[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.