Conservation Commission Meeting Minutes – 8/3/15

CONSERVATION COMMISSION 08/07/2015 Leave a comment

Minutes

For the regular meeting of the

Walpole Conservation Commission

Monday, August 3, 2015

Present:  Tom Beaudry, John Peska, Myra Mansouri (alt.), Kelli Wilson, Sharyn Tullar (alt.), Alicia Flammia, Lewis Shelley, Gary Speed, Whit Aldrich (SelectBoard representative)

Not Present:  Peter Palmiotto (alt.), Duncan Watson

Mr. Beaudry, chair, called the meeting to order at 7:36 PM.

Non-Public session: 

No Alternates needed seating

Minutes

Mr. Peska moved to accept the minutes for the July 6, 2015 meeting as presented. Ms. Wilson seconded, and the motion passed with all in favor.

Treasury/Budget Report

As of 6/30/15, the total amount in the Forestry account was $10,343.39, and in Conservation account was $53,161.67. The budget has a credit for the Youth Conservation Camp on 5/6/15 as well as payment on 4/30/15.  Mr. Beaudry will look into this.

Correspondence

  1. Town & City Magazine
  2. NH Assoc. of Conservation Commissions 45th Annual Meeting: 11/7/15, Pembroke Academy, Pembroke, NH. Shelley will be presenting.
  3. Monadnock Conservancy update on projects in the Monadnock region.

New Business

  1. CT River Joint Commission Invasive Species program River Runners was held 6/16/15 and attended by Ms. Flammia. She reports that it was a program was to train volunteers to look for certain numbers of invasive species and place markers so that State personnel can take care of them.
  2. Northeast Energy Direct natural gas pipeline project—a letter was sent to all NH conservation commissions requesting signatures of opposition that will then be sent to the Governor, federal & state Representatives and Senators, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Concerns about the use of eminent domain, displacements of conservation easements and the impact of wetlands were discussed.  Speed moved that members of the Conservation Commission be encouraged to sign the letter.  Mr. Peska seconded, and the motion passed with all in favor.
  3. Merriam Farm- Mr. Shelley reports that there is an interest in the purchase of the Walpole part of the Farm. The Planning Board is tentatively in favor of the ideas presented. The Class 6 road is still an issue since most of it is down to bedrock.
  4. NH Timberland Owners Association request for dues. Flammia moved to not renew membership in NHTOA.  Mr. Speed seconded, and the motion passed with all in favor.
  5. NH DES Emergency Authorization/Verification. A dive inspection has discovered a 6’ deep scour hole underneath the spillway of Bridge Pier 4 of the Dam.  Emergency work is going to be done to figure out what is wrong and try to stabilize the site starting August 17.

Old Business

  1. DES work has begun replacing 24”galvanized culvert with a 24” plastic pipe next to Pole 21 on Route 12.
  2. Shelley was contacted by 3 Scouts looking for Eagle Projects; Adam Terrell confirmed that he is interested in work at Mill Pond. Benjamin Hefner will be meeting with Mr. Shelley soon and Paul Melville expressed interest in Mill Pond as well.
  3. Water Co Timber Harvest-Garland Lumber sent a letter to the SelectBoard indicating the upgrades that are to be done to the Class 6 road in preparation for the harvest. However, the Intent to Cut has not yet been received by the SelectBoard.  Garland Lumber and Mr. Rhoades were notified of this deficiency.
  4. NH DES has sent a letter requesting additional information on the TransCanada Hydro dredging project.

Other

  1. Brian Fletcher will no longer be available to mow at the Reservoir Dam and Knapp Cranberry Meadow since he sold off some equipment. The optimal option would be to find someone who has a brush head on an excavator. The budget for Dam maintenance is $1,500/year.
  2. Holly Green’s intern requests another copy of last year’s report on the Ballam Farm Monitoring. Speed will forward that report to her.
  3. Speed is concerned that the Reservoir water level is dropping more quickly than expected. He admits that it has been dry lately but it shouldn’t be dropping so much.  He will check to see if the Golf Club is using that water to irrigate the course.
  4. Aldrich reports that it is his belief that the Hooper Sale will be complete by the end of August.
  5. Shelley will contact Mike Reyns to arrange for brush hogging in the Fanny Mason Forest.
  6. Shelley accompanied Al Stoops on a search for Champion trees. They were unable to find the Black Ash behind Boggy Meadows Farm but agreed to try again in the winter when the leaves are down.  They did find the State Champion Black Cherry north of Derry Hill Road.

Mr. Peska moved that the next meeting should be Monday, September 14, 2015 due to the Labor Day holiday. Ms. Flammia seconded, and the motion passed with all in favor.

Mr. Speed moved that the meeting be adjourned at 8:35pm.  Mr. Peska seconded, and the motion passed with all in favor.

Respectfully submitted,

Elaine Heleen, Recording Secretary

NOTE:  These are unapproved minutes with corrections to be found in the minutes of the next meeting.

 

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