April 15, 2025 | Bonnie Hill Sutton Conservation Commission (SCC) DRAFT Meeting Minutes Wednesday, April 9, 2025 Present: Henry Howell, Chair; Don Davis; Debbie Lang; Chuck Bolduc; Joanna Murphy; Jim Morris; Lynn Wittman; and Bonnie Hill. Absent: Kate Fernald. Others Present: Nancy Heckel. Call to order: Henry Howell called the meeting to order at 6:35 pm. Previous Meeting’s Minutes: The minutes from the last meeting on March 19th were unanimously approved. Financial Report: Debbie sent out a spreadsheet before the meeting. New expenditures in March were $300 in Dues/Publications for memberships in ASLPT, NH Lakes and SPNHF. There is $8,155 left in our budget. Here are the Bar Harbor Bank account balances as of the end of March: Conservation Fund: $234,703.18 (sum of all sub-accounts) Conservation Fund Unrestricted: $216,136.21 Sievert King Hill Gift: $17,437.76 Donation Holding Account: $1,129.21 Capital Reserve: TBD Non-Capital Reserve: TBD Capital reserve amounts have not yet been finalized after Town Meeting. Future commitments: Booker max $8K, Stockwell approx $15K, Wright max $15K for total of $38K Trail Maintenance and Development Trails Advisory Committee Report Update on the KHR donation system – Chuck said that the changes needed to connect with Blackbaud are more complicated than originally thought. He is working on a full stack web application to support this, and is in contact with the town’s website consultant from CivicPlus. Our system is more complicated than the usual situation because it has to be headless; there is no human administrator to receive and direct the donations. In the meantime, Chuck has learned that Blackbaud has a different, potentially simpler option that he is looking into with Jim. KHR Penacook Path culvert rebuild/replacement – Chuck reached out to Hansen Bridge of Springfield, NH, to talk about a wooden bridge. They take care of everything from bank to bank, from engineering design to installation. The ballpark price figure they gave Chuck was $80,000 for a 40 foot long vehicular bridge. They are willing to come and look at the site with Chuck in order to give a more accurate estimate. This project would require us to find outside funding. Status of snowmobile signage – No one reported any complaints about the snowmobilers at KHR this past winter. Chuck is planning to get up there with Aaron to put up signs, maybe next week. Review of Intents to Cut and Logging Issues None Wetlands Review None New Business Discuss Town Forest options – Henry wrote to Anita Blakeman, the consulting forester for Sutton, and asked her to give us an idea of what it would take to fix up the area. The trees are malformed from weevils and many are dead. To be a designated town forest, a forest has to be managed, and we haven’t been doing that. Henry distributed copies of the reply from Anita. She had recommended that the pine plantation be cleared back in the 90’s, as the pines had weevil damage and were not good for saw timber. Currently the trees are only good for larger biomass chips. She still recommends that the area be cleared and allowed to regenerate naturally, but said this would be a cost project. She did say that the site harbors songbirds and may be good snowshoe hare habitat, and that it offers a diversity to the landscape management of the area. Don gave some history about the forest. Forty years ago the trees were planted and a road was left open all along the length of it. The SCC talked to SPNHF about getting it declared a Town Forest. Dave Anderson, who was on the SCC, wrote a management plan for the forest. No management was done except for some thinning about 20 years ago, so the Town Forest designation was taken off. Henry asked that some of the SCC members explore this in detail. This would involve going to look at the forest and getting information from Anita about what could be done with the felled trees, how it could be re-planted, and what the estimated cost would be. Unlike at the Bean Quarry, we wouldn’t be able to generate any income from a timber harvest, so a grant would have to be found to cover the cost. Chuck said this would be an expensive project that would face opposition from people in town. Joanna said she felt that the money we would have to spend on this project would be better spent in helping landowners with the costs of placing conservation easements on their property. Henry pointed out that we could use outside funding, but Chuck countered with the fact that we are already going to need to write a grant for the KHR culvert project. Debbie said competition for grants such as LCHIP is going to be fiercer than ever because of all the government funding cuts. The consensus was to leave the forest as is. Kickoff Meeting for Kezar Lake Watershed Based Plan – Lynn said this will be on April 23rd at 7:30 at Town Hall, and we are hoping to get people from different organizations such as SCC to come, as well as people who are just interested in the health of the lake. FBE Engineering has been hired to write the plan, and once that is done we will be in position to apply for grants to do the repairs to the watershed. Old pedestrian bridge from Corporation Hill River crossing – The people storing the old pedestrian bridge that used to cross the river at Corporation Hill Rd would like to get rid of it, and the BOS asked Henry if the SCC would be interested in having it. Henry said yes. It is a very strong and well-built wooden bridge, about 40 feet long, and he passed out a picture of it. He said it could be cut in half and stored to one side of the Maple Leaf parking lot until we have a need for it on our trails. Chuck didn’t think there was enough room there. Bonnie said that Glenn Pogust had sent out a later email after conferring with Betsy Forsham. He said it is likely too large and cumbersome to be moved to an SCC property and it is possible that the Town could re-sell it, which would mean funds that can be used for a new bridge. Otherwise, the bridge will be re-purposed some other way. Legislative Update on State House bills affecting conservation – Joanna went to the last BOS meeting to talk about some bills that seek to override local zoning ordinances in the name of providing more housing. This has a potential impact on conservation as it takes away towns’ rights to set protective restrictions. The BOS asked Joanna to focus on two bills, so she picked the ones pertaining to wetlands buffer regulations and development on Class 6 roads. The BOS will send a letter to the governor, to our state rep Tom Schamberg, and our state senator Dan Innis, expressing opposition to the bills. Don brought our attention to another disturbing development at the State House. In developing their version of the budget, the senate has proposed to grab 5% of the money in Designated Funds and add it to the general fund. This includes State Parks, LCHIP, Fish & Game, and other departments. State Parks is totally self-funded, so to lose 5% is a real hardship. Old Business Update on Jeffrey and Wright conservation easements – Henry said that the ASLPT easement on the Jeffrey property is close to completion. Since the property was recently sold, it is well surveyed. The Wright property, which abuts the Jeffreys, still needs a survey and assessment. Henry will talk to Bob Wright to see if he needs any help with this process. He is working with ASLPT. Debbie said that Andy Deegan is about to do a baseline analysis on at least one of these properties. Conservation Commission appointments – The Town Clerk says Lynn’s term expires in 2025, so she has written to the Town Admin asking to be re-appointed. Henry said the goal is to have the members’ terms staggered so that three people have terms ending every year. Nancy Heckel came to the meeting and said she is interested in serving as an alternate member. She works for the Lake Sunapee Protective Association (LSPA) doing environmental education for “K to Gray” (ages from kindergarten on up). Henry welcomed her and will write to the BOS about appointing her to the commission as an alternate member. ASLPT boundary markers at Lefferts conservation land – Henry said that in view of the timber trespass, ASLPT wants this property clearly marked with an ASLPT metal marker every 20 feet, and has given this mission to the SCC. There are no stone walls, so the boundary will be found by shooting an azimuth. Jim, Joanna and Bonnie volunteered to help Henry put up the markers. If there is no boundary map in our files, we can ask ASLPT for one. Publicity NHSaves workshop – Henry said this will be at Warner Town Hall, on April 24th at 7:00. The SCC has been asked to put up posters and bring refreshments. Henry will bring punch, cups, napkins and plates. Debbie and Joanna will bring cookies. Bonnie will bring cheese, crackers and grapes. Henry handed out posters for people to put up. The electric utilities pay for this program, and Chuck and Debbie both said they saved money with it. Property Reviews – Henry Howell made a motion that the following discussion be conducted in a nonpublic session per RSA 91-A:3,II. The motion was seconded by Bonnie Hill. A roll call vote was taken, with the following commission members voting Aye: Debbie Lang, Henry Howell, Chuck Bolduc, Joanna Murphy, Lynn Wittman, Jim Morris and Bonnie Hill. There was no one opposed. A discussion was then held. Correspondence Email from BOS regarding pedestrian bridge. Email from NHACC asking for input from members about what workshops to offer at annual conference. March eNews from NHACC with news from other concoms, training sessions, and grant opportunities. Conservation News, newsletter of the Merrimack County Conservation District, with order form for their spring plant sale. Letter from NH Lakes with 2024 Impact Report. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM. Next Meeting: Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at 6:30 PM, at Sutton Town Hall. Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Hill, Secretary
