TOWN OF SUTTON

Sutton Conservation Commission

Draft Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

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

Call to order: The meeting was held at Town Hall. Henry Howell called the meeting to order at 6:35 pm.

Previous Meeting’s Minutes: The minutes from the 7/14/2021 meeting were approved unanimously.
Financial Report:
Debbie had sent out a financial report before the meeting. In July the only charge against the SCC Admin budget was $614.88 for Secretarial Services. YTD total spending is $1139.88 out of a total budget of $7537. At the end of July, the Conservation Fund had a balance of $148,192.32 and the King Hill Fund had $1,708.33. The Capital Reserve balance is $50,570.65. Debbie reported that $10,100 in LUCT money has been received and 100% will be deposited into the Conservation Fund in August.
Correspondence
• Email from NHACC reminding us to spread the word about the NH BioBlitz.
• Email from NHACC announcing the fall Lunch & Learn Zoom series, with presentations on water protection grants, laws regarding eBikes, ConCom Fundamentals, and more.
• NHACC July eNews announcing new updated NHACC Handbook, grant opportunities and more. Henry asked Bonnie to order a copy of the new handbook.
• Forest Notes, magazine of the SPNHF, Spring and Summer 2021 issues.
• InterTown Record – Henry brought to our attention an article in the July 27th issue regarding a new interpretive sign at Horse Beach about the history, ecology and current threats to Kezar Lake, installed by the KLPA, with Lynn Wittman playing a key role.
• ASLPT will be presenting a talk on Japanese Knotweed tomorrow at 4:00 by Doug Cygan, the Invasive Species Coordinator for the NH Department of Agriculture.

Review of Wetland Applications and Issues:
Jim had volunteered to read through the Standard Dredge and Fill permit applications from NHDOT for work on bridges over I-89 in Sutton. He sent a review via email of application #40511, in which he listed several points of concern. These included the extent of tree removal and its potential for additional highway noise, the impact to the crossing of Lion Brook, the installation of permanent lighting, and the availability of mitigation money for conservation purposes. Bonnie read the review aloud in Jim’s absence. She will forward it to Chuck. Jim is still planning to review application #42419. In the meantime, an amended application was also received, with details about the impact on three intermittent stream crossings. Bonnie will bring this to the attention of Chuck and Jim, in case they are interested in reviewing it. Don pointed out that the highway crossing of Lion Brook is in Chadwick Meadows, and there is a dam there. Henry said he notified Elly about potential ARM grant money coming to the town, as a result of Chuck’s having filled out the DOT questionnaire in April 2020.

Review of Intents to Cut and Logging Issues:
• As a follow-up to last month’s discussion about the Cloutier timber cut and whether it violated the spirit of the conservation easement, Don reported that his sister spoke to the original owners of the lot, and they said that the logging that was done was in keeping with the terms of the easement. Debbie added that Anne Payeur, the Stewardship Manager for ASLPT, has offered to walk the property with those who are concerned.

Old business
Eversource Tree Cutting – Henry said he met with Eversource people at the Town Wildlife Area and gave them permission to cut down some of the trees there, which were mostly dead and close to the power lines. Barb asked about the Planning Board’s public hearing regarding tree cutting, and Bonnie said that a hearing is required when tree cutting is proposed on designated scenic roads. She said she looked at about 33 of the 59 trees on the list, and did not see anything alarming enough to report.

Status of Horse Beach KLNA engineering designs – Wally thinks about 6 cars could park in a lot at the Kezar Lake Natural Area (KLNA). He is waiting to get some input from a town engineer, and hopes that they will say we don’t need to hire an outside engineer, since the area is simple and there are no slopes. He thinks we should put up a sign saying “Park at your Own Risk” because of the possibility of falling tree limbs. He says the NSIS is not amenable to giving us any space on their land for parking, and he has not gotten an answer back from the state about the use of the State Park, so he thinks we should go ahead and make a parking area at KLNA. He has access to granite curbing and posts which could be used to delineate the back of the parking area. Henry asked who would pay for it, and Wally thought the Town would pay, as the gravel needed wouldn’t be very much. Wally thought nothing would be happening until after Labor Day. Henry said Lynn is working with landscapers on a design.

New Business

Focus Projects for SCC in 2021 – Henry passed out a document containing a list of possible ideas for focus for the SCC members, as well as a list of what the members were focusing on in 2020. The topics covered a wide range of possibilities, and he asked us to think about what we would like to choose to work on. He said he is working on a brochure which will be a pocket guide to the flora, fauna, history and geology of our Sutton trails. Jack Noon and Dave Anderson have contributed information to it.

Publicity
NH BioBlitz – Henry explained that this is a statewide inventory of flora and fauna collected via citizen science using iNaturalist, and will take place on town-owned lands during the month of September. Two online training sessions were held in August, and these were recorded by UNH Extension. Bonnie pointed out an article about it in this week’s InterTown Record. Henry said he would like us to put an article in the paper that is more focused on Sutton, and includes a picture, preferably involving a child using iNaturalist. Bonnie said she would draft an article and send it out for review. Henry said he would like to make a big deal out of this, with posters around town. It will put our name out in the public eye. Don said he would design a poster, and the posters will be put at the trailhead kiosks, post offices, and schools. Since it will be in September, Lynn said the schools could get involved, maybe with field trips. She also wondered if the library could get involved. She suggested holding workshops on how to use iNaturalist, and advertising them at the boat ramp. Don said the link to town conservation commissions on the BioBlitz website goes to the main SCC page but does not link directly to a page with trail info. Bonnie said she will look into it.

Special Event Day for the SCC – Henry said in the past the SCC gave public presentations on topics of interest, but we did not do that last year because of Covid. He said the BioBlitz could be our big event for this year. He talked about what some other groups have been doing, to give us some ideas. The ASLPT published a map showing pictures from some of their properties, with areas showing their locations on the map. Chesterfield CC held their own townwide BioBlitz, in June. Rindge CC did a series of hikes, with the first one focused on pollinators. He also mentioned the Big Tree Program, in which a prize can be given for the biggest tree found in town. Regarding the SCC website, he pointed out the wonderful illustrated information that Northern Woodlands magazine publishes in their “what’s in the woods this week” feature. That would not be able to be used without permission, but he asked Bonnie to look at ABNativePlants.com for information about native plants for pollinators that we could put on the website to educate people. Bonnie said she added a page to the website showing pictures of wildflowers currently in bloom in our area.

T-shirts for SCC volunteer helpers – Henry said maybe this could be expanded to include tee shirts or caps for BioBlitz participants.

Trail Maintenance and Development
Trails Advisory Committee Report
> Summertime trail clearing and maintenance – Henry said he used his brush hog at KHR to mow a path from Penacook Path to White Rabbit and down to the Nichols Trail. He showed us a picture of a new sign post he put up with trail names and a directional arrow to keep people from going on to private property. Bonnie said the Webb/Crowell trail was in good shape, and Henry said he thought the entrance path could use some brush hogging. Bonnie said the increased foot traffic seems to keep it down quite well.

>Maple Leaf winter parking option – Wally said the legal issues around this are daunting. The Angelis are responsible for the winter maintenance, but then they could be liable if the public sustains injuries from using the road. The town would either have to assume that liability, or take over the plowing. Lynn said she and some other local residents see no reason to plow that road, as enough people are finding their way to the trails using the parking areas on Hominy Pot Road. She said the road is so narrow, that opening it up via plowing seems an invitation to accidents. Wally said this may be a dead issue, since the town takeover of the plowing was already shot down once at Town Meeting.

>KHR logging — Chuck reported via email that he heard back from Leo and he plans to get to the KHR to collect field data this fall. Before that we will need to mark the boundaries. He will coordinate with Henry as part of our trails committee/trail maintenance crew.

Miscellaneous
KLPA 50th anniversary party – Lynn said this will be Sunday, September 5th at noon and is free and open to the public. It will be potluck, with hot dogs provided. It will be a good opportunity for the SCC to set up a booth for the BioBlitz and maybe give demos of how to use iNaturalist.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, September 8th, 2021, at 6:30 PM, at Sutton Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Bonnie Hill, Secretary