Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – December 19, 2012

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

 

Members present: Jed Schwartz, Carol Andrews, Sandy Robinson, Nan Schwartz, Arin Mills, Johanna Young, Don Richard and Ken Eastman.

Public present: Guy Eaton, Tom Marshall, Richard Fairweather.

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: Minutes from October meeting, Sandy made a motion to approve all as written, Carol seconded, all voted in favor.

 

2.0    Permits Committee – None.

           

3.0   Committee and Board reports:

3.1   Forestry Committee – Tom was not present to report.

 

3.2   Land Protection Committee – Jed said that The Farnsworth Hill Forest land protection project has closed successfully! The two 313-acre properties are now a Forest Society reservation. John Brighton has spoken with Jed about his desire to become a steward for the property. They may both take the training.

                                               

3.3   Planning Board – Nan reported that with the help of the CIP subcommitteeÕs work the PB is working with a newly formed Safety Building Committee to do the necessary planning for a combined safety complex for Fire/Rescue/Police and Emergency Management.

 

3.4   Energy Committee – Johanna reported that the Solar movie night has been rescheduled to Monday, January 28th at 7PM at the Congregational Church Fellowship Hall. They are showing ÒHere Comes the SunÓ, with demonstrations, with industry professionals, of solar installations and comparisons of electric and hot water systems to follow. It is free admission and they are serving light snacks afterward. Please let anyone who might be interested know about this new date. They have a snow date of Feb. 11th. They didnÕt hold a regular meeting this month but will meet next month.

 

3.5   Legislative update – Carol said there have been 700 requests (maybe as many as 1000) for legislation in the House and more from the Senate. There is one concerning the Shoreland Protection Act (meant to strengthen it), but she didnÕt see any others concerning conservation commissions so far. There may be something about local review of permits, which is needed.

 

4.0   Public Presentations and workshops:

4.1   We discussed our planning for a winter snowshoe hike and presentation at the school on tracking. We set a date for the school presentation for Friday, February 1st and the hike will be February 2nd. Arin will speak to the teachers at WES. We had information about making some molds of tracks in the snow. Arin spoke with Katie Callahan at Fish and Game and she has a tracking kit and pelts we can borrow for our presentation. Nan will get some of the spray used to stabilize the tracks in the snow and look for pictures of animals, whoÕs tracks we might see.

       

4.2 Jed spoke about the Forest Laws workshop that several of us had attended. It was very informative and included a visit to a recent forest logging site. The people who presented the workshop are willing to come out and do these workshops locally. We will consider doing one next spring. With so much logging going on in town it could be helpful for townÕs people to have this information.

 

5.0   New business:

        Nan spoke about the new town website. She is helping to coordinate with all the town departments to get their information sent to the company putting it together. We discussed our CC site and feel that we want to keep the site as is. It is not possible to translate what we have into the form of the new town site. The company has let Nan know that we can keep our site and link it to the town site, but it will have to be hosted at a separate site. We will go this route.

 

7.0   WhatÕs Happening in Nature?

We finally have some snow.

Arin saw some Red Polls at her bird feeder, she thinks it is really early to see them.

Carol had also seen some also in Lempster.

Jed saw a large flock of wild turkeys recently. Nan reports that Fish and Game are doing another winter turkey flock count, from January 1st to March 15th, using an online survey, more information about participating that and more click here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html

 

8.0   We broke our meeting at this point to have a celebration party to honor Carol for her many years of service to the Conservation Commission (and the town). She has had to resign because she recently moved to Lempster and is no longer eligible to be a member. She was a founding member 11 years ago and served us for a few years as Secretary and then many years as Chair. She remains the director of the NHACC and will be only a phone call away when we need her advice. We gratefully thank her for her impressive leadership, depth of knowledge and undying passion for conservation, all of which she shared generously with us. Her love for Washington and appreciation of its natural resources was an inspirational force for our commission. We give her our heartfelt thanks for all the time and energy she gave to the commission and to the town. We will miss her tremendously but she is welcome to attend any of our meetings, when she is able, in the future. We hope she will also continue to help us with any new land protection projects! We had cake and bubbly drinks and Guy presented Carol with a poem, enjoyed by all. Thank you Carol!!

 

9.0   Correspondence:

        From November:

Letter from Michelle asking for a CC report for 2012 for inclusion in the Town Report

            Copy of DES Newsletter ÒSupply LinesÓ

            Copy of DES notice of complaint, Ruggiero, re: silt fences, Harrison Rd. TM14-18

            Copy of DES Shoreland Permit, Johnson, 735 Washington Dr, TM 12-74

            Copy of DES notice of acceptance of permit application for septic system, Bailey Rd., TM 20-35

Copy of DES notice of acceptance of permit application for septic system, Presidential Dr., TM 14-329

            UNH Cooperative Ext., 5 copies of Forest Laws for Municipal Officials Workshop brochure

WCC Donation from Harry Fatkin

        From December:

            Thank you from SPNHF for our support of the Farnsworth Hill Forest project

Copy of DES letter about deficiencies on ÒWetlands Minimum Impact Forestry notificationÓ for TM5-12, Halfmoon Pond Road

            Card from SPNHF about completion of Farnsworth Hill Forest project

            Copy of DES notice of Shoreland Impact permit, Slaves, TM15-54, septic project

            Copy of DES notice of Wetlands permit, DOT, Rt. 31, Halfmoon Pond outlet

Copy of DES letter to Ruggiero after inspecting their property after receiving complaint, notice of findings.

            Letter from SPACE asking for donations

 

10.0   Adjourned at 8:30 PM, our next scheduled meeting is January 16th at 7 PM in the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary