[0:02] Perfect. All right. I'd like to call the
Albany Conservation Commission meeting
[0:06] of June 3rd to order at 6:30.
[0:14] First on the agenda
today, uh we do not have any
[0:19] appointments, so we'll jump right into
the new business. Um the approval in the
[0:24] meeting minutes from April 1st, 2025
as we did not meet last month. Um anyone
[0:32] have any comments, suggestions, or we
should I guess we should bring it to the
[0:37] floor first. I'm a little out of
practice, I guess. Mon month month off.
[0:43] I'll make a motion to approve. All
right. Oh, second. Okay. So, any any
[0:51] comments? Okay. All right. All those in
favor of approval signify by saying I.
[0:56] I. I. Okay. Um motion passes to accept
the minutes of April 1st, 2025.
[1:07] So a uh this winter we were working on
the conservation management plan re
[1:13] reviewing it, updating it, etc. Um and
then we received a response from um
[1:22] Cindy Sers for usefelt
and um there are some I thought they
[1:29] were minor updates and suggestions more
that were marked in red that she they
[1:35] sent to us. Would you like to go over
that and just review it quickly? So
[1:40] okay. Do you have it printed out? I
don't have it printed out. Yeah.
[1:45] Um I just tried to link and it you know
I need access so I I don't I can't do it
[1:51] right. Can't do it from here. All right.
Um but was it mostly typographical
[1:56] stuff? It was things like crossing out
will and in asserting a shell shall. Um
[2:03] there were a couple things that were
added. Um
[2:08] the table of contents had updated dates
attached to it. So, the trail map just
[2:12] updated 2019, stuff like that. Forest
management updated 2024. Yep. Um adding
[2:19] an address for the easement holder in uh
section 3B, which was the Upper Solomon
[2:25] Valley Land Trust. Um adding in dates
for the planning periods.
[2:33] Um and again, as you said, it was just
minor grammatical corrections in certain
[2:40] areas. Well, the wheels and shells are
significant because that's that's legal
[2:44] ease. Yeah. So, not not to be dismissed,
but what are those ones? Yeah. Um, and I
[2:51] know at one point um something for
review, we we had it had been a minimum
[2:57] of five, a maximum of 10, and they just
every 10 years
[3:02] review that that much. I remember. Yeah.
Um
[3:08] section H part A uh added in the tract
can also be accessed from a new trail
[3:12] head parking area constructed in 2019
with a kiosk on the Kamagus Highway.
[3:20] Um
section I land use maps uh just said
[3:24] updated 2019.
Um they also put in a section K for
[3:29] access again as before. So access for
the three parcels is described above
[3:33] under partial location. Yep.
[3:40] This was
part five,
[3:46] section A,
part
[3:51] technically C. Um, just referenced a C
attachment two for the engineer survey
[3:57] plan.
[4:01] Yeah. The index at the end was very
explicit. Yes. So, uh, a lot of this is
[4:06] referring to, um, attachments
furthermore. So, uh, part C attachment
[4:12] five, critical wildlife habitat map.
Reviewing further on, see, attachment
[4:16] six, habitat quality map. Okay.
[4:22] Section six, seven,
I don't remember there being too many
[4:27] more.
Section 7 part C uh C attachments five
[4:32] and six critical habitat and quality
map.
[4:38] Oh, I stand corrected.
Part E of section seven. Uh further down
[4:44] objectives and strategies got a pretty
heavy edit. Um removing
[4:51] uh
about a quarter of it and adding in
[4:54] different language. So, uh, removing a
goal for the conservation easement
[4:59] holder is to map in inventory and just
starting with monitor and document
[5:04] occurrences.
Yeah, that came up twice. Instead of the
[5:08] goals, it was Yep. And second bullet
point, same language crossed out and now
[5:14] it says if an uh invasives control plan
becomes necessary, the conservation
[5:18] easement holder can guide the land owner
in developing invasive species
[5:22] management plan. Okay. Um, second bullet
point, crossing out a well and putting a
[5:27] should.
Uh, yes. So, read that sentence. If
[5:33] deemed necessary per future invasive
species control plan or by documented
[5:37] evidence showing the spread of such
species, efforts should be made to
[5:41] properly remove and dispose of these
plants when they are discovered on site
[5:44] while minimizing impacts to other
conservation values on site such as
[5:47] wildlife habitat.
I think that's good. Yeah, that's more
[5:53] uh forgiving than will or shall which is
your compelling.
[6:00] Um so that gives more leeway. Yes.
Everything that I read that um was
[6:07] edited felt um in the best interest.
Yeah.
[6:13] Um section F, insects and diseases. Um
do you have these written down? No.
[6:21] Hi. Yeah,
you're on the email for it. I'm sorry.
[6:27] You're on the email that has the link.
What was the date on that email? Um,
[6:31] from Cindy Sellers on May 23rd. May
23rd. Yeah. Yeah.
[6:37] Pretty significant portion in sex. It's
a Google Drive link. So, okay. Click the
[6:44] link, request access. Then they have to
authorize access. So, I must have been
[6:49] sleep at the wheelie or anything.
Well, you know,
[6:54] it's been a busy spring.
Yeah. I printed the email itself, but I
[6:59] didn't do the the full document. No.
Yeah. Yeah. So, that's what I need. I I
[7:04] need to come down here and have it done
here. Yeah.
[7:08] Yeah. Yeah. She added four paragraphs to
insects and diseases section.
[7:14] Would you mind reading that? No.
Uh the updated 2024 forest management
[7:20] plan provides guidance on some observed
and potential forest insects and
[7:23] diseases. However, there is no formal
insect and disease management program
[7:27] for the protected property.
She added that piece first. Um we had
[7:33] ours second piece which was from
observed evidence there is a fairly low
[7:37] occurrence of disease problems on the
protective property. The only widespread
[7:40] disease was the noted was beach bark
disease. Nothing could be done to treat
[7:44] trees infected with this disease.
However, some trees can have smooth
[7:48] clean trunk indicating resistance to the
beach scale insect which creates the
[7:51] wounds then enable the nectria fungus to
gain and take control of the vigor of
[7:58] the tree. These resistant trees should
be left in stands and their regeneration
[8:01] encouraged.
Uh it was then added the following.
[8:07] For two years 2021 2022, prolonged
damage caused by spongy moth resulted in
[8:12] widespread defoliation and oak mortality
on Bond Hill Road lot. Forest Land
[8:17] Improvement administered a salvage
harvest in the winter of 2024. The
[8:21] logging was conducted by Ellie Taylor
and Sun which created three patch clear
[8:25] cuts 145 and 2.5 acres in size which
cleared the areas of property most
[8:29] impacted by the oak mortality. Most of
the beach was also removed as it would
[8:33] have been the dominant species on the
site for decades. The town of Albany
[8:38] purchased the black birch seed and was
seated by forest land improvement fallen
[8:41] in 2024 salvage cut. Black birch is a
fast growing native tree recognized as
[8:46] resilient species to disease and climate
change. Other invasives insects that
[8:51] have impacted forest stands and should
continue to be monitored on the property
[8:55] include
[8:58] my Latin is not that good.
[9:03] Delgious
of the indulgent. Yeah. And emerald
[9:08] ashbor.
[9:13] Oh, that was that was that was that full
section. Yeah,
[9:18] that sounds good. Um into G agriculture.
Um we mark down objectives and
[9:24] strategies bullet points. Uh under the
first bullet point, seek recommendations
[9:29] for future agriculture use by
interviewing potential BC farmers or
[9:32] other agricultural experts. Create
preliminary work plans and budgets to
[9:37] determine feasibility in agriculture
conversion. She just added a start
[9:41] status of partially complete. Um okay.
So each one got added a status. Um
[9:51] so second bullet point was the
agricultural management plan um which
[9:55] was added status of complete. This plan
has had substantial input from UNH
[10:00] cooperative extension Olivia Saunders
USDA Natural Resources Conservation
[10:05] Service.
Uh
[10:08] third bullet point was active
agriculture on-site
[10:12] status in progress and incorporated into
the attached May 2014 agricultural
[10:16] management plan. Um last bullet point
was whenever possible agricultural
[10:20] onsite so utilize techniques with the
fewest impacts to the property uh status
[10:24] in progress and incorporated into the
attached May 2014 agricultural
[10:28] management plan.
[10:35] And this is section
seven again on to H
[10:43] public access recreational resources.
Once again, objectives and strategies.
[10:49] She added the status to each one that we
had in there. Um, first one, improved
[10:53] parking area off the Kamagongus Highway,
etc. Uh, status was complete in 2019. An
[10:59] 8 car parking area was constructed on
the Kangagongus Highway about 7/10 of a
[11:03] mile west of Route 16 traffic lights on
the Conway Davis Farm North lot. The
[11:07] trail head sign kiosk have been
established at the parking lot. Added
[11:10] bullet point, establish a parking and
access area at the west end of the Davis
[11:15] farm tract.
[11:19] Um, admittedly I'm not sure what this
piece is. It is highlighted, but it does
[11:24] not crossed out like previous. I'm not
sure if that's an error or
[11:29] um highlighting point.
Yeah.
[11:34] [Music]
Um, but that was maintain the existing
[11:37] locked gate on UFS land. Um,
and that was just shortened down to
[11:44] establish uhou for access
[11:49] with a questionable status. So that
might be something paragraph is
[11:54] highlighted but not crossed out.
Correct. And then she added in to that
[11:59] short phrase um with a blank status. So
that might actually be something we want
[12:03] to Yes. It's on the Yep. On the list. On
the list. Yeah. Mike has that
[12:10] information I think on this side there.
I don't have any either. Yeah, I talked
[12:14] to him and
after April meeting and he said he
[12:20] thought it could be accomplished. Okay.
Excellent. But um he would talk to
[12:26] whatever the property management guy or
whatever is
[12:31] probably worth a followup. It's been six
weeks I think since I talked to him.
[12:34] Mhm. Okay.
I can do that.
[12:39] the property management guy at Forest
Service. Yeah, the Forest Service or
[12:43] whoever does property or whatever. Yeah.
Whatever that title was. So, you have
[12:49] their name and their contact. I'm sorry.
You have their name and their contact. I
[12:53] don't have that contact information, but
Mike said he he would he would talk to
[12:57] that guy first before the before
anything was drafted. So, y he said that
[13:02] guy would probably draft it up anyway.
So, Okay, cool. Right.
[13:06] Uh second or next bullet point is post
and maintain upper south go valley land
[13:11] trust signs and other signs as
appropriate at all public access points
[13:15] is mutually agreed upon with the
landowner. Added status of complete uh
[13:20] usefelt diamonds have been posted at
property corners and Albany town forest
[13:24] sign has been constructed at the
entrance to the parking lot completed in
[13:26] 2019.
[13:31] Fourth bullet point uh regards to the
town of Albany use should be work to
[13:36] develop permanent access point for the
Kennet homestead fields in collaboration
[13:40] with the butters such as the AC Kennet
Middle School or Conway Village Fire
[13:43] District in order to better serve the
public while at the same time preventing
[13:47] uses inconsistent with conservation
purposes. Added status of permanent
[13:50] parking and access for the Kennet
Homestead fields was determined
[13:53] unsuitable due to small area access
rights and wetland.
[13:59] So, is that preceding paragraph crossed
out? It's left in there with It's left
[14:05] in there and just an added status. Yeah.
Um, so same uh further down
[14:13] eight bullet point um our original
consider the future establishment of
[14:18] foot trails to selected features of
interest as long as they are consistent
[14:22] with the conservation values of the
conservation easement. added in was
[14:26] bullet points under that uh status
partially complete and in progress.
[14:32] Um
under that is a bullet point. The Conway
[14:38] Davis Farm North lot is now home to
about four miles of multi-use trails
[14:42] that are maintained by the White
Mountains chapter of New England
[14:44] Mountain Bike Association and monitored
by the Albany Conservation Commission.
[14:48] The trails were completed in spring 2014
and trail signs were posted in June
[14:52] 2014. The network runs behind the Ket
Middle School with another kiosk
[14:56] adjacent to the Hubble Memorial Field.
Further bullet point, the Comedy Davis
[15:01] Farm South lot now has about one mile of
trails completed
[15:06] and is asking for a year to be inserted
there.
[15:11] Oh, read the last sentence. Uh, the
Conway Davis Farm South lot now has
[15:16] about one mile of WNE MBA trails
completed in and that just says year
[15:22] question mark. What year was it
completed? Yeah. Kurt, do you know? I I
[15:27] think the year afterward probably the
initial trails probably
[15:33] 2015 maybe. Yeah, I think Yeah, I think
uh I either Mike might be able to um to
[15:43] cuz essentially those guys laid it out
pretty much. Yeah. Um Mike might have a
[15:49] exact date on that.
It was the number guys basically did did
[15:55] the did the layout work,
but I'm thinking it was right after um
[16:07] Um, what section is that? I'm just going
to put an email to Mike.
[16:13] I I think what you're talking about is
the western end, which is the upper part
[16:18] of the Saka River Trail. Yeah. And the
Davis, the back the return back to the
[16:24] crossover trail. So, it's that upper
loop basically on the the other side of
[16:28] the tank. Upper loop. No, no, no. the
they're talking on the north side. So
[16:33] they're talking about that it's the
western end, you know, from going all
[16:38] the way to the ter. Yeah. Could you go
to campground, right? Right. Yeah. Yeah.
[16:42] Cuz that did come later, right? Yeah.
Sex 7 part H.
[16:53] That's a lot of lot of heads.
Good enough to read this thing.
[16:59] It's not too bad. Yeah, it I do
apologize. Reading off a phone is not
[17:04] ideal.
[17:11] Okay.
[17:14] Believe I'm on bullet point 13 for this
now.
[17:19] Um, again highlighted but not crossed
out what we had written with meet with
[17:24] the Mount Washington Valley RC flying
cub to determine future expectations,
[17:27] goals and arrangements regarding their
use of the western portion of the Kennet
[17:30] Homestead tract outline and measure
their leased area for future monitoring
[17:35] purposes questionable status or status
in question.
[17:41] Oh, so kind of have we done that? Have
we reached out to the club to
[17:45] reestablish?
Yeah.
[17:48] I have not that I know of. But yeah,
you've reached out to the flying club,
[17:54] right? The airplane club. I haven't I
haven't talked to them in years. I
[17:58] reached out to them in the past. Yeah.
Actually kind of a member, but Okay.
[18:04] Yeah. I don't cuz who's there? They have
a new president. It's not what's his
[18:08] name anymore? Olaf. Well, yeah. Somebody
else. Uh
[18:14] uh the
the last contact I had was 2021. It was
[18:19] Kevin Bennett. I have a contact there.
So I will Wow. I will reach out to
[18:40] and would you just read that paragraph
again? It's there's stuff about a lease.
[18:45] Is there stuff about a lease? I know. We
have uh it's in quotes. Lease agreement.
[18:52] It's uh measure to their least area for
future monitoring purposes. Okay.
[18:59] Least area is in quotes. Um if you'd
like the full thing, it's meet with the
[19:02] Mount Washington Valley RC flying club
to determine future expectations, goals,
[19:07] and arrangements regarding their use of
the western portion of the Kennet
[19:13] Homestead tract.
outline and measure their least area for
[19:19] future monitoring purposes. Outline and
measure. So that has not ever been done.
[19:24] Maybe we just have a general Yeah, it's
vague. Yeah. Yeah. Use of yield. It's
[19:31] pretty well defined though on the
ground. It's pretty well defined cuz the
[19:35] farm field is kind of Yeah. So anything
that's not the farm pretty well one edge
[19:39] of it and then Yeah. kind of the roads
go around it or pathways and roads go
[19:43] around it.
[19:54] I'd have to find an agreement.
Wait.
[20:09] Yeah, cuz they give us
[20:15] I think I remember getting insurance
documentation from Right. That's what
[20:18] I'm thinking too.
Yeah. Yeah. Probably. We need that
[20:22] liability. Yes. Liability. Um Yeah, it's
it's in some of my notes. Certificate of
[20:28] insurance from them as well.
[20:39] Have to find it. That would be
[20:50] Thank you. All right. I haven't Do they
I haven't seen anybody flying there
[20:55] recently because it's it's still early.
Oh, I think they're active. They are
[20:59] active. So, Sunday uh kind of midm
morning is their Okay. That's their
[21:04] regular Oh, flight time. Okay. Um you
know, members can go anytime, but they
[21:08] kind of get together as a group on
Sunday. Okay. Sunday mid morning,
[21:12] midday. Okay.
[21:30] Yeah, they had a work party and uh yeah,
they're fine. Okay.
[21:54] roughly bullet point 14 under that same
section. Uh we had written conservation
[22:00] easement holder will conduct legal
compliance monitoring of the
[22:03] conservation easement at least once
annually.
[22:06] edited was a bullet point underneath
that with the status. Monitoring has
[22:10] been conducted at least once annually
since 2015. Reports are on file with the
[22:15] conservation easement holder. Required
third party reports have been submitted
[22:19] to LCHIP annually with the copies on
file with the conservation easement
[22:23] holder.
[22:28] Good check.
Um, oddly enough, we have section H
[22:33] again after that, but it is now wetlands
and water bodies.
[22:40] Okay, have to get rid of this. Yeah. Uh,
section I, forest resources,
[22:51] uh, was added in at the end. Uh, an
updated forest management plan for the
[22:57] property was prepared by Timothy Nolan
of Forest Land Improvement Incorporated
[23:01] in June 2024 and was approved by
Youusfelt by the letter dated September
[23:05] 17th, 2024. C Attachment 10, Forest
Management Plan updated by June 2024,
[23:10] prepared by Forest Land Man Improvement
Incorporated.
[23:25] uh
that goes into the objectives and
[23:28] strategies for forest resources.
Okay. Uh first bullet point, all future
[23:36] commercial forestry must be conducted in
accordance with the approved forest
[23:39] management plan prepared by forest land
improvement in and they added in June
[23:44] 2024
or subsequent plans or plans amendments
[23:48] subject to prior approval.
[23:54] Second point, it is recommended that
Upper Sako Valley Land Trust work with
[23:57] the landowner to hold a
publicformational field tour on the
[24:00] protected property to discuss forest
management to show the public that
[24:04] sustainable and ecologically sensitive
timber management can be profitable
[24:08] and it was a status underneath that
bullet point status which was that last
[24:13] name. It was a uh bullet point status
was added underneath that. Okay, that's
[24:18] the status is um boy that's a long one.
A public field tour was coordinated
[24:25] after the town of Alby's first harvest
in 2012. The tour was led by forester
[24:29] Don Johnson joined by logger Randy Wales
to inform the public on harvest
[24:33] operations accomplished following
recommendations in the forest management
[24:36] plan. Future field tours are encouraged
to continue to educate the public on
[24:40] sustainable forestry practices. Okay.
[24:45] Um,
they added an additional bullet point
[24:51] onto the main bullet points there to
monitor the posth harvest regeneration
[24:56] of black birch after the 2024 spongy
moth salvage harvest.
[25:03] Yeah, I haven't been up there.
[25:07] Nope, not nothing in front. Monitor the
posth harvest regeneration. Yeah, I mean
[25:12] it's going to be anecdotal because we
didn't it's not like we did a grid, you
[25:16] know, and a control or anything like
that. It's just
[25:20] anecdotal monitoring.
[25:25] Uh section 8, updating of plan
information.
[25:29] Uh first paragraph has um some
redactions.
[25:34] uh to encourage incorporation of new
forestry and ecological management
[25:38] practices were appropriate and
practical. The conservation management
[25:41] plan will
admin crossed off be evaluated
[25:48] um crossed off is within 5 years of its
effective date and they uh left every 10
[25:53] years thereafter. I believe that was the
point you were referring to. So they
[25:57] took out 5 years and just left every 10.
And is the beginning of the statement a
[26:02] should or a will or a shall? What's the
um I guess the beginning of the
[26:06] statement is to encourage incorporation
inventory where appropriate will be
[26:12] evaluated every 10 years thereafter.
[26:16] Okay.
The conservation management plan will be
[26:21] updated within one year of a change of
ownership. It's also in that same piece.
[26:28] Wonder if we should change it to should.
Yeah.
[26:34] I don't think it would be a bad idea.
[26:42] That's a first paragraph of section 8.
[26:51] Uh section nine was amendments.
Yeah. which I'm going to assume was
[26:56] blank because the entire amendments
portion is in the red. Uh which is an
[27:03] agricultural management plan was
developed in May 2014. C Attachment 11
[27:07] agricultural management plan May 2014.
This updated management plan was
[27:11] developed collaboratively between the
Upper Sako Valley Land Trust and the
[27:14] Conservation Commission of the Town of
Albany. It is an amended version of the
[27:18] original conservation management plan
dated July 27th, 2012.
[27:24] And that is that full that's it that is
that section. Okay. Um
[27:30] the last portion is
just attachments.
[27:37] Uh numerically
once you get down to attachment nine
[27:43] trail map it has uh been edited to say
updated 2019.
[27:50] Okay. Number 10, uh, forest management
plan has been edited to say updated June
[27:55] 2024
and an edit was made to add an 11th one
[28:02] agricultural management plan May 2014.
And that is the full document. Thank
[28:08] you, J. You're welcome.
Thank you for technology. Yeah.
[28:16] All right. I'll see if I can get a
few printed plant copies of that so that
[28:23] I I mean I'm such a hard copy person.
Yeah.
[28:27] So that we can review and change and
u I'll see if I can get that out to you
[28:34] before the next meeting.
I don't need a hard copy. You got it.
[28:39] I'll get the access. Okay. And um what
I'm sure Sean would I don't need a hard
[28:44] copy. Okay. Okay.
[28:50] Uh, and when I do get access, I could
print the hard copies here. Oh, that's
[28:54] true. Save you the paper and ink. Oh,
well, yeah. Well, I guess I was going to
[28:58] go
Sman's office and Oh, look sad. Yeah.
[29:06] But I also I think it's one of those
things I I believe I mentioned this in a
[29:10] previous meeting is I think as when I
bring on a new member,
[29:16] they should have a copy of each one of
these plans and say this is part of what
[29:19] we do. Mhm. Um so it's, you know, that's
kind of like in the back of my mind.
[29:26] Yeah. Because I do have a possible new
member. Oh, wonderful. Yeah. So,
[29:32] let's see if we can get him on board. Is
that on the agenda? No, not business.
[29:38] Not official business. I have his name
and phone number. Yeah. Great.
[29:45] So, yeah. Um, yeah. So, my thoughts on
that are those couple, you know, will do
[29:51] the plan in 10 years changed to should.
Yeah. Seems reasonable to give more
[29:56] flexibility on our end. Yes. Right. Uh
yeah, maybe even scrub through for more
[30:03] just control F, search for the word will
and just see where Yeah. Um and just see
[30:10] where it's a hard point to uh if it's
necessary to put flexibility in it.
[30:18] All right. I will put that up to uh put
on the agenda for next time. Yeah.
[30:23] Really the thing is like if nothing's
you know in 10 years there's probably
[30:27] going to be some changes but maybe
there's not and going through the cost
[30:31] of doing the whole thing is if it's not
warranted then it's not you know. Yep.
[30:37] Agreed.
[30:41] Okay.
[30:45] I know we had set a date for the cleanup
of the Albany town forest and uh some of
[30:51] us uh were able to get out there and
others of us were not. Um and there I
[30:57] know Mike put out an email with his
report. So thank you for whoever cut up
[31:02] the big trees cuz I was not prepared for
that.
[31:06] But I came along behind with my little
just my loppers and my little hand saw
[31:11] and just kind of cleaned up whatever was
Oh yeah. Yeah. That was Mike. Mike.
[31:16] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, it seemed like he
took some of the bigger stuff that was
[31:19] in the way and then I just came through
and paint smaller pieces. Does any
[31:23] further work need to be done with a
larger saw or is it No, it's actually in
[31:29] pretty good shape. Okay.
I've been meaning to take the leaf
[31:35] blower around, but it's like it rains
every freaking weekend and you know, so
[31:38] it's like I can't do very much if
everything's wet. Full disclosure, it
[31:42] was out there.
Yeah. Yeah. It was really The weather
[31:47] has not been in our favor for sure. Um
the one piece I did want to bring up is
[31:53] there was a bridge
that was just up on a hill. Oh yeah. Um
[32:02] I think he's they're talking about
removing that bridge. So they relocated
[32:06] the trail. Okay. last year to avoid to
avoid having that bridge problem which
[32:12] is seems to be a perennial wash out and
then and then they so they moved the
[32:17] trail to the south side of that stream.
Okay. And um and then they they're
[32:24] talking about re reclaiming the bridge
and using it someplace else. Okay,
[32:28] perfect. That bridge must we had time,
but last time it washed out, Mike moved
[32:33] the bridge by himself.
Maybe he's not as heavy as I think. Or
[32:37] he's a lot rugged than
All right. Okay. Thank you for doing
[32:42] that, Jake, and bringing that up. M
[32:51] as time goes on, let's, you know, just
poke around out there and if there's a
[32:54] need to, okay, go out and trim
branches and I mean, it's something we
[32:59] usually do annually, but
I uh so I haven't
[33:06] other than um taking a leaf blower
around the then the work is essentially
[33:11] good and completed. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Okay. Thank you, Mike and Jake. Done for
[33:18] the trails. Yeah. My followup question
is the view the view thing along 16.
[33:25] Um Oh, right. That you know, we gave the
a good cut. Yeah, I think it's pretty
[33:31] good. I think it's pretty good. Yeah.
The other and then the other would be is
[33:35] whether or not the ditch line you know
that's between um um the essentially the
[33:41] airfield and um
Davis farm and the or actually yeah
[33:50] that's Davis's plot there and Grand View
Mhm. Uh can be cleared. Yeah, that those
[33:57] are getting pretty big and part of that
is wetland. Mhm. So that would be
[34:02] there'd be a limitation there, but
eventually that tree line's going to
[34:04] grow up and you won't see, you know,
you're going to I mean, if it goes
[34:09] unchecked, it'll it'll eventually close
off that view. I'm sure it would take
[34:13] more than 10 years if 20 years, but it's
it's we cut it
[34:21] eight years ago, maybe something like
that. Eight or nine years ago. Yeah. We
[34:24] cut it right down to where there's
nothing. Okay. But we didn't go all the
[34:29] way. There's that ditch line kind of
there's another ditch line that bounds
[34:33] the playing fields. Okay. And we didn't
go quite to the end there, but it's also
[34:40] loaded with poison ivy. So, is that a
fall project, you think? Um versus
[34:47] spring. Yeah. Better in the spring when
there's no foliage. Oh, true. And also
[34:53] no undergrowth or you know a lot of the
stuff a lot of the annual growth has
[34:56] died down ideally if but then super wet.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Ideally,
[35:03] if um the town or whatever has one of
those um big pieces of machinery, the
[35:10] Bronosaurus or whatever, you know, the
idea, the monster brush ride, cuz the
[35:16] trees are growing up big enough now that
you're going to have a a lot of like
[35:20] like if we had a lot of brush on the
other end, it's going to be like twice
[35:24] as much brush to to handle. So, I don't
know if the
[35:31] can tie it in with a
um Eversource or somebody and just say,
[35:36] "Hey, you guys got equipment in this
neighborhood sometime." Yeah. I don't
[35:41] know. Tenant certainly doesn't have that
resource. Yeah. Um and those machines by
[35:46] themselves probably cost a ton, you
know, a lot to run. Yeah. That might be
[35:50] something I'm looking for a grand maybe.
Uh what do you think the diameter of the
[35:56] trees are in the um maybe four or five
inches now? Um and it was eight years
[36:01] ago. Nine years ago. Eight or nine years
ago. Yeah. Maybe they might be a little
[36:04] smaller cuz I haven't gotten any close
there cuz I got a I got a monster dose
[36:08] of poison ivy the last time you worked
in there.
[36:14] Oh man. Yeah. Was um Rob used his brush
hog on he's got a small tractor and that
[36:20] would be the other thing where Okay. the
worst case scenario, cut the cut the
[36:25] stuff, burn it, and use the brush hog
for the little stuff, you know, but
[36:32] that's still a lot of work. That ditch
line is twice the length of the 16
[36:37] practically. Yeah, it's it's it's
serious.
[36:43] There's an old bridge in there. Old
stone, really? Yeah. the the stringers
[36:48] are gone, but the bridge above's there,
which is kind of cool. Yeah.
[36:54] So, that's the two like the Route 16
thing, you know, we gave that a whack 3
[36:59] years ago or something maybe. Um, but
that's the thing is like to stay on top
[37:04] of it, right? And keep giving it a whack
so it doesn't get to trees. Oh, yeah.
[37:08] You can do that every 3 or 4 years. You
can just use a brush saw or just every
[37:13] year. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know, make
that part of our Yeah. No, it it's it's
[37:18] um it it's the way to go. Yeah. And like
I said, if you keep it small enough, you
[37:24] can use a brush saw and have to worry
about um brush. Yeah. You know, you cut
[37:30] it when it's big, right? You don't need
chainsaws. You can just use Yeah. Yeah.
[37:35] Just use weed whackers. Weed whackers.
Right. I think that would be the goal.
[37:40] and or get it to like hand it off to the
farmers, you know, part of their
[37:46] maintenance. Yeah. Yeah, that's a
possibility. Um, but I think we need to
[37:51] give it another whack before we ask them
to Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, thinking
[37:58] for the fall, maybe that's the fall
project is the Route 16 line to get
[38:03] that. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Um,
good and under control to maybe pass it
[38:10] off to the farmers. Mhm.
The ditch sounds like that's a whole
[38:14] another consideration. That's a big
project there, right? That's multiple
[38:18] days of lot of mano people hours. The um
uh Jake had suggested that he was
[38:27] willing to take on some of these bigger
projects. He was talking about cutting
[38:31] some of the tree line back even which is
again pretty ambitious. Yeah. Um so
[38:37] maybe he'd be maybe he may you know so
who knows but anyways
[38:44] um
well if the trails are looking good I'd
[38:47] say let's you know think about a fall
work day. Mhm. Okay. I'll put it on the
[38:54] agenda for next month to keep it keep it
in preview. Yeah.
[38:59] All right.
Um,
[39:04] how how is the blazing look? The
material blazing, the blue glazes, they
[39:09] look okay. Most of them. Yeah, I was
wondering. Probably a handful that
[39:16] I was looking at maybe going back and
and uh and touching up. Um, yeah. Yeah.
[39:22] And I think there's also some old blue
blaze that got a that was a little
[39:28] confusing as well.
Going in different directions. Yeah.
[39:33] Where it was clearly fresh in this
direction, then real kind of faded. But
[39:37] if your head swivel in this way, you see
that faded one first. I kind of like
[39:42] would do a step and I was like, "Oh,
what's that?" Oh, okay. Yeah. All right.
[39:44] That's obviously the trail. But well, a
lot of the work usually when you do that
[39:48] the first time is is making is taking an
axe and you know making a level thing.
[39:54] So if it's just a repaint, it's a lot
faster. Well,
[40:00] that's something that could be done with
some Okay.
[40:09] Oh yeah, I would be glad to do that as
well. But yeah. Yeah. What I hear you
[40:15] saying is that you're just going to go
out and do it. But we could do that as a
[40:18] group. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When I did it
last time, I carried an axe,
[40:23] an axe, a hatchet, paint, and a short
step ladder. And a short step ladder.
[40:30] Yeah. And uh so I could basically get
high enough.
[40:34] So Yeah. So you so you can see them, you
know. Yeah. Well, we can make that a
[40:38] group project. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Absolutely.
[40:47] Are you able to walk very distance
already? Yeah. Yeah, I think walk the
[40:51] trails at this point. Okay. Yeah. Couple
months ago. No.
[40:56] Good. All right. Good progress moving
forward. Um yeah. So that brings us, you
[41:02] know, to the boundary line painting we
talked about doing. M
[41:08] I I would personally, if it was me, um
save boundary for
[41:15] a fall. Fall. Okay. Where the bugs
aren't going to be quite so bad. Oh man,
[41:18] they're vicious. Cuz it'll it I mean
it's a short
[41:23] with the area we've been talking about
is a relatively short distance be from
[41:28] the Forest Service access road to the
fish and game area. Okay. and uh and
[41:36] it's in relatively I mean as far as
clearance is concerned from the edge of
[41:41] the pine stand there to the fishing game
it's it's pretty good shape. I mean it's
[41:47] going to be some limming necessary but
I'm not really sure going in the
[41:51] opposite direction you go through a
stand of uh sumac and it could be a real
[41:57] jungle in there. Yeah. Like I'm sure
it's a jungle in there actually. Okay.
[42:01] All right.
All right. Fall project. But um it'd be
[42:06] better
to do it when there's the leaves are
[42:10] down than it would be to try to do it
now.
[42:14] I'm I'm sure it's clear enough as you
know as far as falling and it's just a
[42:18] matter of visibility when you're when
you're limiting and stuff. Yeah. So,
[42:26] all right. I haven't done anything on
the road work again because of so much
[42:29] rain and whatnot. I bet the the holes
look really good now, but I'd like to
[42:33] get out there and talk to the farmers
again and just see for myself what it
[42:38] looks like out there.
[42:42] Jim,
I think said,
[42:47] you know, if we bring in the materials,
just do it. No problem. Right. Um and I
[42:53] was going I think it was in the April
minutes. Um I was supposed to talk to
[42:58] Russ. Oh, great. Which I haven't done
yet, but I can call him anytime and and
[43:05] if he's willing to spread it. Yeah, that
would be cool. Okay.
[43:10] And also Jake said he could or Jake said
that Russ had volunteered that they were
[43:16] ready. Okay. But so so we got those, you
know, Russ and Jake to do the spreading.
[43:24] The material is coming Yeah. materials
coming from the town. Y. Yeah. Right.
[43:30] Well, so we'll work on that. Okay. Yeah.
And hopefully they would put it in like
[43:35] crushed
uh ledge. Yeah. Instead of crushed
[43:39] bankron. Mhm. Cuz that would stand up a
lot better to to um water and it drain
[43:46] better.
[43:50] Okay.
[43:53] The next thing is the uhou with the
USFs. How's that for?
[44:01] We've kind of tal touched on that and
talked about that and court said that he
[44:04] would do that. Um approval of the ski
jump trail. It was in the email.
[44:14] So that that so Mike that'll make Mike
happy to move forward
[44:19] um on that side. I know they were
waiting for the Okay.
[44:25] Yeah.
So, I just wanted to bring that up that
[44:28] that happened. Um,
[44:33] there was a program about trout release.
Thank you, Sean, for sort of handling
[44:39] that. Um, yeah, for the kids. Yep. So,
that's, you know, pretty pretty amazing.
[44:46] Um,
did you see that email? Yeah. many years
[44:51] we've worked with Pine Tree Elementary,
now Lakeside, uh to do watershed
[44:56] education programs on the Swift River
behind Kennet Middle School and the
[45:01] Ranger Station and usually get access to
drive back there to bring water quality
[45:06] monitoring equipment and the trout uh to
release them. Uh we were hoping to do
[45:11] that again and get permission. Um and so
that has been
[45:19] been done. It happened. Yeah, it
happened.
[45:24] So, next um I received from Cindy
Sellers or we did um a butterfly survey.
[45:32] They're asking um
Cindy Sellers. So, this is up Valley
[45:38] Land Trust. Um,
and the other,
[45:45] let's see, uh, reaching out to ask
permission for a handful of volunteers
[45:49] from the Tin Mountain Conservation
Center to do some butterfly sampling in
[45:53] the fields on Albony Town Forest behind
the Kennet Middle School on Saturday,
[45:57] July 19th or early summer. Dexter
Harding from Tin Mountain Conservation
[46:02] Center will be running the sampling day.
He expects a small team and will be on
[46:06] site for a couple hours in the
afternoon. Would it be okay for Dexter
[46:10] and his team to access your property for
this purpose? Absolutely. That's what I
[46:16] would think so.
I make a motion to approve. Butterfly. I
[46:22] will second the butterfly motion. Okay.
All those in favor of the butterfly uh
[46:27] survey to be held signify by saying I.
I. Okay.
[46:35] Motion carries. Okay. So Sean Sean has
seconded and Jake. Yeah. Okay. Sean and
[46:42] Jake.
Okay. I know. Something else. Oh, I
[46:47] know. It's the only thing.
I just wanted to mention that I seen
[46:53] from a couple nonprofit organizations in
town that New Hampshire Gives
[46:59] um program is June 10th through the
11th. Oh yes. Okay. So, um just putting
[47:06] it out there various nonprofits in the
area maybe reaching out and um doing
[47:12] that. I saw, you know, I Children
Unlimited and the Gibson Center and the
[47:18] Day Adult Day Center, you know, all
those people. Um
[47:23] and I think Upper is Upper Saka Valley
Land Trust part of that. I think New
[47:27] Hampshire gives. Yeah, that's maybe why
it hit me to be able to mention it. Um,
[47:33] so yeah, it's a little sometimes it's a
little cumbersome, but it's such a great
[47:38] program and that it's they get I know
when I was on the board with Children
[47:43] Unlimited, we had big donors that would
match if we raised so much. So, yeah,
[47:49] it's kind of like a contest and uh such
a good thing for the state of New
[47:53] Hampshire and for um our nonprofits that
support us here in the valley.
[48:01] So, I just wanted to mention that that
that's coming up. Okay. Um, so that
[48:10] you want to write it on my calendar.
[48:15] All right. Is there any other business
to attend to today? Tonight?
[48:21] I don't have any.
I just notified Cindy of the butterfly.
[48:27] Okay. Survey to her.
[48:33] Yep.
You're right.
[48:38] All right. All right.
Well, I don't have anything else.
[48:49] Do I hear a motion to adjurnn?
Yep. I just had to read the email. Okay.
[48:55] I make the motion to adjurnn. I will
second that. Okay. All those in favor of
[49:00] adjournment at 7:19 signify. I I Okay,
we are adjourned. The next meeting will
[49:08] be um
July 1st. It's on my agenda. July 1st.
[49:14] Yes.