Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – May 18, 2016

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM

 

Members present: Doug Cook, Arin Mills, Jed Schwartz and Nan Schwartz.

Visitors: Andrew Hatch

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: April minutes, Arin motioned to approve as written, Doug seconded and all voted in favor.

 

2.0    Permits Committee  - No new permits. Arin commented about how few permits we are seeing this year.

 

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee  - Nothing new. Jed reported that John Brighton might have a few things to share with the committee.

3.2   Energy Committee – Andrew attended our meeting to bring us up to date with the Energy Committee. He said the EC met recently but hasn’t been as active because Al is now a Selectman and Johanna has been working on getting ordained. He spoke about getting the thermal camera and getting some training from Dunbarton. He said there was not enough cold weather to get enough training days in but he did get some ride a longs in. He wanted to spend more time with them learning about the raw data and how they present the results to the homeowners. He still plans to do this after their energy fair takes place. He hopes to be ready for next winter to do some visits. He wants to be able to do ball park assessments for homeowners. Dunbarton uses some software that helps to pinpoint whether a homeowner is eligible for help from Eversource or other sources. He did go to the Gibsons and shared the data he collected to them. They have already done some storm windows on the third floor. They found a guy in Weare that makes interior storms at a reasonable price.

        Andrew is having solar panels installed this week on his house. It is a grid tied system.

        Andrew said that Ed Thayer was looking at a retrofit for lighting in the Town Garage. He got a $4800 bid from a company and he was hoping for a 50/50 grant from Eversource. It turns out the grant is not funded for next year and the solar panels at the Transfer Station make us ineligible for the grant anyway. They are looking for alternatives.

        Andrew asked about trails, which we will talk about later in the meeting.

3.3   Planning Board – Nan said the Planning Board has taken on the Town Buildings project for this year. They were hoping to do this as a joint project with the Selectmen but they didn’t want to do it that way. They are supportive but want to jump in and out as they see fit. Jed asked about the Corvus tactical training facility proposed for Bradford and Hillsboro and whether the PB is looking at our Land Use Ordinance (LUO). Andrew asked about why Corvus pinpointed Bradford for their location. Nan said we are not sure why but that the PB is reviewing our LUO this year and we are fortunate that we have some good ordinances in place that Bradford does not. We have a noise ordinance and premature and scattered development sections. Doug will let us know if anything develops on Corvus.

3.4   Forestry Committee – Tom sent email and said that the latest working copy of the Town Forest management plan will be loaded onto the website soon by the Selectmen, it had fallen through the cracks and was not loaded earlier. Nan wrote him back and said that she could post it for them. They are in negotiations with a logger for a contract on the Farnsworth Hill TF cut. They will be setting a date for a public tour before the cut.

3.5   Legislative update  - No news

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1   Hike – Reschedule Bradford Bog hike for May/June when the Rhodora are blooming. We discussed a new date for the hike and Jed will go check the Rhodora and let everyone know what he finds.

4.2   Presentation for the Camp Morgan kids – We discussed our presentation on pollinators. Arin is interested in walking with them to the Cemetery to catch butterflies and dragonflies. She thought maybe we could make butterfly nets with them first and then go to the cemetery to use them. Nan sent Arin a power point she found on pollinators. Arin will take a look at it. She also ha some handouts she found on making bee houses with various materials. Jed will speak to Phill Barker about not having the cemetery mowed until after summer so the pollinators can use the flowers growing on the lot. Arin will speak with Yvonne Bachand about scheduling a day and time to do the presentation with the camp kids.

 

5.0   New Business: None

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   Trails – Jed said that Swift Corwin, Lempster’s forester, had sent him a couple of maps of possible spots for interconnecting trails to Lempster. He is happy to come speak with us. He is looking at trail placement for Lempster and is looking at the bigger picture for connection. Nan will email the maps to everyone. We decided we are interested and we would like to talk to him soon. Andrew asked about walking on the snowmobile trails, he said there is some over growth going up Farnsworth Hill. Jed said that John Brighton keeps it clear by weed wacking periodically.

6.2   Trash Pick up – We scheduled Saturday, June 25^th for our second pickup date, meet at 9AM at the Library parking lot.

6.3   Master Plan goals for 2016 – We will talk more about goals in June.

6.4   Natural Resource Inventory Map updates – Nan is in touch Chris about setting a meeting with him. He is doing some field work right now but is interested in meeting in mid June. Nan will get back to him for possible dates.

6.5   Barker trail easement – No new news.

6.6   Tracking Invasive Plants project – Start to look for spring emergence now. Arin also got the web map working and will send Nan the link for it to put on the website. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

 

7.0   What’s Happening in Nature?

Arin saw a red-breasted merganser in the wetlands along Rt. 31.

Jed saw Otters swimming in Center Pond and his barn swallows are back.

Andrew saw a beaver in Millen Pond trying to dam up the dam. He also saw 2 moose on the snowmobile trail up Farnsworth Hill.

Jed said it is finally leafing out and it is at least 2 weeks later than last year, he has seen lots of trilliums blooming.

Arin said the loons are being noisy flying between Ashuelot and Millen ponds.

Andrew saw geese nesting on the island where the loons usually nest. The gander has been seen patrolling his area.

Johanna has a pair of Baltimore Orioles and she thinks they are returning from last year. She reported that Lindley found a snapping turtle hatchling in their driveway about the size of a quarter. She wondered if it had just hatched because it was so small. Nan looked into it and hatchlings from last fall can stay in the nest until the next spring and emerge then.

Jed said with the rain we have gotten it is still dry out.

Arin said that Phil saw 2 adult moose crossing Kings Hywy and a large herd(?) of geese flying over. This lead to a discussion of what a large group of flying geese is actually called. Andrew came up with “skein” as the proper term and “wedge” if they are flying in a V formation. When they are on the ground it is a gaggle or flock of geese. To learn more about what a group of birds are called, click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:

Copy of Forest Notes

 

           

9.0   Adjourned at 8:30 PM, our next scheduled meeting is June 15^th, at 7PM at the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,                       

Nan Schwartz, Secretary