Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – May 16, 2012

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

 

Present: Jed Schwartz, Carol Andrews, Nan Schwartz, Arin Mills and Sandy Robinson

 

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

 

2.0   Permits Committee – No new permits. DES sent a copy of a notice sent to Nolet, concerning a complaint they received for cutting of brush in the shoreland zone. The matter is considered closed.

       

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee – Jed spoke about a problem with the Eccardt Farm conservation easement addition project. It turns out there are some liens on the property that made it so the Forest Society has decided it wonÕt be able to hold an easement on the parcel. The farm has agreed to protect the land anyway and have merged it with the existing easement property. We are discussing something in writing to go in their property file. There will still be some expenses that we have to cover but we have let Q2C know that we wonÕt be able to use the grant money they awarded to us.

        We walked the property on Farnsworth Hill and are talking with Brian Hotz and working with the Brightons and hoping to come up with a land protection project. Brian will walk the property soon. We discussed putting 20K toward transaction costs, if the project goes forward. Sandy made a motion to do so, Carol seconded, all voted in favor.

       

3.2   Energy Committee – Johanna was not at the meeting but told us previously that they have a new member – Andrew Hatch, and they did not hold their recent monthly meeting because of scheduling problems.

 

3.3   Planning Board – Nan reported that the PB is working on a cell tower application for Farnsworth Hill. The balloon test was held last Saturday and we will have the results of that test soon. A first hearing on the application is going to be held at the June 5th PB meeting.

 

3.4   Forestry Committee – No news.

 

3.5   Legislative update – Carol said that HB 514 had passed h the Senate with some tweaks. They will now go to conference and try to find a compromise. The Forest Society is talking to the Governor about a veto but no one knows what will happen.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1   Arin said the scheduled visit by WoW to the Elementary School is on for May 21st, , next Monday. They are doing 2 groups – the 4&5 grade at 10:45 to 12:15 and the 2&3 grades in the 1:15 to 2:45 slot. Carol and Nan have volunteered to be helpers and Jed will be able to do half the day. Nan said the weather is supposed to be nice and maybe hot. Arin will get there at around 9:30AM to help with the setup. More information on WoW here: http://www.fws.gov/r5soc/educational_resources/watershed-on-wheels.html.

 

4.2   Arin has signed up to attend the workshop on leading hikes on June 20th, 10am to 2pm, at Concord Conservation Center. Part of taking the class is promising to lead one hike afterward. We talked about a few hikes she could lead including the Eccardt Farm conservation easement trail which makes a great loop coming out on the Mountain Road. Jed is going to check out the difficulty and length of the trail before we plan something for July.

        We talked about a beaver watch at JohannaÕs pond. She said her beavers are always out and busy in the early evening between 6 and 8PM. She also has some wood ducks on the beaver pond. There was some concern about parking but Nan will check it out. Arin suggested also the beavers on Millen Pond Road near BachandÕs as an alternative site. We will check things out more and confer by email about the possibility of doing something in June.

 

5.0   Adopt–a-Highway – We picked up 8 bags of trash along our trash pickup route with 4 adults along with our favorite little helper - Abby. Our next pick up day is June 23rd.

 

6.0   New Business:

6.1   Nan said she spoke with Jean Kluk after meeting with the Selectmen about junkyards and junky yards. Jean said she noticed a lot of trash along the town roads and suggested a town-wide clean up day and asked if the CC wanted to coordinate. We discussed and felt we could ask the Selectmen to coordinate it and they could schedule it for the same day we are picking up trash, June 23rd. We got 2 boxes of the blue bags last year from DOT which are at the Town Hall and they can give them out to people that want to do a clean up on their stretch of road. They will need to coordinate with the transfer station to accept these bags in the regular trash that day.

 

7.0   Other business – None

 

8.0   WhatÕs Happening in Nature?

During our meeting we were hearing thunder and expecting a pretty good storm to roll in. We have had lots of rain lately and the dry conditions we were experiencing last month are gone.

Carol reported that the rhodora is blooming in the Bradford Bog right now and it is a worth while the hike to go out to see it. She also mentioned there is a new viewing stand at the end of the trail.

Sandy mentioned a fox and a coyote have been spotted several times crossing between CookÕs and SchwartzÕs. She also said that Lynn Hendrickson has a seen a pair of Baltimore orioles in her yard.

Carol mentioned that she saw an osprey on Halfmoon Pond, she saw him grab a fish right out of the water and carry it up into a pine tree. She was told that they nest in dead pine trees but she didnÕt spot a nest at that time.

Arin said that her husband and daughter Abby saw a porcupine up in an apple tree. Porcupines like to chew on the tender shoots this time of year and find good eating up in fruit trees.

Sandy mentioned that Peter came across a bear on Rt. 31, near the swampy area below town, when he was riding his bike.

Jed said he is worried about the fruit trees and the early blossoms came just in time for some cold weather and lots of rain. He thinks the pollination could be affected by the unusual weather. Nan said their blueberry bushes are blossoming now and their strawberries already have some small berries on them along with new blossoms.

Nan mentioned she has been seeing tons of butterflies around her yard and hummingbirds visiting the honeysuckle and other early blooms. Click here to learn more about these and other nectar drinkers: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html

           

9.0   Correspondence:

Copy of DES notice to Nolet concerning complaint of cutting brush in the protected Shoreland Zone.

 

10.0   Adjourned at 8:00 PM, our next scheduled meeting is June 20th at 7 PM in the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nan Schwartz

Secretary