Sutton Conservation Commission

Draft Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Present: Henry Howell, Chair; Don Davis; Chuck Bolduc; Barbara Hoffman and Bonnie Hill.

Absent: Debbie Lang; Jim Morris; Lynn Wittman; Wally Baker.

Members of the public present: Cathy Popkin, Linda Magoon.

Call to order: Chairman Henry Howell called the meeting to order at 6:34 pm.

Previous Meeting’s Minutes:  The minutes from the last meeting on November 9^th were unanimously approved.

Financial Report:

Debbie sent out a financial report before the meeting. There were no expenditures in November. An additional $2,575 in expenditures has been projected for the rest of the year, creating an overrun of $1,422 over our budget of $7,612. $1,500 of this is for gravel to repair Eaton Grange Road. The Conservation Fund had a balance of $180,757.18 at the end of November. The King Hill Fund had a balance of $2,070.68. The Capital Reserve is at $57,581.34. Don suggested that we try to get the Class 6 portion of Eaton Grange Rd changed to Class 5 so that the town would be responsible for maintaining it. This would require a warrant article for Town Meeting in 2024, and the road would need to be widened to meet town standards.

Trail Maintenance and Development

Trails Advisory Committee Report

Review snowmobile agreement and trail maintenance – Henry passed out copies of the updated agreement for our review. Chuck said that he and Aaron Flewelling did the agreed-upon work together on Monday. They covered a culvert on Hominy Pot, cleared out drainages with an excavator, opened up drainage ditches at the sides of the trail and put in a water bar, cleaned up culverts and drainages on the way up to White Rabbit, dug out a buried culvert on White Rabbit and filled in some eroded areas with excavated material. Aaron fortified a culvert on the Penacook Path. The snowmobile club is doing trail maintenance in the Bean Quarry. The decided to use an old logging road instead of Tom’s Trail, as it is wider and can be two-way. Chuck will get some signs from Henry to put up at the cell phone tower area at the top of the hill. Henry signed the agreement and will send it to Aaron, who already received a draft copy.

 

Offer of help in forming a “Friends of the SCC” group – Shannon Storm from Friends of the Sutton Library emailed us and offered to share documents and expertise if we were interested in forming such a group. Henry said right now we are pursuing a different path, but that we can keep that in mind as a back-up plan. He read aloud the draft warrant article that Elly wrote, for establishing a revolving fund for donations. Chuck pointed out that we decided to use the KHR fund for the revolving fund, and he offered to contact Elly and make the change to specify the KHR fund. He said this will help clarify that the donated money will go to fund trail maintenance at KHR specifically. He said we need a public hearing in January on the warrant and we need to get people’s support for it. Bonnie said she will write a letter to the editor pointing out the benefits to taxpayers.

 

Need for mowing of Enroth/Lefferts trailhead parking at Rt. 114 entrance – This was pointed out by Betsy Forsham. Don had asked at our June meeting if he could ask Gerry Gagnon to mow the area twice during the season, for $50. He said he would speak to Gerry again. He said there is bittersweet hiding some wire fencing, and Gerry knows where it is.

Maintenance of Hominy Pot Rd parking lot owned by Muster Field Farm (MFF)– Elly emailed us about this, saying that the road agent has been plowing it for years, but he can’t plow it any more because it is in rough shape and full of rocks. She asked if we knew who was responsible for the maintenance. It is owned by MFF, but Chuck said it is not part of the easement. Don said it is very muddy in spring, and that reduces the number of cars that can park there. Henry said it is important for winter use of KHR. He said a letter should be sent to MFF by either the BOS or NSIS, asking how they view their responsibility for maintaining the lot. If they wash their hands of it, then the town will need to do something. He asked Bonnie to write to Elly requesting that she send a letter to MFF.

KHR Beaver Dam status – Henry said that one option for dealing with this is simply to let the beavers be. They do create valuable habitat for other wildlife. He is in favor of this as long as they don’t make Lyon Brook a hazard. Chuck said to remove the dam we would require mechanized equipment and permits from NHDES. ASLPT is okay with it, as long as we get the proper permits. Henry said we would need to remove two dams, as the beavers have also made a huge 6 foot dam at the end of Felch Rd. Bonnie and Don expressed agreement about leaving the beavers alone. Bonnie said Pat Tivnan had expressed concern about damage to the watershed from red algae growing by the dam, but the members thought that beaver pond formation was a natural process that shouldn’t be harmful. Barb asked if the beaver population is stable, or would it keep growing? They will grow and colonize new areas until they run out of hardwood trees for food. Chuck said he agrees that we can let them be, but he is concerned about the public’s expectations for the trails. Bonnie thought that most of the people who hike those trails wouldn’t want the beavers killed. Henry said the only thing we are truly losing is the bridge, and we can rebuild that in the future. Chuck suggested we hold off on making a decision until spring, in case we get some input from Gerry Putnam or the public. All were in favor.

Wetlands Review

Copy of Letter from DES to Gary Fitzgerald and Chuck Rose regarding reported alleged violation on T/L# 01-173-097. File number 2022-03035. A complaint was received that slash was left in a wetland during forestry operations.

Standard Dredge & Fill permit application from J & R Sigua, Penacook Rd,. T/L # 08-106-159, for installation of two 50 foot docks with connecting walkway. Barb, Debbie and Bonnie reviewed the application and looked at the site. Barb said we have until January 5^th to report our opinion to DES, or we can choose to say nothing. She said the application did not explain why they needed to have 2 50-foot docks. She said 30 feet is the length specified in the Best Management Practices document, unless there is something unique about the situation. The shallowness of the water at the end of the existing 30-foot dock is not unique to that lot. Don said any sailboat on Kezar should have a retractable center board. Cathy Popkin, a neighbor, said even with the centerboard out, the sailboat still rests on the bottom of the lake. Barb said the long docks might interfere with navigability of the lake by other users, but Cathy said she didn’t feel that was true. As for the abutters, Cathy said one of them didn’t care, and the other is a summer resident and unavailable for comment. Henry said approving 50 foot docks sets a precedent, but he felt this was more an issue for the KLPA people, as it has more to do with aesthetics than with wetlands impacts. Don agreed that this is not our issue, since there is no pollution involved. He pointed out that 50 feet is long with respect to the width of the adjoining lots (70 and 75 feet). He asked about the Planning Board’s opinion, and Chuck said they granted a conditional use permit. The members decided not to respond to NHDES.

New Business

Discuss adding climate change forest management to our KHR management plan – Henry asked how we all felt about adding an option for climate change considerations to our forest management plan. Chuck said it makes sense to add it. He said that that document is for laying out all our goals and objectives for KHR, not just about logging. He offered to talk to Leo about doing the updating. Henry cited the publications Increasing Forest Resiliency for an Uncertain Future and Forest Carbon from U Mass Amherst and said he would like some of the ideas expressed in there to be incorporated into the plan, and he wasn’t sure if Leo was aware of these materials. Chuck said Leo is very aware of the climate change considerations. He said Matt Tarr spoke of how the more people study climate change, the more the goals converge. Henry said he sees KHR as an opportunity to have a demonstration forest, for management with climate change in mind. He asked if we should reference the two documents in our plan, in an appendix, and Chuck said there are many great resources that can be included. Chuck offered to write something up for Leo so that he can consider it when he does his update of the plan. Chuck made a motion that we incorporate climate change considerations into the KHR forest management plan, and Don seconded. The vote was unanimously in favor.

 

SCC Report for Town of Sutton 2022 Annual Report – Elly emailed us and said this should be done by January 9^th and should be no more than 2 pages long. Barb offered to write the report, and all SCC members are to send highlights from the year’s accomplishments, as well as any pictures, to Barb. She will ask Elly if we can wait to submit it after reviewing it at our meeting on Jan. 11^th.

 

New KHR Trail Map – Chuck unveiled his newest version of the map, in full size, with color coding, topo lines and shading, stone walls, elevations, historic sites, stream designations and other great info. It covers Maple Leaf and the Bean Quarry as well as KHR. He will have it printed and put it up in the trailhead kiosk, under the plexiglass.

Miscellaneous

Burial space – Don saw a program on NH Chronicle about people choosing to be buried on conservation land, and he pointed out that Sutton has run out of burial space. Dover and Milford are some towns that have done this. Chuck said the conservation easements would need to be checked. Henry said there is town-owned land that is not conservation land that should be considered. Don offered to write a letter to the cemetery trustees about it, but Barb suggested we wait until we have more information, and have watched the program, if possible. This would involve a warrant article for a future Town Meeting.

What’s in bloom – Don said it would be nice to have posters at our trailhead kiosks that have pictures and names of wildflowers currently in bloom, and other flora and fauna. Or if people could go to our website and report what they’ve seen while hiking. Henry said this would help with taking a Natural Resource Inventory, which is part of our charter. Bonnie pointed out that Henry’s iNaturalist project is also doing this. Henry said it is difficult for people to take pictures of birds and animals, though, and it would be easier if they could just enter them by name.

Correspondence

• NHACC November eNews, with a survey for conservation commissions, news from other concoms, grant opportunities, stewardship volunteer training, and more.
• Email from Bob Friedlander Jr. regarding Climate and Health Initiative for Children of Kearsarge and Sunapee (CHICKS), a novel community-level program to protect the physical and emotional health of young children in the face of climate change.
• Email from Amy Highstrom with update regarding the Lake Sunapee Butterfly Club and including a calendar of events for 2023.
• Email from Kyle Lombard in response to our educational session on climate change and forestry, in support of timber cutting at KHR, and offering his service on forest health issues.
• Email from Elly Phillips regarding reimbursing road agent for Eaton Grange Rd gravel.
• Email from Chris Guerette of North Sutton offering volunteer trail maintenance assistance at KHR and Maple Leaf.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.

Next Meeting:  Wednesday, January 11th, 2023, at 6:30 PM, at Sutton Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Bonnie Hill, Secretary