Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes – June 18, 2019
Assembly time: 7:00 PM, Town Hall
Members present: Arin Mills, Jed Schwartz and Nan Schwartz.
Visitors: None
1.0 Approval of Minutes: April and May minutes – Jed made a motion to approve the minutes as written, Nan seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
2.0 Permits Committee - New: Camp Morgan Beach and Field project – We had a copy of a wetland permit application for the CM beach reclamation and field work, to review and Arin expressed some concerns about the project.
We discuss merging the Chute conservation lot with the Town Forest Meadow lot, as they are adjacent to one another. Nan will get some paperwork done related to this and bring it next month.
Previous: Peter Ofman a driveway project for TM 16-94, on East Washington Road. This wetland application was signed by Arin last month.
Highland Lake dredging – Arin said we havenÕt received a letter from DES about the fines or penalties yet.
Mill Pond dredging – no new news.
Longval wetland issue – The hearing for Longval before the ZBA is June 26th at 7pm. We discussed the issues concerning us about his application for a wetland setback variance. Arin and Nan had made some maps of the area. Arin will attend the hearing and present our thoughts.
Ayers Pond Bridge – Jed said that the bridge has been built off-site and the project will happen later this summer (during low flow).
3.0 Committee and Board reports:
3.1 Land Protection Committee – Jed contacted Whit about using a different appraiser because there has been no action on the appraisal.
3.2 Energy Committee –No news but Arin said that the school is having other issues with the heating system and they need to get something done this summer. On July 10th Shakes to Shingles roofing company is looking at roof and building envelope issues. Jed said that they have committed to replacing the lights at Camp Morgan Lodge with LED lighting. They are planning to replace some of the ceiling tiles with new acoustic tiles at the same time.
3.3 Planning Board – Nan said the TCV committee is continuing to meet on issues and they are looking through the LUO for fixes. They are considering setbacks for impervious surfaces and wetland buffers.
3.4 Forestry Committee – No news.
3.5 Legislative update - Arin said the wetland laws/rules were adopted and will be in force starting next year. We discussed the shorter comment period and decided that if we receive a permit, the Permits Committee will meet right away and look at it.
4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:
4.1 Washington Elementary School nature journaling project – Arin said we had a really good time and the morning went well. She will write a thank you to Dawn for her help. Arin asked Jed to look through his pictures and send her a few. Nan said we should find out about the watershed table that Dawn said was available for borrowing, if we want to do a session on watersheds with the kids.
4.2 Trail Day –The trail day went well. Arin was able to spend the morning with the group on the Camp Morgan Trail putting up new blazes and clearing the trail.
4.3 Nan had a flyer from a man who does a program on Dragonflies and Damselflies, and wondered if we wanted to do a presentation this summer. Arin will call the guy ad see if there are possible dates for presenting this program.
5.0 New Business:
5.1 EAB traps – Arin said she met with Dode Gladders (our County Forester) to put out two Emerald Ash Borer traps on the Camp Morgan Town Forest property. Jed commented that he saw one hung up near the farm in E. Washington. Arin had a handout from NH Bugs that she wants to put up but she wants the Purple EAB trap added to it (Nan will help with editing the flyer).
5.2 Arin reminded us of the SCRAP program in Pillsbury State Park, running from July 22nd to August 2nd. She will contact them and see if they will allow visitors to the dig site.
6.0 Other Business:
6.1 Compost Pail promotion and sale – The pails have sold well and there are only 2 left. Jed will ask Ed if we could order another case. We will attend the recycling update on Thursday night and Arin will promote the composting program.
6.2 Trash Pickup – We scheduled August 10th for the second Adopt-a-highway pickup. We will meet at the parking lot by the Library at 9am.
6.3 Natural Resource Inventory Map updates - Nan will post the new maps on the website. Arin said this item would come off the agenda for next month.
6.4 Facebook Page – Arin said she is continuing to post things 2 times a week when she can. We now have 75 members. Arin is planning to post something on the EAB traps. To check out the CCÕs Facebook page go here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2173271309586226/
6.5 Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet – We will keep working on this through the spring/summer. We had some feedback on our existing trail map after the Trails Day rerouting of the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway trail near JeftÕs Road. We decided we will update the new trail guide and we wonÕt reprint the trail map when it is sold out.
6.6 Master Plan goals for 2019 – This is a placeholder.
6.7 Barker easement – see 3.1
6.8 Tracking Invasive Plants project – The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html
6.9 JohannaÕs swim – Scheduled for August 24th at 10am (August 25th rain date).
7.0 WhatÕs Happening in Nature?
Johanna couldnÕt attend our meeting but sent some nature observations that she and Lindley had over the month: American Bitterns are in the back of their wetlands, Lindley heard a loon in the back of the pond, too, a couple of weeks ago, they have three beavers counted (one is a son or daughter), a heron is a regular visitor and they saw him once perched on the beaverÕs den, a yellow bellied woodpecker was knocking on their satellite dish during mating season, a painted turtle has dug a few holes on their crossing to lay some eggs, there are lots of swallows catching mosquitoes at night, a huge male bear visited their backyard one day until Lindley scared it away with a car horn, the Baltimore oriole has returned, the mergansers had their ducklings and two moms seemed to be sharing babysitting - 4 had a girls day out on the pond, leaving babies behind in the weeds somewhere, the wood-ducks have returned, but they haven't seen any little ones, yet as they tend to be skittish and they are seeing lots of other birds around, including quite a few cat birds, more than usual.
Jed had a fawn visit this morning and he has been seeing lots of deer recently.
Arin commented that the weather has been cool and damp and it has still been cold at night. It is the summer solstice but summer has not arrived, yet.
Jed commented that the garden is doing OK in the cooler weather.
Arin heard the loons on Ashuelot making a racket.
Jed said that Reid and Cody found a merganser, which came down their chimney and was stuck in the flue. They got it out (it was a little sooty but unharmed) and it happily returned to the pond.
To find out more about the purple EAB traps that are hung up at Camp Morgan Town Forest and else where in town, click here: NewinNature.html
8.0 Correspondence:
Copy of Forest Notes
Thank you from ARLAC
Connecticut River Conservancy letter asking for support
9.0 Adjourned at 8:20PM, our next meeting will be Wednesday, July 17th at 7PM at TH.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz, Secretary