Conservation Commission Meeting Minutes – 10/7/24

CONSERVATION COMMISSION 10/14/2024 Leave a comment

TOWN OF WALPOLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE
CONSERVATION COMMISSION
OCTOBER 7, 2024

Members Present: Alicia Flammia, Wendy Grossman, France Menk, Peter Palmiotto, Lewis Shelley

Alternates Present: Nicole Adams, Tom Beaudry

Selectboard Present:  Steve Dalessio

Members Absent: John Peska

Alternates Absent: Paul Happ

Visitors Present: Katherine Kopji, North Walpole Village Commissioner

Call to Order: Peter called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall. 

Seating of Alternates: no Alternates needed

In Memory of Marcia Galloway: Marcia served on the Conservation Commission for many years and was Chair.  Each member who served with Marcia shared their memories.  By consensus, the Conservation Committee recommends that Marcia be recognized in the Town Report.

Review and Approval of Minutes 

Tabled to the next meeting.

Public Business

Report from co-Chair: A copy of the RSA book has been requested for the meeting room downstairs.  Paul Happ has been approved as an Alternate.

Financial Report: no report

Correspondence:   

  • Ryan Owens is leaving the Monadnock Conservancy to run the New England Forestry Foundation.  He will continue to live in Walpole.
  • NH Association of Conservation Commissions Annual Meeting:  Saturday November 2nd at Pembroke Academy. Keynote: “Something Wild” Stories; A Peek Behind the Microphone with Thoughts on NH’s Natural Heritage.  Presenters are Dave Anderson, Senior Director of Education for the Society of the Protection of NH Forests, and Chris Martin, Senior Biologist with NH Audubon.  The Commission can reimburse cost.
  • Cheshire County Conservation District’s 8th Annual Conservation Commission Potluck is Tuesday, November 19th at Stonewall Farm in Keene. There will be a presentation on turtle conservation in NH and a roundtable discussion. The Commission can reimburse cost.

New Business

Britton Farm – CCCD Cooperator of the Year Award: The Britton Farm will be recognized at the Annual Celebration of the Cheshire County Conservation District on October 10th.

Knapp Cranberry Bog Dam – Wetland Permit: John will continue to work on the Knapp Cranberry Bog Dam.  The issue is that there are lots of requirements because it will now be necessary to go into the water.  This dam is rated as a low hazard.  Because of the problems finding a contractor, this will probably not be done immediately.  Steve Dalessio is also following this project.

Fanny Mason Rest Area – Issues and Updates, Parking, Cleaning Shelters:  

  • Kara’s invoice included a list of the trash she has removed.  There was a camper parked for a number of days recently.  The police were notified.  We need “no overnight parking” signs.
  • Additional signs are needed.  France will check with other places to ask what they have for signs.  The signs need to be consistent, and some of the issues should be eliminated when some dead trees are taken down, the disintegrating steps are removed, etc.  Signs might go on the shelter in a kiosk – a consistent sign plan is needed.  
  • Questions:  should we claim them as Walpole’s rest area?  do we want to shut down rest areas?   we put a fence up on the west – want one on the east too?
  • Today Lew sent out the RFQ’s for roofing the shelters.
  • Lew will schedule a November workday.  That is a popular hunting area.

NHACC Grants for Interns:  Applications are due October 11th.  The grants are for 15 hours per week for three months in the spring.  By consensus, if Peter has the time to submit an application, perhaps to do a wetlands inventory, that is good with the Commission.  Peter will check to be sure this grant is not just for towns in need. 

Old Business

Property Monitoring:   A monitoring request from LCIP was received but the location was not specified.  Wendy offered to be the Commission’s contact for property monitoring and will inform LCHP to change the contact information from Alicia to Wendy.

Trail Committee:  The meetings and minutes are on the Town website.   The invoice for the second brush hogging will be paid Friday.  They are starting to look at Academy Ravine to look at options – brainstorming now.  Note:  Mad Brook is a state name stream, so there are a lot of state rules that apply to any management activities of named streams.  There are a lot of fallen trees that could block the culvert again and cause serious flooding. The Mill Pond trails will be inspected Sunday.  They are planning an in-person public meeting this fall.  There will be an autumn maintenance day for the Rail Trail.  They are considering creating a program for lending outdoor gear for winter.

Fanny Mason Harvesting: no update

Reservoir Dam Updates:  There will be a design review in a couple weeks with DES – Steve, John, and Mark Houghton will attend.  Someone to fix the kink in the culvert has been found.  Mill Pond Dam repairs will probably be coming soon because that is identified as a high-risk dam.

Hooper Institute Board:  Nicole reported they continue to discuss bike trails in the Hooper Forest.  She created a map to help them understand the existing trails.  They discussed invasives information from Alex Barrett.  They might pay for the next treatment, since they have money from the harvest. Renovations are moving ahead with work planned for this winter.

Walpole Street Trees – Common Tree Replacement/Planting:  Donations covered the costs of trees planted on the Common, so the Commission will not need to draw from its funds for them.  The committee will get together and develop a plan for going forward. Old stumps presented a problem in the planting location.  With the use of a chainsaw, and moving the expanding a hole slightly the trees were planted with good spacing.  The plan is to have another planting next year. The fund for the monument maintenance needs to be reviewed to see if there is money that could be used for trees.

Other Business

  • Peter will follow up with Alex Barrett regarding quotes for invasives treatments and the Fanny Mason harvest.
  • The Commission would like to see someone from North Walpole join the commission.  Katherine Kopji is willing to come if her schedule permits.  She will talk to the other Village Commissioners and provide a prioritized list of needs for North Walpole next month.  

Adjournment:  Peter declared the meeting adjourned at 8:24 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Sue Bauer, Recording Secretary

(Note:  These are unapproved Minutes. Corrections will be found in the Minutes of the November 4, 2024 Conservation Commission meeting.)

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