Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – October 17, 2018

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM, Town Hall

 

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

Visitors: None

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: September minutes – Arin made a motion to approve as written, Jed seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

 

2.0   Permits Committee  - Arin reported that she signed the Wetlands application for Shatney’s retaining wall reconstruction plan. She gave the Meridian engineer copies of her letter to the Shatney’s concerning the jet-skis stored on the bank of the lake, which he included in the application to DES. She also sent copies to DES and the Shatney’s. The engineer had changed the wording on the plan about fertilizer use, at our request. She asked him about the jet-ski issue and he didn’t know the answer. Arin will ask the DES representative at the NHACC conference about it when she attends the wetlands update workshop.

 

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Land Protection Committee – Jed contacted NEFF after not hearing from Whit and left a message with the director.

3.2   Energy Committee – Johanna was not in attendance. Nan said that The NHACC newsletter had something in it about the upcoming NH Local Energy Solutions conference coming up in November. She will send the info on to Energy Committee members.

3.3   Planning Board – Nan said the PB is working on the Town Center Visioning project and a few other LUO items that they will take to Town Meeting. Arin mentioned protecting the historic downtown area, Nan said she would bring the idea to the subcommittee.

3.4   Forestry Committee –Tom was not here to report and they haven’t been meeting.

3.5   Legislative update  - No news.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:       

4.1   Hike – We are planning a hike up Lovewell Mountain this Saturday, October 20^th. Nan sent out a news item recently. We are meeting at Journey’s End on Washington Drive for a round trip hike.

4.2   NHACC Conference, November 3^rd, Saturday at Pembroke Academy, sign up online, http://www.nhacc.org/annualmeeting47/registration/ Nan and Arin are signed up to go. Jed made a motion to cover the cost of the conference, Nan seconded to motion and all voted in favor. Nan will print out the request form and Arin’s receipt and have Jed bring it to Lynda to pay tomorrow.

 

Jed will ask Deb about a set of keys for the Town Hall and Assessor’s room for Arin.

 

5.0   New Business:

5.1   NHACC dues for 2019 – We decided to put this off until next month.

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   Project for Washington Elementary School – We discussed when we want to do the second visit with the kids to do the nature journaling with them. Arin suggested doing it just before February vacation. She will speak with the teachers about a date for that.

6.2   Facebook page – Arin has been posting interesting items on the Facebook page and reported we have 55 people who have joined the group. She is getting comments on things she posts and some interaction. Jed will post some pictures to the page. To check it out go here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2173271309586226/               

6.3   Adopt-a-highway trash pickup – We did our last pickup for 2018. Arin said we need to pick up new vests at the Hillsboro DOT and bring them our old vests. Nan will contact them about the vests.

6.5   Natural Resource Inventory Map updates –Arin spoke with Chris who said he has our maps done. His printer is broken so he is looking for a place to print them. Arin had a few suggestions for him. We should be getting 2 – 33X44 prints, 11X17 prints, pdfs and a thumb drive with the data and pdfs.

6.6   Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet –Nan had some printouts of the information we put together in a draft booklet form. We will keep working on this.

6.7   Master Plan goals for 2018 – We are working on the NRI update and map update as our goal. We will look at it again when we are done with this project.

6.8   Barker easement – see 3.1

6.9   Tracking Invasive Plants project – The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

6.10 Arin mentioned she went to the Warner Fall Festival and Fish and Game was there with Trout Unlimited and they had lots of good information for materials that would be great for a water/stream ecology project with the school kids. Judy Tumosa is the contact at F&G and we can see what they have available to borrow. Arin suggested we look at the Stroud Water Research Center’s website.

6.11 Composting signs for Transfer Station - Nan had a printout of the composting signs for the transfer station; she will send pdfs to Arin to get some prices for getting them done.

 

7.0   What’s Happening in Nature?

        Arin said the Millen Pond and Ashuelot Pond have been drawn down for the winter. She said that Millen was drawn down to a stream but now it has refilled to a somewhat reasonable level.

        Jed said that Mill Pond has been drawn down also but with all the rain lately it is still quite high. Arin mentioned seeing the swan in Mill Pond recently and her kids thought it was real. She said that Jed could write about the swan and its purpose for the Facebook page.

        Jed said that Ed saw a giant coyote (maybe a wolf hybrid) in East Washington.

        Jed said that there are wild turkeys everywhere (of all sizes). They are very plentiful this year.

        Arin mentioned we have had crazy amounts of rain lately and Phil saw snowflakes today at Town Hall.

        Jed said we have had several frosts and 2 real freezes this month.

        Arin mentioned that there are lots of mice this year. Nan concurred and said that her cats have been catching lots of mice recently.

        Arin said the trees are past peak now and most of the leaves have been knocked off by rain and wind.

        A Washington neighbor recently sent an email saying she saw a huge and healthy moose on Rte. 31 near a bog area. According to a new study done by UNH, New Hampshire’s moose population is in trouble from winter ticks. To find out more about the problems for moose in NH click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:

            Copy of Wetlands Permit for Shatney

            NHACC Invoice for dues for 2019

            Connecticut River Conservancy asking us to join or donate

            DES notice Shoreland Permit, 785 Ashuelot Drive, Schneider

 

9.0   Adjourned at 8:07PM, our next scheduled meeting will be November 21^st, at 7PM at TH.

 

Respectfully submitted,           

Nan Schwartz, Secretary