Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – November 18, 2015

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

Members present: Arin Mills, Doug Cook, Jed Schwartz, Tom Taylor and Nan Schwartz.

Visitors: None

1.0 Approval of Minutes: Approval of minutes from our October meeting, Arin suggested adding Millen Pond to the New in Nature section where we talked about the draw down. Nan will make the addition. Tom motioned to approve the minutes, Doug seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

2.0 Permits Committee - No new permits

3.0 Committee and Board reports:

3.1 Land Protection Committee - Jed reported he contacted the attorney and will reach out to Karen Bartlett to see where she is in the probate process. The Colby project, on Old Marlow Road, is being handled by the Forest Society and may close in November. Jed signed a Purchase and Sales agreement with Lionel and Aileen for the Chute property. We have scheduled a public hearing to expend the funds to buy the property on December 2^nd at 6:30PM at Town Hall. The Colby project is moving along and they should be closing soon.

3.2 Energy Committee – Johanna was not in attendance but she shared the minutes from the last EC meeting. Nan reported that the minutes said that Andrew was attending a weatherization project, taking place in Newport last week. Johanna wants to contact COVER to learn how they involve youth in their projects. The infrared camera is charged and they are ready to learn about its use. Ed Thayer has contacted Eversource to do an audit of the Town Garage and Andrew wants to get one done for Camp Morgan Lodge. Nan commented that an audit was done previously on CML, she will ask Andrew if he needs copies of the reports that were done.

3.3 Planning Board – Nan said that the Planning Board held an “All Boards” meeting along with the Selectmen on November 12^th at 2PM at Camp Morgan. She passed out Master Plan copies to those that hadn’t already received them. We will read through the documents and Nan will send the stakeholder document to everyone so they can take a look at it. We will talk about what goals and recommendations we want to work on in January.

3.4 Forestry Committee – Tom reported that they are taking the money they have on hand ($1500) and making it available for the road upgrade to do the cut on the Farnsworth Hill Town Forest. He had asked CC to give $1000 out of our Conservation Fund to help do the road but we didn’t feel it was a proper use of the fund. They are considering a warrant article to get the funds to do it. They had hoped to get it done this year but it will have to wait now. They are considering asking for the money to upgrade the road to Class VI all the way to Ashuelot for disaster use. Jed asked about access to LAE to haul the logs out and Tom said that won’t happen. Jed asked about Anita’s forestry plan, Tom said she has done one for Farnsworth Hill Town Forest. He said she is being paid by getting money from the cut. Nan mentioned that she saw Jim Beard from Lempster at the NHACC conference and told him to keep us in mind concerning trails. Tom said that Sue Lichty has been trying to get in touch with him, probably about about the trail issue. Nan said that Jim said they were working with someone to plan their trails. Jed said Q2C may have funds for planning and he will get in touch with the Lempster CC to set up a meeting.

3.5 Legislative update - No news.

4.0 Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1 NHACC Annual Meeting – Nan and Arin attended the NHACC annual meeting and spoke briefly about the workshops they attended. They both felt it was very worthwhile and learned a lot. Arin attended a session about the new Wildlife Action Plan maps, they redid the data and tiering on the maps and they also have 169 species profiles for species of greatest conservation need available online. We will go online and look at the new maps and information, now available on GRANIT View. She said they considered rare habitats (which we have some in Washington) and the species found in these habitats. She went to the “Roads” workshop, which mentioned the new version of the book “A Hard Road to Travel”, a book about road laws in NH. She attended a session on Town Forests, Forestry Committees and protecting Town Forests. Tom mentioned they have a Forestry Reserve Fund that they have to go to Town Meeting to expend funds from.

Nan briefly mentioned the sessions she went to on Permaculture, grants available for conservation projects and community engagement and outreach for supporting land conservation.

4.2 Tracking Invasive Plants project – Arin reported that she has a link for our invasive plants map. She is going to scan the reports and make links to clickable dots on the map to see the forms and pictures. She is hoping to do an editable layer so people who are reporting can put points directly on the map. Arin will send pdfs of our reports to Nan and she will post them and the pictures and send Arin the links to incorporate into her map. Everyone should keep documenting any plants they find. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

4.3 School Presentation – We discussed doing our tracking workshop at school in February. Arin said she could get the pelts again from Fish and Game. She will coordinate with the school to set a date just before vacation. Doug said he looked at the state science standards but couldn’t find the curriculum online. Arin said she thinks they are following Common Core and Shane is studying life cycles right now. Doug said he has done soil testing (cores) and mapping with older school kids. Nan thought that might be something we could do later in the spring. Arin will check with the teachers about their curriculum and see how we can fit into it.

5.0 New Business: None

6.0 Other Business:

6.1 Natural Resource Inventory Map updates – Arin and Nan will stay tonight after the meeting and work on the list. Nan will speak with the Selectmen about whether we can hold over the money into next year or if we need to get it under contract before the town’s fiscal year end (December 31^st). Arin asked about breaking out the tasks and putting a cost on them. We will come up with a list of the maps we really need. Arin mentioned the new WAP data and asked Nan to send her the tax map data.

6.2 Barker easement – No new news.

6.3 School forest issue - Arin spoke briefly about the school issue with the forest behind the playground. She took the map from the Forest Management plan and superimposed it over a satellite map of the school and lodge area. The school would like to get their back property line marked so they know where they need to clean up to, so the kids can play safely in the woods behind the school. Tom is worried about trees beyond their line coming down onto the property where kids are playing.

7.0 What’s Happening in Nature?

Jed said that it has gotten cold and there was ice on the center pond.

Tom said he has been watching several bald eagles near his place on Ashuelot. He said there are adults and a young one this year. They are hanging out across near the Ashuelot River, where there is a large beaver bog. He has seen some really large black birds, possibly ravens.

Arin learned of Fish Crows, which are small crows that hang out near water bodies and have a different call than regular crows.

Tom reported very few deer in Washington this year, he thinks they have all headed south. Arin said that she has seen a few in Ashuelot , which is a safe zone because they can’t be hunted there.

Jed saw an otter in center pond fishing and playing on the thin ice.

Arin put out her bird feeder and Phil saw red polls feeding already, she thinks it is really early for them. She has seen tufted titmice in a flock. Nan said she saw some juncos.

Jed saw a large flock of birds that when flying resembled blowing leaves. Nan thought maybe they were starlings.

Jed reported he still has lettuce growing in the garden and great fall spinach and kale.Doug mentioned that there is a really strong El Nino this year and it may make the northeast weather warmer this winter. California should see lots of rain and snow, which they are desperate for.

To learn about the El Nino, click here: NewinNature.html

8.0 Correspondence:

Postcard for NHACC Annual meeting

DES notice of approval for after the fact request for wetlands impact, TM 25-118, Trepanier

DES notice of Shoreland Impact permit, Beam, 68 Ashuelot Acres Road, TM 14-409, 505

DES copy of Wetlands & Shoreland request for time extension for permit, TM 20-161, Bow Run Terrace, permit # 2010-03141

Fox State Forest Newsletter

Email from Matt Serge re: land purchase from Chute.

Letter from Selectmen, re: they will not pay any lawyers fees for any land transaction costs

9.0 Adjourned at 8:00 PM, our next scheduled meeting is December 15^th, at 7PM at the Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary