Condensed from approved minutes: January 10, 2018, 7PM
Members Present: Nan Kaplan, Jerry Hersey, Mary Anne Broshek, Tina Cotton, Alan McIntyre and Jesse Schust.
Minutes: Alan made a motion to approve the December minutes with small corrections/additions, Nan seconded, and all were in favor.
Correspondence
Saving Special Places – save the date, April 7, 2018, Alton, NH.
Possibility of large-scale logging in vicinity of Old College Road.
The Concord Monitor, Sunday Times, had a listing that showed that Dwyer Trust acreage on Old College Road was sold to a company from New Jersey, possibly a timber company. We discussed concerns that logging in that area could impact adjacent conserved land (Newman easement) and other neighboring landowners. The CC will do what it can to ensure that if logging occurs, it is done responsibly. Mary Anne will write a letter to new owners- Green Acres Woodlands. We will also try to notify the adjacent landowners if it appears that logging is planned. Alan will contact Leon Malin and Jerry will call Jim McKenna to let them know about likely logging.
Updated Wetlands Map
Jesse reports that Harvey Pine has a student who would like to make this a project. We plan to invite Harvey and the student to any future meetings that they are able to attend.
ASLPT update
On Saturday, January 27, there was a timber harvest tour in Sutton. A future workshop for land owners interested in land conservation is being planned. For conservation land, we heard that changing a Class 6 road into a Class A trail allows gates to be erected which addresses problems with ATV trail damage. UNH Cooperative Extension has an interesting project called Trailfinder, which allows people to discover local trail systems, including those on conserved land.
2017 Review
We reviewed Tina’s narrative of the 2017 year for the Town Report and made suggestions for minor changes.
We reviewed the final CC budget documents. Mary Anne provided Charlie with budget information for both the Town Appropriation and Conservation Fund.
Logistics
We discussed and clarified the process of minute-taking and sharing, as well as the process for posting meetings.
Updates on 2017 issues
We reviewed the topics of the Bradley Lake logging, the Bog Pond wetland area, the planned Verizon cell tower and the progress of the CC website. No new updates.
Planning for 2018
We have a list of ideas, and will bring additional ideas to the February meeting.
Bats – Contact information for a Bat Expert (Jesse Mohr) was provided to Alan. Alan will make contact and determine if a bat workshop is feasible for the coming year.
Fenvale Trail– Alan has agreed to take this on as a Proctor community service project in the Fall.
Wetlands Ordinance– work on this will continue for the next few month with a target of getting it to the Planning Board in early fall for a possible vote in the March 2019 Town meeting.
Other Business
We discussed the town land identified by county forester Tim Fleury for his Town Forest Project. We located this land on the tax map and found that it is a back land set aside for a long ago subdivision on Tucker Mountain Road. Jerry will pass on information to Tim.
Mary Anne will: send the Verizon health and safety information to all members; contact Steve Walker on getting an update on ORV issues on the Newman easement; and send Alan the Bog Pond Study done by Dave Pilla’s class.
Adjournment: 9:15 PM.