Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – May 11, 2023

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

Members present: Arin Mills, Jed Schwartz and Nan Schwartz

Visitors: None

1.0 Approval of Minutes: April minutes, Jed made a motion to approve as written, Arin seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

2.0 Permits Committee –

New: None

Previous:

*Cote, TM 24-58, 46 Lookout Point Road, installation of dock without a permit.

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

* these are complaints with no follow up by DES, Arin will make an information request on these.

3.0 Committee and Board reports -

3.1 Land Protection Committee – Jed said the man that they both spoke with at TM about a conservation easement on a property called and he now has a contract on the property. There are adjoining conservation property owners that Jed will send him contacts to speak with.

3.2 Energy Committee – They aren’t meeting right now.

3.3 Planning Board – Nan said they are going to keep working on the driveway issue this year.

3.4 Forestry Committee – They haven’t met.

3.5 Legislative – Arin said that they are working on updating the Wetland rules and will be holding a comment session at DOT. Nan mentioned the Wetlands Class that NHACC is offering. There is an online portion and two in person sessions.

4.0 Public Presentations and workshops –

4.1 Spring Hike – No one showed up for the hike. We talked about strategies for getting the word out in town for events.

4.2 Elementary School event with Dawn from SCCD – the date is May 15^th. Arin will check with Kelly as to whether they need us to help.

5.0 New Business:

5.1 Appoint officers for 2023 – We discussed the issue and decided to keep our officers as they were last year; Arin – Chair, Jed – Vice Chair and Nan as Secretary. We all need to see the Town Clerk to update our paperwork.

5.2 ARLAC – Nan said that Barbara Skuly send a letter asking for a donation to help with the Ashuelot River water testing again this year. Jed made a motion to send $125 to ARLAC, Nan seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Nan will pass the request on to Cindy to send a check to ARLAC.

6.0 Other Business:

6.1 Adopt-a-Highway Trash Pickup – Jed commented that driving up Rte. 31 there is a lot of trash this year. We set a date at our next meeting for May 17^th, Wednesday and we will meet as usual at the Library parking lot at 3:30pm.

6.2 Kitchen Compost pails - Nan said that she ordered the kitchen compost pails and they will be delivered by NRRA soon. Nan will update her poster and print a few out for the transfer station and other locations.

6.3 Trails and Recreation Guide Booklet – Nan and Arin will continue working on this.

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 East Washington Town Forest – There is no new information on this. We discussed taking another walk on the property maybe this summer.

6.6 Master Plan goals for 2023 – This is a placeholder.

7.0 What’s Happening in Nature?

Nan said it rained pretty steadily for 2 weeks and now the sun is out and so are the black flies.

Arin mentioned that the Gold Finches now have their very yellow feathers on.

Jed said that snakes are awake now and moving around. Reid saw what he thought was a Hog Nosed snake and Jed saw a big garter snake.

Arin saw a Red Tailed Hawk sitting on the sign at Camp Morgan. Jed said that Reid and Cody lost a couple of their chickens to a hawk recently.

Arin said she has seen a red fox in LAE and there is a herd of around 9 deer that are bedding down at night in a forested area near her house in LAE. The deer are helping to clear the underbrush.

Nan saw a Baltimore Oriole in East Washington.

Arin thinks she heard a woodcock at dusk near the Elementary School.

Arin said that “leaf out” was this week. To learn more about ‘Leaf out”, click here: NewinNature.html

8.0 Correspondence:

Letter from Barbara Skuly (ARLAC) looking for support for water testing.

Forest Notes magazine

Invitation from NH Lakes to the annual Lakes Congress, June 2^nd in Meredith, NH

9.0 Adjourned at 7:40 PM, the next meeting is June 14th at 7PM, at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz, Secretary