New Boston Forestry Committee Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date:~ Monday, February 13, 2006
Draft Minutes Prepared:~ Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Opening
Karl Heafield (KH) called the meeting to order at 1905.~ A Meeting Agenda was prepared by the President and distributed to all attendees.
Attendees included KH; Bob Todd (RT); Kim DiPietro (KDP); and Tom Lazott (TL).~ The President recorded and read the minutes from the January 2, 2006 meeting.~ KDP motioned and RT seconded to accept the minutes.~ REPORT ACCEPTED AS READ, without edits.
The Treasurer was not present to provide the treasurer’s report but did contact the President prior to the meeting.~ All information related to the committee expenses has been supplied to the Selectman for inclusion in the 2005 Town report.~ No other treasurer’s report was given.
The Secretary is not able to attend – TL will record the minutes.
Old Business and Updates
1.~~~ Lydia Dodge Forest West Patch Cut
KH indicated that Tim Trimbur has recently been injured and therefore not able to attend the current meeting.~ RT observed that any cuts would probably not be able to occur until next fall due to the weather this winter (tough to do any logging work).~ No further discussion or action items.
2.~~~ Master Plan Forestry Section Review and Edits
KH presented the draft “Forestry Section” that Dave Ely requested the Forestry Committee to review and factually correct.~ Dave indicated he would like the edits sometime in the month of February 2006.~ Upon review of the document during the meeting, discussion ensued about specific concerns including:
•~~~ Overall disjointed nature of the ‘Forest Resources’ text;
•~~~ Tone or specific objectives of numerous statements (e.g., “anti-harvesting’ sentiment; user-fee programs);
•~~~ Apparent misunderstanding of the FLESA Study results; and
•~~~ Factual errors (e.g., incorrect number of town forests; the Forestry Committee acting as an active ‘buyer’ of land)
Following discussions of the document, TL motioned and KPD seconded that that the Forestry Committee should respond to Dave Ely’s request in writing (motion carried).~ KH will prepare a draft letter to Dave Ely regarding our review of the “Forestry Section” document.~ In that letter, KH will provide:
•~~~ Factual corrections (e.g., size of lots);
•~~~ A statement or statements that describe the Forestry Committee’s position that it does not endorse (or not endorse) the philosophies and stated goals of the document and that these goals were not drafted or otherwise put forward by the Forestry Committee.
After preparing the draft letter, KDP and TL will review and provide comments.
3.~~~ Forestry Goal Text Review and Edits
KH presented the draft ‘Forestry Goal” text that he prepared to create/update the Forestry Committee Goal and Objectives.~ After discussions, it was noted that the ‘objectives’ should also include a statement describing the role of using the existing Forest Conservation District designations (that came form the FLEESA Study) as a way to discourage future fragmentation of the forest resources.~ In the interest of time, the discussion was tabled; RT will revise the draft document prepared by KH and circulate for further review and discussion by the Forestry Committee.
4.~~~ Forestry Committee Project List
Nancy Loddengard, Secretary of the Forest Committee, included the project list in the meeting minutes for the January 2, 2006 meeting.~ In order to track the progress and updates to the project list, KH will prepare a separate list and include as an agenda item for future meetings.~ The purpose of the project list is to provide an efficient way to stay up to date on what the Committee’s current projects are, who is working on them, and the status of those projects.
5.~~~ Johnson Lot Map Status
RT presented to the Committee a completed boundary plat for the Johnson Lot; this map and the supporting information will be added to the Committee’s locked files.~ RT also presented copies of the map for additional filing and distribution to the stewards of this lot (Dave Allen and Tim Trimbur).~ The completion of this map represents much effort by RT over the last four years.
RT explained that portions of the forest lot include parcels of land that are referred to as “Land of Martin” and no recorded deed could be located for these parcels.~ It was also noted that the existing bound on the western portion of the lot is well marked but should be further flagged, and that a prior survey erroneously depicts an adjacent landowner’s back bound as extending into the forest parcel.~ However, the adjacent landowner has not disturbed the forest parcel.~ Also, it was noted that the town line between New Boston and Weare (which comprises part of the southern bound) is not well distinguished.
New or Other Business
1.~~~~ Filed Intents to Cut
Several intents to cut were reviewed.~ Each intent was related to house lot clearing in the vicinity of Barss Road off of Joe English Road.~ There were no concerns or questions noted.
No other new business was discussed.
Motion was passed and carried to adjourn the meeting at 2045.~ The next meeting is scheduled for March 06, 2006.
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