Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – August 17, 2022

Assembly time: 7:00 PM, Meeting at Town Hall.

Members present: Arin Mills, Jed Schwartz, Nan Schwartz

Visitors: None

1.0 Approval of Minutes: July minutes approved as written.

2.0 Permits Committee –

New: Horton, TM 11-42, Shoreland PBN, closed, needs a Wetland Permit instead.

Barkie, TM 10-39, Ashuelot Dr, DES notice of violation.

Previous: Lundquist, TM 11-43, Shoreland permit, Foundation for barn, driveway,slab and septic, approved.

Calabro, TM 14-184, Wetland/Dredge and Fill,12x20 deck along frontage of Ashuelot Pond, approved

Habashian, TM 24-64, 18 Lookout Point, Expedited wetlands permit, accepted and approved.

Stubbs, TM 20-182, Beaver Brook Road, Expedited Wetlands Permit application, approved

Voisine, TM 24-108-1, 126 Cove Rd, PBN for dock anchoring pad, restoration amended plan approved.

Barkie, TM 25-116, 1681 Valley Road, reported violation, construction of 2 garages and altered an

existing structure in protected shoreline. Letter of Deficiency received.

*Cote, TM 24-58, 46 Lookout Point Road, installation of dock without a permit.

*Colette - Complaint of violations, TM 12-69, over clearing of waterfront zone, no follow up yet

Longval – no news

* these are complaints with no follow up by DES, we are waiting for more information.

3.0 Committee and Board reports -

3.1 Land Protection Committee – We sent a rebuttal letter to the BoS concerning false comments made in their minutes about the meeting with Forest Society and putting a conservation easement on Camp Morgan. They corrected names in their minutes and put our letter in the public reading file. We will circulate the letter ourselves to people who need to read it. Jed said we left Town Meeting with a clear mandate to come back with proposed easement language. Arin will request a copy of the Town Meeting minutes. Jed will reach out to Brian to see if he wants to further rebut the BoS minutes and get him working on draft language. We will work with the BoS to help with the language for the easement and get things written in that they feel strongly about. We talked about doing a hike and and writing a one-page informational document to give out that talks about the value of Conservation Easements and the CM property. Arin will do a flyer for the hike.

3.2 Energy Committee –Andrew Hatch is working with the School Board and is looking for some potential grants and budgeting to get the projects done. Shakes to Shingles came back with a quote and recommendations. Andrew is helping them to look at replacing lighting with energy efficient fixtures or bulbs, also.

3.3 Planning Board – No news.

3.4 Forestry Committee –We received Anita’s comments on a potential cut on CMTF. She is supposed to write a report. We are hoping she will look at Farnsworth Hill TF also.

3.5 Legislative update – No news.

4.0 Public Presentations and workshops –

4.1 We will do a hike on October 9^th, Sunday, at 1PM, on the Camp Morgan property for the public.

4.2 Arin talked with Kelly, who is going to talk with the teachers about having SCCD come in to do activities with the kids. Arin will contact SCCD about a school activity if they are amenable. She said they have an extensive list of workshops they can do. We will be available to assist the activities. Arin is interested in the kids doing data record keeping so we can see trends over time.

5.0 New Business:

5.1 Adopt-a-Highway Trash Pickup –Scheduled for September 17^th at 9:30AM, meet at the Library parking area.

5.2 Jeft’s Road issue – We received a copy of Gwyndaf Jones reply to Ed’s email about the culvert left in place on Jeft’s Road. The Andorra Forest Managing Partner is pursuing the removal of the culvert to mitigate damage from the flooding on their property.

6.0 Other Business:

6.1 Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet – Nan and Arin will continue working on this.

6.2 Facebook Page – Arin said she is continuing to post items when she can. To check out the CC’s Facebook page go here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2173271309586226/

6.3 Master Plan goals for 2022 – This is a placeholder.

6.4 East Washington Town Forest – We received a copy and discussed the boring report.

6.5 Nan received $45 of Trail Map money from Sandy Eccard and left it on Cindy Dressel’s desk for deposit in the Conservation Fund

7.0 What’s Happening in Nature?

Arin commented that it is very dry now and we have had little rain.

Arin said that the Monarch caterpillars are at work eating the milkweed leaves in her yard. Jed and Nan have many in their yard too. Nan saw a Monarch Butterfly laying eggs on the milkweed. Nan asked Arin if DOT has planted the milkweed seeds they were collecting last fall. She said they have planted some but still have some left. They have to be careful where they plant them so they aren’t in a spot where they need to mow. She said the Monarch Butterfly hasn’t been listed as endangered yet, it may happen soon.

Arin said that there are bears and deer with fawns in LAE. A deer has been browsing on her elderberries.

Jed has critters chewing on any tomatoes that are turning red in the garden. He caught a large mouse with his have-a-heart trap and let it go away from the garden.

Jed thinks he has seen a Kestrel flying around but he was not sure what it was. The Kestrel is a small falcon. Arin said that there is a great app you can use to ID birds by their song or call or a picture of the bird that she recommended. It is called Merlin Bird ID and developed by the Cornell Lab. To learn more about Merlin Bird ID, click here: NewinNature.html

8.0 Correspondence:

8.1 Thank you note from ARLAC for our $125 donation to the water testing program.

9.0 Adjourned at 8:49 PM, the next meeting is Wednesday, September 21^st at 7PM, at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary