Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes
– July 18, 2012
Assembly time: 7:00 PM.
Present: Jed Schwartz, Carol
Andrews, Nan Schwartz, Arin Mills, Sandy Robinson,
Johanna Young, Tom Taylor and Ken Eastman.
1.0 Approval of Minutes: Minutes from June meeting, Sandy made a
motion to approve, Ken seconded, all voted in favor.
2.0 Permits
Committee – No new permits.
3.0 Committee
and Board reports:
3.1 Land Protection Committee – We continue talking
with a group on Millen Pond about a possible land protection project on
Farnsworth Hill. John Brighton spoke at the MLA annual meeting to gauge
interest in the project. The next day 25 people turned out for a walk to look
at the property in question. Pledges are being sought from interested people.
3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna reported
that there is no longer funding for the Button Up program due to cuts in RGGI
funding, so they canÕt schedule a workshop this year. They are thinking about
other educational presentations hey could do about energy or energy
conservation. They thought of doing a tour of a solar energy installation in
town, maybe Al Krygeris would be interested in
showing his system and talking about it.
DonÕt forget that PSNH has
money available for energy efficiency improvements, see if you qualify for home
energy assistance by visiting: http://www.psnh.com/homeperformance/
3.3 Planning Board – Nan reported
that the PB approved the cell tower project and after the 30
day comment period construction will begin.
3.4 Forestry Committee – Tom
spoke for the Forestry Committee and said a letter has been sent about the
disputed six-acre parcel that was deeded out of the Farnsworth Hill Town Forest.
The Selectmen signed the letter along with the Forestry Committee.
3.5 Legislative update – The
legislators are now on vacation. Ken asked if, because of HB 514, we want the
Selectmen to put in some language on permit applications giving all town
officials permission to visit a property during the permitting process. We
thought this could be helpful.
4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:
4.1 Arin and
Jed are planning a hike in East Washington doing a loop through the cornfield
to the farm, then back around the cornfield to the snowmobile trail ending up
back at the East Washington Mill Pond. They are going to meet on the 29th
to do a trial run. Sandy suggested Labor Day weekend for the actual hike,
Saturday, Sept. 1st or Sunday, Sept. 2nd for an alternate
(rain) day. We will plan for hiking in the morning, with a 9:30AM start, then we can stop at the farm store for ice cream and finish
the rest of the hike afterward. Jed figures it should take 2 hours or so. They
will check at the trial run. Arin will work with Nan
on a poster for the hike.
4.2 We discussed doing a presentation on
aquatic invasive plants. Arin said that Milfoil has
been found in a Greenfield water body, which is not very far from here. She
asked if any of the ponds in Washington have ÒWeed WatchersÓ. Ken said that
Millen Pond has both Lake Hosts and Weed Watchers. He said that the water bodies
in NH that have Lake Hosts have not had Milfoil introduced so far. They are
doing a good job educating boaters. Carol said people conducting water testing
through VLAP have a good chance to look for invasive plants too, when they are
out on the water. Nan suggested contacting Amy Smegula
(at DES) to come do a presentation in town. Ken said he would contact people he
knows at NH Lakes about a presentation. We could do it at Camp Morgan. We
talked about doing a separate presentation on Upland invasives
in the future. Carol mentioned that PSNH has some grant money available for
this sort of thing, if we wanted to do some print materials and handouts.
4.3 Nan mentioned receiving information
on the NH Coverts training session coming up in October in Greenfield at the
Harris Center. She has information if anyone is interested in applying to
attend.
She mentioned several
upcoming workshops:
Anatomy of a Drumlin
workshop, NHANRS, in Weare, Wednesday, July 25th,
8 – 4PM, $50
Soil Classification
Workshop, NHANRS, In Rindge, Friday, August 24th, 9 – 3PM, $60
And also some presentations
that are available:
NH Wildlife Stewards,
free public talks available through the UNH Cooperative Extension
Speaking
for Wildlife, free public talks available through NH Fish & Game
5.0 Adopt–a-Highway – Our
next pick up day is August 18th. We will reschedule if we need to.
6.0 Town Owned Lots – Nan said that the
site walk was done and we now need to meet to come up with recommendations for
the Selectmen on these lots. Nan will coordinate with PB and come up with a
date for this meeting.
7.0 JohannaÕs 2nd Annual Memorial Swim – The date is set for JohannaÕs swim and it is July 28th, Saturday at 8:30AM. She will be joined by Heather Cooper, RichÕs daughter, and maybe a few other triathlete friends. They will depart from Camp Morgan beach and end their swim at BrightonÕs beach at the far end of the pond. Johanna will check with Bob Fraser about a small motorboat to follow them. Jed will follow in his canoe. Nan showed a poster she has made for the swim. She will put them up around town.
8.0 Other business –
8.1 Tom brought up the fact that he and
Steve went for a hike in Andorra Forest and there is a problem with the trail.
He said that on JeftÕs Road, when they entered near
the pillars there is bad erosion on the trail. He thinks there is a need for waterbars to stop the washout. Carol said that the trail is maintained by the Monadnock/Sunapee
Greenway trail keepers and he should let them know about the problem.
Tom said that the hike in Andorra Forest is one of his favorites in town and it
is very beautiful.
8.2 Arin said
that the updated Granit Data Mapper has a trail layer and she wondered where
they got the information for that layer. Carol said that maybe it is snowmobile
trail information. Check out all the cool things you can do with these maps and
the many available data layers here: http://granitview.unh.edu/
9.0 WhatÕs Happening in Nature?
Carol
remarked that it is still HOT and very dry! We have had little rain and gardens
are suffering.
Johanna
had an otter with some pups on her pond and a beaver chased them and went after
the otter. There was lots of splashing. Fortunately everyone was safe in the
end. JohannaÕs wood ducks are still in her beaver pond and they are growing.
Arin had a Silver fox in her backyard getting trash
and running through the yard near her kidsÕ sandbox. She was probably feeding
some pups, Arin saw it three
days in a row. Tom said that there has been more than one Silver fox seen in
LAE recently.
Johanna
also has a mink family of about 4 or 5 individuals in her beaver pond. Johanna
had a flying squirrel swoop by one evening. She also saw a porcupine wander by.
Carol said that a friend had a cat with quills, which is unusual. Cats, unlike
dogs, donÕt usually mess around with porcupines. She said it was a young cat
with small quills and it probably got stuck by playing with a baby porcupine.
Jed
asked if anyone was seeing bats or evidence of them. Sandy said she has seen
some evidence but not as much as she used to see. Jed said that he has seen bat
guano in his barn but not nearly as much as in the past.
Arin saw a Nighthawk fly over her house and it was making
its call. She was on a controlled burn in Maine and saw a Whip-poor-will!
Sandy
said that a blue heron has been hanging out in East Washington and nearby in
Bradford. Sometimes it hangs out below the dam and it seems to be making the
rounds of all the ponds to eat frogs, fish and tadpoles.
Jed
said that there is a pair of snapping turtles living in the pool below the dam,
too. If you go when the sun is high (middle of the day) you can watch them
moving around.
Nan
mentioned seeing a Baltimore Oriole in her blueberry
bushes and they also have some Cardinals in the neighborhood.
Johanna
said that while training for her swim in Millen Pond she has seen more fish
this year than in years past. Ken mentioned the 4 ½
pound trout someone caught in Millen earlier this season.
Nan
has received a bunch of wildlife pictures from around town. To see what fellow
Washington neighbors are seeing click here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html
9.0 Correspondence:
UNH
Cooperative Extension - Info on Coverts project and free talks available
10.0 Adjourned at 8:20 PM, our next
scheduled meeting is Augus15th at 7 PM in the Town Hall.
Respectfully
submitted,
Nan
Schwartz
Secretary