Conservation Commission Minutes

Date:                     March 28, 2018

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

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Chairperson Roger Lessard. The following items were addressed:

1. Accept or Amend Previous Meeting Minutes – Commission members.                
   •  Janet Renaud made a motion to accept the minutes, which Roger Lessard distributed and commission members reviewed prior to the meeting.  Karen Day seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor of the motion. 
2. Sunset Lake minimum impact application, Letter of Support – Roger.
   • Deidra Benjamin of Stoney Ridge Environmental would like the Greenfield Conservation Commission (GCC) to provide her with a letter of support for the Minor Impact Wetland Application she presented for review at the February GCC meeting.
   • Janet made a motion for Roger to write a letter of support (on behalf of the commission) to Deidra for her plan for removing the Phragmites from Sunset Lake. Karen seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor of the motion. 
3. Sawmill Rd self-storage site comment letter –  Roger .
   • RE: NHDES File # 2018:00758.  The commission chooses not to sign the Wetlands Application prepared for this proposed project. As discussed at the February GCC meeting, the commission’s concerns can be supported by a letter mailed to NHDES explaining its reasons for disapproval. Roger read a letter, which he proposed to submit, along with Carol’s detailed summary, and the town consultant’s recommendations.  As required, Roger will then mail the letter during the specific time window allowed.
   • Janet made a motion for Roger to sign and mail the letter approved by the commission. Carol Irvin seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor of the motion. 
4. Natural Resources Inventory (NRI)  review status – Karen and Janet
   • To ensure that all GCC suggestions were incorporated, Karen and Janet met to review the printed copy of the draft NRI provided by Henry Underwood. They both agreed that they have at least one more round of edits – maybe two.  Once Karen and Janet complete their review sessions, the remaining commission members are encouraged to review the draft before the GCC signs off on the completed document. Henry acknowledged receiving the comments but has not yet incorporated them.
   • Janet reported that the most recent email from Henry states that he will provide an editable electronic copy of the NRI in Word format and the commission can make review comments directly in the electronic file.  Henry also communicated that he was running out of the agreed upon time to complete the project.  Roger will respond to Henry’s email.
   • Janet and Karen are meeting again on Wednesday, April 4 to continue their review and edits.
5. Roadside Roundup budget allocation – Discussion among commission members.
   •  Aaron Patt said the Sportsman’s Club approached him about the Roadside Roundup, notifying him that the club had voted not to run this year’s event.
   •  The $475.00 line item for this event will remain in this year’s budget and if not spent, the money will be taken back. The Greenfield Spirit is coming out next week.  In this issue, Roger will state that he received only one comment regarding his announcement in the last issue about suspending the Roadside Roundup for this year. 
   • Stephanie Kokal plans to put blue bags out at key places in Greenfield, such as the library, Post Office, Town Office, and recycling center on the Friday before Earth Day. She also plans to ensure that the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript includes Greenfield in its annual announcement about Earth Day events taking place in the surrounding towns. 
6.  GCC-sponsored program offerings, substitute Loon program – Discussion among commission members.
   • Kittie Wilson has health problems that will prevent her from presenting the Loon program as planned. Karen located another Loon expert, John Rockwood. John has lots of resources and experience presenting on Loons and is available for Wednesday May 30.  John agreed to do the presentation for $300.00. Roger has informed the library director about the date change from May 15 to May 30. The commission had a discussion and agreed that the program will begin at 7:00 pm (instead of 6:30 pm) and will last an hour. 
   • Stephanie volunteered to provide snacks for the Loon program.
   • Stephanie proposed adding a coyote talk to the GCC programs. She was impressed by a speaker who just held a presentation in Hillsboro.
   • Since the presenter just spoke in the area, it was suggested that the commission consider this event for next summer.
7. Possible signage for town conservation properties -- Discussion among commission members.
   • Roger stated that such a project could be rather labor intensive. It can be as simple or as elaborate as the commission wants to make it. Consider: “What do we want the signs to look like?  How many conservation properties do we want to put signage on?”  Monetary costs and volunteers to do the work must also be considered.
   • Janet has already provided the UNH Cooperative Extension with a list of the conservation properties: George Proctor Town Forest, Fleck Conservation Land, and Koch Brown Conservation Land.  She proposed that the name of the property with “Conservation Land” underneath the property name be posted on each sign.
   • Roger suggested that whoever is keen on this project should form a subcommittee and take pictures of signs that resemble what they’d like.
   • Neal discussed the signage at Oak Park that the Greenfield Givers created out of White Oak.  The signs are brown with white letters routed in the Oak.  Stephanie made the point that consistency with the appearance of the Greenfield Park signs would create a unified look in town.
   • Neal offered to make the signs with the Givers. The commission will then decide how to mount the signs.
   • Neal bought white oak from New England Wood Products for the Oak Park signs. The commission discussed putting the name of the property followed by “Town Conservation” on each sign.  Roger will email the final wording to Neal so he can provide a price quote for the materials at the next commission meeting.
8.  Well water testing for Greenfield residents offered by NHDES  -- Discussion among commission members.
   • Carol made the motion to facilitate the free basic well water testing. Karen seconded the motion. The next decision is the timing, which the commission will discuss in the future.
   •  This service is available from NHDES who will pick up and drop off bottles containing the well water samples.
   •  The first basic test is free. Further tests for Radon, Arsenic, and other materials will be provided at a cost to the individuals requesting such tests.
9. Pollinator project update – Roger.
   •  The Pollinator Project team was scheduled to meet the evening of March 29 but has been rescheduled due to a timing conflict.  The next Pollinator Project meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, April 10 at 7:00 pm upstairs in the GCC meeting room. 
   • Roger remarked that the organizational meeting last month didn’t accomplish a lot.  He wants to set goals for what to accomplish at the upcoming meeting.
10. Schedule work sessions to clean up GCC files -- Discussion among commission members.
    •  The GCC needs to set a date when members can go through the materials, probably a Saturday.      
    •  Karen said that there is a lot of historical content the commission needs to file.  
    •  A discussion of available Saturdays was tabled until a future meeting.
11. GCC demo web site -- Roger
    • A preliminary GCC web site has been created by Candi Fowler.
    • The web site is public and is not part of the Town web site. It contains pictures sorted by year.  In the future the Town web site could contain a link to this site.  
12. Inventory of GCC maps, creation of primer for new members, etc. – Discussion among commission members.
    • This work is mostly complete.  There is approximately 10% of the work left to do. 
    • Candi has a spreadsheet which lists all of these materials. 
13. Perennial calendar of GCC events – Discussion among commission members.
    •  The commission holds a conservation easement on the late Jerry Adams’ field behind Andrea Wensberg’s house.  The commission is tasked with monitoring the property once a year. The monitoring should include walking the property boundaries to ensure that there is no incursion by abutters. Hunter Carbee (guest) offered to assist for free. 
    • Roger suggested holding an event consisting of the conservation easement monitoring coupled with a bird watching walk. This event could be plugged into the perennial calendar of GCC events and be held each May. The commission members present agreed on the date of Saturday, May 5 for the event.  Everyone will meet on Slip Rd., near the Emma Gipson Forest trailhead, in the morning at 6:45 and the bird walk will begin at 7:00.
14.  Meeting guest – Hunter Carbee
    • Hunter introduced himself to the commission as the chair of the forestry committee and as an ad hoc member of the Sportsman’s Club.
    • He is a member of the NE Society of Foresters.  He remarked that he is looking forward to working with Karla Allen.
    • A portion of the George Proctor property was voted as a town Forest at the 1988 town meeting. The property deed states that it is donated to the town – “held perpetually by the town.”
    • Karen expressed extreme concern about the Rand Brook piece which consists of very clean pure water.  She added that the Lehners are interested in seeing the land put under easement, to complement the easement which they placed on their abutting property.
    • Hunter spoke about a stand of Hemlock on the property and handed out various publications related to forestry to the commission.
    • Hunter expressed the need for forest management on the property. The forestry committee is planning a timber sale. July would be earliest for the Beech trees to be cut.
    •  Hunter explained that the cutting would result in more bare ground and generate more Hemlock.
15.  Roger reviewed the current Intents to Cut with the commission members.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.

The next regular meeting of the Greenfield Conservation Commission is April 25, 2018 at 7:30 pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Janet Lutkus to Roger Lessard for approval, corrections, distribution, and posting.