Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes
– October 20, 2010
Assembly time: 7:00 PM.
Present: Carol Andrews, Arin Mills, Sandy Robinson, Johanna Young, Nan Schwartz, Jed Schwartz, Ken Eastman, Don Richard
1.0 Approval of Minutes: Minutes from September, Sandy made a motion to approve, Jed seconded, all voted in favor.
2.0 Old Business:
2.1 Permits Committee – There were no new permits to discuss. We had many notices from DES including an approval for Christopher Poole, a shoreland permit for TM 25-101 on Highland Lake, a forestry notification, approval for Joyce, TM 14-411 for a seasonal dock, acknowledgement of receipt for shoreland application from Walsh, TM 11-59, notice to LaVallee, TM 24-92, notice to DeLorey, TM 14-200 that they hadn't received additional information in time and were being denied their permit, notice of request to Smith TM 14-22 for more information and copy of plans from Smith to DES (see correspondence below for more details). None of these require our attention at this time.
Nan reported that members of the permit committee had gone out to look at the Libby's site on Millen Pond Road for a Minimum Impact Dredge and Fill and had signed off on it for the Commission.
2.2 Land Protection Committee –
Carol gave an update on the Eccardt Farm conservation easement project and Open
House day. We had an Open House at the farm on October 9th, which
brought a lot of people out on a beautiful fall day, raised money for the
project and made many more people aware of the project. Carol, Sandy, Jed, Nan,
and George and Sandy Eccardt participated in a site walk with people from LCHIP
earlier in the day and hiked the trail and answered their questions about the
Eccardt Farm easement project. They felt good about how it went but realized the
odds we are up against to get the LCHIP grant. They told us there were many
worthy projects and their funds are quite limited. Ken asked where we stand on
funds for the project. Sandy explained that we have met a preliminary goal but
we continue to fundraise because there are no guarantees that we will get the
grant from LCHIP. We still need to get lots of donations of any size toward the
money needed to close on the easement.
People can make a pledge
online by sending us an email: wcc@washingtonnh.org or drop a donation in a donation box either at the Farm Store or in the Town Hall on Michelle's desk in the Selectmen's office or send us a check to "Washington Conservation Commission" at 7 Halfmoon Pond Road, Washington, NH 03280 (put Eccardt Farm in the memo line). Johanna suggested a presence at the Energy CommitteeÕs Button Up presentation on November 16th at Camp
Morgan to do some fundraising.
Nan will update the project's web pages: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/EccardtFarm.html,
with newest information about the project and let people know they can still
donate. She will also move the farm history to its own page: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/EccardtFarmHistory.html,
and update the page for the Open House and raffle to reflect the winners and
send thanks to the many people who helped to make the day successful: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/EccardtFarmOHRaffle.html.
We really appreciate everything that people did to help and contribute.
2.3 Rich Cook Memorial Hike - Carol
said that the hike was well attended and was lots of fun. Ken thought there
were about 60 people present. Everyone met at the Camp Morgan parking lot and
hiked the Camp Morgan trail loop. Carol would like to hike the Lovewell
Mountain trail next year. Johanna wants to do a Millen Lake swim (from the
beach down to the far end) for a memorial next summer.
2.4 Cell Tower – Carol said she
had attended the recent Planning Board meeting where they talked about a
possible cell tower application for a lot on King Street near Andorra Forest,
which is a town owned lot about .5 acres in size. They are also looking at an
adjacent lot (not town owned) as a possible site. Ken said that the issue is
complicated and we have to be ready when the applicant comes in with an
application, as the timeline for approving or denying is short. Ed Thayer had
suggested that we get someone who can advise us lined up right away. Carol
asked Nan what the Planning Board would like us to do. Nan said that we should
get a group together to go out and look at the lot for a preliminary
assessment. We should also look at the natural resource maps and any other
resources we have. Carol stated that the lot is in a Conservation Priority area
and a large un-fragmented block. Sandy asked what criteria the town can use to
deny. Nan said that it has to be a local, town ordinance, LUO or Master Plan
based reason. We need to develop a checklist to make sure we receive all needed
data. Arin asked about whether a NEAP (Natural Events Action Plan) would be
required for the project because the FCC is involved and any federal project
requires one. Don said that as soon as the feds say that they have the funds
they have to do it. No one was sure about the timing of doing one though, it
can happen at different times in the process. Carol asked what the PB wants us
to do. Nan felt that we should look at the natural resources, maybe run an NHB
data check, and do a site visit. Jed asked if the Selectmen and PB need to meet
and talk about process, Nan felt the Selectmen had passed it on to the Planning
Board. Carol asked for volunteers to go out and look. Jed, Carol, Sandy, Arin
and Nan said they would go. Arin asked if we need to look at the other lot too
and do an NHB data check on that lot, she said we would need landowner
permission to do this. Ken said Bob Fraser knows where the lot is. We will call
Bob to get whatever info he has and find out where the exact location is.
2.5 Energy Committee – Johanna said the Energy Committee has arranged with "Button Up" to do a presentation at Camp Morgan Lodge on November 16th at 7PM. It is a talk on practical things homeowners can do to save energy by making small changes around your home.There is more information about it on the website, here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/ECpage.html She had posters and Sandy suggested putting them at
the Library and other spots to get the word out. They hope to get the word out
to surrounding towns also. She said three people are coming to do the talk and
they are professional energy auditors who really know their stuff. Johanna
reported that the solar project for the Highway Garage was awarded to Solar
Source from Keene. They will start in 2 weeks and will finish in December. They
are also required to do an educational element at the school as part of the
grant. A party at the Highway Garage was suggested to celebrate the finish of
the project.
3.0 What's Happening in Nature?
Arin saw a large fisher by the
side of the road near Silver Mountain in Lempster. She also saw a bunch of
purple finches and other small colorful birds near the bird feeder at her
house. She said her husband saw an Osprey on Millen Pond and she saw a heron
fishing on Millen Pond.
Sandy recently saw four Blue birds, a cardinal and purple finches near Peter's studio and wondered what the Blue Birds were doing here this time of year.
Don said he has seen some
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks recently.
Johanna spoke about the Otter
in her pond and some wild sounds it made. She also spotted a moose on Rt. 31
near her house.
Jed mentioned that he and Ed
almost hit a moose on the way to a fire in the fire truck in that same area,
just a few nights before Johanna saw her moose. They are definitely on the move
this month.
Don is not happy about the
fact that a bear clawed through his kitchen screen recently, he figured it was
trying to get at some bird seed on the porch. He told us he had harvested
around 125 seeds from his Chestnut tree this season, which he hand pollinated
last spring. They took the seeds back to Vermont where they will plant them try
to propagate new trees from the seeds from his trees. He said they will
eventually plant the young trees in Sheiling Forest in Peterborough.
Ken mentioned we had a really good dragonfly year, this year. When he and Charlie were cleaning the frogs out of his little pond to relocate them down to Millen Pond for the winter season he noticed a lot of dragonfly nymphs in the muck in the bottom and decided they had better move them too, so they did, hoping they will survive for next year. Do you know how frogs survive the cold winters in New Hampshire? Click here to learn about frogs and hibernation: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html
Jed mentioned the large
numbers of Canada geese this year, over the summer and passing through this
fall during migration, Carol agreed.
4.0 New Business: Carol wanted us to be aware of an important date coming up: She is hosting the NHACC Annual meeting and Conference on November 6th from 8AM to 3:30PM at Rundlett Middle School in Concord. All are invited to attend, you can get information and sign up online at the NHACC website: http://www.nhacc.org
Carol
also wanted to give a huge thank you to Sandy, Nan and Jed for all their hard
work on the Eccardt Farm Open House and Raffle, it was a lot of hard work to
pull it together and it was very successful and created a lot of interest in
the project.
Carol wanted everyone to think about
things we could include in our Conservation Commission report for 2010 to be
included in the Town Report.
5.0 Correspondence:
NH Association of Conservation
Commissions Invitation to Annual Meeting Nov. 6th in Concord; Invitation to
sign up for online forum
Michelle
Dagesse request for conservation commission report for inclusion in town report
UNH Cooperative Extension workshops:
Landscaping at the Water's Edge, Auburn Nov. 30 & Dec 1; Rain Garden Training for professional
landscapers Portsmouth, Oct. 25 & 26th
Statewide
Program of Action to Conserve our Environment request for updated current use
report
NH DES Lavallee file #2009-02230 DES
inspected and found 525 ft. of additional driveway surface constructed without
approval. Applicant must either remove driveway located on southern end of garage
or submit a new shoreland application requesting to retain additional work.
NH
DES Smith file #2010-00991 request for more information
NH
DES Smith file #2010-00991 revised plans to show an existing dock being
replaced by seasonal dock
NH
DES Delorey file #2010-00387 application denial– additional information
not received from applicant
NH
DES Poole file #2010-02615 receipt of shoreland application
NH
DES Poole file #2010-02615 approval of permit
NH
DES Walsh file #2010-02446 receipt of shoreland applicaiton
NH
DES Walsh file #2010-02446 approval of shoreland permit
NH
DES Pollack file #2010-02444 administratively incomplete
NH
DES New England Forestry Foundation file #2010-02288 complete forestry
notification
Libby
Minimum Impact Expedited application signed by commission
6.0 Adjourned at 8:15 PM, our next
scheduled meeting is November 17th at 7 PM in the Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz
Secretary