Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes
– March 18, 2009
Assembly time: 7:00 PM.
Present: Carol Andrews, Sandy Robinson, Johanna Young, Arin Mills, Don Richard, Rich Cook, Nan Schwartz, and Jed Schwartz
Guests: None
1.0 Approval of Minutes: Minutes from February, Sandy made a motion to approve, Jed seconded, all voted in favor.
2.0 Old Business:
2.1 Dredge and Fill Committee – Journey's End/WLA cove dredging project is ongoing. Sandy shared copies of all the documents in the file that she obtained from DES. We will review the documents and monitor the situation.
Kimball – Dock permit for a seasonal pipe dock and a 20' dock on the shoreline. Sandy and Rich went out to look at the site and found that there were some missing items on the application.
Ruggiero – This is a mitigation proposal for wetlands filling that was done 30 years ago. We didn't receive the original application for dredge and fill but have now received a copy of the mitigation plan. The site is on the Ashuelot River. There is an existing driveway on the property but now they want to build a house. Carol will talk to Barbara Skully, who is the chair of the Ashuelot Local Advisory Committee, and will then talk to Rich about it.
Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary – The Slaves are seeking two very long, seasonal pipe docks with a Standard dredge and Fill application. The first is a 100' long dock with a 30'X4' end piece out in the water and the second is a 52' dock with a 30'X4' "T" end piece. The pond is very shallow and only 36" deep at the end of the dock (77' out in the water). Carol noticed a discrepancy between the large maps and map the application, the width and length of the "T" ends are shown as 48"X6". It also mentions 8 boat slips on one and 6 boat slips on the other, the application mentions one slip on each dock end and the other large map shows7 and 5 boat slips. They are also seeking an "after the fact" permit for their electric conduit bridge (existing) with the same application. Sandy wondered if the Planning Board should ask for a site plan now because they never filled one out before and their plan seems to have changed a lot since they first came in and described what they were doing. Sandy made a motion to write a letter to the Planning Board, Jed seconded, all voted in favor. Nan will look at the application and maps and speak with Sandy about it.
Sandy
made a motion to write comment letters to DES on the Kimball and Slaves
applications, Don seconded, all voted in favor.
2.2 Town
meeting Day – Carol did a great job presenting the 2 conservation warrant
articles at Town Meeting. Both articles were passed unanimously. Old Home Day
was postponed by the OHD committee until summer 2010.
2.3 Election of Officers – For Chair, Jed nominated Carol, Sandy seconded, all voted in favor. For Vice Chair, Jed nominated Sandy, Rich seconded, all voted in favor. For Secretary, Sandy nominated Nan, Carol seconded, all voted in favor. Jed asked about whether we need a treasurer and Carol answered that if we receive some restricted donations we will need a treasurer but right now we don't. Town treasurer Linda Roy is now giving us an update each month and we now have around $80,000. in the fund account. Carol will look at her member list and see who needs to be reappointed to the commission by the Selectmen. She will provide Rich with a list.
2.4 Town Offices discussion – Sandy talked about the Town Hall and School House and how concerned she was that the article didn't pass for the Town Hall plan. She feels that it is important to keep the town offices in the Town Hall and that this is supported by the Master Plan, where it is stated as a priority, to keep the town center viable and the buildings used. Nan talked about the Municipal Space Needs Task Force and what they are going to be doing with the Planning Board. Rich wants the Planning Board and the Selectmen to get together and work up a questionnaire and discuss the way forward. Sandy offered to write a letter to the Selectmen and Planning Board to state our thoughts. Jed made a motion to have Sandy write the letter, Sandy seconded, all voted in favor.
2.5 Energy Committee – Johanna reported that the EC are beginning to plan a green event since Old Home Day was postponed for this year. They want to do a presentation about the stimulus money for energy conservation measures and retrofitting. They will get the word out when they get all the information about it. We could put information up on the website and also send it out to the selectmen's email list.
2.6 Planning Board – Nan spoke about the PLAN
NH charrette application that was submitted. She found out there were 9
applications and they are going to pick 4 for 2009. If we are accepted it will
be a fall charrette. We will hear the verdict in mid-April.
2.7 Forestry
Committee - Nan had talked to Tom Taylor about a few Forestry Committee issues
because he couldnŐt attend our meeting. Someone on the committee had heard that
there is a coming problem with the Asian Longhorn Beetle. He wondered if we
knew anything about it. Nan did a quick search and found some good information,
here: http://agriculture.nh.gov/news/documents/ALBinNewEng.pdf
and here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100961303
and
pictures here: http://www.nhdfl.org/library/pdf/Forest
Health/ALB-3a Web.pdf
She
will make sure Tom gets the information. He also spoke about the idea of
whether or not the Forestry Committee might want to merge with the Conservation
Commission. His committee hasnŐt really talked about it much but he thinks
there are both good and bad things about doing it. Carol said it would be their
decision along with CC and the Selectmen and it would ultimately go before town
meeting for a decision.
3.0 New Business – Arin had the idea to do an event with the school age kids. She thought an outing to look at vernal pools might be fun and informative. Johanna said she had talked to the head teacher at school about doing back yard inventories with the kids but the school couldn't fit it into their schedule at the time. Arin thought we should do it on our own and just invite the kids through the school. Carol was very enthusiastic and thought there was a lot of vernal pool information on the web and maybe a book from DES we could use. Jed made a motion to spend up to $100. for supplies (nets, buckets, etc.), Sandy seconded, all voted in favor. Arin and Carol will find out more about the best time to visit vernal pools and make a plan.
4.0 What's Happening in Nature?
Carol
showed us the moose shed that she spoke about last month. A friend of hers found
it in a field in Lempster. It was in wonderful condition, huge in size and very
impressive.
Johanna
recently had a shrew run into her garage, she chased it around awhile trying to
get it out and last saw it running away toward the woods.
Carol
commented that the spring birds are now returning. Rich commented that he saw a
robin in the middle of February and was amazed to see it because he knew there
were no worms to be found for food.
Johanna said she has seen big flocks of
robins in Concord eating rotting fruit from the fruit trees.
Arin
saw a red fox run across the road on Faxon Hill and saw a grey fox in another
spot.
Don
spotted a mink in his driveway.
Johanna
heard coyotes yelping near her house and Rich heard them in East Washington
too.
Did
you know that NH Fish and Game has a winter turkey flock survey online? If you
see flocks of turkeys click here to report: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=0xUiHKWMuTLV7L_2b9m0iaPQ_3d_3d
Johanna
said that they also like to get reports of snakes and amphibians and the link
for information about that is here: http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife/Nongame/RAARP/reporting_NH_herps.htm
Carol
found the information about elk living and roaming in Washington that she had
mentioned last month. She found the article called ŇElk in Corbin ParkÓ, that
was published in the Soo Nipi Magazine in the fall of 2007 (the entire article
can be read here: http://brian76.mystarband.net/CorbinElk.htm) and Nan found that Ron and Grace Jager also wrote about it in their wonderful book about Pillsbury State Park, called "Historical Pillsbury", published in 1976 and 1999. At one time Pillsbury Park was used as a state game refuge and elk were released there in the 1930's and they flourished there until they became a big nuisance and were then hunted to reduce the herd. For more information about the elk go here:
http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html
5.0 Other Business – Carol reminded us to sign up for the "Saving Special Places" Conference taking place April 4th at Gilford High School. More information and sign up can
be found here: http://clca.forestsociety.org/annual-conference/
She
also mentioned that the Ashuelot River Local Advisory Committee is looking for
3 new members from Washington. If you are interested in serving on the
committee call her or the Selectmen for more information.
6.0 Correspondence:
Solid
Earth Technologies (advertisement)
Litter-Free
New Hampshire
DES
request for Washington Ashuelot River Local Advisory Committee members
DES Wetlands Bureau denial of permit for File # 2008-01905 due to expiration of 60-day request for more information. This is for the Mill Pond project in East Washington. The town has 30 days from March 12th to apply for reconsideration.
PSNH
report "Record Outage, Record Recovery: New Hampshire Ice Storm 2008"
Wetlands
mitigation proposal for Ruggiero permit File # 2008-00690
Slaves
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary permit for bridge and 2 large docks
Copy
of Kimball wetlands permit
Brochure
for Cottrell-Baldwin Environmental Lecture Series at Fox State Forest in
Hillsboro.
7.0 Adjourned at 8:47 PM, our next scheduled meeting is April 15th at 7 PM at the Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz
Secretary