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NEWBURY CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Meeting Minutes April 10, 2007
Present: William Weiler, Eric Unger, Frank Perrotta, Suzanne Levine, William Annable; Selectman Richard Wright, Recreation Committee Chair Peter Newbern, SRKG Coalition Trails Director Gerry Gold, and Chuck Crickman, trail coordinator, Fishersfield Park.
Minutes: March 13, moved Perrotta, seconded Annable, approved as read; Special Meeting March 26, Moved Levine, seconded Perrotta, approved as corrected.
Intents to Cut and Wetlands: None
Communications: Weiler reviewed a letter sent by Brian Hotz of the Society for the Protection of N.H. Forests to Robert Stewart of RCS Design in Bradford, representing Pickman and Sons Development LLC. Stewart had tried to interest SPNHF in monitoring 59.6 acres of mitigation area in the Pickman development in Newbury and Sutton. Hotz said the Forest Society had to decline the offer due to a statewide surge in conservation easement requests that is straining its staff and resources.
Old Business:
1. Evro Property (Pillsbury-Sunapee Ridge Forest). Weiler distributed copies of a flyer the Forest Society is distributing, hoping to solicit contributions toward the $190,000 it needs to complete the purchase of conservation easements on 1100 acres on Mount Sunapee in Newbury and Goshen.
2. Conservation Plan. Weiler said he had asked environmental consultant Ann Poole if she thought a wildlife action plan map should be included in the Town Wide Conservation Plan she is preparing for Newbury. He said map subcontractor Denise Rico is already finished with her work for the conservation plan. But she said she would be willing to make changes for free if the work took less than an hour, or for $50 an hour if longer. Weiler said he was going to meet with Rico to see if she wanted to work on a map that could be used to enforce the Skyline Ordinance.
3. Town Forest. Weiler said the vote at Town Meeting established a Town Forest in the Fishersfield Park lot, but wasn’t specific about the boundary. He said it was necessary to define what was forest and what was recreation within the park, a tricky matter. He said we need to provide for issues associated with logging, site of the log landing, truck access and skidder trails. The commission and others attending reviewed topo maps and plans of the park that showed the land is steep to the east and flatter to the west. Weiler displayed two maps, one showing the forest-park boundary tight around the area to be developed as a park, the other
showing the boundary excluding the pond from the forest. Crickman noted the area designated to be a forest is “not a wilderness, it’s the back of a park.” He said logging equipment would cause serious damage. He said planning was needed to reach a compromise between logging and recreation. Wright said he had proposed a revised plan for the park in which the “upper field” would be leveled and used as a community garden. He said the selectmen wanted to keep the pond in the park. Weiler said that decision “never happened.” Wright said it was a “general consensus” that the selectmen wanted to keep the pond on the recreation area. He suggested everyone involved should go to the park and “see if we can lay out a potential route and line.” He said the line is not going to be cast in stone, but will be flexible and can be adjustable as needs arise. He said that as a town facility the area should be open to everybody,
but he agreed with Weiler that a boundary between the park and the forest was needed. Wright said the area Weiler indicated on the map would be good for a log landing was part of the old homestead and needs protection. He said we have to visit the lot and identify areas on the map. Wright noted that a previous parks director had proposed logging using horses or oxen. Weiler said that a previous logging job “didn’t leave much” too make logging anytime soon profitable. Wright said the logger took most of the pines but left a lot of oak. Weiler said a boundary line is needed to tell a forester what to put in a plan for the forest. He said, “Ultimately we need a memorandum of understanding that there’s a priority in the Town Forest for logging. If we don’t have that, then the whole idea of a town forest is moot.” Newbern said the forest could be logged in winter when recreational use is light. That could be done, Weiler said. Wright mentioned
that the northwest corner of the lot is a deeryard and should be off limits in the winter. Perrotta suggested that, because of nearby houses, that hunting might have to be limited to shotgun or bow. Wright said hunting on 94 acres shouldn’t be a problem. Weiler said we need to walk the property in better weather and mark up a map. Then work up a memorandum of understanding, signed by all parties. Wright noted the recreation plan has a road that goes almost to the pond. Weiler noted a wetlands permit had been issued for filling a small area in what will become a baseball field. Wright said he didn’t remember that. Weiler wondered if that was going to be done while the permit was still active. Wright said he would have to check, even if it was just a preliminary fill. Weiler asked if everybody agreed to the approach he proposed and no one objected. Newbern said the Recreation Committee hadn’t talked about the park very much, but would meet in a couple of weeks.
Dickie said he would try to attended, although the meeting is the same night as a regular bi-monthly selectmen’s meeting. Weiler said Newbern should talk to the Recreation Committee about the Town Forest impact on the recreation area at Fishersfield, including the log landing, the boundary line, and any agreement on how things are going to work. Perrotta asked if the historical areas in the park were going to be protected. Weiler said the maps for the park prepared by Eckman Engineering do not show the historical areas. Weiler said there was a book of information in the town vault that might have information. Crickman said the previous park director’s map shows a cellar hole, a stonewall and a sheep pen. Perrotta said the significant areas should be flagged when the group visited the site. Weiler said that ideally the log landing and skidder access would be flagged and put on the plan. Crickman questioned whether the historical area should be within the Town Forest.
Weiler said he didn’t think it belonged there, seems out of the way. He said he didn’t see any part of the development impacting it. Weiler asked Crickman if he had any further interests to review. Crickman said yes, “facing up to the problem.” He said there were some obvious conflicts between the forest and the hiking trails. Weiler told Crickman to talk to SPNHF education director Dave Anderson to see what they do about forest management and hiking trails. Crickman said he had asked Anderson to come to the park to view the trails, but Anderson said he was too busy. Weiler said things were different now that Fishersfield has a town forest area. Gold said the town needed a professional evaluation of the property from the point of view of forestry, education and trails. Weiler said, “We don’t need to get so specific about it. The concern is, does forestry wreck trails? Do others have problems with forestry wrecking trails?” Gold said there
could be disruption for a while, but then they clean up the debris and the trail exists again. Weiler asked for recommendation for a consulting forester and the group discussed several possible candidates. Weiler said a management plan was needed to assess what’s standing. Wright said he wanted wildlife management possibilities evaluated as well. Weiler asked Wright to set up a date to view the property and notify all interested parties. Gold suggested it might be possible to create an access to the park’s trails from the Greenway Trail that comes off of Bly Hill. Weiler said a map would have to be consulted to see who’s land would be involved. Wright said he thought it might be possible.
New Business:
1. Wild Acres Subdivision (formerly Deer Pines), off Southgate Road. The commission reviewed a new design that establishes sites for 10 houses. The access road is 1800 feet, 300 feet longer than allowed by Newbury regulations, and is quite steep in places. Weiler noted the development would have heavy impact on many small and large wetlands. He said the developer was going to have to convince DES that crossing wetlands was the only way to access the development. He said he would notify the Planning Board that the commission would like the developer to put most of Lot 6, 64 acres, into the common land area.
Adjourned: Moved Perrotta, seconded Levine, 9:13 p.m.
Next Meeting: May 8 at 7:15 p.m., Municipal Building
Prepared by: Frank Perrotta
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