Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – July 16, 2014

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

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

Visitors: None

1.0 Approval of Minutes: Minutes from June 2014 meeting, Arin made a motion to approve, Johanna seconded, all voted in favor.

2.0 Permits Committee - No new permits, the Jorges received a permit for their dock and beach replenishment.

3.0 Committee and Board reports:

3.1 Land Protection Committee - Jed reported that the committee met and talked about Camp Morgan and several other potential projects. Jed said he met with the Forestry Committee and they are having a joint meeting with the Selectmen tomorrow night at 7:30PM. Jed had a long talk with Brian Hotz and he feels that the likelihood of a warrant article passing by being pushed through is very slim. He feels we need to slow down and finish the Forestry Committee’s work. We could possibly hold a conceptual vote at town meeting on protecting the Town Forests.

3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna reported that the EC had a site visit to an old house, to see the possibility of using it as a project for weatherization. She said it needs more than just a few plugs but it is a good candidate. The owner had some previous work done through the Energy Assistance Program but they didn’t do a good job. The EC will get a team together to put up plastic, foam and caulking to help weatherize. They have not applied for the grant yet because they wanted a real project to use for applying. They are calling their team “Washington Warming Neighbors”. They have a core group and would get more people to show up to help. They want to do the project before winter. Al Krygeris thinks the committee should become a commission and is looking into it. We are supportive. Nan mentioned the recent article in the villager about a company looking to put up solar arrays and paying towns for space to do it like cell tower companies.

3.3 Planning Board – Nan reported that the Community Workshop happened and was successful. They are awaiting a report from the workshop. Arin suggested that day care could have been provided to get more parents with children to participate. Nan said they considered this and would have arranged something if people asked about it. She will take Arins comment back to the committee..

3.4 Forestry Committee – Tom was not in attendance but Jed said they met. They talked about trails and possibly a trail that hooks up with Lempster through Farnsworth Hill to Silver Mountain. They are holding another meeting in late September. There will possibly be a trail grant round of Q2C at that point and they will apply for the spring round.

3.5 Legislative update - not in session.

4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1 “Soak Up the Rain” presentation – Jed reported he met with the DES reps settled on a plan to do a rain garden at Camp Morgan Lodge on the lake side to catch the runoff from the roof. It will be on August 8^th from 8 – 4PM. He is reaching out to Yvonne Bachand to coordinate and to see if the camp kids could participate. John Brighton will reach out to the Millen Pond Assoc to participate. Jed will reach out to Jean Kluk to let the WLA people know and Arin can talk to LAE people.

4.2 Tracking Invasive Plants project – Jed and Nan took some pictures of invasives that they will fill out forms for and send to Arin. Arin asked about Kathy West’s goutweed. This isn’t an invasive that we have in our list. Nan thinks it is what she has been calling Queen Ann’s Lace. It is a very prolific plant that will take over your garden (making it quite invasive). Nan will look it up and get more information about it. Arin said she was very impressed with Kathy’s reports. She said that the autumn olive behind the Town Hall and the Burning Bush by the Historical Society building are probably things we can do something about. Arin said purple loosestrife is in bloom right now making it easier to spot. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

4.3 Speaking for Wildlife – Nan said she got an email about a new talk that they are offering about New Hampshire invasive bugs. Arin said she is qualified to do these presentations and would be happy to do one in the fall. We decided to do one on Bats possibly in October. She will reach out to the library trustees about it.

4.4 Conservation Commission Field Training Series – Nan spoke about NHACC workshops available for Conservation Commission members.

5.0 New business –

5.1 Land Protection project on Farnsworth Hill – Jed spoke about the MacNeil project and the difficulty they are having with fundraising. SPNHF has planned a hike for August 10^th from 10AM to 1PM. The tentative plan is to park at the Camp Morgan Lodge and do a several mile loop. More information to come on this.

5.2 Adopt a Highway trash pickup - We needed to renew our contract with NH DOT for the next 2 years. Arin made a motion to renew, Nan seconded, all voted in favor, Jed signed the paperwork. Arin asked if we could put the word out and see if people want to join us for our trash pickups. We agreed to try this. Ken will put it in the “Did You Know?” of the Selectmen’s minutes and also the schedule of events. We scheduled our next pick up date for July 19^th, Saturday, meeting at the Library parking lot at 9AM.

6.0 Other Business:

6.1 NRI update - We discussed pages 62-72 and Nan had a few updates that she will put into the document. We are going to take a month off because Arin will be gone next month and we will pick up where we left off in September.

6.2 Barker – Jed said that Pete Martin, who is on the Forestry Committee is also on the Monadnock/Sunapee Greenway trail board. He will speak to him. We will also contact the Snow riders club about trail protection. We will keep this on our to do list.

6.3 Bat Survey – We decided to have a hike out to the Twin Bridge area in September with a tentative date of the 7^th, Sunday. We will firm up the plan and advertise it in late August.

6.4 Trail Map - We discussed the letter Jed wrote to Don Damm (LAE) regarding the Trail Map and a trail we show through Ashuelot. We talked about removing the trail shown in LAE for the next printing, everyone agreed we will do this if they want us to.

6.5 Johanna’s 2014 swim - Johanna has scheduled her 2014 swim for August 16^th with the 23^rd for a rain date at 10AM, meeting on the Camp Morgan beach. Jed will check with the Brighton’s to make sure it is OK that we will end at their beach.

6.6 Adopt-a-Highway - We have a trash pickup scheduled for this Saturday but since not many people can come we will play it by ear. We will reschedule if necessary.

7.0 What’s Happening in Nature?

Arin saw a juvenile bear on Faxon Hill tonight.

Johanna saw a bear on her property near her beaver pond. She also saw an otter and a painted turtle laying eggs, she thinks it is the same one she saw last year. She saw a large poop in the woods and thought it was from the bear. She has a woodchuck but it is not eating her garden, she saw it eating red clover. She has a Great Blue Heron that visits her pond. She has some Evening Grosbeaks around her place.

Ken reported that his sister is visiting and heard a whip-poor-will at the full moon. She is from out west and has heard them before out there. We just had the “Super Moon” and it was very big this month.

Jed commented that the fruiting of the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are early this year. Johanna said the flowers are blooming early too. He thinks the moisture, humidity and heat are moving things along quickly. Arin said that things were behind in the late spring but now everything has caught up. She said that LAE has bought a pontoon boat and other equipment to remove bladderwort from Ashuelot Pond. She said it has become a problem (it comes and goes in cycles) and is a floating mass that they go out and collect. She said it is a carnivorous plant. She said that Don Damm is a “Weed watcher” and keeps a keen eye on the pond.

Nan said we have had lots of rain lately and some wild storms with inches of rain.

Although not on our list of invasive plants, goutweed is a real invasive nuisance in gardens around town. To learn more about Goutweed, click here: NewinNature.html

8.0 Correspondence:

Copy of memo to Selectmen from the Forestry Committee, re: Camp Morgan

Letter to LAE Association, Don Damm, re. our Trail Map showing a trail running through LAE

Letter from Frank Mitchell, UNH re:update on Taking Action for Wildlife need for information

DES copy of Complete Forestry Notification, Butler Mt. Holdings, Halfmoon Pd. Rd, TM 5-1

DES copy of Septic application acceptance, West Shore Dr. TM 2-82/83 ??

DES copy of Septic application acceptance, 143 North Main St. TM 22-71

DES copy of Septic application acceptance, 80 Lempster Mt. Rd.. TM 22-62

DES copy of Shoreland application acceptance, 1124 Faxon Hill Rd. TM 15-57

DES copy of Septic application acceptance, 2115 Valley Rd.. TM 25-60

9.0 Action Items –

Jed -

Speak with Monadnock/Sunapee Trail and Snowriders about possible trail easements for Barker.

Contact Brightons about Johanna’s swim

Nan –

Start making agreed changes to the NRI text

Arin –

Check Natural Heritage Bureau for a better rare and uncommon species list for NRI, page 30.

Send list of rare and uncommon species found in Washington to Nan

10.0 Adjourned at 8:25 PM, our next scheduled meeting is August 20^th at 7PM at the Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary