March 21, 2018  |   

Sutton Conservation Commission (SCC)

Draft Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

 

 

Present: Dan Sundquist, Chair; Don Davis; Jane Williamson; Henry Howell; Debbie Lang; Barbara Hoffman; and Bonnie Hill, secretary.   Absent: Chris Ashton, Chuck Bolduc.  Debbie sat in for Chuck and Barbara for Chris.

Members of the Public Present: Diane Lander.

 

Call to order: Dan Sundquist called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.

 

Financial Report:

There is no new town budget report. The TD Bank statement for January 31st shows $119,178.84 in the Conservation Account and $5,697.02 in the KHR account, for a total of $124,875.86. Henry was reimbursed for his lumber expenses. The Capital Reserve Fund amount of $7,000 passed at Town Meeting.

 

Correspondence:

  • Easement monitoring reports from ASLPT for Enroth-Lefferts, King Hill Reservation, Maple Leaf Natural Area, William Bean Quarry and Russell Pond. No issues reported.
  • The Forest Society’s Forest Notes magazine, Winter 2017-2018 issue (Special Environmental Education Issue).
  • Letter from the Forest Society acknowledging SCC’s membership renewal gift of $55.
  • Letter from the LSPA inviting input on updating the existing Management Plan for the Sunapee Watershed. An information meeting will be held on April 12th at 6:30 at the LSPA Learning Center.
  • Letter from the Friends of Mount Sunapee, which is an advocacy group for the mountain and the state park, asking for a donation. Jane made a motion to donate $100 to FOMS, and Deb seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
  • Letter from the Sutton Board of Selectmen (see below).

Review of Wetland Applications and Issues:

  • Copy of a “Request for More Information” from DES on a Standard Dredge and Fill Application by John Rogers, File #2018-00343, Birch Hill Rd, T/L# 1-576,410, Birch Hill Rd, dated 3/9/2018.
  • Copy of an “Application Returned due to Missing Information” letter from DES on a Wetland Program Notification Application by HHP, Inc, File #2018-00639,Beaver Pond Road, T/L#3-273,167, dated 3/12/2018.

 

Review of Intents to Cut and Logging Issues:

  • None.

 

Old business

 

Kings Hill Road:  Letter from the Select Board — A letter was received describing grievances brought by some citizens to the BOS regarding the public info session on February 21st. Dan said that he was not contacted before this letter came out and became a public record. Barb suggested we accept the BOS’s offer to meet and talk about ways to deal with the erosion issue, to show that we really are interested in that. Dan asked people to let him know if they would like to attend that meeting. Barb suggested inviting the two abutters to attend the meeting with the BOS. Dan said getting any money to fix the road using the emergency lane statute would be a long shot. We would have to go to the BOS and then present it at Town Meeting. Don said if Mr. Chinberg wants to subdivide, he is going to have to fix up that road to Class 5 Cottage Standard, and our proposal would have actually helped with that. Dan said that Mr. Chinberg does want to have access from King Hill Rd for his subdivided lots.  Dan asked Henry what shape the far side (going down to Haynes Rd) of King Hill Rd is. Henry said the top third is not that bad, and the bottom third is the worst. Dan said we will have to work with Town Counsel, and will need to size things up in the autumn when the road has dried out. The commission will meet with the BOS. We will wait to hear from them, or ask to be put on the agenda in April. The huge gaping hole next to Kings Hill Rd that Jane noticed is being fixed by Steve Bagley. This is possible because the road is Class 5 at that point.

 

Trail Mapping – Dan said that Henry’s data from Gaia dropped right into his GIS mapping program. Don pointed out that part of Henry’s trail map goes onto private property (Mountainside). Henry said that the people who own it were nice enough to let him lead hikes across that piece. Dan said that he has the GIS mapping project built, so that anyone who wants to get the Gaia app and use it to map their hikes on our trails can give him the kml files and have them added to the map. Don said the library has an LSPA backpack to loan out with activity kits, and this made him think that maybe we can do something like this with our properties. Kids could check a Discovery Kit out of the library with activities like finding cellar holes and stuff like that. Maybe this could incorporate the Middle School’s Valley Quest curriculum. Dan said another alliance with the schools is the high school’s use of Black Mountain as laboratory. Henry said he would eventually like to have something similar to the SRKG book, with maps and commentary. He wants to look at Don’s old map to get more ideas for trails. He said trail maintenance is a very big deal; for example, there are already trees down in KHR on the trails that we just cleared in early December. Regarding permission to access private land, Don said we have a form for this. Dan said the SRKG folks have dealt extensively with this and can help. Jane asked if the Maple Leaf parking lot can be plowed out in winter by the town, now that the old winter parking area has been lost to development. Dan suggested putting this on the list of things to ask the BOS at our meeting. Don asked if a map of Webb/Crowell could be printed out for the ASLPT hike on May 5th.

 

New business

 

Strategic Conservation Plan: 

Review of Briefing Papers 1 & 2; Discussion of Climate Change Resilience Data – Dan asked for feedback on the first two briefing papers. Barb gave him a marked-up copy with edits and suggestions. Deb had a list of typos. Don said some of the website links didn’t seem to work. Henry had several questions. Do roads always cause forest blocks to be bisected? The answer is that it depends on the number of cars traversing the road. Route 89 is a serious barrier. “Chunky” blocs are the best, as they resist the penetration of invasive flora and fauna. Dan went over the process again. After one or two more steps of familiarization, the electronic voting process will commence. We can open this up to members of the public if we want to. They would be obligated to read the documents and to attend some meetings. The end product will be a map of areas with the highest priorities for conservation. Then we write up recommendations. Henry asked how this impacts the planning board. Dan answered that there is no enforcement of anything, but that it is a good idea to reach out to them. The Strategic Conservation Plan will go into the town’s Master Plan, which is actually overdue for updating. The Plan does not have regulatory power, but if it is science-based, it is potent as a conceptual basis for our land use regulations. Barb said it also gives us an idea of what areas to pursue for conservation easements. Dan said the ASLPT will help with that. Henry asked, in reference to the Steep Slope section, about logging. Dan said we have little to no control over that. The State of NH has a manual laying out voluntary best practices for logging. Speaking of steep slopes, Henry asked if we were going to mow at KHR, and if so, it needs to be done soon. Don said it is usually done in August or September to let the ground dry up and the ground-nesting birds finish nesting. The last mower was Dave Carey, and he knows what areas he has already done. Don will get this scheduled in July.

The next installment of the Strategic Plan is the Climate Change Resilience Map. Dan asked the members if they were interested in including this, and they were. Dan said this is from a science-based study of 20 years duration done by The Nature Conservancy, in Boston. The TNC study assumes a south to north species movement, as well as a movement from low to higher elevation. The map shows movement flow, pathways, and corridors. NH, Maine, and Vermont have all scored high in resilience.

 

Miscellaneous

Energy and Environment Fair – Henry said a group from New London is holding this on April 7th in the Mercer Gym at Colby Sawyer and he wondered if we might like to have a booth there, giving out information about the SCC and what we do. He can’t be there himself, as he is going away. Jane is going to be manning a table there for the Sierra Club and might be able to help. She will get in touch with Henry. Dan said he will be at the Saving Special Places conference, which is the same day. Vital Communities is helping to sponsor the expo.

Accessible Trails – Henry said that Carol Adams is running an ad in the Shopper looking to see if there is interest in having a wheelchair-accessible trail in Sutton, and he is working with her. Jane suggested a section of the Lyon Brook trail that runs through the log landing and ends with a view of the brook. She said Hypertherm employees created an accessible trail at VINS. Don said Rhododendron State Park did a lot of work to create accessible trails. Henry said these trails are very expensive to make, so he is waiting to see what kind of response there is to the ad.

Kearsarge Valley Road Repairs – Don was concerned when he heard at Town Meeting that repairs are going to be made, since there is a timber harvest in the works. He wants to know if the repairs can be done after the logging is complete. Dan suggested he speak to Steve Bagley.

Sutton Free Library Project – Don reported that the library has received a grant to use old photos of Sutton to make flash cards. The photos will be used as illustrations for the words on the cards. He thought it would be great to extend this idea to use photos of natural features in the town, as well, such as Henry’s bridge on Lyon Brook, or the mountain at King Hill.

Adjournment: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 11th, 2018, at 6:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Bonnie Hill, Secretary