Sutton Conservation Commission (SCC)

DRAFT Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Present: Henry Howell, Chair; Chuck Bolduc; Don Davis; Debbie Lang; Lynn Wittman; Yvonne Howard; Joanna Murphy and Bonnie Hill.

Absent: Wally Baker and Jim Morris.

Call to order: Henry Howell called the meeting to order at 6:30pm.

Previous Meeting’s Minutes:  The minutes from the last meeting on November 8^th were unanimously approved.

Financial Report:

Debbie sent out a financial report before the meeting. SCC Admin had expenses of $2,540 in November, largely related to mowing costs at King Hill and donations to SPNHF, NHACC, and Friends of Mt. Sunapee. YTD expenses are $3,455 below budget. Secretarial hours for the rest of the year have been submitted. The Conservation Fund had a balance of $208,138.61 at the end of November. The King Hill Fund had a balance of $1,618.88 The TD Bank Donation Fund has $101.94. The Capital Reserve is at $69,088.00.

SCC’s appointment with the town budget committee was on November 20, and Bonnie represented the SCC in Henry’s absence. The SCC budget for 2024 will be the same as this 2023.

Trail Maintenance and Development

Trails Advisory Committee Report

Discussion and vote on accepting donation for KHR upkeep – Chuck reported that the Sievert Family Foundation is donating $15,000 for the upkeep of KHR. Fred Sievert lives in the former ski lodge property and has been very impressed with the condition of KHR, which he sees in his backyard. The process is for us to vote to accept the donation, which will have to be approved by the BOS. Chuck spoke to town counsel and was told it is OK for us to vote before the BOS acceptance. Chuck made a motion that the SCC vote to accept, contingent upon the acceptance by the Sutton BOS, the $15,000 gift from the Sievert Family Foundation for the following purpose:

 

For the management, improvement, maintenance and stewardship of the King Hill Recreational Area. Both the interest and the principal of this donation may be spent as the Conservation Commission deems to be appropriate.

 

The vote was unanimously in favor of the motion. Chuck will write a thank you note to the Foundation.

Update on the KHR donation system – Chuck gave us an overview of the donation system and its various accounts. He said that according to RSA, Conservation Commissions are allowed to have a Conservation Fund for buying land, plus as many sub-accounts as needed. Unrestricted gifts can go into the Conservation Fund. Our KHR sub-account will be closed out, and the large donation will be put into a new sub-account called the “Sievert King Hill Gift”. He will let Lorri know what we have named this new fund. The SCC Conservation Fund will have 3 sub-accounts. Besides this one, there are the Conservation Fund sub-account (unrestricted, but typically saved for land acquisition), and the small donation sub-account (setup for trailhead donations). Chuck suggested that for greater flexibility, we use the small donation account for trail maintenance in general, and not just for KHR. Its stated purpose would then be for maintenance and stewardship of all of the SCC’s trails. Hilary Grimes has created a test donation page on the SCC website that is working. Once the system is up, Chuck will create an account for Debbie so she can run reports from the system.

Brontosaurus work at KHR – Chuck said Neil Butcher started mowing today with his brontosaurus mower. This will be done on the edges of all of the KHR recreational trails. The cost is $200/hr and the total will be several thousand dollars. Chuck suggested we take money out of the KHR fund first, since we want to close that out, and then we will use the money remaining in the admin budget. He will ask Neil to invoice us quickly to pay this amount, and we will pay the remainder in January. Chuck made a motion to authorize the payment for the brontosaurus mowing by first spending down the KHR fund and then expending the remainder of the 2023 SCC admin budget. Lynn seconded, and the vote was unanimously in favor.

Sutton Ridgerunners (SRR) agreement – Chuck went to KHR with Aaron and Mr Bennett last week and they used a mini-excavator to clear the culverts on the Hominy Pot trail. Chuck replaced the lock on the Bean Quarry gate, and the SRR cleared the trail for their use. Chuck also cleared out culverts on Penacook Path. Henry said he needs to get the SRR agreement and sign it.

ASLPT Sutton hikes – Henry said ASLPT has chosen Webb/Crowell as the Sutton location for their winter series of DIY hikes. He went there and brush-hogged, removed fallen trees obstructing the trail, and put plank bridges over the wet area near the beginning of the loop trail. The parking area is now full-sized, as the gravel pile has been moved and used in road maintenance. ASLPT is also offering a guided snowshoe hike on the Shadow Hill Woodlot in Sutton on February 13^th at 11 AM.

Appointment at 7:00 PM: Jody Wells and Eric Oxman

Jody Wells introduced himself as the landowner on Dodge Hill Rd whose family donated conservation easements on three parcels of land. He commended the SCC on the care we’ve taken of the land. Henry said the reason we were meeting is that the SCC is responsible for monitoring those properties, and we want to ensure the terms of the easement are met when a timber harvest is done. Eric introduced himself as the forester who worked with Jody to do the last timber harvest, ten years ago. He wrote the forest management plan at that time and has made some updates to it since the easement deed requires it to be done within the last 10 years. He said the easement shows pretty clearly what is to be done. Henry asked if there were any parts of the easement that particularly apply. Eric said he is following the guidance of the forest management plan, and there is nothing particular to the easement. He said the 41-acre parcel will be done this winter (T/L# 4-323-231), as the 43 acre parcel (T/L# 4-437-367) has more difficult access. He will use a one-man crew with a small skidder. He said last time he left a lot of white pine for seeding and for protection against blowdowns, and now there is a significant amount of white pine that can be harvested. There are good saplings there that need more light. He will take 50 – 75% of the pine but not much else, other than some pulp. If he takes more now, he can then wait 20 or 30 tears before doing it again. There are some wet areas that will be left alone. He will aim to create a differently-aged stand of trees of different sizes. Some of the old roads will be used and some new ones will be created. The skidder is a smaller, lighter machine than what is usually used now and has a long cable to allow trees to be pulled out of wet areas without having the bring the skidder in there. The work will start in a month and a half or so and will continue for roughly a month and a half, weather permitting. The logger will operate at his own pace. Large stream crossings are on the map and permitted; smaller ones will use corduroy. The machine will pack the ground down hard. If the weather does not work out, this will have to be delayed until drier times. When asked about the forest management plan, Eric said for an update, it’s not necessary to redo the whole forest plan. There are two types of stands, white pine and hardwood. He will update the plan with recommendations for the harvest that will be done this winter, with tree diameters, and will send us a copy and a letter stating that the plan was updated.

Appointment 7:20: Bob DeFelice

Bob introduced himself as chairman of the Sutton Budget Committee. He recommended that we keep the purpose of our donation fund general, and not to give it the same purpose as a line item. He came to propose that we be given a new Non-Capital Capital Reserve Fund for Special Projects. It would be capped at $5,000 and have $1,000 put into it each year. A warrant article would be necessary to establish the fund, but we wouldn’t have to go to Town Meeting in order to expend the money. Instead, the BOS would be made agents to expend the funds. Henry said this would have been very helpful in the situation we are in this year, with the huge expense for the brontosaurus exceeding our Special Projects line item. Don said it would also be good in the years when we have money allocated for mowing and it’s too wet to mow, so the money ends up getting rolled back into the General Fund. The name of our existing capital reserve fund is Conservation Land Acquisition, and the new one will be called Conservation Special Projects. This would be independent of the Special Projects line item in our admin budget. Chuck asked about rolling over our leftover admin budget into the Capital Reserve, and Bob said this would be tricky to do with the DRA (Department of Revenue Administration). Henry asked Bob if he would be able to explain the warrant article at Town Meeting, and Bob said yes. He thinks the town is pro-conservation, and capital reserves save the town money and steady the flow of money. Henry asked if there is a tax advantage for the town, with respect to the DRA, and Bob said the DRA loves capital reserves. He said the DRA sees donations as revenue, and Sutton has a low revenue stream. He recommends putting the large donation into a trust. Bob is also the Trustee of the Trust Funds. Joanna asked what we need to do now, and Bob said just let him know. No one present saw any downside to agreeing to this right now, so we told Bob to please go ahead with this. Lynn asked whether our Conservation Land Acquisition capital reserve fund would also get discussed at Town Meeting and Bob said no, only if it were to be changed.

Review of Intents to Cut and Logging Issues

• M. Vickery, Eaton Grange Rd, T/L# 3-983-475, 50 acres of 67.2, Eric Oxman, forester. There are wetlands and a brook near the road.. Joanna said the landowner is a client of hers, is interested in conservation, and is planning to do selective cutting.

Wetlands Review

• Copy of letter from NHDES requesting more information regarding Expedited Minimum Impact wetlands permit NHDES file number 2023-02752 for bridge project on Keyser St.
• Status of Wetlands Permit for 555 Shaker St, from Michael Carbonneau. Joanna said she would take a look at what is going on with this project, since the owner gave us permission. Henry suggested she write up a report if she sees something of concern.

New Business

SCC’s Annual Report for the 2023 Sutton Town Report – Bonnie said she would write up a report and send it out for the members to review. It is due by January 8^th. Lynn will send pictures of the pollinator garden at Horse Beach, and anyone else who has pictures or information to include is urged to send them to Bonnie. Henry pointed out the recent article in the InterTown Record that described all the projects that the New London Conservation Commission has done this year.

ASLPT Carbon and Forest Resiliency Lecture – This will be held on January 8th at Whipple Hall, at 6:00PM.

Old Business

Status of Sutton Road Agent plan to protect Kezar Lake watershed – Lynn said that Moose plate grants are hard to get for projects such as trail maintenance, but that highway-related projects that help protect the lake from run-off are more likely to be awarded grants. She thinks that our road agent Adam Hurst is amenable to pursuing this.

Properties of interest – Henry went over the current land parcels that are for sale right now and how they rank in terms of high priority habitat.

Correspondence

• Email from NHACC requesting that conservation commissions fill out a survey about projects they are working on and what they need help with.
• Email from NHACC about NHDES looking for input on the NH Climate Action Plan.
• Email correspondence with Betsy Forsham, Catherine O’Brian and Lorri Himes regarding Forest Management on the Wells conservation land
• New London styrofoam recycling program. Henry said New London is doing a great thing with this. He’d like to see our members develop individual areas of focus, and said this is a good example of a possible area. Yvonne said she is interested in focusing on protecting wetlands.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 10th, 2024, at 6:30 PM, at Sutton Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Bonnie Hill, Secretary