Andover Conservation Commission
October 8, 2019
Final Minutes
Present: Mary Anne Broshek, Jenny Bodwell, Jerry Hersey, Lee Wells, and Tina Cotton.
Minutes: August minutes were reviewed, Lee made a motion to approve, seconded by Jerry, and approved by all.
September minutes reviewed: motion to approve made by Jerry, seconded by Jenny, all approved.
Correspondence:
Environmental Services – Supply lines (drinking and groundwater newsletter)
NHACC request for dues
NHACC notification of conference
Co-Occurrence Map: Harvey Pine was not able to attend our meeting. Action item: Jesse and Alan will meet with Harvey to find out what Harvey needs to know to do the map. Mary Anne will join, if needed. Two issues to be decided: do we want to include wildlife corridors or any other weighting of layers. It needs to be on QGIS so anyone can use it.
ASLPT Update: Lee attended the October 7 ASLPT Outreach Quarterly Meeting for Jesse.
•Dode Gladders, Forestry Field Specialist with the UNH Cooperative Extension presented the status of the Emerald Ash Borer in our area. He has found them in New London. The good news is that the borer only infects ash trees, the bad news is that within 7 years half of the ash trees will be dead. They can be treated by injecting them every three years at a cost of roughly $10/inch of diameter.
•Conservation Commission members reported what their commissions have been doing recently. Activities include: water testing, replacing shade trees, working with Highway Department to control invasive species (particularly knotweed), purchasing a root wrench, trail maintenance, working on a conservation plan, working on a wetlands ordinance, publishing articles in the local paper, bog clean up, adopt a road programs, working on conservation easements, and education programs including: Squam Lake Science Center, a lecture on bats, a presentation by Lake Smart, a woodland walk and workshop, and a program on butterflies.
•Program planning for 2020: The Outreach group usually offers a couple of programs a year. Suggestions included doing presentations on: stonewall mapping, ATV use, wolves in our area, and recreational trail impact on wildlife
•ASLPT Andy Deegan:
– ASLPT wants to continue to offer workshops on conservation easements for landowners
– ASLPT is currently working on an impressive number of easements, including properties in: Grantham(263 acres), Warner (146 acres), Danbury (7 acres), Andover (237 acres), Wilmont, Goshen (15 acres), Bradford/Hillsborough, New London (15 acres), Newbury (84 acres), Wilmont (150 acres + 201 acres)
-Board has approved a new position of Stewardship Manager
•Legislative update:
-HB 281: Beaver Deceivers went into effect on August 24.
-SB 200: state recognizes the importance of wildlife corridors
Budget: Budget hearings will take place in November and December. Upcoming expenses for 2019 include: map making of Bog Pond, NHACC conference attendance, and payments to wetland scientist for ordinance review. Other suggestions included: easements signs for conservation easements held by the Town, purchase of another tree to plant at the cemetery; purchase of tools for removing invasive species which could be checked out by landowners. Action item: Jenny will prepare a proposal for tools that can be used by town residents. Our 2019 budget was $1300, including $300 for monitoring the forest buffer easement for the cell tower. Since the cell tower has been delayed, Mary Anne will talk to the Budget Committee about moving the 2019 $300 into 2020. Any funds not spent in 2019 will need a warrant article to be moved to the Conservation Fund.
Monitoring:
Derek has completed the monitoring and updated the conserved lands chart. His reports and the updated chart will go in the monitoring book.
We do not receive monitoring reports from ASLPT or SPNHF unless Andover is the backup easement holder.
Mary Anne has asked Andy Deegan, ASLPT, to make sure the three properties dropped from GRANIT are added.
Jerry has set up Newman/McKenna monitoring on October 20, 1 PM at the McKenna house.
Mary Anne will review Derek’s reports on monitoring the easements held by the town of Andover the Fenvale and Newman easements.
Wetlands Ordinance:
Revisions from 8/22 and additional input from Sandy Crystall and Jay Aube have been incorporated.
A draft has been sent to Earle Chase, wetlands scientist.
Motion made by Mary Anne that we send the Planning Board a copy of a draft, knowing that there will be additional changes. Motion seconded by Alan. Approved by all.
Bog Pond:
Map: Eric Fontaine declined mapping. Jesse and Mary Anne will work on this.
Site visit: Jesse will set up a site visit, which will also include putting in the additional markers.
Champagne Gravel Excavation:
Review of RSA 155 E: – state law requires a copy of the application to be sent to the Conservation Commission.
Report from Jerry on 10/7 public hearing: Jon Champagne was not present. The next meeting will be on Oct 22.
Jon Champagne has said he will only be crushing three weeks a year.
Beacon Articles- Lee (permitting) and Jenny (wetlands) will get copies for Mary Anne to take to the NHACC annual meeting.
Outstanding items:
Alan will try to do Beaver Deceiver research and an article for the Beacon after the new year.
Jenny will follow up on complaints and meet with town clerk to ensure correct distribution by the end of the year.
Barbara Richter, Director, New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions, will attend November meeting.
Wetland marking at Oak Hill: who will do it?
Oak Hill: from Dave Blinn on 10/4
Everything had been reviewed and submitted some time ago.
We are awaiting date and time from Governor’s Executive Council for the final ok and closing, so that the town has access to pit for winter sand prep.
The CC would like to mark the prime wetland boundary before winter. We can hire Earle Chase for this. Mary Anne will check with the Selectboard to see if this is possible.
Motion made by Alan: We spend no more than $300 to acquire Earle Chase’s services to delineate the prime wetlands and mark the wetlands boundary for the Oak Hill property, seconded by Jerry, all approved.
Hopkins Pond: Hopkins Pond water is muddied. Mary Anne called forest ranger, Doug Miner who found no logging. He checked all of the inlets; most were dry and one was clear. He didn’t know the source of the turbidity. He will contact Fish and Game. Mary Anne will contact Jay Aube at NHDES. It was suggested that a beaver dam might have collapsed. Alan might be able to use a Proctor drone to take photos of the area and/or he could take students around the pond on mountain bikes to see if they can determine the source of the muddiness.
Appointment to Town Boards: Recent Selectboard minutes propose a plan for how people will be nominated. Mary Anne submitted comments asking that board chairs be involved in the setting up any new process and that chairs of boards should have early input.
Fenvale Conservation Easement: Alan is doing community service work on the Fenvale property with the Proctor woods team. They will put in a bridge and clear downed trees.
Electronic files: Alan and Mary Anne will work on transferring Mary Anne’s files to Google.
Motion to adjourn made by Jerry, Jenny seconded, all approved and we adjourned at 9:10.
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