Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes – October 18, 2017
Assembly time: 7:00 PM
Members present: Arin Mills, Jed Schwartz, Doug Cook, Dennis Kelly and Nan Schwartz.
Visitors: None
1.0 Approval of Minutes: August and September minutes, Jed made a motion to approve as written, Doug seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
2.0 Permits Committee - No new permits, Arin and Nan went to look at the Safety building site last month and Arin asked Ed to post a copy of the permit approval on site. The permit is posted and Jed said that the site work is mostly done. Dennis said they are pouring the cistern and base for the pump house. We will go tour the site once more before winter.
Arin reported that we were contacted by a resident on Highland Lake, whoÕs neighbor was cutting some shrubs on the shoreline and had pulled out a boundary marker. She was afraid that the neighbor might cut on her side of the line. She asked us to take a look; so Arin, Jed and Nan went out and looked at the problem. The resident had replaced the boundary marker and we observed some cutting on the waterÕs edge on the neighborÕs property. We considered it a violation because the brush was cut below 3 feet high. Arin wrote to the homeowner and sent her information about her options and how to make a complaint to DES.
3.0 Committee and Board reports:
3.1 Land Protection Committee – No news, Jed will poke Whit. He mentioned that at the Forest Society Land Steward dinner he spoke with John Brighton, who is looking at a few potential projects. Jed wants to reach out to a few people about protecting their land. He thinks we should hold a Land Protection Committee meeting after the new year. Arin would like to have a copy of the tax maps to refer to during meetings. Nan will see if she can get one for us or make a copy.
3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna was not here but reported to Nan that the EC members did a couple of Saturdays at the transfer station looking for signups. Nan made more copies of their handout and they expect to do another Saturday. Arin suggested we could partner with them at their sign up table.
3.3 Planning Board – Nan said the PB is working on updates to the Land Use Ordinance, the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) and the Town Center Visioning. They are looking into state and federal programs that might be available for the town center.
3.4 Forestry Committee –Tom was not here to report. Jed emailed with Tom and he said that FC was going to go ahead this winter and do the cut on Farnsworth Hill TF and they are no longer going to wait for the chip market to improve.
3.5 Legislative update - No news, not in session.
4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:
4.1 Emerald Ash Borer presentation – The presentation is rescheduled for November 3rd, Friday evening at 7pm at Camp Morgan Lodge. Nan sent invitations to Hillsboro, Bradford, Stoddard and Lempster CCÕs again and the posters are up. Nan will ask Deb to get it up on the sign at the Transfer Station. Arin said that Dode has gotten CFE credits for foresters added. Jed will send notices to Gwen, Jim and Vivian because they showed up for the first date. We will make cookies again.
4.2 Fall Hike - We had a well-attended (over 20 people) hike on October 7th, hiking Lovewell Mountain from JourneyÕs End. We found we had a slight problem with an older couple hiking above their abilities. Jed spoke with someone at the Forest Society, who gave him some advise. She said never call a hike easy, rate them realistically so people know what they are getting into. Arin suggested that in the future some of us could peel off with a group having trouble and go back. Overall we agreed that it was a great hike.
Arin wants to plan a snowshoe hike, either at the Camp Morgan loop or the East Washington trail for early February. We will plan about it more next month.
4.3 NHACC Annual Meeting and Conference, Nov. 4th, Pembroke Academy. Arin, and Nan are attending and will carpool.
4.4 Protecting Land and Wildlife in a Changing Climate – Strategies for the Upper Valley forum, Tuesday November 14, 5-8PM, Lebanon, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center – Nan mentioned a forum that she was notified of.
5.0 New Business:
5.1 NHACC dues for 2018 – We received an invoice for our 2018 dues, Jed made a motion to pay the $266, Dennis seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Nan said the dues donÕt need to be paid until the new year, she will give the invoice to Lynda for payment.
6.0 Other Business:
6.1 Adopt–a-highway trash pickup – We are done for this year.
6.2 Reminder of Farm to Table potluck dinner on Saturday, October 21st at 6PM.
6.3 Natural Resource Inventory Map updates – Arin talked to Chris, who has done the map updates. Arin said that the Co-occurence map is the last one needing to be done, this map is used to highlight areas of importance. She said we can do it weighted or unweighted. She would like us to think about what is important to us in Washington and take a look at the NRI. Arin thinks the highest ranked habitat map is a good one to use and look at its proximity to existing conservation land, flood zones and forests are important to the town. Nan can look at the hazard mitigation plan for hotspots. Arin thinks we should include cultural points and designate informal historic districts. Jed wants to get the maps done by the end of the year. Nan thinks she has printed copies of the NRI for Dennis and Doug. Nan will continue work on making the changes to the NRI document and Conservation Plan. Arin wants to have a goal of March 2018 to print the new NRI copies (with maps), all agreed.
6.3 Master Plan goals for 2017 – We are working on the NRI update and map update as our goal.
6.4 Barker easement – see 3.1
6.5 Tracking Invasive Plants project – Arin drafted a letter to Patrice Roulx a letter with suggestions for dealing with her invasive plants. Nan has some sheets with suggestions for dealing with the removal of plants and she will send them to Arin to include. Arin has updated the map and will send the embedded link to Nan to put on the website soon.
The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html
6.7 Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet – Arin worked on the boat launch section and inserted some maps. Nan had worked a bit on filing in some more details and had done a sketch map of the Lovewell Mountain hike (from JourneyÕs End) as an example of that type of map. Jed thinks we need topo included on this map. Arin will send Nan the topo layer to use. Arin is working on finding what trails are available to ATVÕs. Nan will work on the Cultural section, Jed will work more on Hikes (add Farnsworth Hill). Nan will work on a layout for the booklet. Arin asked Dennis to work on hunting and put together basic information about posted/not posted private land use. We mentioned adding ski areas and Pillsbury State Park/camping, resources like the Eccardt Farm and blueberry picking. Dennis commented that it is important to use farmland and keeping it in active use. We decided we could add sugarhouses and other seasonal activities. Nan said that class 6 roads are used for mountain biking and ATVÕs, we should check on the legality of using them. Jed mentioned horseback riding and suggested talking to Julia and Linda Marshall about this.
7.0 WhatÕs Happening in Nature?
Johanna reported by email that her beaver now has a girlfriend and they are busily fixing up the old beaver den. She said that Lindley saw a partridge in their yard and she saw a grouse near the sand pit on Rte 31.She said she has seen various hawks around too.
Arin said that she saw wood ducks in the wetlands and Shayne saw turkeys and a dead raccoon. There were neighborhood crows working on the raccoon carcass.
Dennis said that Ed Thayer is a great source for information on wildlife and nature, he posts things to his facebook page. Arin would like to open up the ÒWhatÕs New in Nature/Ó to more people in town to comment.
Dennis said he has fall raspberries still ripening.
Arin said we had a hard frost this week (the second one for the year) but things are still growing because of the extended warm spell in October.
Doug said his ravens were gone for a couple of months but they just returned. They seem to have relocated the youngsters because there are only 2 again.
Arin said the fall leaves are hanging on. Doug mentioned the muted colors this year.
Jed said he had a massive chile pepper crop this year due to the extended warm season.
Jed said he moved a turtle across the road the other day. Doug said he removed a snapping turtle, who was stuck on the outflow grate of his dam. It ended up fine and went downstream. Doug also saw an otter in his pond.
Arin said Ashuelot Pond has been drawn down for the season, as well as Millen Pond. Jed said Mill Pond is being lowered and they intend to work on the dam.
Arin said her dog got sprayed by a skunk this morning, making for a morning scramble to clean up the dog and the smell. To read about skunks and their alarming defensive skills, click here: NewinNature.html
8.0 Correspondence:
Save the Date card – NHACC Annual Meeting and Conference, Nov. 4th, Pembroke Academy, information and sign up online at: www.nhacc.org
9.0 Adjourned at 8:20PM, our next scheduled meeting is on November 15th, at 7PM at 54 Bear Hill Road.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz, Secretary