Present: Mary Anne Broshek, Larry Chase, Tina Cotton, Jerry Hersey, Nan Kaplan, Jesse Schust
Correspondence
Completed monitoring forms from ASLPT on their properties. Mary Anne will file.
DES Shoreland Impact approval with conditions for 105 West Shore Rd. Prior notification to the Conservation Commission was not provided. Mary Anne will advise the Town Clerk.
DES Wetlands Minimum Impact Forestry Notification, authorized for lot 23/035/104.
ASLPT Update
The Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust (ASLPT) Outreach Committee has had an active year. This year’s workshop will be held on Thursday, September 22, at the Wilmot Community Association barn. Amy Papineau will speak on Supporting Pollinators in the Landscape.
County Forester Tim Fleury has found Red Pine scale at the College Road Preserve. Members are urged to keep an eye out for it and report any sightings to Tim.
ASLPT will hold a workshop in 2017 for landowners who have previously shown an interest in placing conservation easements on their land. Larry will advise John Bendixon of the workshop.
The aquatic invasive called water celery has been found in Kezar Lake.
ASLPT has been offered an easement on 1,400 acres in the Bradford area.
Bog Pond
Larry, Tina, Jerry, Nan, and Mary Anne met with the Planning Board on July 12 to discuss a recommendation to the Select Board to create a conservation easement on the Town land around Bog Pond. All were in agreement that this is a good idea, and an e-mail has been sent to the Select Board with the recommendation.
It was stressed that any conservation easement should provide a buffer of 100 to 300 feet as described in the Andover Natural Resources Inventory.
Wildlife Action Plan Maps
The poster-size 2015 Wildlife Action Plan maps have been laminated and stored in the map file at Town Hall. Members voted to reimburse Nan Kaplan for the lamination cost of $25.70. Larry will attach the maps to foam board so they can be displayed. The southeast corner of Andover has shown a great increase in ranking of wildlife habitat. Conservation Commission members will explore potential protection in this area.
Culverts
The Merrimack County Conservation District (MCCD) has been a tremendous help to the Conservation Commission and to the Town of Andover. The Town and the Conservation Commission have been working with the MCCD on a grant to assess problem culverts that may be undersized and impede aquatic organism movement and/or are flood hazards.
In this first stage of this project, the Town, with the help of the Road Agent, will identify up to a dozen problem culverts to be assessed. MCCD will hire consultants to assess the culverts and make recommendations. MCCD anticipates identifying the culverts most in need of replacement and then applying for Phase Two of these grants for culvert replacement.
The letter of grant support from the Town has been completed.
Hard copy of NRI
Using Proctor resources, Derek has obtained four printed copies of the Natural Resource Inventory (NRI) summary. They will be placed at Proctor, at each Andover library, and in the Conservation Commission file cabinet located in the Town Hall meeting room.
Miscellaneous
Nan volunteered to oversee progress on the beaver deceiver issue on Route 11, and Jesse volunteered to oversee progress on the culvert project.