Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – May 16, 2018

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM, Town Hall

 

Members present: Arin Mills, Doug Cook, Johanna Young, Dennis Kelly and Nan Schwartz.

Visitors: None

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: April minutes - There were no comments, Nan made a motion to approve as written, Dennis seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

 

2.0    Permits Committee  - Ayers Pond Road Bridge project, Arin drafted a letter with our comments and dropped it at the Town Hall for Ed. Nan will check with Ed to see if he has everything from us and what the status is on the project. Arin asked about the FD building project site work. Nan and Arin will meet one afternoon to take a look at it.

 

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee - We need to go take a look at Mark Miller’s property for donation, we will schedule a time to do it soon. The land assessment for Barker’s property should happen soon, Jed will contact Whit again about the scheduling. Nan reported about a property owner from the west side of Ashuelot Pond that Jed spoke with and he put her in touch with the Forest Society, who has conservation land that surrounds her property. They are considering buying it.

3.2   Energy Committee – Johanna reported that the Energy Committee met last week. Andrew was going to attend the School Board meeting to talk about the boiler system that is having problems. He wasn’t able to attend the meeting but Arin brought the Energy Audit that was done a few years back. She said re-commissioning was recommended but was never done. They are looking to put in an energy efficient system and maybe a condensing unit. She said they are doing a “request for information” on systems and the SAU will put it out. Arin wants the EC involved with the decision.

3.3   Planning Board – Nan said the PB is starting the Town Center Visioning project and holding their first meeting next week. They have a committee of interested citizens and PB members.

3.4   Forestry Committee –Tom was not here to report and they haven’t been meeting. Arin wants to do a joint meeting in the future.

3.5   Legislative update  - No updates

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:       

4.1   Hike – We are considering a hike to the Burn’s property in the spring or summer to look at the environmental sculptures, maybe for July or August. Bring other hiking ideas for the June meeting.

4.2   Vernal Pool workshop at WES – went really well but we couldn’t hold the pool visit because it was still frozen. Arin had wonderful written thank you notes from the kids with great drawings of vernal pool creatures.

4.3   Arin said she and Nan met with the teachers at WES again about our Water project for the fall. She said she went on the Sullivan County Conservation District (SCCD) website https://sullivancountynh.wixsite.com/educationandoutreach and they had some good educational plans there for projects. She offered two ideas to the teachers, one was the kick sampling in the stream and another was sampling for water quality in two streams for contrast in stream quality and finding differences. The teachers liked the stream sampling idea and we will work that up for August 29^th. Arin will see what we can borrow from the SCCD or we can make some kick nets out of PVC pipe and mesh. We will do a lesser thing with the youngest kids and get the teacher’s input on this. Doug asked about class sizes. Arin will find out. She said one of the teachers wants to take the kids up to Pillsbury State Park for a hike and outing, we will consider that for next year. Arin will send out the lesson plan.

4.4   Johanna has scheduled her annual swim for August 25^th, Saturday and her church group is coming and will hold their picnic afterwards. Nan will check with Deb to make sure there isn’t a conflict with their using the beach and picnic tables.

 

5.0   New Business:

5.1   Nan said we received a request from ARLAC for a $125 donation for water testing in the Ashuelot River. Johanna made a motion to make the donation, Dennis seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Nan will request that Lynda sends a check to them.

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   Nan said our funds have been returned by the BoS. Nan gave Arin a requisition form she drafted. Arin will take a look at it and give her suggestions.

6.2   Adopt-a-highway trash pickup – The pickup is scheduled for May 22^nd at 4:15PM, meet at the Library parking lot. Arin picked up new bags for us.

6.3   Renew terms for members – Nan said that Doug and Tom need to see the Town Clerk to take the oath of office.

6.4       Natural Resource Inventory Map updates –Arin sent the feedback on the maps to Chris. He is working on the co-occurence map.

6.5   Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet – We haven’t done any work on this this month but Arin said that she needs a GPS for the Sabbath Trail. Doug thought he could do it with Alden one day soon. Nan asked about the Farnsworth Hill trail and will check with Jed to see if he has GPS for that trail. Arin said that she thought we could include Jeeping and mountain biking trails. Nan said that Pillsbury has some and all class VI roads are open to them. Nan will ask Jean about any local trails she uses for mountain biking. Nan mentioned horseback riding and we can talk to Linda Marshall about where she rides. Doug said Sara rides on the snowmobile trail and around number 5 (Eccardt Farm). We will ask about snowmobile trail use in the off-season. Arin would like to ask the Snowmobile Club members to a meeting in the fall.

6.6   Master Plan goals for 2018 – We are working on the NRI update and map update as our goal. We will look at it again when we are done with this project.

6.7   Barker easement – see 3.1

6.8   Tracking Invasive Plants project – The plants are emerging and the reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

 

7.0   What’s Happening in Nature?

        Nan said she saw 2 hummingbirds recently. Arin also saw some hummers. Johanna wanted to know what plants to put in that they would enjoy. Nan said Bee Balm is a favorite for them but here are many they like.

        Dennis saw a Black Bear of medium size and it looked very healthy, he also saw a bobcat and a fox. He said the loons are back on Island Pond and Arin said they are back on Ashuelot Pond, too.

        Johanna saw her snapping turtles and some muskrats with grass in their mouths.

        Nan has seen several Garter Snakes recently and the Blue Birds are back in their houses.

Johanna saw a Baltimore Oriole and a couple of Canada geese. She also saw some hawks maybe Broadtails. She saw a heron and a couple of wood ducks.

Arin reports she finally heard peepers on April 26^th for the first time this year in the wetland area on Rte. 31 south. She also saw the Bittern in early May. Doug saw it too. Abbey saw a Bald Eagle near Ashuelot.

Nan said the bugs are out in full force now. Arin said the trees are fully leafed out now. Spring came on fast once it warmed up a little.

Dennis said it was a record maple year for syrup.

Doug has a nesting pair of Mallards on his pond. He said Reid saw some opened muscle shells below the dam in East Washington and he thought they had been eaten by the otter.

Dennis saw a pair of wood ducks crossing the road on his way home tonight, relocating to a wet area near his house.

We have been seeing a lot of Red Efts, while walking around in to woods lately. We’ve seen little ones and bigger ones, moving through the leaves and duff. To learn more about these adorable creatures and how they metamorphize, click here: NewinNature.html

8.0   Correspondence:

            Connecticut River Conservancy – plea for contributions         

            ARLAC letter asking for donation for water testing

 

9.0   Adjourned at 8:15PM, our next scheduled meeting will be June 20^th, at 7PM at TH).

 

Respectfully submitted,            Nan Schwartz, Secretary