Condensed from approved minutes

Members present: Nancy Robart, Tina Cotton, Sooze Hodgson, Alan McIntyre, Lee Wells, Donna Duclos, Jesse Schust, Jerry Hersey.

Correspondence: Email from Marj re: Beaver related national webinar.  Nancy will check to see if it will be recorded so we can see it later. We had communication from Michelle Lambert about Beaver Deceivers (BD), discussed later in the meeting. 

ASLPT Update: Nancy went to the quarterly meetings. Main issues covered: 

• Insects such as gypsy moths that are a problem are due to drought and mild winters. 
• Bradford has members of the community asking for Class 6 roads converted to Class 5. 
• Grantham is dealing with a wetland that was filled in. 
• Sunapee has a map with trails and conservation easements. They have volunteers for trail maintenance. They have a waiver for liability, something we can think about for BDs. 
• Sutton also has maps. SRK has a kiosk, which we may be able to use. 
• Wilmot is working on a wetlands ordinance (Doug McDonald) – we might want to work with them. 
• Knotweed came up: some are using tarps, others are using insecticide poure down the  stalk.  Sandy Rock, master gardener, is overseeing this.  She has offered to do a presentation for us about invasives in New Hampshire. 
• Andy Deegan is planning a dragonfly walk in Warner. In 2022 he is going to be working on a conservation plan for towns based on co-occurrence maps. 
• Debbie Stanley says LCHIP has a $5 million fund. Land Trust Alliance (national level) some misuse on that level, they will be looking into it. 

Nancy would like to attend a Sutton and Wilmot CC meeting.

The Planning Board is looking at housing with conservation areas. They would like to know where the valuable areas are.

Beaver Deceiver workgroup: Lee, Nancy, Sooze, and Alan met with Michelle Lambert at Elbow Pond. Later she made a video of herself cleaning the BD.  Those videos are now on the ACC website.  Now we are trying to come up with a management plan. 

We need to do education for the public – website, tour, educational tours like Valley Quest. Alan has tried to find someone from Fish and Game. Do we need to do more training? Do we need to do “appearance” maintenance? Valley Road is high, some debris build-up, but flowing. Elbow Pond looks great.

Work Group:  Work on education – self guided tour.  Alan will work on that.

Community Outreach: Beacon articles / events / website updates.  Jenny will send her article to the Beacon. Alan has been doing great work on the website. Can we get a plan for the year – an article every month? Share articles with/from other groups, ie: Sooze mentioned an article on wolf trees for SRKG.  Wood vinegar factory on the side of Kearsarge.

Status of lakes in Andover: If there are threats to the lakes we need to act quickly. Adder/Hopkins Pond seems fine this summer. Two loon pairs on Highland Lake – lake only big enough for one pair. Chick was killed by the new pair.

Wetland Buffer signage (White Oak Pit): Waiting for the sign shop to get the signs to the retail shop at the prison. Should happen soon. 

Future matters: Autumn 2021 is NHACC 50th anniversary event – the first Saturday in November.

Forest Society is having their 120th year anniversary. Rebecca Rule will be their keynote speaker at their annual meeting in September. Sooze will look for their email and send it along.