Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes – June 21, 2017
Assembly time: 7:00 PM
Members present: Arin Mills, Jed Schwartz, Doug Cook, Dennis Kelly and Nan Schwartz.
Visitors: None
1.0 Approval of Minutes: May minutes, Doug made a motion to approve as written, Jed seconded and all voted in favor.
2.0 Permits Committee - We had a Wetlands Permit come in for the Fire Station building project site on Lempster Mountain Road. Arin, Jed and Nan went out to look at the site and wrote a letter to attach to the permit application. Arin signed the permit. Jed went to the BoS meeting to give them a copy of our letter, which included some concerns and requests. We asked that the logging be done soon to avoid bat pupping season. Arin said she went over to the site again after the recent big rain event and everything looked good. She said the lot has been cut and the logs were taken off site but the property hasnÕt been grubbed yet. The only sediment she noticed was runoff from the existing fire station driveway. She feels we should encourage them to put up the silt fence prior to getting their permit.
Arin needs a key for Town Hall; she will speak with Deb about getting one.
3.0 Committee and Board reports:
3.1 Land Protection Committee No news so far on Barker and NEFF, Jed will prod Whit Beals. We agreed that we would share the cost of getting PhilÕs property assessed for conservation value.
Arin said she had a call from someone about DecaprioÕs property on Island Pond, she will return the call and give her JedÕs contact info.
3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna sent Nan an email saying that the EC will be meeting in July. She attended one event of the Connecticut River trip and swam a distance. She is planning to attend more events.
3.3 Planning Board – Nan said both building projects are moving forward but the Select board are not accepting any help from stakeholders. She hoped that the PB could be a part of the Schoolhouse structural assessment and planning but so far they havenÕt been asked.
Arin asked about the tax-hold process that was set up a few years ago. She wondered why the BoS hasnÕt been following the process in the last few years. Nan said that she will ask about it. She said that some of the properties they have taken for taxes in recent years have houses on them and they have sold them. Arin thinks there needs to be more transparency in the process and would like to continue with the group assessing the lots before they are sold.
3.4 Forestry Committee –Tom was not here to report. Dennis asked about the timing of the Farnsworth Hill cut and Jed said it is on hold because of the low price of chips. Nan said the cut will be done in the winter.
3.5 Legislative update - Nan reported that NHACC didnÕt have any new information on their site.
4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:
4.1 Spring Hike and School Pollinator Workshop – Arin said the hike took place on June 10th and was a success. We had a small but interested group. We walked the Bradford Bog trail and walked up to the Bradford Springs Hotel site and over to look at Mike AndrewÕs Beaver Deceiver. The rhodora were about done blooming but other plants were blooming and we saw several ladyÕs slippers.
The school pollinator workshop was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to love getting outside and catching bugs, bees and butterflies. We presented to and took 3 separate groups outside with butterfly nets, containers and jars. We had different conditions each time we went out and found different bugs each time. Doug put together some kits for making bee nests that the kids got to take and make after we left. Arin received a package of thank you notes that she will share with us later. Nan mentioned that the state is doing many pollinator workshops this summer and it is a hot topic. Dennis said he has lots of dragonflies around his yard right now.
4.2 Emerald Ash Borer/ invasive bugs presentation – Arin reached out to Dode Gladders about doing a presentation in early to mid August. We have set a date for August 18th Friday evening at 7pm. Nan will coordinate with Deb for Camp Morgan Lodge. Arin will get some info from Dode and Nan will put together a flyer, we want to get the word out soon. We will appeal to home and landowners with ash trees.
4.3 We talked about doing a fall hike (around Columbus Day) and we will speak further about it next month and pick a date and a hike to do.
5.0 New Business:
5.1 Adopt–a-highway trash pickup. We scheduled July 29th, Saturday for our next pick up. Nan will send a reminder when the date is close.
5.2 Jed received an email recently about a hunting preserve that someone has applied to the town of Bradford Zoning board for a special exception. It is quite close to East Washington and Nan said it could be of regional concern. Jed said there is a site walk on June 28th, Wednesday at 5pm, which he will attend, Dennis said he might like to join him for that. Jed said there will be a hearing is on July 5th in Bradford. Nan said she would bring it up to the Planning Board after the site walk. We discussed private hunting preserves and Dennis said you can hunt on them out of season, if they are stocked. The application said that their plans are in compliance with the Fish and Game rules for hunting preserves. Nan will do more research on what that entails.
6.0 Other Business:
6.1 Johanna has scheduled August 26th, Saturday at 10am for her annual swim on Millen Pond.
6.2 Natural Resource Inventory Map updates – Nan reported that Chris is working on making the changes. He had a recent personal event, which has kept him from his work and meeting with us. He will be in touch soon and Arin and Nan will meet with him to discuss the co-occurrence map. Nan will continue work on making the changes to the NRI document and Conservation Plan. Arin would like to wrap all the work on the document and maps by fall.
6.3 Master Plan goals for 2017 – We are working on the NRI update and map update as our goal.
6.4 Barker easement – see 3.1
6.5 Tracking Invasive Plants project – We are keeping this on the agenda as the growing season continues, look now for plants and report what you find. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html
6.6 Arin would like to reach out and try to find some more new members to join us. We will speak with anyone we think might have an interest.
6.7 Arin wants to work on a Recreational Booklet like the one she showed us last month. She will start to work on a rough outline of water and land activities we might include. Jed said he and Nan can work on an overall design when we have and idea of what we want to do. Arin wants simple maps and descriptions of trail and activities. We will continue to work on this idea.
7.0 WhatÕs Happening in Nature?
Arin saw a moose tonight in the new Cemetery on Faxon Hill Road. She got some good pictures of it. The moose crossed the road and went into the wetlands by the new culvert.
Jed said he saw 2 big brown bats flying around and eating bugs near his garden at dusk. Dennis said that the boathouses on Island Pond have bats in them. Doug said his boathouse has bats in it and they leave poop on the boats.
Jed said he saw a pair of deer the other night and a single deer in the field across from his house this morning. We all agreed the deer population is doing fine right now.
Johanna reported seeing lots of different turtles crossing Rt. 31 to lay eggs.
Doug found a young snapping turtle near his house, crossing to get to the brook.
Nan saw a pair of great blue herons flying from near the pond and heading up the brook.
Jed said he saw a little bird with a long delicate beak down near his pond side garden and he is not sure what it was. Snipe and woodcock were both suggested but he didnÕt think so because the bird was light/whiter in coloring and had long legs. Nan reminded him that Johanna saw an upland sandpiper near her pond and maybe it was one of those. He said he would do some research and figure out what it was.
Arin saw a turkey recently and asked if we should see turkey poults right now. Everyone thought we should see them but we werenÕt sure. To read some cool facts about the Wild Turkey population in NH, click here: NewinNature.html
8.0 Correspondence:
Copy of Wetland Permit application, Town of Washington, 75 Lempster Mountain Road, TM 22-58
Letter from ARLAC thanking us for our $125 donation for water testing.
Letter from DES, re: ToW Fire Station wetlands application receipt.
Copy of Forest Notes
9.0 Adjourned at 8:22 PM, our next scheduled meeting is on July 19th, at 7PM at the Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz, Secretary