Sutton Conservation Commission (SCC)

Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

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

Members of the public present: Diane Landon.

 

Call to order: Dan Sundquist called the meeting to order at 6:36 p.m.

Previous Meeting’s Minutes: A motion was made by Henry and seconded by Deb to approve the minutes of November 8th, 2017, and they were approved unanimously.

Financial Report:

No town budget report was provided. Henry submitted some expenses for bridge lumber for the Felch trail. TD Bank showed $119,103.76 in the conservation account and $5693.43 in the King Hill Reservation account, for a total of $124,795.19 as of November 30^th. Some LUCT money was received.  The town budget committee met this past Monday, and Elly filled in for Dan as he was unable to attend. The committee reviewed SCC’s proposed budget and approved an additional $2000 in project money, which can be used for such things as lumber and signage for the trails. A $7,000 appropriation for the capital reserve fund was also approved, to be placed on the town warrant.

Correspondence:

• Brochure from LogPro, Inc of Fairlee, VT – a provider of woodlot management services.
• Membership renewal notice from ASLPT for $100 annual dues.

Review of Wetland Applications and Issues:

• None.

Review of Intents to Cut and Logging Issues:

• A. Wagner, T/L# 1-757,188, Birch Hill Rd and Roby Rd. 225 of 241.7 acres. Chuck Rose, logger.
• M. McManus, T/L #3-887,357, Eaton Grange Rd. 75 of 80 acres. Chuck Rose, logger.
• T. Friel for NH Public Golf Course, T/L# 5-548,577; T/L# 7-387,114; T/L# 7-399,104; T/L# 7-413,090; T/L# 7-441,072; T/L# 7-451,065; T/L# 7-425,102; T/L# 7-362,139; T/L# 7-377,127; Kearsarge Valley Rd. 250 of 296 acres. John Whyte, logger.
• N. Byfield, T/L# 06-308,154, Corporation Hill Rd. 30 of 76 acres. Nate Byfield, logger.

These have been forwarded to our consulting forester, Anita Blakeman, who will make site visits. An agreement was made that the golf course cut will protect the SRKG trail section that lies within it.

New Business

Beaver Legislation: Town of Stoddard— The Stoddard Conservation Commission has invited SCC to sign a letter to the NH legislature in support of HB 1343. There has been concern about the out-of-season taking of beavers, and this bill addresses the record-keeping aspect of it, through better reporting of beavers taken out of season. It requires that a reason be given when beavers are taken, and will provide Fish & Game with valuable information. Henry made a motion to add SCC’s name to the letter, and Don seconded. The vote on the motion passed unanimously. Henry and Don both expressed concern that the bill would be ineffectual, as people who want to kill beavers will continue to do so. Henry said that beavers keep disappearing from the beaver pond on Bum Carter Rd. A discussion ensued about beaver deceivers, with Jane asking how the deceiver installed at the bridge on Penacook Rd was working.

Kezar Lake Natural Area: Update—Dan has not been able to contact the DOT or DES about meetings, so he proposes to make copies of his plan with the color-coded maps and send it to these agencies with a cover letter. Barbara suggested stating at the end of the letter that SCC would be willing to meet with the agencies if they would like to. Dan said that first we need to get a yes or no from DES as to whether our plan is permitted, and from the DOT about whether we can add the parking spaces. Deb asked whether this wouldn’t require a dialog, and Dan replied that that would happen once we applied for the permits. Dan clarified that all of this discussion is just for the management plan, not for the actual implementation. If we get “no’s” from both DES and DOT, then we note that in the management plan and we are done. Jane said that Bob DeFelice is concerned about changes to that land. Dan said we need to know how much more impervious surface the DES will allow. This includes the building of a kiosk. He said the best place for the kiosk may not be on the land that we own. Jane asked who actually owns Horse Beach. She calls it a town beach on her KLPA website. Dan said it is owned by NSIS, not the town. Dan said a side issue is boat trailer parking and cars backing out across the road. Chuck said “send the correspondence and start the dialog”, and Dan said he would send out a draft first to the commission members. Jane asked if she and Don can now take on the task of speaking to the State Park people about opening up public parking at the park, and educating the public about it. Dan said yes; Jane and Don are now a designated sub-committee.

ASLPT Monitoring Walks: Enroth, King Hill—Jane and Bonnie represented SCC on the walks, which took place on 12/7 and 12/8 and were led by Dave Brazier. Nothing looked amiss, and a fine time was had by all. Dan had some questions about the forms that get filled out, and whose responsibility they are. The consensus was that the ASLPT monitor fills them out.

SCC Properties and SRK Greenway Reports

Trail Conditions–Henry led a trail improvement session at KHR on 12/2. He installed a plethora of wooden ramps over wet areas, and two helpers did some lopping and chain-sawing. On 12/5 he led a walk on these trails with 30 or so senior citizens (ORFS) in tow. He showed some pictures from the walk. His objective is to make all of our trails as user-friendly as possible, so an average person can enjoy them. One section of the Lyon Brook Trail is covered with large stones, and some people on the walk complained about it. He said it is easy to get lost, even with Don’s nice KHR map, and we need more signage. He wants to write a grant for this work. Don said he tried removing some of the stones in question, but this caused water to come up onto the trail. Henry said maybe the solution is to lay boards across the rocks. There was a discussion about how to get the boards in there. Dan asked about a tractor, and Henry thought a canoe carrier might work. Henry said Webb/Crowell also has a rough section, right after the I-beam bridge. He would like to get a crew in there and build a boardwalk. He also wants more trail markers. Don said there is a nice potential trail in Webb/Crowell along the old logging road, which goes through a very wet section but then comes out to a really beautiful area with a beaver pond.

Trail Projects –Dan said the budget committee put out a questionnaire that asked about a capital improvement program, which we don’t have, but also asked for a wish list. Dan put in that we could use more help maintaining trails, and a tool locker (such as a steel bin at the highway department?) in which we could keep our tools. Maybe a gas-powered wheelbarrow for moving materials into the woods. Don said there are some old buildings at KHR, such as a pumphouse and a valvehouse, that are potentially dangerous. And the second culvert on Penacook Path cannot be crossed with a heavy vehicle. It is perched and should be replaced with a box culvert or a simple bridge. Fixing culverts is our responsibility. Permits would be needed for demolishing old buildings. Don said there are other buildings, too, but some may not be on our property. Don said we need to put the mowing for KHR on the calendar for August or September, and it will cost around $1000. Peter Stanley or Dave Carey should be contacted to do it. Dan asked Don to put it on his calendar.

Possible Status Change for King Hill Road – Henry said Don pointed out that the section of King Hill Rd past Poor Farm Rd is a mess from ATV and truck use. He wonders if we could take the portion from Poor Farm Rd up to the top of the hill and change it from a Class VI road to a Class A or Class B trail. (A Class B is more restrictive and would be a harder sell.) This was rejected at a town meeting in the past. The advantage would be that the town can maintain a Class A or B trail and can gate it and deny access to ATVs, etc. The town cannot deny access to the abutters, however. Eric Chinberg and Peter Messer are the only two abutters besides the town. Since this is already an SRKG trail, we could probably get the SRKG folks on board. Dan pointed out that the town doesn’t own the road, only the right of way. After the town votes, how does that affect ownership? Don was not sure. He said that the town could have a group like the SRKG maintain the trail, but Dan said that would be too much work and expense for them, as the road has been pretty much destroyed. He suggested getting the road agent to put a row of huge boulders across the piece of conservation land that the trucks and ATVs are driving through. Dan will send a note to Jae Whitelaw, the town counsel, saying that the SCC is interested in doing this status change and needs to know how to go about it. A hearing would have to be held in January, and to get on the town warrant it would have to be submitted in the first few days of February.  Two hearings are actually advised. Don suggested asking the NHACC if they know of any towns that did this, and why. Jane said she would take this on. Dan thinks Warner tried some Class A conversions in the Mink Hills, but people are still cutting around the trails.

Miscellaneous

NHACC webinar – Barbara attended this today and said it talked a lot about partnerships, such as with organizations such as the Nature Conservancy, which can be especially helpful for commissions that are responsible for large properties.

Mapping – Jane brought in some maps of the town that Amada Stone gave out at the Wildlife Action Plan meeting. Dan said we would be updating this as part of our management plan. Dan and Henry discussed how hard it is to update the map with overlays and importance values.  The values are voted on anonymously by the membership. Jane asked if you can add trails in the Granit program. Henry said the ASLPT uses an app called Gaia for their monitoring. Don has a big map of KHR that he used when he made the small maps. There are some trails on it that we might not want. He will get together with Henry and Jane to look at it. Jane is also trying to map the watershed around Kezar Lake, and Dan said he would help her with this.

Bat presentation – Jane said if we want to do this we can pay $35 to have it at the church, or maybe at the library. Dan said we should wait till after Memorial Day when the summer people are back in town.

Adjournment: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:04 PM.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 10th, 2018, at 6:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Bonnie Hill, Secretary