Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – September 18, 2019

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM, Town Hall

 

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

Visitors: None

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: August minutes – No changes were suggested, Arin made a motion to approve the minutes as written, Jed seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

 

2.0   Permits Committee  - New: Wetlands permit for water crossing on Millen Pond Road, The Permits Committee held a short site visit this evening with Aaron Weschler, who completed the application. We looked over the site and application and made a suggestion that some riprap be added to the plan to mitigate scouring and washouts during storm events on the upstream side of the crossing. We decided that Arin can sign the application once the change is made to the plan. She will coordinate with Weschler.

Previous: Camp Morgan Beach and Field project – Arin is drafting a letter to DES with our thoughts and concerns for the project. We received a copy of a letter from DES to Weschler asking for a few items.

        Rapp Dock Permit – Arin will check on DES One-Stop to see if it has gone through.

Peter Ofman driveway project for TM 16-94, on East Washington Road - the wetland permit was approved but construction hasnÕt begun yet.

Highland Lake dredging – No news.

        Mill Pond dredging – No news.

        Ayers Pond Bridge – Jed reported that the temporary bridge installation has been pushed out a month or so and a logging project was given permission to happen in the interim.

Longval wetland issue –LongvalÕs variance request was rescinded and we are speaking with him about a better outcome for the property.

           

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee – Jed will reach out to contact someone else at NEFF about the assessment for Barker.

3.2   Energy Committee – Johanna said that the School Board is acting on 5 of the suggestions made in the report. Arin said that they working with the SAU to send out an RFP, to get the work done.

3.3   Planning Board – Nan said the Town Center Vision Committee has put out suggestion boxes at Town Hall, the Library and maybe at the General Store looking for comments and ideas for the town center historic area. Arin suggested putting the list on the website as a PDF so people can fill it out and email it in or use survey monkey. Nan will work on doing that.

3.4   Forestry Committee – No news.

3.5   Legislative update  - No news.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:       

4.1   Annual NHACC Meeting and Conference, Saturday, November 2nd, Pembroke. Nan said the registration has opened for the conference. Arin encouraged everyone to sign up and we will cover the cost.

4.2   Dragonflies and Damselflies presentation – The presentation was on August 20th and was a big success, with a large crowd attending. Frank Gorga sent a thank you note.

4.3   School presentation – Arin said at the scavenger hunt for the school kids on August 28th worked out really well, with 2 groups going out to search for items on the list and answers to the scavenger hunt questions.

 

5.0   New Business:

5.1   Merger of Chute and Old Meadow Town Forest properties – Nan has the deeds and is pulling together the paperwork to merge the properties.

5.2   CIP Request Form – we have no requests for 2020.

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   Trash Pickup – We decided not schedule a last Adopt-a-highway pickup unless we notice a lot of trash on the route.

6.2   Lovewell Mountain Hike – We scheduled the annual fall hike for October 6th, Sunday at 10am. We will meet at the JourneyÕs End parking lot on the end of Washington Drive.

6.3   EAB traps – Arin said she found no Emerald Ash Borers on the traps.

6.4   Compost Pail promotion and sale – Nan checked with the transfer station attendant to see if they are selling and there are 7 pails left. Nan will put it on Town website again and Arin will post on Facebook.

6.5   Facebook Page – Arin said she is continuing to post items when she can. She is going to post about the Cemetery on Faxon Hill Road and all the pollinators in the un-mowed section. She thought maybe a short hike out there next summer as part of the Old Home Day celebration could be a fun and interesting activity to sponsor. It will be mowed in late September/early October.

To check out the CCÕs Facebook page go here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2173271309586226/  

6.6   Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet – We will keep working on this through the summer/fall.

6.7   Master Plan goals for 2019 – This is a placeholder.

6.8   Tracking Invasive Plants project – Arin said she saw Spotted Knapweed at the boat launch at Butterfield Pond at Pillsbury State Park and notified NH DES. They planned a day to come out and pull it last week. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

6.9   JohannaÕs swim – took place August 24th and was attended by 2 people from Berlin, NH; one woman, who was in her 80Õs and spent her childhood on Millen Pond, took a swim and reminisced about her time spent on the lake many years ago. Arin, Reid, Cody and Nan paddled along while Johanna swam and enjoyed watching and being watched by a group of loons.

6.10 Arin brought up a form she found on the NH Division of Historic Resources website for reporting historic sites. She reached out to Phil Barker to fill one out about the brick-making sites at Camp Morgan. She doesnÕt want information like this to be lost.

 

7.0   WhatÕs Happening in Nature?

Jed said it is very dry and we havenÕt had much rain at all. He noticed the ground water level in some ponds is very low.

Johanna said her pond is down about 3-4 feet. She said the beaver pond side id much higher because of the dam. Lindley made them a beaver deceiver and it is working well so far.

Jed said there were many Monarch caterpillars and butterflies this year.

Johanna has seen a lot of fall webworms, west of here.

Jed said there is danger of a frost tonight, then it is supposed to warm up again.

Johanna saw two baby bears crossing Rt 31.

Arin has seen a lot of turkeys this month and she thinks it is a good mast year.

Nan said she hasnÕt seen any squirrels or chipmunks around recently and wonders what has happened to them. Last year there were so many around and they were eating everything in sight.

To find out more about where the squirrels have gone, click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:

            Copy of Wetland Permit for Millen Pond Road, stream crossing for driveway

Email from Matt Wood, DES asking for any water quality data/information for 2020 Surface Water Quality Assessment

            DES Notice of Shoreland permit application acceptance – Barkie, Island Pond

            Postcard from NHACC announcing the Annual meeting, November 1st

            Copy of Municipal Eco-Link bulletin

Copy of Forest Notes

            Copy of Wetland Permit Application for Ashuelot Pond Dam repair work.

 

9.0   Adjourned at 8:20PM, our next meeting will be Wednesday, October16th at 7PM at TH.

 

Respectfully submitted,           

Nan Schwartz, Secretary