Conservation Commission Minutes

Date:                     May 24, 2017

Attendees:         Karen Day, Janet Renaud, Roger Lessard (prospective member), Neal Brown, Stephanie Kokal, Carol Irvin, and Janet Lutkus (minute-taker)

The meeting was called to order at 7:32 pm. The following items were addressed:

1. Call to order, organize agenda, etc. – Janet.
   • Membership Discussion    
     • Officer discussion/vote – Roger Lessard attended the meeting and expressed an interest in becoming a member of the commission and serving as the new chairperson. Janet made a motion to include Roger as a member of the conservation commission. Neal seconded the motion. There was unanimous approval from the members in attendance. Janet made a second motion that once Roger is sworn in as a member, he will be nominated to be chairperson.  Karen seconded the motion. There was unanimous approval from the members in attendance largely because Roger had served as Chair once before  Janet took the action to email a request to have Roger sworn in as a member of the commission.
     • Discussion about non-U.S. citizens not being allowed to be voting members of the Greenfield Conservation Commission – Janet and members reviewed the legislation that makes this so.  Roger will contact the NH State Representative Jon Manley to see if there is anything that can be done to change this situation.
     • Swearing In – reminder/update. Neal has been sworn in. Stephanie is the only member who doesn’t have to be sworn in again. Janet reminded everyone else to go to the town and get sworn in.
     • Suggestions for additional commission members? – The commission currently has 7 members.  Roger is going to talk to Craig Morrocco about having some occasional involvement with the commission, given his valuable experience.
   • Janet reviewed the correspondence – The items reviewed were:
     • Extra envelopes from the Roadside Roundup to be stored upstairs for the future. 
     •  A NH Lakes Association newsletter regarding the Lakes Congress to be held on June 1. 
     • A note from Carele (with the bill from the dinner at the Roadside Roundup) and an explanation that the Woman’s club will be disbanded this year and therefore unavailable for making dinner for future Roadside Roundups although if we need help, she thinks that she might be able to find some people that would do it.
     • April’s SWRPC newsletter and an invitation to its annual meeting on June 20^th at the Marriott in Keene, NH.
     • A copy of the commission budget to date – a report from Catherine showing that the commission has spent 27.9% of their budget.
     • Two Natural Resource Inventory (NRI) surveys to be sent to Henry Underwood of the SWRPC.
     • Intents to Cut – Woodward Road in Lyndeborough and several others.  Sent as a courtesy FYI.
     • DES Routine Roadway and Railways Maintenance Notification concerned with the repair of a culvert on Route 31 because the bottom of the pipe rotted out. Sent as a courtesy FYI.
     • Stephanie agreed to file the Intents to Cut and DES Notification upstairs after the meeting.
2. New Business - Commission members.
   • Reflect on Roadside Roundup on April 29 – Individual commission members.
     • Neal expressed the opinion that the commission does too much work for too little a return. He felt that the dinner was poorly attended. It is very labor intensive to mail the trash bags out. It would be better to publicize the event in the Peterborough Ledger Transcript with the other Earth Day activities.  Instead of mailing them, make the trash bags available from public places like the library. 
     • Karen feels that the current Roadside Roundup is “a good thing”.  The visibility for the conservation commission is positive.   
     •  Stephanie expressed the opinion that a thank you to participants published in the newspaper is advisable.
     •  Janet concluded that the commission can work out details and simplify things next year.  
   • Natural Resource Inventory (NRI) Update -- Janet
     • Janet signed and sent “extension to July” to Henry Underwood of the SWRPC. 
     • The survey deadline is May 31^st.  There are no plans to extend this deadline.
     •  It is likely that Henry Underwood will come to the June 28 commission meeting to present a draft to the commission.
   • George Proctor Recreation Area stewardship update – Janet.
     • Legal Recap –There are two parts to the property: North side and South side of Savage Road.  The North side has been made into the town forest. Carol, Janet, and three members of the Sportsmen’s club (Betsy Hardwick, Hunter Carbee, and Gary Russell) have been meeting every other month as the Forestry Committee appointed by the Selectboard. 
     • Recap of May 17 meeting - The conservation commission had planned to make the South side into town forest as well. The Sportsmen’s club does not seem convinced about making the rest of the property into town forest.  Carol feels we need to address their concerns and build their trust to get them to buy into the conservation commission forest management plan. The Forestry Committee sees an opportunity to improve the road access to the site during the logging process. (As loggers go in to log, they will improve the road to log the forest.)  Betsy Hardwick is writing a stewardship plan, which applies to management of the whole property. 
     • Next Steps -- The goal of the current logging plan is to improve the habitat. Hunter plans to walk the property with the logging plan and report to the Forestry Committee on his suggestions. 
   • Invasives Project: Is anyone willing to take this on? – Janet and commission members.
     •  Jamie Bascomb approached Janet but does not want to take control of this effort. 
     • There is no current interest among the commission members present in taking this work on. 
   • Other Business  – Neal and Stephanie.
     • Neal – Someone expressed a desire to add more sand to the beach at Sunset Lake.  Neal explained that they can’t change a wetland without the approval of DES.  Neal explained to the individuals that they have to start such a process with the Selectboard.
     •  Stephanie – Stephanie expressed concerns about seeing the wetlands filled in at the property on the corner of Cornwell and Slip Roads. This swamp feeds Zephyr Lake. The commission will have to raise these concerns to the town Selectboard. There was a consensus that, as acting chair, Janet will write a letter about this to the Selectboard. 

The meeting officially adjourned at 9:10 PM. The next meeting is June 28, 2017 at 7:30 pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Janet Lutkus to Janet Renaud for approval, corrections, and posting.