Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – May 20, 2015

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

Members present: Arin Mills, Johanna Young, Jed Schwartz and Nan Schwartz.

Visitors: None

1.0 Approval of Minutes: Approval of Minutes from April meeting, Johanna motioned to approve the minutes, Arin seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Arin asked Nan to check the Endangered Species Act 4D rule mentioned in the minutes to see if it specifies more than no logging during pupping season. Nan checked and it applies to pupping and roosting season (June and July).

2.0 Permits Committee - No new permits

3.0 Committee and Board reports:

3.1 Land Protection Committee - The committee held a meeting on April 27^th. Jed spoke about a 50-acre parcel that connects to the MacNiel and Camp Morgan properties. Ken Eastman put Jed in touch with the owner, who wants to sell the property at a bargain price. The Forest Society is going to buy the property and make it part of the reservation. The LPC made the decision to support the purchase for the amount of $10K. Jed made a motion to spend $10K of our conservation fund dollars for this project, Arin seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

Jed spoke next about the piece of property that a party is hoping to donate to the town for the Conservation Commission on the backside of Ashuelot Pond. The Selectmen were wary about taking the land and weren’t sure how to get the money to the CC. The Town Attorney suggested setting up a trust to ensure the proceeds will go to the CC’s conservation fund. Jed contacted the attorney to get a price for setting up the trust and hasn’t heard back from him yet. Jed motioned that we spend up to $1K for the legal fees associated with creating the trust to facilitate the transaction. Johanna seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

Jed spoke about the piece of wetland property that someone has offered to sell to the CC. We will meet to check it out 15 minutes before our next meeting in June.

3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna said they met on the 7^th of May to work on the Energy Chapter for the Planning Board’s Master Plan update. They met with Mike McCrory from UVLSRPC to get some tips about writing the energy chapter. He told them it is best to take their time and it can be added later if the MP is done before they are. He said they should have a vision statement specifically for energy and have goals and recommendations. Johanna asked about length and Nan said some chapters are running 6-12 pages. McCrory talked about the “Strategic Energy Action Toolkit” and said it would be helpful to look at it first. She said that drafting the chapter would be their summer focus. Nan said that the Master Plan Committee is shooting to have the rest of the chapters done by September and will hold another public hearing at that point.

3.3 Planning Board – Nan reported that the Master Plan Update Committee has 6 chapter drafts done, they are holding a public hearing on June 2^nd at 6:30PM. The draft chapters are available online on the Town website and there are hard copies available at the Town Hall and Library.

3.4 Forestry Committee – Tom was not in attendance, but Jed he spoke with both Tom and Pete Martin. Tom said that Anita Blakman is done with her cruise and is finishing up her report for the Farnsworth Hill Town Forest. They asked Jed to get the report in the hands of SPNHF, as they want to access the TF for logging through the FH Reservation. Arin asked if the forester is looking at wildlife habitat and biodiversity in her report. If it is not there we will ask about it. When Jed gets a copy of her plan he will send it out to members.

3.5 Legislative update - No news.

4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1 WoW visit – We will try to schedule a visit again next year. Arin mentioned our favorite vernal pool is dry right now from lack of rain, she is glad we didn’t do an outing this year. There is a lot of stress on the vernal pool creatures because of a lack of rain.

4.2 Speaking for Wildlife – Arin wanted to pick a date for our bat presentation. We chose July 17^th, Friday night for the date. Arin will do the Bat presentation and incorporate a presentation on EAB. Arin wondered if there is a log and EAB bug sample available for showing people what to look for. Arin and Nan will investigate. We decided to do the presentation at Town Hall. Nan will check with Deb on availability. Nan and Jed can pick up materials for Arin at the Extension office in Newport. Arin talked about getting a price from the bat survey guy to do a survey here and we encouraged her to get a price from him. She also wants to get Lionel to take us on a hike up Lovewell Mountain, to where the caves are found.

4.3 Arin said she attended one of the Wildlife Action Plan update listening sessions. They have a survey online right now that they want CC members (and others) to fill out. It is available here:

https://unh.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9vuAdoZo7nZj19b

She said that they talked about big impacts to wildlife, who should do what to help these impacts. She said that she suggested they develop some generic plans to oversee properties including goals and recommendations for management, like a plug-in document. Nan said that could help with he Town Forests. Johanna mentioned she is going to be an intern on a forested property in Canterbury, “the Church of the Woods”.

4.4 Tracking Invasive Plants project – We continue input for the sheets we have. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

5.0 New Business:

5.1 Election of Officers – Johanna asked who our officers are at present. Jed said that he is chair, Arin is vice chair and Nan is secretary. Johanna motioned to keep the same people in their positions, Arin seconded and all voted in favor.

5.2 Adopt-a-Highway – We did our first trash pickup on Saturday, May 16^th and got 7 full bags, which we took to the transfer station. We picked July 11^th, Saturday for our next pick up. Nan will send a reminder.

5.3 Donation request from ARLAC – We received a letter from Ashuelot River Local Advisory Committee requesting a $100 donation to help with their RLAP program. Jed made a motion to send a $100 donation, Arin seconded and all voted in favor. Nan will let Lynda know to send the donation from the conservation fund.

6.0 Other Business:

6.1 Update the NRI maps – Arin and Nan will look over our list of maps and discuss our needs this month.

6.3 Barker easement – Nan looked into NH Trails Bureau and there are several possibilities for grants, but no funds available right now, possibly later this year.

7.0 What’s Happening in Nature?

Jed said it is extremely dry. Arin said we haven’t had significant rain in over a month. There is no burning allowed.

Jed saw what he thought was an eagle or a really large hawk flying over East Washington today. Arin said there was an immature eagle flying over Ashuelot recently, near the boat launch. Johanna saw one last year.

Johanna had a red fox in her front yard, he was looking at the wild turkeys.

Arin saw a moose walking on RT. 31 in the wetland area. She showed us a picture of the juvenile moose.

Johanna has solitary sandpipers near her pond.

Arin said Phil saw a wood duck on Johanna’s pond. Johanna said they have mergansers too.

Johanna saw her northern water snake, a big male beaver and a robin-sized bird she couldn’t identify, that was grey with a white breast and some black on it.

Arin heard the Whip-poor-will calling in Auburn. She said we should listen for them near the full moon on June 2^nd.

Johanna has hummingbirds and Arin said she has seen some too.

Jed said he has 2 pairs of nesting Bluebirds. They swoop around in the garden all day, eating bugs.

Johanna said she has Baltimore Orioles and Goldfinches. Jed has some Orioles too and said they are very chatty. Arin suggested they hang some orange halves around for the Orioles.

To learn about Baltimore Orioles in NH, click here: NewinNature.html

8.0 Correspondence:

Copy of Wetland PBN Permit application, dock replacement, Sadock, TM 20-119, 113 Pheasant Lane, Highland Lake

Letter from Barbara Skuly ARLAC, request for donation

Copy of Forest Notes

DES copy of letter to Sadock, stating his application for PBN was not complete.

9.0 Adjourned at 8:35 PM, our next scheduled meeting is June 17^th, at 7PM at the Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary