TOWN OF SUTTON

Sutton Conservation Commission

Draft Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Present: Henry Howell, Chair; Barbara Hoffman; Don Davis; Debbie Lang; Wally Baker; and Bonnie Hill.

Absent: Chuck Bolduc, Lynn Wittman, and  Jim Morris.

Members of the public present: Fred Sladen.

 

Call to order: The meeting was held at Town Hall. Henry Howell called the meeting to order at 6:37 pm.

 

Previous Meeting’s Minutes: The minutes from the 11/10/2021 meeting were approved unanimously. Henry made a motion to seal the minutes from the non-public session on November 10^th and Debbie seconded. In a roll call vote, Henry, Barb, Debbie, Don, Wally and Bonnie all voted aye.

Financial Report:

Debbie had sent out a financial report before the meeting. Last month’s expenses totaled $1,810.  We spent $450 in dues/memberships (NHACC, SPNHF, and SRKG).  Under Special Projects we spent $1,360 ($1,000 for Leo Maslan/King Hill and $360 for Perkins Landscaping). YTD total spending is $2950 out of a total budget of $7537. As of the end of November, the Conservation Fund contained $167,745.93. The King Hill Fund had $1,708.906.  The Capital Reserve balance is $50,570.65.  The bank statement shows that a check for $1,000 was paid out on 11/19/2021 from the Conservation Fund. This should have come out of the admin Special Projects account. Henry said he has submitted an additional $1200 for Special Projects, and he can add $350 for snowmobile-related signage. Debbie said she would ask Chuck if any snow plowing expenses have been incurred. Wally suggested asking Travis Perkins for an estimate of snow plowing expenses for the rest of the year, so we can submit that.  Debbie suggested paying some of the remaining portion of the Forest Management Plan fee in 2021 instead of 2022.

Correspondence

• Email from Peter Brahan of North Sutton offering his services to SCC as a volunteer. Henry enlisted him to help with putting up snowmobile signs.
• Email notice from Emilio Cancio-Bello inviting all town boards to a meeting of the Sutton Central ES to discuss a new STEAM wing at KRHS.
• NHACC November eNews announcing NH Bioblitz results, training opportunities, grants (TD Green Space Grants, NH Fish & Game Habitat Improvement Small Grants) and more.
• Email from NHACC thanking SCC for the membership renewal and enclosing a Commission Update form to be filled out and returned. Bonnie sent back the filled out form.
• Email newsletter from Colby-Sawyer College community-based research project team regarding Kezar Lake watershed analysis and free well testing. Henry and Bonnie attended their mid-year presentation, which was very technical and detailed. Henry recommended that everyone join him in partaking of the free well testing for arsenic.
• Email from Debbie Lang enclosing list of the real estate appraisers used by ASLPT.
• Notice from ZBA about a public hearing on 12/15 at 7 PM regarding approval of a special exception for an after-the-fact structure inside a wetlands buffer (fire pit and seating area) on T/L #7-953-373. Don expressed concern about burned materials ending up in the lake, depending upon whether the fire pit was above ground or in-ground.

 

New prospective member: Fred Sladen of North Sutton came to the meeting and gave us some info about his background. He is a former member of the New London Conservation Commission and now lives in Sutton. He has a strong background in the natural sciences, having taught science at the high school level and done science work for non-profits. He was a wildlife biologist for NH Fish & Game, and is currently chairman of the Knights Hill Nature Park Committee.

After Fred left, Wally made a motion that we accept Fred Sladen as an alternate member of the SCC, if he so wishes, and Debbie seconded. The vote was unanimously in favor.

 

Review of Wetland Applications and Issues:

• None

 

Review of Intents to Cut and Logging Issues:

• C. Courser, Pound Road, T/L# 05-815-136, 75 acres out of 80.7, logger unknown.

 

Old business

 

Status of Horse Beach KLNA: Wally said he is going to show his 6-to-7 car parking lot design to Peter Stanley. He agreed with Lynn to use telephone poles instead of granite edging. Barb said if using telephone poles or railroad ties, please check for whether they contain creosote, which is hazardous. Henry informed Wally about Bob DeFelice’s statement that he wouldn’t have sold us the Stevens lot if he had known we would put a parking lot on it. Henry said KLNA is really a major place for people to park in in order to use the lake area, especially now with parking forbidden along the road. He said we have a choice of either putting up lots of signage saying “No parking – conservation land”, or we can build the parking lot and put up signage with words to the effect of “this parking area has been made possible by the SCC – please respect our surrounding conservation land.” He feels that the latter course would generate positive publicity for the SCC. Wally said he and Ernie Brake are going to work together on a plan with some kind of backstop to the parking lot – either granite posts or a split rail fence. He said granite is very hard to get right now. Don pointed out that people don’t always park efficiently in a gravel parking lot, since it is hard to delineate parking spaces. He said in some of the national parks they embed 2 by 4’s into the gravel, flush with the surface, and paint the exposed edges white to create parking lot lines.

 

Property Committee Report – 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 Debbie Lang.  A roll call vote was taken, with the following commission members voting Aye:  Don Davis, Wally Baker, Barbara Hoffman, Debbie Lang, Henry Howell, and Bonnie Hill.  There was no one opposed.   A discussion was then held. Barb made a motion that we come out of the non-public session, and the vote in favor was unanimous.

Wally made a motion that we seal the minutes of the non-public session, and Barb seconded. A roll call vote was taken, with the following commission members voting Aye:  Don Davis, Barbara Hoffman, Bonnie Hill, Debbie Lang, Wally Baker, and Henry Howell.  There was no one opposed.

New Business

NH Bioblitz results for Sutton – Henry had a printout of results from the NH Bioblitz, specific to the town of Sutton. There were 235 observations, by 5 observers, and the species names and coordinates of each observation were listed. He said this will be of great help to him in writing his pocket guide to the trails, as he can say what plants can be expected to be observed at locations along the trails. Barb asked if Henry would send out the link to these results, and he said he would.

 

Visit to KHR with Matt Tarr to discuss field management options – This will take place tomorrow, 12/9 at 9:00 AM, starting out from the Hominy Pot Road parking area.

 

NH Return on Investment from Land Conservation – Henry sent out two informative documents to the commission members. One is “Conservation Fund Best Practices”, from the NH Municipal Association, and the other is “New Hampshire’s Return on Investment in Land Conservation” from the Trust for Public Lands. The latter finds that every $1 invested in land conservation returns $11 in economic value in natural goods and services. Henry also read a statement from the AMC describing how forests, farms and wetlands serve as carbon storage areas, and to get these benefits requires the conservation of land. Doing so brings the additional benefits of protecting endangered species, and providing outdoor recreation.

Publicity

Henry pointed out that the website is out of date, and contains old meeting minutes and old news. Bonnie said she would update it, and asked people to send her some new pictures.

 

Trail Maintenance and Development

Trails Advisory Committee Report

>Beaver Dam Issues – Henry reported that there are many beaver dams visible from along the Lyon Brook trail at KHR. Besides the big one that has been there for a long time, there are 2 more up above it. There is a new beaver dam under the bridge that leads to the Putnam trail, and there is a huge one on the approach to Felch Road (near the stone dam) that has flooded the trail. The beavers have clear cut a portion of Gerry Putnam’s land. He asked if there is something we should do about this, or should we let nature take its course. Don asked if any of this activity was impacting the roads, and Henry didn’t think so. Eventually, he said, it will affect the Lyon Brook Trail.

 

>Contract with Leo Maslan – Henry said we have a signed contract with Leo Maslan, forester, to provide a forest management plan for KHR at a cost of up to $3,000. The contract says we understand the plan will meet the terms of the conservation easement, that it will not be a detailed point survey, and that the SCC will assist by marking property boundaries, proving mapping, etc. It was signed by Leo Maslan and Henry Howell.

 

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM.

Next Meeting:  Wednesday, January 12th, 2022, at 6:30 PM, at Sutton Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Bonnie Hill, Secretary