Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes –September 21, 2016

Assembly time: 7:00 PM

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

Visitors: Dennis Kelly

1.0 Approval of Minutes: August minutes, Arin asked about the logging on Farnsworth Hill Forest and whether it was happening this winter. Jed said that Tom Taylor said they were holding off for now due to the low price of logs and chips, Nan said that they were also looking for a logger to do the cut. Arin motioned to approve the minutes as written, Jed seconded and all voted in favor.

Jed said that Dennis Kelly is here tonight because he is interested in joining the Conservation Commission as a member. Dennis said he is an outdoors guy and interested in what we do. He said he was on the Planning Board previously and is interested in land protection. Dennis said he has a strong interest in working forests for game and wildlife. He said he is concerned about the chipping being done during logging, he thinks they don’t leave enough biomass on the forest floor to rot and regenerate. He thinks stripping a lot is not good. Jed said that loggers use some of the cut boughs to protect the soils where they are driving and a cut always looks bad to most people, leaving branches is good for critters. Jed said we are in need of an alternate so we will request that the Selectmen appoint him as one. Nan will send the BoS a letter and Dennis can sign his paperwork with the Town Clerk.

2.0 Permits Committee - Smith Pond Bridge Culvert Rehabilitation – We had a Wetlands Permit Application from the Department of Public Works for a bridge culvert rehabilitation project - Jed and Nan looked at the Smith Pond/Rt. 31 bridge location at Ed Thayer’s request. DPW is planning to line the bottom 1/3 of the culvert with cement to sure up the rusting section of the culvert. Jed signed the application for expedited review, as we saw no problems with it. Ed said that DES was balking at the rehabilitation plan because they prefer open bottom culverts. Ed has installed several of those around town but he feels this bridge isn’t a good candidate for that. They are discussing ways to make it better with Fish and Game and hope for a quick resolution.

Arin commented that Kim Tuttle at F&G is probably the one to review the application and come up with a solution. She has worked with her on some catch basin plans at work. Arin thinks F&G should come up with some fact sheets (of how-tos and information) to help people when they are planning projects like these. She thinks it would be very helpful.

3.0 Committee and Board reports:

3.1 Land Protection Committee - Jed said they are making good progress with NEFF on a project that may close in December. Nan said she sent letters to the abutters of the Karen Bartlett property and we have had no responses so far.

3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna said that the EC did not meet this month. They are talking about changing their meeting night because the BoS meeting conflicts with their meeting. Johanna said she went to the Dunbarton Old Home Day and met the Energy Committee members there. She said they are involved a project with getting cordwood for needy people and identifying energy efficiency projects. She said the EC have talked about getting some supplies from ReCover for window insulating projects. Arin asked Johanna about her SunRun get together. Johanna said it is the same day as the hike but they can do it in the afternoon. Jed asked if she wanted to do it as a public thing or is it invite only. She said it is invite only this time but we could ask SunRun to do a public presentation later. There are other companies installing solar in the state; Solar City and others. We could get a few companies to come in. Johanna said when they did the “Button Up” program they had a few companies come in and participate.

3.3 Planning Board – Nan said the Planning Board is still working on the Town Buildings project. They met with the Fire and Rescue people and are working with the architect on a scaled back annex for the Town Hall project. They are hoping to have a public meeting soon to gauge support of the community.

3.4 Forestry Committee –Tom was not here to report.

3.5 Legislative update - Not in session.

4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1 Hike with Lempster CC and Swift Corwin about the trails and connections – Jed and Arin attended the hike, which was led by Swift Corwin. Swift had studied some maps and made a tentative trail location to follow. They started at the Farnsworth Hill Town Forest and crossed the Ashuelot River then went into Lempster to Sand Pond and Long Pond. They GPSed the trail they took, which was slightly different from Swift’s plan in places. They said the trail could still shift in a few places. They found some extraordinary sights; huge rock formations, caves and rock piles along with some very pristine areas. Arin said there were black racer snakes back there historically. Nan asked about crossing Ashuelot. Jed said they found a spot where they could cross going stone to stone but Swift thinks they need a better way to cross. He talked about a raft that you could pull across by rope as a possibility. They all had a great time on what turned out to be a 6-hour hike.

4.2 Fall Hike – October 8^th, Saturday at 9:30am, meet at Camp Morgan Lodge parking lot, go up through Colby’s from Camp Morgan, up around Old Marlow Road, down Farnsworth Hill to Millen Pond Road. The hike should take around 2 hours and you can bring a lunch or snack to eat after the hike. Arin said she will make posters and Nan will print them and put them up. She will also do a half sheet to give out at school. Jed said Arin can lead the hike and John Brighton will come along and do commentary.

4.3 Johanna’s Swim – Johanna’s 5^th annual memorial swim on Millen Pond happened on Saturday, August 27^th. It was a beautiful morning and she did her swim in 46 minutes. Jed, Nan, Arin and her kids followed along in canoe and kayaks. The loons were out on the pond. There was also more ski boat activity than there has been in the past. We received a $100 donation.

4.4 Save the Date – NHACC Annual meeting and Conference, Pembroke Academy, November 12^th

5.0 New Business:

5.1 Trash pickup – We confirmed a pickup for September 25^th, this Sunday at 9AM, meet at the Library parking lot. Nan will send a reminder by email. We received a letter from NH DOT saying it is time to re-up for another 2 years for our Adopt-a-Highway route. Arin asked about doing another section of Rt.31, she thinks the section south of town is bad. We thought maybe we could approach another committee in town to adopt that section. Jed said we chose our section because the “Friends of Pillsbury” did the section up to the park entrance and we chose to do the section from town up to their route. We all agreed to sign up and continue our route.

6.0 Other Business:

6.1 Natural Resource Inventory Map updates – Nan has been in touch Chris and she sent him our comments and corrections. He said that he would make the corrections and everything is done in layers so the new layers would overlay on all the maps. He sent the draft “Water resources” map, which looked good. Nan said we need to extend the deadline for the contract to give him at least until the middle of November.

6.4 Master Plan goals for 2016 – We will talk more about goals in October.

6.5 Barker trail easement – Jed is working on this and NEFF is looking at it.

6.6 Tracking Invasive Plants project – Keep looking for new sites of plants and fill out a sheet when you find one. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

7.0 What’s Happening in Nature?

Johanna said that she gets occasional oil spills (sheens) in her pond due to road runoff. She had a water snake that had babies but one baby died near a slick. She shared a picture of the snake. She has crayfish in her pond and saw a huge snapping turtle. Dennis said there are critters that breakdown oil in water; he worked for a company that tested them on water that had 2-stroke engine discharge in it.

Jed said that Doug mentioned he has otters in his pond. Arin said she would like to see them.

Dennis said he has watched otters in Island Pond diving for fish and bringing them to the surface and eating them.

Jed said he has a young great blue heron living in the brook below the house and on the pond.

Nan said she saw three hawks circling around above her house today.

Both Arin and Jed reported seeing Monarch butterflies recently.

Jed said there is a young Black Bear roaming around up on Bear Hill.

Dennis said there have been several bears spotted near Journey’s End.

Nan said there has been no frost yet this fall.

Arin said it has been very dry all summer, although we did get some rain over last weekend. Jed said the water table is very low, but we got 1 1/4” of rain in East Washington and they got more in Concord.

To learn more about the drought conditions we are experiencing in New Hampshire, click here: NewinNature.html

8.0 Correspondence:

Save the Date – NHACC Annual meeting and Conference, Pembroke Academy, November 12^th

Letter from NHDOT re. Re-up for our “Adopt-a-Highway” route for another 2 years

NHDES Copy of Wetlands Permit for Eversource, Island Pond project

NH SFI – sustainable forestry workshop, New London, NH September 23^rd, register online: http://www.nhsfi.org/meetings.html

UNH Brochure Training Seminar – Land Surveying, Soil Science, Construction Management

9.0 Adjourned at 8:03 PM, our next scheduled meeting is September 21^st, at 7PM at the Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary