WASHINGTON CONSERVATION COMMISSION

 

Minutes- April 19, 2006

 

 

Assembly: Time 7:00 p.m.

Present: Rich Cook, Carol Andrews, Sandy Robinson, Tom Taylor, Mark Cummings, Nan Schwartz.

 

1.0  Approval of Minutes: No minutes to approve, Carol will send Nan the notes from last meeting.

2.0  Old Business:

2.1 Dredge and Fill Committee- We reviewed a permit by notification and sent to DES for Linda Johnson, who wishes to add sand to her beach. Dredge and Fill committee needs new members. Richard Cook will stay on, Mark agreed to join him and Sandy will ask Peter if he is interested.

2.2  Natural Resource Inventory – We reviewed several NRI maps from Kane/Ingraham and made notes for them. They asked us for comments, corrections and to draw lines around the existing agricultural land in town. We need to make contact with the historical society, because we need help in identifying historical sites around town– Sandy will call Charlene Cobb, also Gwen Gaskell, Tom Talpey and John Tweedy can possibly help with this. We are looking for old maps that might show building sites or cellar holes, dams, etc. We want to take the NRI maps to the Planning Board meeting for comments and suggestions and then post them in the Town Hall for a month so the public can also comment. We hope to end up with PDFs of the maps on our web site so they will be available to everyone. Carol will check with Pete to see if he is using the most recent data available.

2.3  What’s Happening in Nature? Two Bald Eagles have been spotted on Half Moon Pond the week of April 10^th, one mature and one immature. The mature eagle was also spotted on the 14^th.

3.0  New Business – Nan spoke about the need sometime in the near future to dredge the Center Pond in East Washington. It has filled in with gravel over the years and was impacted in a big way by the big storm last fall. It was last worked on in the 1950/60s when the Purling Beck Grange made it their project to restore the pond. The area around the dam was dredged once in the 1980s after a spring storm caused a huge amount of gravel to wash down Mill Hill into that area making it too shallow for diving. Beyond that nothing has been done to correct the sand collecting in the pond from storm runoff and the natural brook flow. The state maintains the dam but the town owns the pond. Carol said that as a commission we can’t spearhead this project because we have to comment on it to the state, also there would have to be compelling environmental reasons for WCC to push it forward. She felt that the Fire Department and Road Crew along with a civic group should be the ones to present the idea and a plan to the town for approval. Jed has spoken to Ed Thayer and Mark about it and will pursue it further with others.

4.0  Correspondence:

Lakeside: NH Lakes Association

Comprehensive Environmental

The Source: newsletter of DES Drinking Water Source Protection Program

5.0  Other Business – none

6.0  Adjournment: 9:25 p.m.

7.0  Next Meeting Date: May 17th at 7:00 at the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz - Secretary