[0:01] Good evening.

[0:02] I'd like to call July 13th, meeting

[0:05] of Dairy Conservation Commission Order.

[0:07] Remind everybody to please silence all cell phones. Oh yeah.

[0:10] And stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

[0:15] Aye. Aye. Pledge Of all allegiance.

[0:16] Please flag of the United States of America

[0:20] and to the Republic for which stands.

[0:23] One Nation under God, indivisible, liberty,

[0:27] and justice for all.

[0:29] Thank you. As a reminder, if you're in attendance tonight,

[0:34] the emergency exits are to my right, your left,

[0:37] and to the back of the room.

[0:39] In the event of emergency. Please don't use the elevators.

[0:42] If you are unable to use the stairs. Please stay seated.

[0:45] Seated and someone will help you.

[0:48] I'd like to have the commissioners introduce

[0:51] themselves from right to left.

[0:56] Hi, I'm Catherine Arbor, Christopher Morlock,

[0:59] Jay Res.

[1:01] Eileen Val.

[1:05] Val Connolly, Elizabeth Carver, land manager.

[1:09] And I'm Rick Metz, the vice chair.

[1:11] I'd like to welcome Catherine Arbor

[1:14] tonight to her first meeting.

[1:16] She is now our final alternate.

[1:19] So we have a full board tonight.

[1:22] And Cheryl, come on in.

[1:28] Thank you. Cheryl Holbert is in attendance as well.

[1:31] So we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

[1:35] So Pam, would you sit tonight for Bob

[1:39] and Jay?

[1:42] I know you have to sit for somebody.

[1:47] Or Christopher, you have to sit for somebody.

[1:50] So would you sit tonight as a voting member? Yes.

[1:52] Alright, so we're good. Seven.

[1:57] All right. Next I'd like a motion to

[2:02] for approval of the minutes from June 3rd, 2026.

[2:06] Everybody has 'em in front of you.

[2:08] Take a minute if you have any corrections.

[2:12] I have a couple simple ones.

[2:15] Bob Sperl has mentioned twice in attendance.

[2:18] I think there was only one of them here.

[2:22] And on the last page,

[2:24] my name has a couple extra E's and some spots.

[2:27] Yeah. So if that's all we had to worry about, right?

[2:31] It's not a big deal. Really good,

[2:32] Right?

[2:33] Yep. First two spots on that.

[2:39] Any other additions? Corrections.

[2:42] Okay, I'll entertain a motion please.

[2:48] I'm the one that usually makes the motions.

[2:49] Someone else has to help me here. Motion to

[2:51] Approve.

[2:53] Move to approve. Second. Second. Second by Chris.

[2:57] All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[3:03] Alright. Any abstentions? Hearing none unanimous.

[3:10] I have a few things here. We've got a,

[3:14] a reminder from SE that the Carris corn

[3:17] and Doolittle property in Shepherd Park have been protected

[3:21] for a total of 26 years.

[3:23] Pass that to the left.

[3:26] We have a DES notification

[3:29] for property on 2122 Hamstead Road, alleged violation.

[3:35] And that letter we'll talk about in non-public,

[3:39] I'll pass that to Cheryl.

[3:45] So Val Connolly up

[3:48] with a new commissioner handbook. Go ahead.

[3:51] Okay. So unfortunately I did not bring my laptop.

[3:56] I'm running a little frazzled today,

[3:58] so I'm, I'm sorry about that.

[3:59] But I did kind of get a chance to put a glimpse

[4:03] of it up last time and kind of scroll through it.

[4:05] I think that was that or the meet the mission

[4:08] and the vision that we're also included there.

[4:10] But I know that everyone each had

[4:12] gotten a copy in the via email or so.

[4:15] I know it's a lot to kind of look at.

[4:17] It was pretty intensive, I'd say,

[4:20] but still at this, at that stage.

[4:24] Very generic. I know Eileen had given me

[4:27] some soft pointers right now to make sure

[4:30] to help it get it tailored directly to kind

[4:32] of the operations of dairy and things like that.

[4:34] And I'm looking forward

[4:37] to getting any further insight when you guys

[4:39] do have a chance to review.

[4:40] I know it is a lot. Catherine, I'll get your email

[4:43] and I'll make sure you get a copy as well.

[4:45] 'cause I'm, that would be another great perspective coming

[4:48] from a new, new member.

[4:49] So thank you.

[4:52] Yeah, a, a big portion of it, which I thought was great,

[4:55] especially coming at, I mean, I'm not a new member anymore.

[4:58] I mean, we're all fairly new,

[5:00] but a lot of it kind of goes over the,

[5:04] the subcommittees, the roles

[5:06] of the chairs of those committees.

[5:08] Just so kind of give an idea rather than just starting day

[5:12] one and they're saying, Hey, what

[5:14] committee do you want to go on?

[5:15] You know, you kind of get a chance to explore,

[5:17] maybe attend a few is kind of like something that I'm hoping

[5:20] to, to maybe establish

[5:23] or provide to the commission for, you know,

[5:25] like a living document as like a set guidance and rules.

[5:28] Of course, we do have things

[5:30] and there was a refactory statement where I kind of tried

[5:32] to say, you know, hey, obviously our like duties

[5:35] and things are, and limitations are outlined in law

[5:40] and regulation and things like that.

[5:41] But I kind of wanted to have something that kind

[5:44] of compiled some of those resources.

[5:46] Another thing I included in there were links to some

[5:48] of these RSAs and things.

[5:50] I thought that was really helpful to be able

[5:52] to just read it word for word, section by section

[5:55] and kind of understand, rather than just going off of a,

[5:59] a translated description.

[6:02] The N-H-A-C-C handbooks are wonderful

[6:04] and they're great going through them gave a lot

[6:06] of great ideas and kind of a background as

[6:09] to conservation commissions of a as a whole.

[6:11] But I was really hoping, like I was saying, telling Eileen

[6:13] to, to tailor it to, to dairy.

[6:15] So I'm looking, we do to what we do specifically in,

[6:18] in dairy and the kind of ways that we interact in different,

[6:21] you know, so if anyone had a chance

[6:24] to take a peek at it, I would love to hear.

[6:26] Any thoughts? A criticism to throw it all my way.

[6:29] It's, it's, I wanna make sure it's a living document.

[6:31] We all get a, you know, piece of it and continued.

[6:35] Val, if you would find it helpful,

[6:37] I can bring it up if you would like to.

[6:40] Do you have the I have it right document. Do you want it?

[6:42] Do you wanna bring it up on the screen? Yeah, sure.

[6:44] That would, if that's okay, I'll do that right now.

[6:46] You know, I know Catherine hasn't seen it yet.

[6:48] You've got time. You're amazing.

[6:49] Thank you. Oh, you're amazing.

[6:52] It, I'm just looking up your email.

[7:01] Yeah, so I think, right, right at

[7:03] that point when I sent it out, it was like 74 pages.

[7:07] So that was something else is I was, was hoping to maybe,

[7:11] maybe condense it a little bit.

[7:12] Granted, you know, there's a lot that we do

[7:14] and there's a lot we have to, you know, cover.

[7:16] But the N-H-A-C-C handbook really is a great resource

[7:18] and I don't want to reinvent the wheel kind of thing.

[7:21] So I was trying to have them side by side

[7:24] and kind of, you know, translate into dairy.

[7:28] But of course, you know,

[7:29] I'm still a fairly new commissioner.

[7:31] So even the things that are said, you know,

[7:33] the first 90 days, I don't know if anyone saw that part,

[7:36] but it was like, one of them was understanding conserv, the

[7:41] flow of conservation funds or the how to, how that works

[7:44] and where that comes from.

[7:45] And then I was like, I don't know how to do that.

[7:47] Maybe not every commissioner needs to know how to do that.

[7:49] And by 90 days

[7:51] or like, it was like learn it 90 days forward.

[7:53] You know, some stuff like that where it was like,

[7:55] just tweak it.

[7:56] Yeah. Sorry, I'm rambling. My brain is all over the place.

[8:02] Just if there's, oh yeah, yeah.

[8:04] If there's a particular place

[8:05] that you wanna go, just let me know.

[8:07] This was just something I taught.

[8:08] I I, I worked with my dad to get this in there just

[8:12] to really make sure, you know, hey,

[8:14] this is just a guidance document, a living document.

[8:16] Obviously there are laws.

[8:17] I, I feel like that was important if we were gonna kind

[8:20] of consider this as a, a resource to the commission.

[8:23] I thought that was an important piece.

[8:25] Yeah. So to summarize, this page would just be that there,

[8:29] this is a, a reference handbook. Only

[8:32] Not, yeah.

[8:33] Yes. This is a reference companion handbook to

[8:35] regular already outlined statutes and the

[8:37] provided N-H-A-C-C handbook.

[8:47] Okay. So this is kind of the flow of this.

[8:50] I did follow from the N-H-A-C-C handbook a little bit,

[8:54] but thinking about how to use the guide

[8:56] and also some introductory sections

[8:59] here on the commission within a municipal framework, kind

[9:02] of understanding where we sit, you know, where that was kind

[9:06] of part of the thing that, where some funds come from.

[9:08] But also we interact with other commissions.

[9:10] We have to work with different departments

[9:12] and stuff, especially for like monitoring.

[9:14] We're pulling up documents and things.

[9:18] Yeah, I wish I had this song in front of me.

[9:22] These are also some things I, I thought were important.

[9:24] Community building through conservation.

[9:26] That's something that I feel like we've really

[9:27] been trying to ramp up doing.

[9:29] You know, we've been reaching out through social media.

[9:31] People are coming to these events, people are connecting.

[9:33] I met someone, oh, what was his name?

[9:35] Tim, on the Heritage Commission. Lovely man.

[9:37] I'm gonna go see him on a

[9:38] Wednesday some night at the museum.

[9:40] Things like that. And, and also just highlighting

[9:43] interdisciplinary skills, shared responsibility.

[9:45] You know, we have some re conservation commissioners here

[9:48] who have backgrounds, you know, forest

[9:51] and lands, things like that, you know,

[9:52] but some of us don't have those backgrounds.

[9:54] But the skills that we bring to the table,

[9:57] even just being a part of our community and,

[9:59] and having a respect for the things that we protect.

[10:01] You know, just highlighting that that's an important piece

[10:03] and, and it's something

[10:04] that I thought was a welcoming acknowledgement

[10:06] to commissioners who might be feeling a little unsettled

[10:10] or uneasy coming into something.

[10:15] Oh yeah. And these were those drafts, the mission

[10:17] and guiding statements that we read last time

[10:22] And we'll, we're planning on reviewing those in more

[10:25] depth at a future meeting.

[10:27] Yes, thank you Beth. I

[10:32] thought this section was helpful.

[10:34] I know sometimes, you know,

[10:35] it can be a little gray area if you know,

[10:37] like your neighbor is getting involved

[10:39] and they have to go through these things.

[10:40] So it's kind of understand like outlining some ideas

[10:43] of conflict of interest

[10:45] and you know, just acting as we should, you know,

[10:49] we are protectors of the town's land.

[10:51] We have these responsibilities and these goals

[10:53] and we're gonna, you know,

[10:54] stick to them, that kind of thing.

[11:01] More of that stuff. Yeah,

[11:02] That's all that right.

[11:03] Yeah. This was that first 90 days section

[11:06] that I was mentioning.

[11:08] But this was really general.

[11:11] I did use some other, I was looking at some

[11:13] of our neighboring commissions

[11:14] and then maybe some further ones too in their guidebooks

[11:17] and some things that they reach out

[11:19] to their commissioners about.

[11:22] Again, we can definitely change all of this.

[11:27] And going further, I thought it was pretty nice,

[11:29] the time commitment, expectations, we all are all volunteers

[11:33] and it's, it's great that we wanna get involved.

[11:35] I think it's something that people are worried

[11:37] that they might not have enough time,

[11:38] but you know, some of these things, some of the roles, some

[11:41] of the ways that we can contribute and show up.

[11:44] It doesn't have to be a full time job kind of thing.

[11:47] You know, just outlining where they may be able

[11:49] to get involved with the time that they have

[11:52] and the flux of the seasonal periods also

[11:55] I thought was important.

[12:00] Do we, does anybody from

[12:04] those Yeah.

[12:07] You know, wanna comment on the hours

[12:08] or anything like that as far as like

[12:10] what your experience has been on those different committees?

[12:18] Myself, personally, reporting compliance one to two hours.

[12:21] That's I was considering on the ground, like monitoring.

[12:25] And I think something that's important

[12:28] considering passing a torch on the next reporting compliance

[12:31] commissioner should maybe have a little bit more time

[12:33] to familiarize themselves with the documents.

[12:35] Don't just allot one to two hours a month

[12:40] to looking at documents. Maybe

[12:42] Like a, A startup.

[12:43] Yeah, a startup time commitment. Yeah. Yeah.

[12:46] You got it right for the community garden.

[12:48] Eight to 12 hours during seasonal startup and shutdown.

[12:53] Yeah.

[12:56] Start up here like that.

[13:00] Yeah. If anyone has like looked at this

[13:01] or sees something, just flag it out.

[13:05] This is just going into officers and personnel.

[13:08] They're really just describing,

[13:11] you know, what they do.

[13:13] And again, this was, I would love to have perspective

[13:16] and insight from actual officers

[13:18] and dairy who have experience.

[13:19] This is really general and just kind of how they interact

[13:23] and where they can support each other,

[13:27] other things gone into, I think later on,

[13:32] at another point, oh my god, 90 pages.

[13:34] Holy cow. At another point I basically included like

[13:39] cover, like cover letters

[13:41] or like re like the job descriptions for, you know, officers

[13:46] as well as chairs of committees.

[13:49] And I had a section also just for alternates.

[13:51] I thought that that was really nice to kind of, you know,

[13:55] I'm an alternate, I'm not chairing a board.

[13:57] How can I support, where do I fit in sitting in, on, on,

[13:59] on voting for people who are absent?

[14:02] You know, things like that. I think

[14:05] that's later on I'm just, it's 90 pages.

[14:08] Yeah. So alternates could go through

[14:11] The whole thing. Yeah. We don't have

[14:12] To go through the whole Yeah, I know.

[14:13] I'm sorry. Whole thing.

[14:14] Audience here is gonna become commissioners. Totally.

[14:17] By the end of this.

[14:19] I'm, I'm curious from IT here from Eileen

[14:23] where she thought there were like opportunities

[14:27] for dairy specific things.

[14:29] I guess if, if,

[14:31] I don't know if you had those things in mind or she mentioned as a general

[14:33] Where she was reading those beginning

[14:35] statements, like, that's

[14:36] Good.

[14:37] We gotta really nitpick this to make sure, I think this

[14:39] Ways to really, you know, kind of tailor it to us.

[14:44] So I will provide those comments.

[14:45] It so hard. It's a huge argument. Yeah.

[14:48] Not spend a lot of time on the computer right now.

[14:49] That's fair.

[14:52] Do you, do you wanna just ask for feedback

[14:55] or rather than going through all of these then,

[14:59] or I can keep you.

[15:00] Tell me. I can keep scrolling.

[15:02] Oh, I love the land manager section.

[15:05] This, this draft. Did you see it?

[15:07] That's so much. Okay, so yeah, so

[15:10] This was, this file Was a draft.

[15:12] So everyone I can fill that part out. Yeah. Okay.

[15:20] We don't have to go through this, this whole thing.

[15:22] I know. You know, I feel like we've already spent a

[15:25] good chunk of time on it.

[15:29] This is something that I hope for next meeting to,

[15:32] to maybe get some physical copies handed out.

[15:34] Especially, you know, yeah. Sitting

[15:35] on the computer might be hard.

[15:36] It might be nice to hand write these things.

[15:38] Yeah, I didn't, I'm so sorry.

[15:40] I did not expect you to have printed out

[15:42] 90 pages for yourselves.

[15:43] No, but we snuck it in at the end of last meeting too.

[15:46] That was really exciting.

[15:49] But yeah, this Is, this is just

[15:50] something that I thought was really nice.

[15:51] You know, we're really ramping up speed

[15:52] and I think it's really important for us

[15:55] as being those people, you know, being that catalyst,

[15:57] getting this commission going to lay a foundation, you know,

[16:00] that way, you know, like thing, you know, time passes on

[16:03] and new people come through and Right.

[16:05] We don't wanna leave them trying to, you know,

[16:08] follow in big footsteps kind of thing.

[16:10] You know, we wanna keep that going forward.

[16:12] Keep it on track. Exactly. Yeah.

[16:14] Totally appreciate your effort. Yes, thank you. I really

[16:17] Appreciate, appreciate all you've done

[16:19] and I think it's a great effort

[16:21] and I think it's, it's very worthwhile

[16:24] and we have done so, so many wonderful things

[16:30] since Beth came on board and Val and,

[16:33] and other members that have come on board.

[16:35] Jay, you know, I think we're moving in a

[16:38] really positive direction.

[16:39] You know, we've, we've got really lot of great things

[16:43] cooking right now and we can even further those

[16:47] with this handbook if we, you know, all dig in and,

[16:50] and pay attention to it and use it as a tool.

[16:54] 'cause I think it could be a really positive

[16:55] good tool moving forward.

[16:59] Thanks Eileen.

[17:00] Awesome. Anybody else?

[17:04] Well done Val. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for your, appreciate

[17:07] It.

[17:08] I'll give you a copy.

[17:10] Okay. I don't break it this time.

[17:12] You're up next. Thank you Beth for your help with that.

[17:15] I am right. Oh yeah. Did I

[17:18] Break?

[17:19] I'll let you assume you're sorry.

[17:21] I did. Sorry Owen.

[17:28] Okay, so

[17:33] review of the BioBlitz.

[17:35] It was awesome. Yeah, it was really awesome.

[17:38] So first of all, thank you to the N-H-A-C-C

[17:44] and for, you know, for funding this with the grant

[17:47] that they got and offering this opportunity, you know,

[17:50] for us to apply to do this.

[17:51] And thank you to Moose Wood Ecological, Steven Lamond

[17:57] for, you know, for hosting it.

[17:58] He was an incredible host.

[18:02] Everybody who attended just gave rave reviews of, you know,

[18:06] like how interactive he was, how much knowledge he had, how

[18:10] just what a good host he was.

[18:13] So that was really, really great.

[18:16] We had about 30 people attending throughout the day

[18:20] over the course of the four, the four different

[18:25] sex guided tours that they could take.

[18:29] And Steven said that that was, I'm

[18:32] so sorry that I broke it again.

[18:34] I shouldn't, I have to turn this off so that I

[18:37] am not distracted by the flashing.

[18:41] So he said that this was the best attended BioBlitz

[18:46] that he is ever been to or that he's ever helped to host.

[18:50] So that was extremely encouraging

[18:52] 'cause we did really try to, you know, advertise this

[18:55] and like get the community out for it

[18:57] and it was just very encouraging that one,

[18:59] we had a beautiful day, so it was a great day for it

[19:03] and I'm sure that that helped

[19:05] and that people showed up for it.

[19:09] So thank you to all the community members who showed up.

[19:12] Like you showing up, just made the day.

[19:16] We did have a sign in sheet that asked how

[19:20] did you hear about it?

[19:22] And the responses included Facebook, a letter that we mailed

[19:26] to the Abutters, the nature groupie email list.

[19:31] The Barbara from N-H-A-C-C sent an email out

[19:35] to other conservation commission members.

[19:39] A lot of people actually heard about it just from our

[19:42] meeting, from watching the Dairy

[19:44] Conservation Commission meeting.

[19:45] So that's encouraging.

[19:46] Also, I sent a, an email out to the community gardeners

[19:51] and we had a few community gardeners show up

[19:54] and it was in the dairy news as well.

[19:58] So the dairy news picked up on it

[20:00] and a few people found out about it through the dairy news.

[20:04] I'm so sorry,

[20:09] I'll have to ask them if there's something

[20:11] that I'm doing wrong so I don't do it again.

[20:15] Sorry. And a lot of, so the highest, the,

[20:20] the, the, the thing that brought the most people there was

[20:25] you all inviting them, right?

[20:27] So it was from people, from just word of mouth,

[20:29] from either someone who found out, you know, about it

[20:33] through another avenue and invited a friend

[20:36] or from, you know, commissioners inviting people

[20:39] or you know, so we, you had like your friends

[20:42] and family showed up and that was great also.

[20:46] And oh,

[20:48] and I can't forget the poster at the kiosk also was another

[20:52] way that we tried to get the word out

[20:53] and that was another way

[20:54] that people said they found out about it.

[20:56] And a couple people who were just walking

[20:58] by very encouraging conversations with them, you know,

[21:01] that they would like to get involved in future things like

[21:03] this, you know, that they couldn't necessarily stay

[21:06] for the day, but that they would like

[21:07] to volunteer for future things.

[21:10] And, and we sent an email out

[21:15] to everybody who signed up and everybody who signed in.

[21:19] So not everybody who signed up signed in

[21:22] and not everybody who signed in signed up.

[21:24] So everybody, it went out to about 50 people, you know,

[21:29] just a thank you for attending the BioBlitz, you know,

[21:32] even if they didn't necessarily, you know, come and sign in

[21:35] or like for sure attend,

[21:36] but we just sent a thank you for attending

[21:38] and would you like to hear about future?

[21:41] You know, or would you not like to,

[21:43] it was phrased would you not like

[21:45] to hear about future events?

[21:47] And we didn't get any responses back saying

[21:49] that they would not like to hear about future events.

[21:51] So we'll be able to reach out to them

[21:54] about our future things

[21:56] because it was such a nice day Dairy Cam was able to attend.

[21:59] So thank you Dairy cam.

[22:01] They were there and they got excellent, some great footage.

[22:05] We're really excited to, to be able to see it

[22:07] and see what they do with it.

[22:08] They did some interviews of people who came.

[22:12] I gave an interview. I know Steven had an interview

[22:16] as well, so that's great.

[22:19] And then Steven sent, I'm gonna send this around for you all

[22:23] to look at your leisure,

[22:27] but Steven sent a report just earlier this morning

[22:32] highlighting, you know,

[22:33] some different things throughout the day.

[22:35] So one was, you know, prior to the event,

[22:39] 25 contributors had submitted 1,168 iNaturalist

[22:44] observation representing 329 species at the property.

[22:49] And during the BioBlitz 16 participants recorded

[22:52] 735 observations in just nine hours, an average

[22:57] of more than one observation every minute.

[23:02] And these efforts increase the total number of observations

[23:05] for Broadview farm by 63%.

[23:09] So now there are 543 species

[23:13] that have been documented at Broadview.

[23:15] So that's very exciting. Yep.

[23:18] And he noted that one

[23:21] of the most frequently documented species was the Baltimore

[23:24] checkered spot butterfly.

[23:25] And that Broadview farm has become one of the premier

[23:28] locations in Rockingham County to observe them.

[23:31] So that's also, you know,

[23:33] a good thing that came out of this.

[23:36] There were five wildlife species of,

[23:40] or wildlife species of greatest conservation need

[23:43] as identified in New Hampshire's 2025 state

[23:47] wildlife action plan.

[23:48] So those are the monarch butterfly, common grackle,

[23:52] tree swallow, American kestrel and wood thrush.

[23:56] And then he gave us a list here of some,

[24:03] some invertebrates that have only ever been documented at

[24:09] fewer than 10 other locations in New Hampshire.

[24:12] So these are not rare necessarily,

[24:14] but they're not, you know,

[24:16] they're not gonna be found everywhere.

[24:18] So, and I believe there was one more thing from his letter

[24:23] that I wanted to,

[24:28] Nope.

[24:28] Yep, that was it. So that's, you know, that's kind

[24:32] of his update after the fact.

[24:34] So he's had a chance to go through all of that data and,

[24:39] and we have a follow up for the BioBlitz scheduled for,

[24:44] well sort of, we have two follow ups.

[24:46] So on August 22nd, a Saturday

[24:52] we, the Land maintenance committee will be updating the

[24:54] Broadview kiosk.

[24:56] So we'll be taking some of the information

[25:00] that was gained from this BioBlitz as well as some

[25:03] of the history and some other things.

[25:05] We'll have a visioning session of what

[25:06] that exactly will look like.

[25:08] But we'll update the kiosk at Broadview,

[25:10] which is relatively bare right now.

[25:12] So we're, you know, they'll have be lots

[25:14] of interesting things for people to look at when, you know,

[25:17] certainly include things about the community garden

[25:19] and you know, everything like that.

[25:21] And that's August 22nd.

[25:23] And then on September 18th at 4:00 PM

[25:28] Matt Tar with the UNH extension will be giving a guided

[25:32] hike at Broadview.

[25:34] And so that will be kind

[25:36] of another follow up at broad view to this event.

[25:39] That is all for the BioBlitz recap.

[25:43] Thank you Beth. I appreciate your efforts for that.

[25:45] Yes, thanks to Dairy Cam also

[25:47] for being there to document it.

[25:49] They'll be going through the footage

[25:51] and posting some of the things that happened that day.

[25:55] And thanks to any commissioners who were able to, excuse me,

[25:58] able to be there that day as well.

[26:01] Thank you again. Beth Jay, community Garden.

[26:07] I'm in my glory right now.

[26:10] Yeah, all those eight to 12 hours in the spring.

[26:14] Well it was a lot more, but the results of the added manure

[26:17] and fertilizer that was put into the

[26:22] garden during

[26:24] May, 2026 was very evident.

[26:27] Now it includes very prolific weed growth,

[26:32] but the plants are beating the vegetables, are beating the,

[26:37] the weeds and actually providing a little bit of shade.

[26:42] The gar our gardeners have to get out there and,

[26:44] and fight the good fight or it will get overrun.

[26:47] But the vegetables are outstanding.

[26:52] They are, this manure

[26:55] and fertilizer should provide a two

[26:57] or three year boost to the garden soils, including increased

[27:04] organic matter should double the percentage that it was

[27:10] expected to be 8%, it was two to four.

[27:15] But I took a sample of my neighbor's

[27:18] garden soil who's been putting in that manure

[27:21] that went into our garden from his cows and,

[27:26] and he has

[27:27] 8% organic manner.

[27:32] So expect a, a boost for quite a while from that, including

[27:38] however we need to tell our gardeners to put in a, some kind

[27:42] of form of liquid fertilizer for July

[27:45] and August at least once.

[27:47] We should probably do an email on to them for that.

[27:51] And that was part of the soil soil analysis recommendations.

[27:56] So we'll also be having a meeting soon

[27:59] with our gardening subcommittee in early August, probably

[28:04] for planning our September harvest event

[28:08] where we wanna bring our gardeners together to enjoy the,

[28:13] the fruit of the labor.

[28:15] Not, we haven't had any details exactly

[28:18] what we're gonna be doing, but we'll get together

[28:21] and share what we have, share the bounty

[28:24] and have some good food I'm sure.

[28:28] So we'll have more details on that.

[28:33] And that's it for now.

[28:34] And I, by the way, I do want

[28:36] to talk about the Broadview annex update

[28:40] when its other business later on.

[28:42] Okay. Thank you Jay. I drove by there the other day.

[28:46] I was out on a mission for the commission

[28:47] and I stopped parked in a parking lot.

[28:50] I was a couple gardeners out there

[28:51] and the plants were seven, eight feet tall.

[28:53] It looked, it looked really good. So, wow.

[28:56] Well done. Good job with the gardeners.

[28:58] Absolutely. The vegetables are fantastic.

[29:01] They, they were a little crinkled up messes

[29:04] after the heat waves

[29:05] and just, they never caught on in my garden plot.

[29:08] But I now have Swiss Chards about two and a half feet tall.

[29:13] Wow. I'm gonna have it for the rest

[29:14] of the summer. Wow. It's great.

[29:16] Kinda like zucchini, right?

[29:18] We have it for the rest of the summer personnel.

[29:22] That's me, chairman bga

[29:26] and I will get together end of August, 1st of September

[29:30] because Beth is due for her annual review

[29:32] and Tammy is due for her first review.

[29:34] 'cause you've never had one. So we'll get together, look

[29:38] for that coming in September.

[29:40] Cheryl, public outreach.

[29:43] Yeah, well as you know, as, as we heard from Beth,

[29:46] that is the fruit, that is the fruit of public outreach.

[29:49] And Beth, really kudos to Beth

[29:51] and to Linda who is not here tonight.

[29:53] I'm sure she's baking, which I should be

[29:55] doing for the farmer's market.

[29:58] But the, it was really outstanding.

[30:01] I mean I've worked with promotional,

[30:03] the your beautiful graphic

[30:06] posters, they were all around town.

[30:07] There's that visual as well.

[30:09] And as you can see, we have very

[30:11] successful event because of that.

[30:13] And we are looking forward to

[30:16] the dairy farmer's market on August 12th.

[30:19] We're going to be meeting very, very soon for our strategy.

[30:22] We had some ideas for some more children related things

[30:25] because there are families there and puppies

[30:27] and all kinds of fun participants.

[30:30] And, and at that meeting we'll begin,

[30:32] we're really gonna focus on the August 12th and,

[30:36] and then start talking about Dairy Fest.

[30:38] So again, if any commissioners have any ideas, anything

[30:40] that's worked in the past, please feel free

[30:43] to send the email my way

[30:46] and that way we can discuss it at the meeting. Thanks.

[30:48] Thank you Cheryl TRCs.

[30:51] There were some schedule, but we didn't have any,

[30:53] any purview over them.

[30:55] So I did not attend them.

[30:58] I haven't gotten any notices for this week or the next week.

[31:00] So I'll keep you posted when I do that

[31:02] and I'll keep you posted as well, Beth.

[31:05] Thank you. State compliance, Eileen what

[31:08] Got, okay, I just have one announcement and that would be,

[31:11] and HACC sent this out to, I think all commissioners

[31:15] that have an email address with N-H-A-C-C.

[31:19] If you've registered with them about a zoom meeting

[31:22] that DES is holding on

[31:26] wetlands rule changes.

[31:27] It will be at noon, 12 noon, it's just an hour meeting,

[31:31] but it will go over the wetlands rule changes

[31:33] that are being proposed and it will allow input.

[31:38] I registered for that meeting.

[31:39] If you want to attend, you need to register.

[31:42] I sent the announcement to Beth so you could maybe send,

[31:45] you want me to send out to everybody and there's a register

[31:48] button, you just press on the IT and it's free.

[31:50] You know, you can register and attend that. So

[31:53] You said it's noon? What's the date, Eileen?

[31:55] It's Wednesday. June 15th. It's this Wednesday, yeah.

[31:58] Oh, tomorrow, I mean July. I'm sorry, July.

[32:03] I wrote it down wrong. July 15th. Sorry about that

[32:06] Turn.

[32:08] Okay, that's all I have. Let's see. Mr. Bga, ISS not here.

[32:13] Property management. Bob is not here. Mr.

[32:16] Big bga iss not here. Val. Reporting compliance.

[32:20] All righty. All right.

[32:24] So going backwards here.

[32:28] Sam Harford over at Celt

[32:31] and I were able to walk the Doolittle property.

[32:32] I may have covered this at the last,

[32:34] no, it was just before then.

[32:36] We did walk at the property. Things looked fine.

[32:38] One of the maps that he had, some

[32:39] of the trails looked like they may not have

[32:41] been up to date anymore.

[32:43] So that was something that we were talking about.

[32:45] And then, you know, we have maps

[32:46] and trails in the mine, so I

[32:47] said, you know, pass that along.

[32:49] And he's doing also Cornelius and he

[32:52] and I did Cornelius in last year

[32:53] and it's due, so we were gonna schedule another date.

[32:55] I sent out an email to the reporting compliance team just

[32:59] to see if you guys wanted to coordinate on those dates.

[33:02] But I understand it's super busy work schedule.

[33:05] I was lucky enough for that one that I did go on

[33:07] where I wasn't working at that on that day.

[33:10] So, and then there's another one that he is referring to

[33:12] as the Hanson Care Aveta property.

[33:14] I noticed that a few of the properties had some names.

[33:18] Some of our names were a little bit switched,

[33:20] so I was gonna talk, compare some of the documents

[33:22] that they have, make sure that the properties were right

[33:24] and then see what, you know, clarifying those corrections.

[33:28] So that's going on with SE and those properties.

[33:31] Something that I was working with with Bob,

[33:33] the Martin farm property, the one

[33:35] that we did the 2025 makeup in March

[33:39] under three feet of snow.

[33:40] We did the, yeah, so we had a better monitoring walk.

[33:43] We were, I was able to be accompanied by Bob.

[33:46] He's always a great resource. Everyone knows that.

[33:48] And then Sam over from Fish

[33:49] and Game, she has some great insight about some signage

[33:53] issues we had about the allowance of people.

[33:55] It's listed as no trespassing,

[33:57] but it has to do with harvest seasons and moving of cattle.

[34:00] So we're gonna work with them.

[34:01] We found out that Martin Farm was bought out

[34:05] by JNFA few years ago.

[34:07] So I'm supposed to contact Fernando.

[34:09] So I would love a updated contact.

[34:12] Maybe it's Melissa, I, Bob had said

[34:15] I would love an updated contact also. We'll work on that.

[34:17] Oh, okay. Yeah. Awesome.

[34:19] But yeah, so I have a, a connection with Fish and Game.

[34:22] I have a draft going for a physical letter to go

[34:24] to the address and then once we get me

[34:26] possibly an email, that would be great.

[34:27] And she's gonna help me look that over, make sure things

[34:31] are tightened up in accordance

[34:32] with what's allowed in the de.

[34:34] So that's all I have for reporting compliance.

[34:37] Okay. Thank you. Keep going with the net zero task force.

[34:41] Net zero. Actually we have not met since the last meeting.

[34:44] We will be meeting this upcoming Thursday 6:00 PM on the

[34:47] second floor if anyone like to join us.

[34:49] Okay. And council liaison's not here so we can skip over.

[34:53] That brings us back to you, Beth.

[34:56] Okay, all ready. All right.

[35:01] So the CWPP is in very good shape.

[35:05] So the draft that the core team that Val is on as well

[35:10] completed was sent out to the fire chief,

[35:14] the DPW director, planning board director,

[35:17] town administrator, fire department dispatch, personnel,

[35:23] the IT GGIS director, the dairy cam director,

[35:27] and the conservation commission chair.

[35:29] And all of those parties have reviewed the draft

[35:33] and sent in a memo.

[35:34] So the next step is that the core team will review each

[35:38] of those memos and incorporate the suggestions.

[35:42] And then there'll be another draft, you know, sent out just

[35:45] to make sure like, hey, these are the changes

[35:47] that we made per, per your memo.

[35:50] And then, you know, get the okay from them for, you know,

[35:54] our, our 2.0 draft.

[35:55] And then I should be very close to going to town council.

[36:02] So with Broadview,

[36:07] as you may or may not know, I think we've talked about

[36:10] before, the deed covenant

[36:11] that was put in place when Broadview was

[36:14] purchased has expired.

[36:15] So broad view, one of the ways

[36:20] that conservation properties can be protected is if they are

[36:24] purchased with conservation funds, then that provides sort

[36:28] of an automatic level of protection

[36:30] because, you know, it's purchased with conservation funds,

[36:34] that's what those funds are for.

[36:36] So they don't really want it to be purchased

[36:38] with conservation funds and then turned into something

[36:40] that's not conservation.

[36:42] So Broadview was actually not purchased

[36:44] with conservation funds.

[36:47] It was purchased using broad bond proceeds.

[36:49] So there is no protection currently on broad view, you know,

[36:54] besides you all sitting in these seats preventing it from,

[36:57] you know, becoming something other than conservation land.

[37:00] So the options for getting some conservation protection on

[37:04] it are renewing the deed covenant,

[37:07] which we can renew the deed covenant

[37:10] and not include an expiration date.

[37:13] And that would require, you know, the town lawyer

[37:17] to write up a, a a a deed,

[37:22] a declaration of conservation restrictive covenants

[37:26] or something that the lawyer would know

[37:29] specifically right about that.

[37:31] And then another option would be

[37:33] to place a conservation easement on the property

[37:36] through a qualified entity like salt or el chip

[37:39] or rockham conservation marking Ham County Conservation

[37:43] District, which can be costly to do that

[37:47] because you have to pay those entities

[37:49] to do all the work involved in taking on

[37:52] a conservation easement.

[37:54] So in discussing this with Chairman Bazinga, he had asked me

[37:59] to write up a draft of what a new

[38:03] deed covenant might look like

[38:05] because that seemed to be the most straightforward way.

[38:08] And so we're presenting that to you tonight just as a,

[38:14] you know, just for you to take under advisement to look at.

[38:18] And so I'll pass these, I have three copies of it

[38:21] and if you would like, I can email,

[38:26] I can email everyone a copy.

[38:30] And that is, that, is

[38:35] that, so you can take a look at it now if you would like,

[38:42] and then we'll discuss that at a future meeting.

[38:49] Did you, did you happen to take the old covenant

[38:53] and look at it first or you just Yes, yes.

[38:55] So this, so what's here is a combination, I guess,

[39:00] of Barbara Richter with the N-H-A-C-C,

[39:04] who was the one also helping us with the BioBlitz, right?

[39:07] So she provided us some samples of other deed covenants

[39:12] or deed restrictions and I took those

[39:17] and our existing deed covenant

[39:19] and just sort of morphed them into this, this document here,

[39:24] which is, you know, I'm not a lawyer obviously, so

[39:29] you know, this would need to be thoroughly reviewed

[39:31] by the town lawyer.

[39:33] But this is just to give you an i a rough idea of

[39:36] what a deed covenant might look like.

[39:39] Thank You. Yeah. Do you mind if I ask a

[39:43] Question?

[39:44] Yeah, go. So I I, I'm a little bit unfamiliar, so, so

[39:48] this is basically, can I have an example of a draft

[39:51] of a deed or is this the status?

[39:53] So in other words, is it, is it expired at this

[39:56] Point?

[39:57] It's expired at this point, correct.

[39:57] And when, how long has it been expired?

[40:00] I can't remember off the top of my head,

[40:02] but I, I wanna say like three years or so. Okay.

[40:06] Yeah. And can I just ask what,

[40:07] is there like a formal status of the property during a time

[40:11] of expiration during that time?

[40:12] Is there a formal status or it's just sort of floating?

[40:15] It's just sort of floating. Exactly. Okay.

[40:17] Like it's still conservation land

[40:18] because it is in practice conservation land.

[40:20] Okay. It's just that say all of you

[40:23] who are currently on this commission now, you know, leave

[40:27] and other people join the commission

[40:30] who decide we would like to turn broadview into condominiums

[40:35] that could feasibly happen in the future.

[40:38] Okay. If the people in your seat from

[40:40] A legal standpoint.

[40:41] Exactly. Which is why now

[40:42] because you have this commission, you wanna act on it.

[40:44] Okay. Thank you. Thank you for clarifying.

[40:45] You're very welcome. Thank you for asking. Yeah,

[40:47] Currently there's no, there's no protections on it.

[40:49] Yeah. To it's need to,

[40:52] it's not conservation con protected

[40:54] I see. Unless we have the covenant.

[40:55] Yeah. Is it typical that

[40:58] our other conservation properties are under sort

[41:00] of a more temporary 25 year covenants

[41:04] or there's like a variation

[41:05] of those that are more permanent?

[41:06] There's a huge, there's actually a huge, huge

[41:07] Variation and there's a say if the funds were used, then

[41:09] that's a protection right there. Yep,

[41:11] Yep.

[41:12] Yeah, there's a huge variation.

[41:13] But a lot of our, a lot of our properties are protected

[41:17] by a conservation easement, which is that legal document

[41:20] that says, and it,

[41:23] the conservation easement is the most iron clad of,

[41:26] of the ways that you can protect a property.

[41:29] 'cause it's a legal document that its whole purpose

[41:31] for existing is we wanna make sure

[41:34] that this is conservation property forever.

[41:36] And we've laid out very specifically, here's

[41:38] what you may use this property for

[41:40] and here's what you may not use this property for.

[41:43] And it's very hard legally to undo that.

[41:46] And is that tied to the deed

[41:47] of the property typically? It is,

[41:48] Yeah.

[41:49] That's what makes it Right. Okay. Thank you. You're

[41:52] Welcome.

[41:53] Yeah. Again, thanks for asking.

[41:55] Well you have been going through all that, right?

[41:58] You have been going through

[41:59] and checking the easements and Oh yeah.

[42:01] Covenants and all of that. So this is how these come up.

[42:03] Exactly. Yeah. That's good. So thank you. Yeah.

[42:04] 1, 1, 1 by one, one file at a time right now. Yeah.

[42:09] Thank you Beth. Yeah, absolutely.

[42:11] So I noticed the terms are very general

[42:13] that way I assume allows more flexibility

[42:17] if you get too specific

[42:18] and then there's a change in the future, you can

[42:22] Yep.

[42:23] Be hung out to dry and

[42:24] It's all, it's all up to you.

[42:26] All right. I mean, like, I've kept it general

[42:28] because, you know, I, I sort of see that as my purview is

[42:32] to keep it general and your purview is to add the details

[42:35] that you find are, you know,

[42:37] are important or should be there.

[42:39] So it's not to say that it has to stay general,

[42:43] that that's just how I've chosen to write it so that

[42:46] to offer you all flexibility.

[42:48] And if I wanna ask one more, is there a timeframe

[42:50] that you anticipate

[42:51] that this might be an enacted action in terms of

[42:55] following through on an easement?

[42:56] Yeah. Is there a timeframe that you're thinking? Good

[42:58] Question.

[42:59] So yeah, so this is, I guess we're providing it to you now

[43:02] so that you can take it under advisement.

[43:06] You have the opportunity to look at it

[43:08] and then I believe the, the plan

[43:13] chairman BGAs plan is to bring it up at a later meeting

[43:16] to bring it to a vote.

[43:17] Okay. You know, to actually say so that you all can vote

[43:20] and say, yes, we want to bring this to the town lawyer

[43:24] to have this, you know, officially enacted.

[43:26] And then I imagine that, that

[43:28] that's not gonna be a just a one and done process either.

[43:31] That will be a, a bit of a back and forth process Sure.

[43:34] To, to get the wording right

[43:35] and, and all that kind of stuff.

[43:37] Okay, Great. Yeah.

[43:38] Does this include both properties eight and 10 Young road?

[43:43] It does. Yep. Okay. Yep. Yeah.

[43:46] And those are called out as the, the different lots

[43:52] and the two lots are actually recorded in the same deed.

[43:57] Yeah. So, okay.

[43:58] That's nice. Yep. And I know that's one your

[44:03] One diligent attention to that, that's really important.

[44:05] Yes. Thank you for your diligent attention to that.

[44:09] Any other, well, yeah, I have

[44:10] to say thank you Mark Fleischer in the finance department

[44:14] because he, you know, he has a spreadsheet

[44:16] that he has shared with me that has a lot, is rich

[44:20] with information on these properties.

[44:22] And that has been mainly what I've been referencing that

[44:26] and a book that he

[44:29] and Margie Ives put together that's just sort

[44:32] of like a shorthand for, you know,

[44:33] what is the deal with all these properties.

[44:35] So thank you to those two people in the work

[44:37] that they've done in the past to help make this easier.

[44:41] Now I know that's a big one.

[44:43] So are there any other questions before I move on?

[44:46] Was this the one you worked on

[44:47] that agricultural lease for? It, is

[44:50] It, it's okay.

[44:51] Yep. Yep. Yeah, at Broadview? Yeah. Yeah.

[44:56] Okay. Is that, gotta find my place.

[45:02] Okay. So continuing with broad view.

[45:05] So last meeting we spoke about the no trespassing signs

[45:09] that were going to be removed

[45:10] and we called out on the map which

[45:12] ones were going to be removed.

[45:13] So those have been removed and we have them

[45:17] and a letter has been sent to the landowner

[45:20] to let them know they can retrieve them

[45:21] before December 15th, 2026

[45:26] and something for you all to vote on.

[45:30] So a Cub Scout troop

[45:33] Troop 4 0 2 reached out about using the campsite at

[45:36] Broadview for, yeah, so their Cub Scouts.

[45:40] Right. So the age range is, I believe like six two,

[45:44] like nine sort of range, right?

[45:47] Yeah. Cups. Yeah. Yeah.

[45:50] So they would like to have an overnight,

[45:54] an overnight camping trip at Broadview on

[45:57] this Saturday actually.

[45:59] And so since there was a, since there was a meeting

[46:04] scheduled, chairman Bazinga said you all

[46:07] should, should vote on it.

[46:09] So

[46:11] Do you have the troop number?

[46:12] 4 0 2 troop? 4 0 2. 4 0 2. Okay.

[46:17] I'd like to make a motion to

[46:23] approve the use of campsite at Broadview

[46:26] for the troop 4 0 2 Cub Scouts

[46:29] for this Saturday second motion.

[46:33] Okay. Any further discussion?

[46:36] I would like to just throw a thought out there

[46:38] that is the day that we ha are doing stuff at Broadview.

[46:42] We are doing stuff at Ball Farm now Ball Farm. Yep. Yes.

[46:45] Yep. But actually I did note that in the calendar. Yeah.

[46:49] When we, and I thought, oh that'd be kind of nice if we're,

[46:52] you know what I mean, if we're doing stuff at the

[46:53] same time, but Yeah.

[46:54] But now we're doing it at Ball Property. You're right.

[46:57] It Just, yeah.

[46:58] Sorry, my bad. No worries. No, no discussion.

[47:01] Okay. On the motion. Any further discussion?

[47:04] Oh, I do have one thing to add. Just so, sorry.

[47:07] Just so you all know and in our, you know,

[47:11] when we responded to them,

[47:14] chairman Bazinga had asked if we could ask them

[47:16] for permission to like use their photos

[47:21] in our social media

[47:23] and for them there's a very small amount of trash

[47:27] in the area at Broadview is actually pretty, pretty clean,

[47:31] which is very encouraging,

[47:32] but just for them to of course carry and carry out,

[47:36] but to also pick up the trash that is in the, in the area

[47:43] On the motion.

[47:44] All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[47:48] Any abstentions? Hearing? None unanimous. Thank you.

[47:53] You'll let them know, right? Yes.

[47:55] Is there a form they have to sign or is that

[47:57] No, there hasn't been in

[47:58] the past. Hasn't been. Okay. Yeah,

[48:00] Just curious.

[48:01] No, all set.

[48:02] All right, thank you.

[48:04] So next,

[48:09] Just some correspondence that we got from the Na na Natural

[48:14] Heritage Bureau RL they reached out about collecting some

[48:17] seed from an endangered species

[48:19] of milkweed called a Sleepies, quadri Folia

[48:23] or four leafed milkweed.

[48:25] And that is, there are known populations

[48:27] of this endangered milkweed at Colette's Mountain

[48:30] Conservation Land.

[48:31] So we've let them know that they can move forward

[48:35] and collect seeds for that in the fall.

[48:39] And just a PSA about the logging on Kray Road.

[48:44] So we did receive several, you know, concern

[48:48] emails about the logging at, on Kray Road.

[48:50] It does abut the Margaret Ives conservation property,

[48:54] but it is not the Margaret Ives conservation property.

[48:57] It's privately owned land, the area that is being logged.

[49:00] And we did reach out to the state forester

[49:04] and she did pay a visit there

[49:07] and, you know, to check everything out to make sure

[49:09] that they're not encroaching.

[49:11] And so, you know, as far as we are aware,

[49:15] through those avenues,

[49:16] there's been no encroachment on conservation land

[49:19] and they're, the, the logging is being done by the books.

[49:25] And so that is that we had someone reach out

[49:30] and we spoke about turtle signs at our last meeting.

[49:34] So I did get in touch with

[49:37] a couple people over at New Hampshire, DOT.

[49:41] They informed me that the science, the,

[49:44] the studies have shown that signage

[49:49] is not an effective way of reducing the number

[49:53] of like turtle vehicle collisions.

[49:56] And so that, that's not something, that's not something

[49:59] that they support because the research

[50:01] does not support that.

[50:03] They also looked at the specific culvert of the,

[50:07] the crossing that the resident raised, you know,

[50:11] was a concern on Hampstead Road

[50:13] and the culvert was

[50:16] updated in 2016 and it has a lifespan of 30 years.

[50:22] And because it's prime wetland on both sides,

[50:25] it's actually not eligible to be, be updated

[50:28] or, you know, like sized up ahead of schedule.

[50:32] So, so we're unfortunately not able

[50:35] to do anything about that at this time.

[50:37] He did give a list of here's what you can do, you know,

[50:41] to help the turtle populations

[50:42] and it's all the things that you all are doing, which is,

[50:46] you know, volunteer with your local conservation commission

[50:48] and raise public awareness about,

[50:51] you know, about these things.

[50:52] So, so you know, we're basically, right now we're doing all

[50:56] that we can and I did reach out to the resident

[51:00] who had initially reached out with Concern

[51:03] and, you know, give her the, the list of,

[51:07] of conservation activities that, that we were given

[51:10] by New Hampshire DOT

[51:12] and let her know that we have future events coming up if she

[51:14] would ever like to volunteer.

[51:15] And she's very interested in doing that.

[51:17] So I,

[51:20] and then I just wanted to give you all

[51:23] the Land Maintenance committee schedule coming up just so

[51:27] that you know what events are coming up, if there's any

[51:31] that you can join us for.

[51:33] So our our

[51:35] most upcoming one is this Saturday, July 18th.

[51:40] We are gonna be doing trail work at the ball farm property,

[51:44] which is, that trail connects to the Cornelius and property.

[51:48] So the Cornelius

[51:49] and property is where we did trail work last year.

[51:53] And so it, it'll just be a nice continuation of that.

[51:58] And that will be from 2:00 PM

[51:59] to 5:00 PM on Saturday July 18th.

[52:03] It's gonna be just light trail work.

[52:05] So no heavy equipment, just, you know,

[52:09] just like a folding hand saw and a pair of loppers

[52:12] and some work clothes and gloves is all you need

[52:15] to participate in that.

[52:16] So should we bring loppers if we have them?

[52:18] Absolutely, yeah. And an email

[52:23] will go out this evening to,

[52:28] to all of the people who either attended

[52:31] or signed up for the bio blitz at Broadview

[52:33] to invite them as well.

[52:34] And then Paul Mahome, who has, who is

[52:39] with the Greater Dairy Track Club

[52:40] and who has been volunteering on the Land Maintenance

[52:44] Committee, has reached out to some members

[52:45] of the Greater Dairy Track Club as well

[52:48] to get them to attend.

[52:50] And he said he is got some people so far.

[52:53] So that's July 18th.

[52:54] And then August 22nd we'll be updating the Broadview kiosk.

[52:59] So, you know, that's, we'll have a visioning session

[53:02] and figure out what is gonna go on there,

[53:04] but then August 22nd we'll actually be on

[53:08] site making that happen.

[53:10] So that would be a fun, fun time to come around

[53:13] for some camaraderie.

[53:16] And then September 18th I already mentioned,

[53:18] but I'll mention again 'cause why not the hike at Broadview

[53:21] at 4:00 PM Right.

[53:22] So we'll just keep reiterating that. Beth, what

[53:24] Time will the August 22nd,

[53:26] Oh, I'm sorry, that's 9:00 AM 9:00 AM

[53:29] Okay.

[53:30] Yep. And then September 18th is 4:00 PM

[53:35] And then the last item that I have

[53:37] for you all is a question about maintenance at Broadview

[53:41] and Shepherd the fields there.

[53:43] Right. So Eileen,

[53:46] you had reached out about requesting to

[53:50] stop mowing the middle pathway at Broad View.

[53:54] I, yeah. At Broad View

[53:55] because of the, of the, the Bob Links nesting,

[53:59] and if you, if you wanna explain it, you can kind

[54:03] of paraphrasing your Yeah,

[54:06] I went on a couple of birding trips

[54:08] with Mattar out at Broadview

[54:11] and it was the UNH birding program

[54:15] and he made very specific recommendations for Broadview,

[54:19] including not mowing that middle trail.

[54:23] And the reason being, it introduces predators

[54:26] for the bot links and other grassland birds.

[54:29] It's a perfect way for like a fox or raccoon

[54:32] or any other, you know, land type of predator

[54:34] to get in there and get these baby birds

[54:37] because the botlink nest on the bottom of the grass.

[54:41] Okay. So they're totally vulnerable

[54:44] and they're not, they're not the kind of bird

[54:46] that's on their feet right away when they're hatched.

[54:48] They're very vulnerable for a couple of weeks.

[54:51] So they're easy pickens for lunch.

[54:53] So he thought the best way to kind of close up

[54:58] that middle trail would be just don't mow it

[55:01] and just let it come back on its own in terms

[55:03] of like not having a trail there anymore

[55:06] and just have the other trails that we, that are existing.

[55:11] He made that recommendation.

[55:12] He also made recommendations for bittersweet

[55:17] that we found during those trips.

[55:21] We, you know, we decided that, you know,

[55:23] in looking at the sides of the property where we have

[55:27] so much overgrowth of bittersweet

[55:30] and other things that would just be extremely costly

[55:34] to tackle those because they're just so overgrown.

[55:37] It's years of growth.

[55:39] But on the field itself, there's spots where there's just

[55:44] small amounts of bittersweet that could be tackled

[55:47] by our land maintenance group

[55:50] and we should, you know, he recommended

[55:52] that we get out there now and get that

[55:54] before it becomes a real problem.

[55:56] Before you'd have to introduce machinery like a brush hog

[56:00] or something like that to tackle it.

[56:02] We could probably just pull it right now and,

[56:04] and tackle it that way or dig it out.

[56:07] But that, you know, he's stressed to me

[56:10] that we better get on this like right now Yeah.

[56:12] Before it becomes a bigger problem.

[56:14] You need help. Yeah. Okay.

[56:18] Yeah. So We need all the help we can get bittersweets

[56:21] and nasty invasive.

[56:23] That's very tough to control. Yeah.

[56:28] So, so the bittersweet would be, you know, we

[56:32] will talk about that in the Land Maintenance Committee

[56:35] and I think that we, we might actually already have some

[56:38] volunteers that might be able to help with that.

[56:40] Awesome. On a day. Yeah. Okay.

[56:41] But as far as the mowing goes, so I reached out to Parks

[56:45] and the director of Parks

[56:46] and Recreation, you know, with that request basically.

[56:51] And she enlightened me as to the logistics of that.

[56:56] Right. So if they were to stop mowing

[56:59] and maintaining that center walking path Yeah.

[57:03] Which is frequently used by the community, she made sure

[57:06] to note they wanted us to know that they would not be able

[57:10] to go back to mowing it at a future time.

[57:13] So I, I thought since, since this is sort of a decision

[57:17] that we can't, we can't unmake very easily

[57:20] that it would merit a, a discussion

[57:23] and a vote by the commission.

[57:25] So basically, you know, her,

[57:29] her email just basically says that is that if we, if we were

[57:33] to refrain from mowing

[57:34] and maintaining that center walking path, please know

[57:36] that we'll not go back to mowing it in the future for,

[57:40] because, and then she kind of lists some of the reasons,

[57:43] the long grass, the ticks,

[57:44] the wildlife potential rocks and things like that.

[57:47] So logistically it just would be a decision

[57:50] that Right.

[57:52] Everybody needs to Yeah. Weigh in on.

[57:55] I just might mention too, for those of you

[57:57] who are not familiar with Matt Tar,

[58:00] he has a PhD in wildlife biology.

[58:02] He's a wildlife professor at UNH.

[58:04] He has umpteen years of experience, decades of experience

[58:09] in managing wildlife.

[58:11] And he did make those recommendations. Yeah.

[58:14] And she did mention, actually,

[58:15] or I, I had, I asked her would a writeup from

[58:20] Matt be helpful, you know,

[58:22] To provide her, I asked him for a writeup.

[58:24] Okay. And he, he deferred and said, I've given you write up.

[58:29] Sure. He wrote a very extensive report in 1998

[58:33] and he wrote another report more recently in,

[58:37] I think it was 2019. Perfect.

[58:40] So we have, we have those that we actually

[58:41] Have.

[58:42] Yeah. Yep.

[58:43] And he said, I just don't a have the time

[58:46] or the, you know,

[58:48] there's certain duties he has at UNH extension

[58:51] that would not allow him the time to be able to write

[58:54] yet another report.

[58:56] But he asked me to please relay these concerns

[58:59] that he had and recommendations.

[59:01] So I am relaying them to

[59:02] You.

[59:03] Yeah. I mean it's, if it's a matter of access

[59:05] for DP W'S equipment, are we open to paying someone else

[59:10] to mow the perimeter path?

[59:15] Well they would continue

[59:16] to mow the perimeter path. So it's, yeah,

[59:19] We're just talking about The center path.

[59:20] So parks and rec,

[59:21] The path that would make, you know, if we leave

[59:24] that path open, we're allowing predators in

[59:27] to attack the grassland birds that nest,

[59:30] you know, during the summer. So,

[59:32] But if, if that's closed it to me, sorry.

[59:36] I guess my misunderstanding was it sounded like if we

[59:39] decided to close, you know, mow that path

[59:42] that DPW wouldn't be able to mow there anymore

[59:45] because of access issues.

[59:46] They just wouldn't mow that central path,

[59:48] Just that section.

[59:49] Oh, so, so right now, so there are paths that go

[59:52] around the whole perimeter.

[59:54] Yeah. And there's a path that goes in the center.

[59:55] So they're just saying that if they stopped mowing the

[59:58] center path, then they wouldn't mow the center path again in

[1:00:01] the future they would just mow the perimeter. Right.

[1:00:04] I misunderstood that. I do have that.

[1:00:06] Also wanna mention that, you know, when we first

[1:00:09] acquired Broad view and we started making trails

[1:00:11] and paths, we did not have a central path.

[1:00:15] That path is relatively new.

[1:00:18] When I say relatively new, maybe five years old,

[1:00:21] maybe six years old.

[1:00:23] It's something DPW thought it might be a good idea.

[1:00:26] So they just thought they were helping

[1:00:28] and they just went ahead and did it.

[1:00:30] But it's not something we had originally.

[1:00:32] We always had a a circumference type path that went

[1:00:37] around the sides a loop, if you will.

[1:00:41] So,

[1:00:43] I mean, I don't, I mean I know it is an enjoyable,

[1:00:46] you know, it's, it's right in the middle of the field.

[1:00:48] You're going right through the center. It's nice, you know,

[1:00:50] fox deer and stuff run through.

[1:00:51] But if it's protecting the natural habitat

[1:00:55] and it's still accessible to the public, I know some parts,

[1:00:59] if you go down into the right,

[1:01:00] they can be a little wet and there's that one spot.

[1:01:02] But roughly, I think, I think, you know, the,

[1:01:04] you're still able to use the land, you're still able

[1:01:06] to walk around access the camp.

[1:01:08] Yeah. You can't beline it straight down the middle.

[1:01:12] But I don't, I don't see an issue with not mowing.

[1:01:15] Especially if they're already like, yeah, we won't,

[1:01:17] if you don't want us to mow it now,

[1:01:18] we won't mow it again. Yeah.

[1:01:20] I, one of the things also that Matt said was,

[1:01:24] and he wanted this relay to all of you,

[1:01:28] it's all about what are you going to manage broad view four,

[1:01:33] are you managing it for wildlife protection?

[1:01:35] Is that a value that you are promoting

[1:01:38] with this piece of land?

[1:01:39] And if so, the recommendation of not having

[1:01:43] that middle path is, is very important.

[1:01:46] So just something to think about.

[1:01:54] Anybody else? Are you looking for a motion?

[1:02:00] I would say, yeah, if we're gonna, if we're gonna change

[1:02:03] what I would say, if we're not changing it,

[1:02:06] then no motion is needed.

[1:02:07] But if it sounds like you all wanna change what we're doing

[1:02:11] or what, what parks

[1:02:12] and rec is currently doing, then emotion would be good.

[1:02:16] Yeah. I'm interested to hear, I don't know, Jay,

[1:02:18] with being at the community garden

[1:02:19] and stuff, do you have any insight?

[1:02:22] I don't know, you're there a little bit more frequently,

[1:02:23] maybe the gardeners, I don't know,

[1:02:26] In terms of, it's around the corner from that,

[1:02:30] that central area and it, it's kind

[1:02:33] of in its own separate space,

[1:02:36] so I don't have much input except as

[1:02:39] walking through it myself.

[1:02:41] I think that that central path could be eliminated.

[1:02:45] It would have no impact. 'cause there's a loop around.

[1:02:48] That's just fine. Yeah.

[1:02:50] Do you have the email from Matt Tar?

[1:02:53] I mean, was it Steven?

[1:02:59] No. The from Moose Food Ecological,

[1:03:00] all those species identified where you said, are we like,

[1:03:04] what, what are we protecting here? Right.

[1:03:06] What are we managing Broadview for?

[1:03:08] And, and the BioBlitz really kind of solidified

[1:03:11] with documentation

[1:03:12] and data, how many species we've got, you know,

[1:03:15] what a diverse piece of property the Broadview is in terms

[1:03:19] of wildlife diversity.

[1:03:21] So I guess for myself, I'm just gonna say I, I think,

[1:03:25] I think it's, it's worthy of protecting wildlife.

[1:03:29] And that's just my,

[1:03:34] my personal view on it.

[1:03:35] If there's an appetite to change what we asked Parks

[1:03:40] and recti mo, I would entertain a motion at the time.

[1:03:43] I will also say that we do have

[1:03:46] that letter from Matt Tar from January, 2020.

[1:03:50] If you all would like time, you know, to review that, I can,

[1:03:53] I can send that to everybody too, if that's, if

[1:03:55] that's the preference, just letting you

[1:03:56] know that that's available to you.

[1:03:58] And Beth, could you look for,

[1:04:00] he mentioned a report from 1998.

[1:04:03] Sure, sure. I don't have the copy of that myself,

[1:04:05] but it would be nice if I

[1:04:07] Could that I've seen that in the file. Yes. I do think

[1:04:10] That We

[1:04:11] Have that.

[1:04:11] If that could be shared with, with the commissioners,

[1:04:12] that would be helpful as

[1:04:13] Well in, in that vein.

[1:04:15] When is it next scheduled to be mowed?

[1:04:19] I don't know the answer to that question. Yeah, that

[1:04:21] Would be important to know.

[1:04:22] Yeah, very important to know. So

[1:04:24] If we want to wait until August to see that letter

[1:04:29] and everybody think about it individually.

[1:04:30] Oh, I would say it's definitely mowed

[1:04:34] on a pretty frequent Oh, it is. Like I, I would say

[1:04:37] Pretty soon they might mow It again.

[1:04:38] Yeah. It's gotta be, it's gotta be weekly,

[1:04:42] if not biweekly,

[1:04:44] because they keep it, they keep it pretty short,

[1:04:46] pretty well maintained.

[1:04:48] So they're, they're there pretty frequently. Yeah. Okay.

[1:04:51] Yeah. This, we're not talking about like the, you know,

[1:04:54] the big like brush hog mowing

[1:04:55] that they do over the whole field. Right. Regular

[1:04:57] Close Cut mowing.

[1:04:58] This is, this is something that they're doing frequently.

[1:05:00] Yeah. Okay.

[1:05:02] Anybody, Just some discussion.

[1:05:05] If this is something that we would, you know,

[1:05:07] read the letter, you know, we come back, decide to change.

[1:05:09] I think it's also something that would worth warrant posting

[1:05:12] in the kiosk and stuff too, just to make sure.

[1:05:14] Yes. Regulars who are, who know,

[1:05:17] and again, this is hypothetical right?

[1:05:19] Public, it's something to consider that it's a,

[1:05:21] it's a popular property. We wanna make sure it's,

[1:05:24] Yeah, I decision is, I would definitely anticipate

[1:05:27] people reaching out, asking why it's not being mowed.

[1:05:32] I gonna say if, if that is the decision

[1:05:33] that you all make. Yeah.

[1:05:35] Well there's, I mean, Eileen's

[1:05:37] provided the justification, I believe.

[1:05:39] Sure. Yep. So there's our answer. Yep.

[1:05:42] The BioBlitz strengthened that. Yeah.

[1:05:45] With actual data, the diversity Yep.

[1:05:48] Of wildlife that we have there.

[1:05:50] Not only, you know, 543,

[1:05:54] but there's some that are, I don't wanna say endangered,

[1:05:58] but they're in very few places in Broadview happens

[1:06:00] to be one of them according to the report we got.

[1:06:03] So I think might be a good decision to not, not mow that.

[1:06:08] Yeah. My, my personal opinion anyway.

[1:06:10] But I give it up to the commission to,

[1:06:13] And if anybody has any questions, we can use it

[1:06:15] as a good opportunity

[1:06:17] for public education about why we are mowing as

[1:06:20] Well.

[1:06:21] We could use our Facebook, Cheryl

[1:06:23] For social media.

[1:06:24] You know, maybe a little explanation.

[1:06:25] Is this something that would be in the kiosk

[1:06:27] or like an informational, not just

[1:06:29] The kiosk Hundred percent.

[1:06:30] So we can put it on, maybe employ all of those things

[1:06:33] and Yeah, yeah,

[1:06:34] Definitely. Yep.

[1:06:36] I mean, I would be, I would support an emotion even

[1:06:39] without the time reading Matt Tara's email.

[1:06:42] I feel like yes, between the information

[1:06:45] that we got from the bio blitz,

[1:06:47] and I know Eileen, you know, you've done birding walks

[1:06:49] with him before and you've had had,

[1:06:50] you know, experience there.

[1:06:52] I would put

[1:06:54] that forward without Matt Tars letter

[1:06:56] specifically in review.

[1:06:59] And you got some, anybody got something

[1:07:01] craft or do you want me to wing it?

[1:07:03] I can. A motion.

[1:07:07] I'd like to make a motion that we discontinue mowing

[1:07:10] the middle central path at Broadview Farm

[1:07:15] for Wildlife Protection.

[1:07:18] I would seconded. Yeah. Okay. Moving, seconded.

[1:07:21] Any further discussion? Second. Pam. Pam.

[1:07:27] Okay. I'm gonna call a role Chris. Yes. Jay? Yes. Cheryl?

[1:07:31] Yes. Eileen? Yes. Val? Yes. Pam? Yes. And chair vote Jess.

[1:07:36] So if you can relay that message.

[1:07:38] Thank you. Excellent. Appreciate it.

[1:07:40] Awesome. Anything else for you?

[1:07:44] That is my last note. Okay. Thank you.

[1:07:49] Upcoming meetings. Our next scheduled meeting,

[1:07:50] August 17th, 2026, seven o'clock.

[1:07:54] Further meeting dates we have proposed September 21st,

[1:07:58] then October we go back to two a month.

[1:08:00] 10 October 5th, October 19th.

[1:08:04] Commissioner, commissioners, any other business?

[1:08:09] Yes. I'd like to go over something that I sent out

[1:08:13] to the commissioners just before the meeting today.

[1:08:17] Report on the, the Young Road, Broadview Annex.

[1:08:22] I wanted to update my observations

[1:08:27] just to, to back backtrack a little

[1:08:30] and inform, we did an environment, we

[1:08:35] had a environmental study conducted in

[1:08:38] October, 2025.

[1:08:40] And the recommendations were that we

[1:08:43] further study the hydrology of the property in order

[1:08:47] to determine if three areas were confirmed

[1:08:52] as vernal pools.

[1:08:53] They remained on the, the map as potential vernal pools.

[1:08:59] So I have been engaging in trying to get into the property

[1:09:05] weekly since the snow was starting to melt,

[1:09:10] making my observations informally.

[1:09:14] And then also I created a log on my phone

[1:09:17] and I'm translating that to an Excel spreadsheet so

[1:09:22] that I'm gonna be posting to a MS teams

[1:09:27] site that Beth provided access to for me.

[1:09:31] And so far, what I'm seeing

[1:09:34] for a general hydrology pattern is that there's a,

[1:09:40] this area is about 4.5 acres.

[1:09:43] It borders Hamstead Road,

[1:09:47] the Dairy East Dairy Fire Department on the south border.

[1:09:51] And the north border is young road opposite

[1:09:55] of the parking lot area.

[1:09:58] So I I, the middle section of

[1:10:03] that southern border, there's a prop.

[1:10:05] There's a PVP

[1:10:09] potential vernal pool that was identified.

[1:10:12] It seems to be the main source of water runoff

[1:10:15] that is pretty regular and persistent.

[1:10:20] So this is running off into an area of

[1:10:26] marshy grass called Canary Reed grass.

[1:10:30] This area is also holding water persistently.

[1:10:35] I'm not sure whether it's moving water or still,

[1:10:41] but I'll explain further and get back to that.

[1:10:46] So after a rain, there are two channels that seem

[1:10:51] to be there naturally, or they were dug.

[1:10:54] I, I don't know. They,

[1:10:55] they're just persistent in the environment now.

[1:10:59] They run south to north from

[1:11:02] that water source.

[1:11:07] And then one splits to the northwest.

[1:11:10] And there's a potential vernal pool there right

[1:11:12] on Young Road.

[1:11:14] And that seems to have a behavior where it runs

[1:11:20] for three to 10 days, depending on the time of the season

[1:11:24] and how much water saturation.

[1:11:27] But consistently

[1:11:29] after that period of time, it's, it's dried up, you know,

[1:11:34] the soil may be moist.

[1:11:38] So the behavior, it's not to say that in future years

[1:11:41] that the weather patterns may change

[1:11:44] and it may be able to support while

[1:11:48] amphibian amphibians and other vernal pool habitat.

[1:11:55] So this is all a slow long study, so it,

[1:11:58] there's no rush to anything.

[1:12:03] So starting in mid-June, the vegetation started

[1:12:05] to really grow and it's really become too long

[1:12:09] to even venture into there without jungle, jungle boots

[1:12:14] and a machete and a pit helmet.

[1:12:17] And I haven't been willing to do that yet. I got my garden.

[1:12:22] But I can tell you that to the west of that, that

[1:12:27] marshy grass area, there's ferns golden rod.

[1:12:31] And I was seeing

[1:12:32] before they grew up outta sight,

[1:12:34] a beautiful poison ivy field.

[1:12:38] I mean, it was very extensive.

[1:12:40] So I'm not sure how tall it's grown.

[1:12:43] So that's all on the western side of

[1:12:46] the Canary Reed grass area.

[1:12:48] So Beth and I, I approached her talking about, you know,

[1:12:53] trying to create a path to get access.

[1:12:56] And Beth, you know, pretty much shut me down for the rest

[1:12:59] of the season that the available equipment right now,

[1:13:05] although dairy does have the big, the big tractors,

[1:13:08] but right now the, the regular lawn mowing

[1:13:14] maintenance that's going on,

[1:13:15] that this is just no way it's going to touch that.

[1:13:20] And I, I hacked a, took my shears and hacked in a few feet

[1:13:24] and it's very thick.

[1:13:27] So we're not gonna get in there.

[1:13:28] But what we need to do is think about the fall and,

[1:13:32] and plotting a, a path in there.

[1:13:37] And it's, as long as the environment is dry,

[1:13:41] and it should be because it was last year,

[1:13:44] it's totally permissible by, by the wetland rules

[1:13:48] to mo mo paths.

[1:13:52] So what we need to do is study this further over time

[1:13:56] and then consider a fall.

[1:13:58] How, how we would do a fall mowing.

[1:14:02] You know, we're talking about staking out,

[1:14:04] roughly staking out and then mowing it through

[1:14:08] and then staking out on the other side of the path

[1:14:11] that we're designating for the future,

[1:14:14] for the next spring 2027.

[1:14:18] So the town can mow that as needed.

[1:14:23] I I, so

[1:14:27] what I ask, and I'm proposing is a formation

[1:14:30] of a subcommittee for the management of this young road,

[1:14:34] Broadview annex Holding.

[1:14:38] We need to really, I need to have a more

[1:14:40] of a consensus on actions to be taken.

[1:14:43] I don't want to do this all by myself, I don't mind.

[1:14:46] But I think the commission will benefit from

[1:14:51] having other commissioners involved.

[1:14:57] So I, I would wanna, I would like to do that,

[1:15:03] by the way, I did during the bio blitz, get an answer

[1:15:06] to a question I had.

[1:15:07] How is that, as the report said, how's that

[1:15:12] area going to eventually become woods

[1:15:14] because it was recommended to let, let the land go

[1:15:18] and become woodland someday.

[1:15:20] How did that actually happen?

[1:15:22] Well, we, we walked to a older

[1:15:27] marsh that was drying up in, in the,

[1:15:32] the other side of the, the northern side

[1:15:34] of the Broadview holding.

[1:15:37] And there was a red maple there in the middle.

[1:15:40] And the biologists mentioned that that's,

[1:15:44] you know, pioneering.

[1:15:46] And so I asked him, you know, how does that apply

[1:15:50] to the area that's, you know, right.

[1:15:53] So wet right now, it doesn't seem it could handle

[1:15:55] any kind of tree life.

[1:15:57] But he said that actually the red maple will take hold

[1:16:02] and has the ability to

[1:16:06] much more than herbaceous plants suck up the, the moisture.

[1:16:11] So it, it helps to, you know, change that the nature of the,

[1:16:16] the land, the marshland.

[1:16:21] So that's it.

[1:16:22] And I'm just, again, I'm requesting

[1:16:25] that we do a proposal for a subcommittee.

[1:16:27] I don't know if we can do it in this meeting, if

[1:16:31] BGA should be involved, but I'd like to see that before the,

[1:16:35] before August, September.

[1:16:38] So we can plan on the mowing.

[1:16:43] Any members interested in serving on this committee?

[1:16:46] I'd be very interested. Jay. Okay. Anybody else? Chris?

[1:16:51] Yeah, I would like to. Okay.

[1:16:52] Okay, then I would need

[1:16:57] a motion to establish another subcommittee

[1:17:03] dedicated to the Broadview Farm Annex and its management.

[1:17:08] Is that what you're looking for, Jay? The subcommittee?

[1:17:13] You want it to be dedicated to

[1:17:15] managing the Broadview Fire Manx?

[1:17:17] Yes. Man Management does a draft management

[1:17:19] plan already created.

[1:17:21] That kind of covers broad aspects of, of what it would take.

[1:17:27] Someone wanna make a motion

[1:17:29] Move to create, move to create a subcommittee

[1:17:32] to manage the Broadview Farm Annex.

[1:17:35] I'll second That. Seconded by Val,

[1:17:38] any further discussion?

[1:17:40] We already have volunteer members.

[1:17:42] So you wanna take a roll from my right, Chris? Yes. Jay?

[1:17:46] Yes. Cheryl? Yes. Eileen? Yes. Do yes. Cam? Yes.

[1:17:50] Chair V. Yes. So we'll make that,

[1:17:54] I guess under property maintenance,

[1:17:56] property management about, add that,

[1:17:59] Add that Under property,

[1:18:01] Under under the Property management's another committee.

[1:18:04] Jay Jay is the chair. And Eileen and Chris.

[1:18:09] Oh, I see what you're saying. Subcommittee

[1:18:10] Members.

[1:18:11] I thought you meant like a subcommittee under

[1:18:13] the subcommittee on the paper.

[1:18:14] Under, Okay. Yes, yes. Okay.

[1:18:15] On the paper under. All right. Any other business?

[1:18:20] We do have someone in the audience

[1:18:22] that wants to speak tonight.

[1:18:23] I'm, come on up.

[1:18:31] Come right up. Sit in the chair.

[1:18:36] Under the mic, there's a button.

[1:18:37] Make sure the light's green.

[1:18:43] Yep. On the stem there's a button. Beth's gonna help.

[1:18:48] It messes with us every time too. Yep.

[1:18:51] Just your name and address and then go ahead.

[1:18:53] Hello, my name is Andrew Higgins.

[1:18:55] I live at one Ballard View Circle.

[1:18:57] Dear New Hampshire, I was just,

[1:19:01] I have it written on my phone if that's okay.

[1:19:09] So, hello everyone.

[1:19:10] I'd thank to like to thank you all for having me today

[1:19:14] and working to protect and serve New Hampshire.

[1:19:17] And I'm very thankful. As I said, my name's Andrew Higgins.

[1:19:20] I am a junior in college

[1:19:23] pursuing a bachelor's in psychology.

[1:19:24] And I've been a resident of dairy in

[1:19:26] New Hampshire for my entire life.

[1:19:28] As we know, New Hampshire is the second most

[1:19:30] forwarded state in America.

[1:19:31] So in my opinion, it's the most beautiful state.

[1:19:35] There's a good reason people travel here to see our foliage,

[1:19:39] and I couldn't imagine myself living anywhere else.

[1:19:41] But over the years, and especially this year in dairy

[1:19:44] New Hampshire, I've watched the slow encroachment of two

[1:19:48] of the most invasive plants in the world,

[1:19:50] and especially in New England.

[1:19:52] Japanese knot wood and Oriental bittersweet,

[1:19:55] especially on easements in downtown dairy,

[1:19:59] especially on new property

[1:20:01] that's being built in dairy Japanese.

[1:20:05] And I believe that the average person may think

[1:20:09] that these invasives don't only pause,

[1:20:11] pull only pose an ecological threat.

[1:20:13] But that would be wrong because Japanese knot wood

[1:20:17] and oriental builder seat are serious threats.

[1:20:19] Star real estate. And Japanese knot wood can reduce

[1:20:24] property values by up to 20%

[1:20:26] and with even higher losses reported in severe infestations,

[1:20:32] for example, this would cause a $500,000 property to

[1:20:36] only be worth $400,000.

[1:20:39] Japanese knot wood is one of the most aggressive invasives

[1:20:41] in the world growing up to 10 feet vertically

[1:20:43] and six five feet underground in a single season.

[1:20:46] It doesn't displace, it doesn't just displace wildlife,

[1:20:49] it also starves animals.

[1:20:50] And it grows into our homes

[1:20:53] because it spreads via both seed and rhizomes.

[1:20:56] So it can grow through lawn tarp, wood flooring,

[1:21:01] and it can even grow through concrete

[1:21:03] after the inevitable freezing and thawing after winter.

[1:21:08] So if you look at the new housings being constructed on

[1:21:11] Island Pond Road, you'll notice there's a lot

[1:21:13] of knotweed thickets

[1:21:14] that have actually formed not just in the two houses

[1:21:17] that are being constructed there,

[1:21:19] but also in the backyards of the people that are near it.

[1:21:23] It also, it, it went its way up to the auto automotive

[1:21:29] shop and also moved up to my house.

[1:21:32] So it's in just one year, it's grown

[1:21:36] to already my house, which is like over two hou, two miles

[1:21:40] of spread and just,

[1:21:43] and in four months it's already reached seven feet.

[1:21:47] And the way it's being mowed now is

[1:21:50] it disperses it even further to other people.

[1:21:53] It's being cut down using regular,

[1:21:58] regular mowing equipment

[1:21:59] and Japanese knot wood's known to grow back from just

[1:22:03] a piece as big as finger as one's fingernail.

[1:22:06] And when these pieces are flung about,

[1:22:08] this is what's causing it to

[1:22:13] find new places to in infest faster.

[1:22:16] And Oriental bittersweet, on the other hand,

[1:22:20] is a parasitic vine.

[1:22:21] And it's unlike the native Virginia creeper, which is ag.

[1:22:24] It aggressively girdles the host trees that it's under.

[1:22:29] And it's similar to kudzu, which is the, the vine

[1:22:34] that's all of the South.

[1:22:36] And it's actually known to be more of a

[1:22:40] more serious threat to wildlife

[1:22:44] and lum a lumber industry than kudzu.

[1:22:48] Even though it's more famous, it has no natural predators.

[1:22:52] And with an action it could spread readily to

[1:22:58] readily to dimlit forests and conservation areas

[1:23:02] because it does not need light in its germination.

[1:23:07] And so it's out of the deep love for my state

[1:23:10] that I had humbly ask the Conservation Conservation

[1:23:13] Commission to adopt

[1:23:14] and forward a resolution, recommending state legislation

[1:23:17] to address the straight, to address the threat.

[1:23:19] Japanese knot Wood and Oriental Biddle bittersweet poses

[1:23:22] to the TA dairy town count Dairy Poises to not just dairy,

[1:23:26] but also the entire state of New Hampshire.

[1:23:29] And it's to keep it's New Hampshire beautiful

[1:23:32] and secure the state's future as a place of economic,

[1:23:35] domestic, and cultural prosperity.

[1:23:37] I believe that New Hampshire law,

[1:23:38] what makers must be made aware

[1:23:40] of this issue impacting every one of us.

[1:23:42] And they must be made must be ready to make this change

[1:23:45] and go upon, go ahead with action.

[1:23:49] And I would like to thank you for your time. Thank you.

[1:23:54] Thank you, thank You. Any, any questions? Hang on

[1:23:58] Just a, can I make a comment?

[1:23:59] Yeah. So you're asking

[1:24:03] for a statewide ordinance, is that what you're asking for?

[1:24:06] RA 4 30 55, I got it pulled up. We've already got, yeah.

[1:24:10] The state has a, an invasive species

[1:24:14] ordinance already administrative code

[1:24:19] under New Hampshire SA four 30 verse 55,

[1:24:24] and a GR of 3,800 for Oriental bittersweet

[1:24:27] and Japanese knotweed.

[1:24:29] They're classified as prohibited invasive species in

[1:24:31] New Hampshire, and it's illegal to collect.

[1:24:37] Your phone just went off. Oh, that's okay.

[1:24:41] I'm just reading the terminology here.

[1:24:43] It's illegal to collect, transport, cell, distribute,

[1:24:47] propagate, or transplant any living

[1:24:50] viable portion of these plants.

[1:24:53] And we all, we, we do the Dairy Conservation Commission

[1:24:59] sites that on any kind of site plans that we receive

[1:25:03] for our review, we make sure that's mandatory, that

[1:25:05] that's put on those site plans that are filed with the deed

[1:25:09] for properties for approved site plans.

[1:25:14] It's a very serious issue.

[1:25:15] It's, it's really excellent that you are before us and,

[1:25:19] and bringing that to our attention.

[1:25:22] I know that there's a gentleman

[1:25:27] with the New Hampshire Pesticide Bureau, you know,

[1:25:30] in the Pesticide Bureau there's a special branch

[1:25:33] that's dedicated to invasive species, and his name is Doug.

[1:25:38] And if you were to contact him, I'm sure he could

[1:25:42] recommend appropriate measures to take,

[1:25:45] to improve your property

[1:25:46] and to get rid of the Japanese knot weed.

[1:25:49] And the Oriental Oriental bittersweet,

[1:25:54] he's, he's done a phenomenal job on formulating

[1:26:00] guidebooks for the public

[1:26:01] and Beth has a bunch of copies of those

[1:26:05] that she could share with you.

[1:26:09] I think that's, you know, it, it, the,

[1:26:11] the guidebooks are really excellent.

[1:26:13] They have pictures of all the invasive species

[1:26:15] that we come across in New Hampshire as well as methods

[1:26:18] to eradicate them.

[1:26:22] But I really appreciate your, you know, the background you

[1:26:25] provided us and the statistics you provided us.

[1:26:28] I think that's really excellent

[1:26:30] and I would encourage you to get more information, get a,

[1:26:34] get ahold of that guidebook

[1:26:35] and contact Doug at the Pesticide Bureau invasive branch

[1:26:40] and get more information.

[1:26:44] Okay. Thank you so much. Of

[1:26:45] Course.

[1:26:46] Else don't give up the fight. Yeah, this, thank you.

[1:26:50] Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry.

[1:26:51] This just feels like something that would be great

[1:26:54] to bring up at the Land Maintenance Committee.

[1:26:56] I mean, I know we can't focus on necessarily town in

[1:26:59] general, but conservation properties,

[1:27:01] and some of them do have it, a lot

[1:27:02] of them do about residents, and I think

[1:27:04] I said earlier, Broadview, we have a real problem with,

[1:27:08] with our bittersweet, you know, especially on the perimeter,

[1:27:11] it is so, like you said, girdle trees to the point

[1:27:14] where we can't really,

[1:27:16] the only way Mattar said we could tackle that

[1:27:20] on the perimeters would be if we were to entertain the use

[1:27:24] of chemical management, which I'm not in favor personally,

[1:27:27] I'm not in favor of that because I've seen

[1:27:31] chemical management of oriental bitter

[1:27:33] wheated and other invasives.

[1:27:34] And what it does is not selective. It kills everything.

[1:27:40] And so you would really be destroying

[1:27:42] otherwise rich wildlife habitat if you chose that method.

[1:27:48] I, I would like to just say too,

[1:27:49] before you leave that I can provide you one

[1:27:52] of those handbooks have one.

[1:27:53] Oh, you have one? Perfect. Perfect.

[1:27:54] I'll replace yours, Val. Okay. Lemme give

[1:27:57] It to him.

[1:27:58] And Doug's contact information's on the back of that.

[1:28:00] Perfect. Thank you. Okay.

[1:28:04] But in, in areas that we can identify that maybe aren't

[1:28:07] as bad, that need chemical treatment, I'm sure

[1:28:09] that outlines some way that we can manage it.

[1:28:14] I'm sure it has to be pulled up if you're not gonna

[1:28:16] Come.

[1:28:17] Well, I went, I went Just to give you some background. Yeah.

[1:28:20] I attended with the support of this commission,

[1:28:23] I wanna say it was probably five or more years ago now,

[1:28:26] but I attended the UNH Invasive Species Academy.

[1:28:30] They had a couple of days of dedicated

[1:28:35] coursework on invasive species

[1:28:38] and including a field trip that we went out to.

[1:28:42] It was in Canterbury?

[1:28:46] No, it was in Enfield, I'm sorry.

[1:28:48] You know, adjacent to where the shaker property was.

[1:28:52] And fish

[1:28:53] and Game had done some with a licensed

[1:28:57] pesticide applicator.

[1:28:59] They had done some chemical treatment of an area for

[1:29:04] removal of oriental bittersweet and other invasives.

[1:29:08] And I'm telling you, it, it looked like a desert.

[1:29:11] It every, everything had been killed.

[1:29:14] Not just selective management of those species.

[1:29:18] Just a real broad acreage

[1:29:20] that just was completely dead to me.

[1:29:23] It was horrifying. I, I just personally, I just don't,

[1:29:27] I'm not in favor of that.

[1:29:29] And the other people are, can I ask Eileen, in reference

[1:29:31] to what you're speaking about before, this may be

[1:29:34] gentleman's sharing here, kind of underscores

[1:29:38] what you brought up about removing you,

[1:29:41] you're saying in the center the bittersweet

[1:29:43] that can be removed?

[1:29:44] Yes, we can do that. Yes.

[1:29:46] Because it sounds like in

[1:29:47] that perimeter area, it's manageable.

[1:29:49] The prognosis is that it's sort of a lost battle and,

[1:29:51] and that will be the species there, right?

[1:29:53] Unless, but but to prevent further encroachment.

[1:29:57] Right, right.

[1:29:58] So that sounds like it becomes more imminent.

[1:30:03] Yeah. The solution there, the center, the center

[1:30:05] of our field has some small, excuse me, some small areas

[1:30:09] of bittersweet that are, that can be pulled,

[1:30:13] that can be managed without a lot of, you know,

[1:30:17] expense and difficulty.

[1:30:20] And Matt Tar had said, let's get on this right away.

[1:30:23] If we get on it right away, we can stay ahead of it.

[1:30:27] As for the sides where unfortunately,

[1:30:30] bittersweet has taken hold to enormous proportions,

[1:30:34] the only way that you would be able to tackle

[1:30:38] that would be either to, you know,

[1:30:41] and it's even beyond like getting a brontosaurus out there

[1:30:45] to just mow down everything

[1:30:47] or doing chemical management, which he mentioned also is

[1:30:51] that if you were to do chemical management, you would have

[1:30:55] to do it again and again and again and it's very expensive.

[1:30:59] So this measure that you were bringing up, like of, of

[1:31:02] pulling Yeah.

[1:31:03] These small, I mean, is that,

[1:31:04] that's something you'd recommend now

[1:31:05] and would that be like an afternoon

[1:31:06] and it just, it just sounds like something worthy

[1:31:09] of moving on? Yeah.

[1:31:11] Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah.

[1:31:13] If we, if we get started now, we, we can make a dent

[1:31:16] In that.

[1:31:17] Do you think like an afternoon or do you have an a?

[1:31:18] It would be probably, I don't know, I think maybe three

[1:31:22] or four hours of work, maybe.

[1:31:24] It depends how many hands there were. Yeah.

[1:31:26] Making many, yeah. Depending on

[1:31:27] how many, how many people we had pulling.

[1:31:29] But yeah, we could, we could make a half

[1:31:32] of an afternoon of it, I'm sure.

[1:31:34] With a bunch of people. Yeah.

[1:31:35] And I wanted to say to you also that part

[1:31:38] of our practice is if somebody reaches out, you know,

[1:31:41] about something like this that, you know, you're welcome

[1:31:45] to, to volunteer Yeah.

[1:31:47] At an event like that we'd love.

[1:31:48] And if you would like, of course.

[1:31:49] Yeah. We would love it.

[1:31:51] I have your email, so if you'd like, I can add you to,

[1:31:54] you know, our list of people that we reach out

[1:31:55] to when we have events and things like that.

[1:31:57] That would be perfect. Awesome.

[1:31:59] Thank you. Thank you Andrew. Thank you. Thank you so much.

[1:32:01] Thanks. Appreciate you coming forward. Thank you.

[1:32:03] Thank you for your time, Andrew.

[1:32:05] Definitely gonna want to discuss that,

[1:32:07] the next land maintenance meeting for sure.

[1:32:09] Okay. Next land maintenance meeting.

[1:32:11] We have a few things to discuss in non-public.

[1:32:13] So who would like to make that motion?

[1:32:17] Looks like Christopher does.

[1:32:19] Yep. I'd like to push for a motion to enter a non-public

[1:32:23] Second.

[1:32:24] But wait, you have to cite the RSA Oh

[1:32:26] Oh, Sorry. Right on.

[1:32:28] In compliance RSA 91 A three section one for

[1:32:32] The purpose.

[1:32:33] For the purpose of section

[1:32:36] Entering a Land acquisitions.

[1:32:38] Yes. Okay. I second the motion. Second.

[1:32:42] Seconded by Cheryl. Okay. Starting with Chris?

[1:32:47] Yes. Jake? Yes, yes, yes,

[1:32:50] Yes, yes.

[1:32:52] Okay. You're allowed

[1:32:54] to come in so you're not an alternate.

[1:32:56] So I'm allowed today. Yep.

[1:32:59] Motion to invite Beth into the non-public please.

[1:33:03] I'd like to also push the motion to invite Beth

[1:33:06] to a non-public meeting.

[1:33:08] Second. Okay. Starting on my right, Chris?

[1:33:12] Yes. Jay, yes. Cheryl? Yes. Eileen. Yes. Val? Yes.

[1:33:17] Thank you everyone for Yes. Okay. We're in non-public.

[1:33:22] Thank you everyone for attending. Have a good day.

[1:33:24] Thank you. Have a good one.

Conservation Commission - Meeting of 7/13/2026

Transcript