Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – October 16, 2013

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

 

Members present: Johanna Young, Jed Schwartz, Nan Schwartz, Arin Mills, Sandy Robinson and Ken Eastman.

 

Visitors: None

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: Minutes from September 2013 meeting, Arin made a motion to approve, Ken seconded, all voted in favor.

 

2.0    Permits Committee  - No permits.

           

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee  - Hasn’t met.

3.2    Energy Committee – Johanna asked if the results from the community survey would be available before Town Meeting. Nan said they would. The EC wants to do a display about energy savings for Town meeting with a question sheet that people can fill out. She asked Ken if they could speak briefly at some point during Town Meeting and Ken said it has to be run by the moderator, Barbara Gaskell. She talked to Ed Thayer about updating the sign at the transfer station.

3.3   Planning Board – Nan reported that the Planning Board sent out the community survey and have received about 230 of them back. There is a lot of response from seasonal residents who appreciate being asked for their opinions. Anyone who hasn’t yet filled out the survey should do so soon, the cut off date is October 31^st.

3.4   Forestry Committee – Tom was not in attendance but he and Jed had spoken on the phone earlier in the day. Jed had notes from the conversation to bring up under “new business”.

3.5    Legislative update – Not in session.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1   NHACC annual meeting, November 2^nd, Rundlett School, Concord, sign up by Oct 23^rd for best price.

4.2   Our hike up Lovewell Mountain on October 12^th, was fun and well attended. We made it our annual Rich Cook memorial hike. The weather was a bit dreary but around 15 people came along and everyone made it to the top of Lovewell Mountain. The kids found the geocache container hidden at the top of the mountain using Arin’s compass. We had snacks up top and returned to the bottom making the round trip in about 3 hours.

4.3   Tracking Invasive Plants project – Arin filled out several more forms so we now have around a dozen to work with. She found Phragmites near Pillsbury State Park near the wetlands on Rt. 31. She is going to let the state know about it. Jed asked Sandy about her friend Julia’s offer to help us with the project. She is a professor at Oregon State and would have one of her students develop an app to help with tracking. Arin had spoken to NH Fish and Game and they recommended using EDD maps, which she had found online earlier at http://www.eddmaps.org This is what the state uses. We need to figure out how we will use the data we collect. The reporting sheets and guides available on our web site here: InvasiveProject.html  We talked about whether we will track “no sightings” as well as sightings and decided we will. We will figure out how we can possibly have town’s people add sightings themselves in the future. We will get the fillable/emailable PDF form finished and up on the website. We will continue to work on the project more during the winter and launch it more fully next spring. Jed has pictures to go with his tracking sheets and will send them to Arin.

        Ken talked about his conversation with Don Damm about their Bladderwort problem in Ashuelot Pond. Arin said she noticed the thick mats floating around in the lake this summer. He said they bought a pontoon boat that they will use to harvest the weeds. Ken said the plant is a carnivore and a big nuisance. He said it is in Millen Pond but is growing mainly around pondweed and is not a problem. Johanna said she has some in her pond too. Jed asked if it is getting worse and Ken said yes, they are going to the state to get permission to do a deep drawdown this winter in the hopes that it will help. Ken said they do a deep drawdown on Millen every 5 years. Nan asked if they have a “Weed Watchers” group or Lake Hosts and Ken said no. He said Island Pond has the best organized “Weed Watcher” group in town and they go out monthly during the summer to survey the lake. Arin commented that the Bladderwort was worse this year than in the past. Sandy said that once things get established in a lake, the water deteriorates quickly. Arin asked about Weed Watcher training and what was involved. Nan said she will look into it for her. It is a volunteer program run out of NH DES, more information here: http://des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/wmb/exoticspecies/weed_watcher.htm

 

5.0   New business – Protection of Town Forests

        Jed said that Jim Crandall had sent him an email about permanently protecting the Camp Morgan Town Forest. Jed had explained to him all that was involved, including costs for stewardship fees and legal work. Jim would like to push for this to get done as soon as possible. Sandy said that if there was a Q2C grant round we could try to do it, there is an existing survey of the property and if we got a grant we would only have to come up with the stewardship fee, the grant would cover the other costs. Jed said the Town Forests are the Forestry Committee’s responsibility and we would need to work with them on this. He has a problem with just looking at one piece. Ken said that the issue came up at the Millen Lake Association board meeting. Jed said that in his conversation with Tom Taylor, who is the chair of the Forestry Committee, Tom said he thinks it is an important piece but that we should look at and evaluate all of the forests.

        Jed said hat Tom told him the cruise on Farnsworth Hill hasn’t been done yet but they have chosen a Forester, Anita Blakeman. They want to get her started on 2 forests. They have a good start because Allan Krygeris has gone out and GPSed all the bounds of every forest piece. He said they are not planning any cuts right now and that Farnsworth Hill might be a good one to cut. They do not believe in doing a cut for cash but only for improvement of the forest. The cruise will give them information they need to make decisions. They talked to Sue Lichty from Lempster and she would like to hook up a trail to their Silver Mountain trails. Tom is interested in doing this. They are also interested in making a trail out to a bird watching spot on the wet piece at the bottom of the hill on Rt 31. He talked about the Huntley Mountain and Barden Pond pieces. They consider these as important, high value areas and good for trails. They are land locked and could benefit from improved access. He commented that Camp Morgan Town Forest had a forestry plan drawn up by Mike Andrews and Lionel Chute. The plan calls for a managed forest on the upper part and letting the lower forest nearer to the waterfront stay natural, while keeping the nature trail open.

        Sandy commented that given where the Forestry committee is it is premature to plan on protection. She wants to consider a phased approach over a period of time. She mentioned our guidelines for protection and thinks we should figure out which pieces are most vulnerable and the risks highest. She feels Camp Morgan would be at the top of the list. Jed suggested we plan a meeting with the Forestry Committee members and continue to discuss this issue. Ken suggested that this might be a good candidate for CIP inclusion. A fund could be started to put money away for protecting the forests. Nan asked about deed covenants and Sandy said we were advised against going that route, they are easily changed and not a real solution.

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   We did our Adopt-a-Highway trash pick up on September 21^st.Jed, Nan, Arin and Abby did the pickup and it wasn’t that bad. This will be that last pick up for 2013.

6.2   NRI update – We had tabled this issue until Sandy could join us at a meeting. Sandy would like us all to reread the document. She thinks that we should redo the maps to update them and clean them up. She said there is newer data we can use, such as the updated Wildlife Action Plan data, newer conservation land map data, etc. She thinks the text needs work and that we should think about what we know that is left out, what we can add or improve. She thinks we should weave the story of protection throughout the document, especially for the Master Plan. This is important in making the case of scattered and premature development. She doesn’t want a wholesale rewrite but a good update. Ken commented that he and Tom went to a Selectmen’s training session and he isn’t sure how much it is used now, you have to look at case law on scattered and premature to use it. Sandy feels it has legal standing, she feels the LUO needs strengthening to help keep our town rural. We decided to tackle the NRI maps first. Everyone should look at them for the next meeting and bring notes. The maps are available online here: NRI Maps and also in your NRI document copy.

 

7.0   What’s Happening in Nature?

Arin said the leaves have fallen, but there are still some bright patches of color to be seen.

Sandy brought pictures of her recent hike in the Alps.

Jed shared a picture of a Red-bellied snake he saw a few weeks ago. Johanna said it looked like the snake she saw near her woodpile but not the snake she saw on her lawn. What that snake was, is still a mystery.

Arin has seen lots of flocks of Flickers around town, lately. You will notice the white patch on their tail when they take off flying. Jed has seen Flickers in his yard, too.

Arin saw 2 porcupines recently.

Ken mentioned a newsletter he got from NH Lakes that talked about the Rusty Crayfish, it is a new invasive species that is larger and tougher than out native crayfish. They are used for bait, by some fishermen, and that is how they have found their way into our lakes.

Johanna said her beavers have made a third dam and the new one is only 10 feet from the road. There are 4 kits, 2 adults and 1 yearling in the group. She is putting fencing around some of her big trees so they won’t take them down. Jed mention there is a beaver in the East Washington Pond working up into Woodward Brook. The beaver took down a nice clump of birches that were growing on the Scott’s property. The pond has been lowered for the winter so the beaver may be done for this year. Sandy mentioned that the beavers are back in Lynn’s pond again. Ken mentioned a big tree taken down by beavers on Rt. 202 driving toward Antrim. It was whittled down to almost nothing and still standing for a long time and recently he noticed it finally came down. Sandy said they go after small trees first and then they move onto the larger trees.

Jed saw Bear scat on top of Lovewell Mountain, when we were up there for the hike. Johanna said that Lindley saw a bear and 2 cubs earlier this year eating elderberries in their yard and they walked across their dam. Jed also recently smelled a bear out on his woods trail, but didn’t spot it.

Jed mentioned the extended warm period we have had this fall and the lack of a real hard freeze, so far, his garden is still producing lots of things including some great pumpkins. It’s almost Halloween! To learn something about the tradition of carving pumpkins for Halloween, click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:

            DES notice of Accepted Shoreland Permit Application, TM 10-06, 973 Ashuelot Drive

            Copy of DES Shoreland Permit, NH Electric Coop, TM 14-417, for underwater utility cable

 

       

9.0   Adjourned at 8:20 PM, our next scheduled meeting is November 20^th at 7PM at the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary