Conservation Commission Minutes 11.9.2011

Campton Conservation Commission

 Meeting Minutes

November 9, 2011; 7pm

 

Members Present: Jess Halm, Melissa Greenawalt-Yelle, Lea Stewart, Jane Kellogg, Tammy Wooster

Others present: Audrey Eisenhauer, Leigh Ann Reynolds

1)      October Minutes:

Lea made a motion to accept the October meeting minutes, Melissa seconded the motion and all were in favor.

2)      Land Management:

a)      PCP

i)                    Trail signs/paint

Melissa unveiled the sign that she hand lettered detailing the PCP land use policy. Everyone loved it and agreed that the custom lettering was a perfect fit for the sign rather than a more formal stenciled look. Discussion turned to planning a work day to install the new sign and paint some blazes on the new trail system. Materials needed include hardware, a drill and some paint. Both Jane and Melissa have leftover white sign paint which we will use for the blazes. Saturday, Nov 19^th at 9 am was set as the work day to take care of these tasks. Jess will also bring some ground flags which we will place along the Kidney/PCP boundary.

ii)                   CES use of PCP for Pumpkins

The CCC has received a request from the A+ program to use a 15’ X 30’ plot of the PCP property for a pumpkin patch as the school does not have a suitable place for one. The idea is for the kids to plant the pumpkins in the spring and then harvest the pumpkins for fall Jack-0-lanterns. A+ employee Arianne Fosdick, who also works at Longview Farm, will likely head up this project. All were enthusiastic about this idea and agreed that it would be nice to have a sign at the site explaining the project. Jess said that the lack of a water supply needs to be communicated and perhaps could be resolved with some rain barrels. Melissa will follow up with A+ on this.

b)      BWNA

i)                    Tree issues:

Jess and Ian Halm recently checked out some trees that both Jules and Jane reported as being potentially hazardous. Both trees are south of the driveway and fall within the DOT right of way. In Ian’s view they would be complicated and costly to fell and his recommendation is to wait it out and let nature take its course. Ian also thought that we may want to alert DOT since ultimately it is their responsibility.  A third problematic tree was recently brought to the CCC’s attention by someone from The Red Sleigh property. The tree is leaning toward some buildings but in Ian’s opinion is not an imminent danger. Ian will let us know when he will return to cut the tree so we can help with removal. Lastly, Ian and Jess were able to cut and remove the rotten log from the second bridge stream and redirect the stream so that the bank is no longer being undercut.

ii)                   Whitten Property:

Jane will be visiting the property soon to make a quick check on the progress of the project.

3)      Miscellaneous Old Business:

a)      Roadside cleanup:

On October 22^nd CCC members completed the second Adopt-a Highway Cleanup of the year.

b)      NHACC recap:

Tammy attended the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions annual conference on November 5th, and gave a summary of some of the workshops. One session titled “Make Your Voice Heard, How to Influence Lawmaking” described the legislative process of how a bill becomes law and provided strategies for supporting or opposing a bill. The attorney who presented the information used SB381 as an example which is the warrant article the CC hopes to bring forth to the town this spring.

Another session titled Conservation Easements from a Landowners Perspective was also presented by an attorney. Tammy came away with hard copies of the most up to date information on easement law for the CCC library. In a third workshop Tammy learned that the next round of Aquatic Resource Mitigation funds will be announced in March of 2012. The fund for the Pemi watershed has approx. $150,000 to date. CC members will continue to be thinking of potential sites for funding in Campton.

Other information Tammy shared was the formation of a new group called New Hampshire Association of Natural Resource Scientists (NHANRS) whose mission is to promote the responsible use of natural resources and the natural resource science professions as well as to represent the diverse public private and educational interests of its membership. Membership benefits include networking with the leading natural resource scientists in the state, access to technical articles, updates on regulation changes and participation in hands on workshops in the disciplines of wetland and soil science, wildlife and forestry. Conservation Commissions may join for a $20 fee. All agreed to take this up when discussing our 2012 budget.

Lastly, Tammy learned of an e-mail that went out to CC’s statewide from NHACC director Carol Andrews. Carol alerted NH CC’s that the 2012 Legislative service requests were just posted and there are four that may affect the work that CC’s do. Carol will be looking for town CC representatives to testify at public hearings at the state house. Tammy will follow up with Carol and keep the commission updated as she learns more.

c)       10/17 Select Board Meeting recap:

4 of the 5 Select Board members were present at the Oct 17^th meeting, at which CC members presented their case for moving forward with the 2012 warrant article which was tabled at last year’s town meeting. All agreed that it was a productive conversation and were glad that the Select Board expressed their support. At the end of the meeting it was agreed that a January public hearing date would be appropriate. The Select Board offered to combine the public hearing with their regular business meeting to be held at the Historical Society. The next step for the commission is to begin preparation for a public hearing and a date of Nov. 30^th was set for a work session at 7pm at the town office. Tammy added that the minutes from the Oct 17^th Select Board meeting had not yet been posted.

4)      Audrey Eisenhauer/Rey Center-BWNA:

Audrey Eisenhauer and Leigh Ann Reynolds from the Rey Center joined us to discuss a proposal for a new summer program idea. Audrey had e-mailed a copy of the proposal before our meeting, and began by saying how much she loves the BWNA and enjoys spending time there. The Rey Center proposes to partner with the CCC on offering “Curiosity Club for Families”nature exploration programs during July and August 2012 at the BWNA. Programs would be led by knowledgeable Rey Center staff members and be designed to engage families in exploring and discovering the diversity of natural communities at the Blair Woodlands. Programs would consist of guided hands on explorations of forest, vernal pools, river, shoreline, natural history and human history. Audrey went on to say that she sees the program as an opportunity for local families to learn about this unique property which she hopes will lead these families to care about and for this local resource.

The conversation turned to funding and Audrey said that the Rey Center is requesting compensation of a flat fee of $500 to lead eight of these programs.  The Rey Center will provide needed materials and supplies for each program and will cover travel costs for staff members to travel to BWNA. The Rey Center would also promote the program through their regular channels.

Jess said that she was aware that the Rey Center was trying to Branch out from Waterville Valley and it would be great for BWNA to be the first place chosen for this endeavor. She also felt that CCC collaboration on this project was definitely in keeping with its mission. Jane added that the original BWNA property donor Leah Gray’s fondest wish was for people to appreciate the area and she would likely be ecstatic about the idea. All agreed that this is a tremendous opportunity to promote BWNA, but funding specifics would have to be considered. The idea of finding sponsors to fund the program was discussed, rather than using CCC funds, and Jess pointed out that our budget was an upcoming agenda item.

Audrey and Leigh Ann thanked the commission and said that they looked forward to discussing the proposal further after CC members had time to consider it as a group. They then left the meeting.

5)      2011/2012 Budgeting:

The 2011 budget was briefly reviewed and it was noted that there was a balance of $172 in the Conference/Education line item. Jess made a motion to approve spending $120 for the reprinting of 300 groundwater brochure copies. Jane seconded the motion and all were in favor. Lea made a motion to approve spending $20 for CCC membership in the NH Association of Natural Resource Scientists. Melissa seconded the motion and all were in favor. Tammy will take care of securing registration. $32 is the remaining balance in the budget which will go back to the town.

In discussing the 2012 budget all agreed that in general we would try and keep it the same as this year. In revisiting the subject of funding the new Rey Center proposal consensus was to look for alternate sources such as sponsors. The question of whose job it would be to find sponsors was raised as well as the timeline for unveiling the project.

6)      FYI:

Tammy reported that she created a document with updated CCC member information including term expirations which she obtained from Ann Marie. A copy of the document will reside in the CC file and an electronic copy was sent to Beverly Chappell for web posting.

Tammy reported that in reviewing Select Board minutes she read that Butch Bain and Charlie Brosseau were to meet at Kevin Rogers’s property to view ongoing silt and erosion problems that had been worsened by TS Irene.

 Meeting adjourned: 9:10pm

Next meeting: Wed., Dec 14^th 2011; 7pm

 

Respectfully submitted,

Tammy Wooster