Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – June 20, 2018

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM, Town Hall

 

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

Visitors: None

 

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

 

2.0    Permits Committee  - No new permits

 

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee - We need to go take a look at Mark MillerÕs property for donation, we will schedule a time to do it soon. Nan will get all the info on the property. The land assessment for BarkerÕs property should happen soon, Jed will contact Whit again about the scheduling. No news about the property owner from the west side of Ashuelot Pond that is in touch with the Forest Society,

3.2   Energy Committee – Johanna reported that the Energy Committee has not met again since last month. They have had some correspondence from the NH Sustainable Energy Association. Jed said the town should put a solar array on the old landfill property. Nan suggested the BoS look into it. Jed reported that the transfer station canÕt take glass in the co-mingled recycling anymore. They will still take glass but separately. Johanna said that the town of Weare is having hearings on a facility that wants to locate over an aquifer.

3.3   Planning Board – Nan said the PB is working on the Town Center Visioning project and has held 3 meetings already. They have a great committee of interested citizens and PB members working on identified issues in the center of town.

3.4   Forestry Committee –Tom was not here to report and they havenÕt been meeting. Jed will speak with Steve Hanssen and Pete Martin.

3.5   Legislative update  - Johanna said that the Governor vetoed several energy related bills.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:       

4.1   Arin said there is not much to do right now on our Water project for the fall. Arin said she will reach out to Fish & Game and Sullivan County Conservation District for materials we need. We are scheduled for August 29th with the teachers. Jed said the field project for the Camp Morgan field has been approved and Anthony Costello has been hired as the engineer for the project. He thought maybe this could tie into the water project somehow.

 

5.0   New Business:

5.1   Hike – We are planning a hike to the BurnsÕ property on September 15th to look at the environmental sculptures. Jed will contact the BurnsÕ and we will decide whether we want to hike from Ulrich Road or Ayers Pond Road. We will have a rain date for Sunday, more details to follow.

        We will do our Lovewell Mountain hike on Columbus Day weekend in October. We will pick the route next month.

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   Adopt-a-highway trash pickup – Nan and Arin did the first pickup and reported that it wasnÕt bad for the first of the year. The next pickup is scheduled for July 21st at 9AM, meet at the Library parking lot. Rain date is Sunday.

6.2   Johanna has scheduled her annual swim for August 25th, Saturday, at 10AM.        

6.3       Natural Resource Inventory Map updates –Arin sent the feedback on the maps to Chris. He is out doing fieldwork again but we hope we can wrap up the map project with him soon. Arin will ask if he can get the maps done by next monthÕs meeting. Arin said she can pick the maps up from Chris as soon as they are done.

6.4   Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet – Arin said she spoke with someone from LAE who is starting a hiking group and wanted to know about a few local trails. Nan Suggested the Sabbath Trail at the SDA church, it would be close enough to hike to from LAE. Jed suggested the Farnsworth Hill loop or Oak Hill. Nan is working on putting what we have in booklet form and Arin will continue working on maps. She has done a snowmobile trail map that she will share.

6.5   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.

6.6   Barker easement – see 3.1

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

 

7.0   WhatÕs Happening in Nature?

        Johanna asked if sheep will eat knotweed, Doug said goats would eat it so maybe sheep will too.

        Jed had a sad story about finding 4 bluebird fledglings dead near the garden. Another bird took over the bluebirdÕs nest boxes and threw them out. He said he saw a Bald Eagle flying over East Washington, it was seen by Mark also. He said the ewes brought the lambs into the barn for safe keeping when the eagle was flying overhead.

Johanna has Robins nesting in a low tree near her house. The babies hatched and then they were gone quite suddenly. Jed had a Robin nesting in his shed and one baby fell out of the nest, he was able to put it back and then it fledged and flew off. The adult bird was chattering to it where it landed up in a tree. He said there is an Eastern Phoebe nesting on the breezeway down the street.

Johanna said a snapping turtle caused a traffic jam in front of her house on Rte. 31.

Arin asked when we heard the bittern last year; Jed thought it was early June.

Nan saw a Turkey Vulture working on some road kill.

Johanna shared a movie of her muskrat, Anna.

Jed said his trail camera captured pictures of 2 deer, a bobcat, a coyote and a bear.

Johanna saw a mama bear and 3 cubs in her yard and got a movie of them. She said they have been back a couple of times.

The USDA Wildlife Services and NH Fish and Game have sent out information about bear-human interactions that they want us to share, to see the information click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:

            ARLAC letter thanking us for our donation for water testing

            Caroline A. Fox Research and Demonstration Forest Newsletter

 

Nan had an email from Ann Eldridge concerning ATVÕs asking to use class 5 and 6 roads in Bradford and asking the state to open up Low State Forest to ATVÕs on their trails. The Bradford CC is monitoring the situation and will keep us informed of any decisions made in Bradford, we are concerned with what they might do and how it might relate to Washington.

 

Doug let us know hat this would be his last meeting with us because he and his family are moving away. We are sad to see him leave and thanked him for taking the time to be a member of the commission and helping out with all our projects. We wish them luck in their next adventure and hope he will be back to visit often.

 

9.0   Adjourned at 8:10PM, our next scheduled meeting will be July 18th, at 7PM at TH.

 

Respectfully submitted,           

Nan Schwartz, Secretary