Sutton Conservation Commission (SCC)

DRAFT Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Present: Henry Howell, Chair; Don Davis; Chuck Bolduc; Barbara Hoffman; Debbie Lang; Jim Morris; Lynn Wittman; Wally Baker and Bonnie Hill.

Members of the public present: Pat Tivnan

Call to order: Chairman Henry Howell called the meeting to order at 6:32 pm.

Previous Meeting’s Minutes:  The minutes from the last meeting on January 11^th were unanimously approved.

Financial Report:

Debbie sent out a financial report before the meeting. In January we spent $50 on a donation to Friends of Mt Sunapee and $60 on plowing. The Conservation Fund had a balance of $194,813.04 at the end of January, up $800 due to LUCT deposit. The King Hill Fund had a balance of $1,578.72, down $500 due to payment for mowing. The Capital Reserve is at $57,581.34. The budget committee’s public hearing is next Monday, and Wally said that nothing has been changed in the admin budget that we submitted in December. He said he would represent the SCC’s interests at the hearing.

 

Trail Maintenance and Development

Trails Advisory Committee Report

KHR donation system – Jim reported that this work is progressing. An account has been set up with Blackbaud, and they will be getting back to us to get us set up. Debbie volunteered to handle emails generated from the donations. Chuck said he talked to several back-country skiers at KHR and told them about the system, and they said they would be happy to donate money for trail maintenance. He said that by next month’s meeting we should have something we can test.

 

Status of Keyser St/Penacook Rd parking lot owned by Muster Field Farm (MFF) – Wally said he didn’t get to talk to Adam Hurst about plowing this. Chuck said he shoveled out the snowbank there so that a few cars can park. Wally said he’ll talk to Adam after Town Meeting and he will also ask Steve Paquin of MFF for permission for the town to plow that lot. Henry asked if the Webb/Crowell lot has been plowed, but no one knew. Wally will ask Mike McManus.

 

Wetlands Review

 

FYI – The next program in the NHACC Wetlands Training series is “Wetlands Laws and Clarification of Local, State, and Federal Jurisdiction” on Friday, February 24^th at 12:00 PM. Several members attended the first program and found it to be very good.

Report on DES Warner River instream flow management plan – Several members attended. Lynn said she thought the state did a good job of presenting the plan, and that it seemed fair to balance the needs of the people and wildlife. She said it was a long term study, mainly concerning fish, and that the drought situations that would occasion the release of water from the lakes would be rare. Debbie said DES used other comparable rivers in their modeling. She said they lost their audience when they talked about conditions for Atlantic Salmon, which are not currently in the Warner River. There were people in the audience who objected to the plan. Henry said his impression was that they would not lower the lake very much; maybe only 4 inches. In contrast, he said that the level of the lake is dropped 5 feet just for the lake residents to maintain their docks.

Appointment 7:00PM: Joanna Murphy proposal for dog leashing at King Hill Reservation

Correction – the appointment was with Joanna Murphy and not Joanna Henderson. As Ms. Murphy was not present, Henry summarized her concerns. Her rescue dog, that she walks at KHR, has problems with other dogs when they are unleashed and engage with her dog. Barb and Bonnie spoke of unpleasant experiences with unleashed dogs. Henry said he has heard from other people who are strongly opposed to leash requirements. He said one option would be to designate one path in KHR for leashed dogs only. He said Sutton has no leash law and defers to state rules. Wally said a public hearing would be required if we tried to create an ordinance. Barb suggested posting a sign that says “please keep your dog under control and respect other people”. Chuck will put some text regarding rules for the park into his map for the kiosk. This will also show up on people’s phones when they view the map. The rules would include pack in, pack out; no fires; no camping; respect other users of this multi-use park. Putting dog-related signage at the trailheads is under review.

On a related note, Don said his grandson has offered to place dog waste bag dispensers at two trailheads, and would provide the bags. Henry said that was a generous offer, but he asked if Don’s grandson would consider putting a receptacle there, too, and collecting the waste bags. Otherwise, people will just throw them into the woods.

 

Old Business

Discuss additions to the King Hill Forest Management Plan – Henry had sent out his proposed climate change-related additions for the members to review, and he passed out printed copies. He said he will provide the text to Leo along with copies of the Forest Carbon and Increasing Forest Resiliency publications from UMass and the White Paper that Henry presented at our public info session in November. He said the new goal he added is a climate change-related tweak to our existing management goals, and it reads as follows: “Enhance the forest’s ability to deal with climate change in sections appropriate for either active management, passive management, or a combination of the two that will support trees most resilient to climate change, as well as their ability to sequester air-borne carbon dioxide and/or to store carbon dioxide.” Chuck said he thought Henry’s entire write-up should be put into the forest management plan and not just the one added goal. The introductory information will be added to the appendix. Jim asked if there was a gold standard for the balance of active and passive forest management. Chuck said there was no one gold standard; that the key is to manage for diversity. Jim wondered if something should be posted at the trailhead kiosk. Henry said that if we decide to do any forest management, we would have a walkthrough of the area for the public to attend, and that would be an educational opportunity to explain the climate-related tweak to our management goals. Henry made a motion that we add the new text to the KHR forest management plan, and Debbie seconded. The vote was unanimously in favor.

 

Update on road salt reduction – Debbie said she wrote to Jen McCourt, who wrote to the state, who said there is no update on this yet.

Update on Horse Beach Parking Area – Wally said that Peter Blakeman has a plan, and there will be a meeting on February 20 with Heidi Thoma of NSIS, Lynn Wittman of KLPA, the Board of Selectmen, and Peter Blakeman to discuss that plan.

 

Status of SCC membership term “swearing-in” for Henry Howell, Chuck Bolduc & Barb Hoffman – Henry reminded folks with expiring terms to notify Elly of their intention to re-enlist.

Application deadline for Coverts sign-up is March 1, 2023 – Henry said some of the SCC members have taken this course and it is very worthwhile. It will take place during the month of May, with one online class and three field trips.

New KHR Trail Map – Chuck showed the latest version of his map, with even more features.

 

Correspondence

• NHACC January eNews, announcing new YouTube channel, LCHIP grants for conservation, many training programs regarding wetlands, bird ID, local biodiversity efforts, etc,, grant opportunities.
• Email from NHACC with action alert regarding conservation-related legislation.
• Email from Friends of Mt Sunapee thanking SCC for the $50 donation.
• Letter from John Plummer of SPNHF regarding monitoring of our deed-restricted property: Partridge LT-DR. No problems were seen.
• Two packages from NHACC containing complimentary copies of the latest New Hampshire’s Municipal Conservation Commissions Handbook.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:01 PM.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 8th, 2023, at 6:30 PM, at Sutton Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Bonnie Hill, Secretary