Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – October 20, 2021

Assembly time: 7:00 PM, Meeting at Town Hall.

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

Visitors: Reid Schwartz and Cody Nowell

1.0 Approval of Minutes: the September minutes were approved with simplifications.

2.0 Permits Committee -

New: Mensch – 38 Lookout Point Rd., TM 24-59, report of violation, none found.

Previous:

Mensch, 38 Lookout Point Rd., TM 24-59, Wetlands PBN permit application, DES notice of incomplete application.

Gingras, Sandy Cove Road, TM 24-108, DES notice of reported violations; installed deck, shed and increased impermeable surface, DES received a seasonal dock notification and resolved the dock complaint. The property is now on the market.

Johnson/Kimball – Notice of complaint, dredging in Highland Lake, TM 25-93, letter of deficiency and steps to mitigate, dredging will be addressed separately by DES. No new news.

Bologna – Notice of complaint, dredging in Highland Lake, TM 24-91, letter of deficiency sent July 8^th with mitigation requests. No new news.

* Colette - Complaint of violations, TM 12-69, over clearing of waterfront zone, no follow up yet

*Cordeiro – Notice of complaint from DES concerning excavation violations (no permit or erosion control), no follow up notice.

Mill Pond dredging – no new news.

Longval – no news.

Arin has contacted Jeff B at DES to ask him the status of the above * complaints. She hasn’t heard back from him yet.

3.0 Committee and Board reports:

3.1 Land Protection Committee – We further discussed the proposed Camp Morgan conservation easement. Jed spoke with Brian Hotz at the Forest Society. They are happy to hold an easement and will work with us on it and he will help with writing a Warrant Article. We need to research the agreement with the school.

3.2 Energy Committee – No news.

3.3 Planning Board – CIP request form, no request made.

3.4 Forestry Committee – We will keep them in the loop and will invite them again for next month’s meeting. Jed spoke with Steve Hanssen and he would like to fold the FC in with us, we will research on how to do this.

3.5 Legislative update - No news.

4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1 Nan mentioned the NHACC Annual Meeting on November 6^th is a virtual event. You can sign up online for it, info here: http://www.nhacc.org/annualmeeting50/workshops/

4.2 Arin mentioned a Harris Center presentation on Zoom about Bats in New Hampshire; it is on October 27^th at 7PM. You can sign up on their website.

5.0 New Business:

5.1 Arin welcomed Reid and Cody to our meeting. They are willing to become members so Arin will write to the BoS and ask them to appoint them.

5.2 Barbara Skuly contacted us about helping with the update on their Ashuelot Corridor Survey. She sent an app for us to use when doing the inventory. We set a date for Sunday, October 24^th at 10am to go out on Ashuelot Pond and look for issues. We will meet at the peninsula with canoes/kayaks.

5.3 NHACC – sent an invoice for the 2022 membership dues. Jed made a motion to pay $250 to NHACC for our dues, Arin seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Arin will sign a requisition form and Nan will give the invoice to Cindy to pay.

6.0 Other Business:

6.1 Trash Pickup – We scheduled our next Adopt-a-highway trash pickup for October 25^th and will meet at 3:15 at the Library parking lot, if raining we will shoot for Monday, November 1st.

6.2 Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet – Arin has done some more work on the booklet. Nan will check out what she has done. We need to check some of the descriptions for Farnsworth Hill and Jackson Hill. We will continue working on it with a goal to publish the booklet this fall/winter.

6.3 East Washington Town Forest – Arin asked that we keep this on the agenda.

6.4 Facebook Page – Arin said she is continuing to post items when she can. To check out the CC’s Facebook page go here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2173271309586226/

6.5 Master Plan goals for 2021 – This is a placeholder.

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

6.7 The ATV/UTV road usage map is done and Jed will talk to printers this week.

7.0 What’s Happening in Nature?

Arin reported that the DPW has just mowed the cemetery this week. She said there was a lot of pollinator activity in that area all summer and fall.

Nan said there still hasn’t been a frost or freeze yet this fall, it is the latest non-frost date she can remember.

Jed has seen Monarch butterflies recently on the warm days.

Arin said we are past peak as of last weekend and there has been a lot of leaf drop. She saw a bear crossing the road.

Jed had a baby snake sitting up in the mums on October 10th. It had climbed up in the flowers and was sitting in a sunny spot.

Arin saw a Merganser in Mill Pond recently; they are passing through and migrating.

Jed said it is time to put the gardens to bed, to find out what that means click here: NewinNature.html

8.0 Correspondence:

DES letter of no violation observed, Mensch, TM 24-59

DES letter – incomplete Wetlands PBN permit application

NHACC – invoice for membership dues

9.0 Adjourned at 8:10PM, the next meeting is Wednesday, November 17^th at 7PM, at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted, Nan Schwartz, Secretary