[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.

Albany Conservation Commission (6/3/25)

Transcript