Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – December 16, 2015

 

Assembly time: 7:12 PM, following the public hearing.

 

Members present: Arin Mills, Doug Cook, Jed Schwartz, Johanna Young and Nan Schwartz.

Visitors: None

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: Approval of minutes from our November meeting, Doug motioned to approve the minutes as written, Arin seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Approval of Minutes from the December 2nd public hearing, Jed made a motion to approve as written, Johanna 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 heard from the attorney and received copies of documents he had drawn up for Karen Bartlett. The Colby project, on Old Marlow Road, closed in November and we held out public hearing about donating to the project this evening. Nan will contact Lynda about sending a check to SPNHF. Jed sent the deed to Lionel and Aileen for the Chute property and we are awaiting their signature on the deed.

3.2   Energy Committee – Johanna reported that they didnÕt hold a meeting this month. She said that Andrew had gone to Dunbarton to learn how to use the new thermal camera and is ready to start using it now.

3.3   Planning Board –Nan passed out a copy of 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 was not in attendance and we have no news.

3.5    Legislative update  - No news.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1   Tracking Invasive Plants project – Arin reported that she has a link for our invasive plants map. You can go on ESRI and look it up. Everyone should document any plants they find next spring when they start to come up again. The reporting sheets and guides are always available here: InvasiveProject.html

4.3   School Presentation – Arin set a tentative date with the teachers at school for February 19th and our back up date is the 12th. She said the teachers are happy to have us come and we donÕt need to do something that fits with their curriculum at this point. So we will do our tracking workshop and will go over our materials at the next meeting and figure out our game plan. Arin will contact Fish and Game and get the pelts and track materials from them again. Nan will check the Fish and Game site for wildlife fact sheet we can use for the presentation.

Arin said she saw Lionel and he has just hired an educator and we should contact her in the future.

We discussed the Silvio O. Conte Wildlife Refuge and Watershed on Wheels. Arin will try to contact them again in the new year for a visit next spring.

Arin would like to do the bat talk again next summer and possibly one on gardening for wildlife.

 

5.0   New Business:

5.1   Master Plan goals for 2016 – We will talk about goals in January. Arin asked Nan to put together a one-page piece with the goals from the Master Plan that concern the CC, which she will do for next monthÕs meeting.

5.2   Bobcat letter for Fish and Game – Nan shared a letter from Stoddard Conservation Commission asking us to sign on to their letter to NH F&G in opposition to the planned bobcat season. We read the letter and discussed it and decided unanimously to sign on to their letter. Nan will let them know.

 

6.0   Other Business:

6.1   NHANRS – sent a form for re upping our membership for next year. Jed made a motion to pay the membership dues, Johanna seconded and all voted in favor. Nan will forward all of the bulletins that she receives from them.

6.2   Natural Resource Inventory Map updates – Nan sent the list to Chris Kane and he came back to us with a budget of $4970 to do the updated list. We are all in favor of going with this budget and list of maps. Nan will get a formal quote to bring to the Selectmen on Thursday to encumber the money into 2016. We will ask them to hold the full $5K so we can use any extra for printing costs.

6.3  Barker easement – No new news.

6.4   We had a bill from the attorney for the P&S and deed work on the Chute property. Jed made a motion to spend up to $760.50 to pay the bill, Nan seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Nan will give the bill to Lynda to pay.

 

7.0   WhatÕs Happening in Nature?

Nan said we have had a prolonged warm spell and there is no ice on the center pond anymore. Where is our snow?

Jed said he is having some clearing done up Bear Hill and Mark was working on a beech tree that had grown up into a large sugar maple and he scared a bear, who was up in the maple tree. The bear jumped out of the maple tree about 12 feet up in the tree and ran off. The bears around here are still active because of the warm weather. Normally they would be hibernating by now. You might not want to put out your bird feeders until we have a cold spell since the bears are still out looking for food. Arin said her in-laws, who live in Hancock, had a bear at their birdfeeder. Johanna said she has seen lots of little brown moths and Doug said they are winter moths and they eat buds. She also saw a blackbird eating bugs. She also has little black bugs showing up in her house.

Jed reports he still has spinach, lettuce, kale and brussels sprouts in the garden. Nan and Doug saw turkeys recently but Doug doesnÕt think there are a lot around. No one has seen much wildlife around lately.

Jed saw otters in the pond in East Washington. They were running around on the beach and swimming near the dam. There have still been ducks showing up in the pond since there is no ice.

To learn about the warmth and how it is confusing wildlife, click here: NewinNature.html

 

8.0   Correspondence:

Bill from lawyer for P&S and deed work

            DES copy of Shoreland Permit application accepted for TM 24-108-1, Sandy Cove Road

            DES copy of Complete Forestry Wetlands Minimum Impact Notification for TM 4-6, NH DRED

            DES – copy of Supply Lines with The Source

            Letter from Stoddard CC, re. Letter to Fish & Game about not holding a Bobcat season

Copy of letter from DES to SEC, re. application for Northern Pass considered complete  

 

9.0   Adjourned at 8:05 PM, our next scheduled meeting is January 20th, at 7PM at the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,                       

Nan Schwartz, Secretary