodge so the selectmen can enter into a lease for a cell tower at the
transfer station.
3.4 Forestry Committee – No news.
3.5 Legislative update – Carol
said that HB 514 had passed earlier in the day. This bill is troublesome for
conservation commissions as it makes it difficult to enter private properties
to collect data for Master Plans or Natural Resource Inventories. She suggested
when we update the NRI and Master Plan we make a note saying all data was
collected with landowner permission.
4.0 Election
of Officers:
Carol made a motion to
continue our slate of officers: Jed as Chair, Sandy as Vice Chair and Nan as
Secretary, Arin seconded, all voted in favor.
5.0 Public Presentation possibilities:
5.1 Arin has been in touch with Susanne
Lull about the scheduled visit to the Elementary School on May 21st,
Monday by WoW. More information on WoW here: http://www.fws.gov/r5soc/educational_resources/watershed-on-wheels.html.
Arin will let us know how many chaperones and helpers will be needed at the
visit.
5.2 Nan spoke about a workshop on
leading hikes on June 20th, 10am to 2pm, at Concord Conservation
Center. It is free and she handed out a flyer for the workshop. We talked about
a few hikes we could lead including the Eccardt Farm conservation easement
trail which makes a great loop coming out on the Mountain Road. Jed will check
out the difficulty and length of the trail so we can plan something.
Johanna
thought we could do a beaver watch at her pond. The beavers are always out and
busy in the early evening between 7 and 8PM.
Arin
mentioned planning a walk or presentation for July. Nan mentioned the other
possibilities she found for presentations – Speaking for Wildlife, Fish
and Wildlife Stewards. We
will continue our discussion.
Nan
mentioned the Forest Society is looking for land stewards and they have a
training session May 11 & 12th in Greenfield, NH. They have a
parcel in Washington and Marlow, the Rassmussen Forest that needs a steward.
6.0 Adopt–a-Highway – We
picked dates for our trash pickup route. We will meet at 9AM on Saturday May 5th,
June 23rd, August 18th, October 6th, we will
have the next day, Sunday, as the rain date for each one.
7.0 New Business:
7.1 Nan said she has sent in the information for
the update of GranitView mapping conservation lands layer. She included all the
new town forests and the Eccardt Farm Conservation Easement pieces. When they
finish adding all the new data our conservation land will all show up on the
Granit mapping software layer.
7.2 Ken spoke about the selectmenÕs junkyard
project, they are initiating because they have been getting complaints. They have
decided to hold a meeting on May 3rd at 3PM with the health officer,
the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and various other town officials to
talk about what can be done. Nan shared an article that she found on the LGC
site concerning junkyards and junky yards. Carol asked how widespread the
problem is, Ken replied that two are habitual, maybe more. Carol suggested that
maybe an ordinance would be the place to start. She and Jed were unsure what
the CC could do to help, within our authority. Nan suggested involving Ed
Thayer, thinking that maybe the transfer station could waive fees to help
people get rid of junk. She thought if you come up with a way to help people
clean up it might be better than going after them legally. Nan and whomever else can go, will attend the meeting and try to
come up with ideas on the issue.
8.0 Other business – Arin wanted to talk
about who follows up after DES permitting to make sure the owner does what was specified
on the plans. Sometimes DES puts conditions on a permit she wanted to know who
follows up on this. Carol said that anyone can send a
comment to DES if they see a problem but there is no process for follow up. The
Selectmen do the occupancy permits but they donÕt look beyond life safety issues
with the building. Nan mentioned silt fences being left up long after a project
is done, they can become a nuisance when left in place and they are not needed
anymore.
9.0 WhatÕs Happening in Nature?
It
is extremely dry and there has been no rain. There is a big danger of forest
fires right now and Jed has been to several in the last week.
Arin heard wood frogs croaking and she saw two moose
crossing Rt. 31, near the transfer station.
Jed
saw a young moose on East Washington Rd, just over the Hillsboro line.
Johanna
has wood ducks swimming in her pond. She checked after Jed mentioned the
pollywogs last month and noticed thousands of them in her pond. They went away
when it got cold again. She also observed newts mating in her pond.
Carol
said that ice out on Halfmoon Pond was March 22nd,
which was really early. She spotted a Bald Eagle on the pond right when the ice
went out.
Ken
said the eagle on Millen Pond is back.
Jed
said that ice out on Mill Pond was really early this year also,
there were times in February when the ice was gone in the middle of the pond.
Arin said she heard loons on Ashuelot
Pond last Saturday. She has also seen grouse lately out in Ashuelot
and also Highland Lake. They donÕt want to get out of the way of the car so she
has to stop and wait for them to move. She is tracking her hognose snake again
at the GuardÕs property. They are having a new tracking device put on him
because the old one has become unreliable.
Ken
saw a dozen or so loons on Millen Pond recently, they seemed to be enroute because they left after a short stay. He said that
one loon and a red headed water bird (maybe a merganser) hung around together
for a few days longer, after the others left.
Nan
saw a Kingfisher sitting on the side of the dam in East Washington this
evening.
Johanna
saw a Downy Woodpecker near her house.
Jed
reported seeing a pair of Piliated Woodpeckers in
East Washington. You can hear them pecking away in the woods and it is loud.
Ken
asked about some bees he spotted that appeared to be coming out of the ground in
his driveway. Carol said there are lots of bees that live in ground nests.
Arin said that the vernal pool where we usually do
our vernal pool visit is just about dry. We hope it rains soon, so the pool
creatures will have a chance to breed. Luckily we arenÕt doing our visit this
year, but we will return next spring.
Speaking
of water or the lack of it, have you had your well water tested? NHDES is
hoping to raise awareness about testing your well water to reduce exposure to
harmful contaminants. Click here to learn more about testing the water in your well,
itÕs easy and not too expensive: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html
10. Correspondence:
Registration form for NH the Beautiful, to
organize a town wide clean up day
Thank you letter from ARLAC, Barbara Skuly for our $100 donation for Ashuelot
River water testing
Copy of Pillsbury State Park permit by
notification for roadway maintenance, culvert replacement and headwall
reconstruction in park
11.0 Adjourned at 8:35 PM, our next
scheduled meeting is May 16th at 7 PM in the Town Hall.
Respectfully
submitted,
Nan
Schwartz
Secretary