Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – November 18, 2009

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

 

Present: Carol Andrews, Nan Schwartz, Jed Schwartz, Arin Mills, Dorothy Thompson, Johanna Young, Tom Taylor and Sandy Robinson

 

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

 

2.0        Old Business:

2.1   Permits Committee -

        Carol talked to us about the fact that Conservation Commissions don't have oversight or commenting on Shoreland Permits. Jason Aube is the person at DES that is working on these issues and she thinks there will be some tweaking of the rules at the state level. She will keep us informed about the issue.

        There were no new permits needing review.

2.2   Land Protection – The Eccards are moving forward with the Land Protection committee and are talking to the Forest Society about protecting their forest land with a conservation easement. We will do an appraisal after they make some decisions. Carol said we need to decide to spend some of our funds to do the appraisal and cover transaction costs. Arin asked Carol to show her on the tax map where the parcels are, it is lot 13-38 and lot 13-01, 135 forested acres that touch on the Journey's End property (previously protected). Carol explained that it could be $3500 for one parcel appraisal and there could be other lots to appraise. Sandy made a motion to spend up to $15,000 for appraisals and any associated transaction costs, Dorothy seconded the motion, all voted in favor. Carol said the Land Protection committee is meeting every other week and are talking to people interested in protecting their land as well as working with the Eccards. Carol said it is possible we could get a matching donation of land protection to help leverage a project we are working on. These types of donation can be held until they are needed.

 

2.3   Planning Board update – Nan reported that the Planning Board is working on updating the Subdivision Regulations to reflect the changes made previously to the Land Use Ordinance. They are also working on Driveway Standards to attach to the Driveway Permit and are considering Accessory Dwelling Units.

               

2.4   Energy Committee – Johanna said that they held their movie night on the 16th and 7 people attended the screening of "Saved by the Sun", a solar energy movie. She reported that the Energy Committee has met with Liz Cannell and Sara (?) about the NH Municipal Energy Grant. They will be going over their energy inventory information, inputting it to a database and analyzing it. This will help the committee decide which town building is the worse and which they might pick for auditing. They will cover 90% of the cost of an audit and will help them in applying for grants. The grant RFPs will be coming out in December and will require them to move quickly. To get retrofitting grants you need to have already done the audit. The committee did a letter of interest for retrofits. Liz and Sara mentioned putting energy policy into the town's master plan. Johanna asked Carol about the proper process for getting new members for the Energy Committee. Carol explained that she should propose new members to the Selectmen and they approve. She will speak to the Selectmen about their members.

 

2.5   Forestry Committee – Carol reported she met with the Committee to talk about Conservation Easements and information about protecting the Town Forests. They feel timing is not good right now for working on this. The Selectmen have tabled the idea for now. They are working on finding the deeds for the Town Forests and deciding what needs surveying. As far as Tom knows Farnsworth Hill forest is the only one surveyed. LionelŐs management plan is what they are using for reference. Parts of the Camp Morgan lot are surveyed but not all of it. Some of Huntley Mountain lot is done but not all the sides.

Tom said that he had gone out with the forester to look at the Huntley Mountain lot where they have asked to use the town land to access a lot in Marlow. He and the forester tagged a spot for a log landing. Carol suggested they use an outside opinion on the value of using our land and get the owner to pay for it. Tom believes that this fits in with our management plan. He said that the owner (Coleman) may put an easement on his property in the future.

We discussed what is town forest property. The town has a 20-acre lot on Nut Hatch Way that has water access to Highland Lake and also the Old Meadow lot, which is wetlands. They are not officially Town Forests at this point. Tom said that the Forestry Committee wants the Selectmen to appoint someone to oversee the properties. Carol thinks they should all be under Forestry Committee but that CC could oversee them if asked. She asked for everyone's opinion. The Selectmen are ready to do something. Sandy said she doesn't see any advantage to CC overseeing the properties as Forestry is already doing it on the other parcels. Tom said we should ask the town to designate these parcels as Town Forest. Jed asked if we could also put forward the lot we bought (next to the Twin Bridges Town Forest) at the same time. Dorothy asked about the town land on the Marlow side (Huntley Mountain), she said she owns some land in Marlow and Huntley Mountain is on her land, she has 2 parcels that are in Washington near there and she might be willing to give the land to expand the town forest. Tom said that even if the land doesn't abut the town land there is interest in making a corridor of preserved land. She is considering giving the land in Marlow to the Forest Society. Tom asked if we knew anything about the Back Mountain tract, which is 60 acres in the NE corner near Bradford. No one knew anything but we research and see if it was previously designated. Tom asked Arin if she could do a town map with all the trails on it. She said she would love to do it. Forestry has a GPS unit they can use to find coordinates. Carol said she would put in our 2009 town report that we are working with Forestry on protection.

 

3.0   WhatŐs Happening in Nature?

Johanna saw a dead coyote on Route 202.

Sandy saw a big buck cross the land near ClarkÕs in East Washington yesterday. She has had lots of turkeys eating apples and roosting in the trees near her house.

Tom saw a possum and didn't realize we had them in Washington.

Jed saw an owl one evening and thought it might be a Barred Owl. He wondered if anyone knew more about them. Nan said she would find information on them, for that information go here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html

        Sandy went up Lovell Mountain and saw fresh moose tracks on the trail, she followed them for a long time then lost them in the boggy area.

        Dorothy said she has a new neighbor in LAE who called her to say she had seen a moose looking at her through the window. She was able to take a picture of it. Dorothy said there are many moose out there.

        Sandy said there is a lot of wildlife to see out near Bell Hill on Bishop's Pond (on the McGranahan's property in East Washington. There are lots of moose, deer and she saw bear droppings out there.

 

4.0   New Business: None

 

5.0   Correspondence:

              NHDES receipt of Shoreland application 2009-02497 Mellen

              NH DES Shoreland Impact Permit approval 2009-02497 Mellen

              2009 Joint Water and Watershed Conference flyer from NH Rivers Council

              Copy of Shoreland Permit application 2009-02230 Lavallee

              NH DES Shoreland Impact Permit approval 2009-02230 Lavallee

              NHDES receipt of Shoreland application 2009-02593 Guyer

              NH DES Shoreland Impact Permit approval 2009-02593 Guyer

 

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

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nan Schwartz

Secretary