Allenstown Conservation Commission
Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Allenstown Town Hall
MINUTES
Attendees
Phil Trowbridge
David McKay
(no quorum)
The meeting was opened at 7:10 pm.
The minutes were approved.
Dave McKay reviewed the timber harvest plan for Bear Brook State Park. A total of 649,000 board feet and 850 cord of pulp will be harvested over the next three years. The sale area covers 150 acres along Podunk Road near Hall Mountain. Most of the sale area is in the town of Deerfield. Harvest operations will only be allowed during dry summer conditions or frozen ground conditions to protect the forest from erosion and damage. Most of the cutting will be crop tree, single tree, or group tree. The maximum patch cut area will be 2 acres. The harvest plan is consistent with the BBSP Management Plan. The project will meet or exceed all standards set forth in the "Good Forestry in the Granite State" manual. The plan has been reviewed by the State Lands Management Team. Dave McKay will receive the final bid invitation and the notice of the bid award.
On 3/3/04, the Senate Transportation Committee voted to refer SB349 to "interim study". SB349 proposed to weaken the environmental criteria in the law governing new ATV trails on public lands. The interim study recommendation means that the bill would stay in the committee to be studied over the summer. The committee would decide if a new bill should be filed for next year. This recommendation is a good thing for Bear Brook and other state lands. The testimony on SB349 highlighted many important issues that needed to be studied before changes were made the environmental protections in the law. The committee's recommendation now goes to the full Senate. The Senate will vote on whether to accept the committee's recommendation on Thursday, 3/11/04.
The ConCom’s warrant article regarding Use Change Tax revenues was passed by the Town on election day. Now, 100% of UCT revenues will be deposited into a non-lapsing conservation fund.
The commissioners in attendance made a few slight edits to the draft bylaws that were handed out at the last meeting. Phil Trowbridge will type of the bylaws and distribute them for another round of review. We will seek to approve the minutes at the next meeting when there is a quorum.
The spring conservation event will be a roadside cleanup on Saturday, April 24 from 9 am to 12 noon. The cleanup will cover the portion of River Road from the NH DOT shed to the town dump. Depending o the number of attendees, two to four groups will be spaced out over this stretch of road. They will leave full trash bags on the side of the road. The bags will be picked up and brought to the dump at the end of the cleanup. The event will coincide with Earth Day. Dave McKay will notify the Boy Scouts of the event and will purchase 100 trash bags. Phil Trowbridge will: ask permission to park by the NH DOT shed, ask about having the town pickup the full trash bags, ask about Earth Day prizes and materials from NH DES, and will buy soda, snacks, and antiseptic wipes. Laura Bonk will be responsible for advertising the event to the local media, people on the ConCom mailing list, and the ConComs in abutting towns.
FOSR River Currents, Spring/Summer 2004 – No action needed
UNH Coop Extension, Watershed Ecology Course brochure, July 26-30 or August 2-6, 2004 – No action needed
Letter to L. Bonk from Tim Acerno of NH Fish and Game re: ATV activity in BBSP – No action needed
NH Invasive Species Committee survey – No action needed
NH DES designated beaches survey - Phil Trowbridge will complete
Notice from USEPA on stormwater permits for construction activity – Copies distributed to the Planning Board
The next meeting was confirmed on the Town Hall calendar.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 pm