Minutes of WCC Meeting on February 15, 2011 at the Town offices
Present: MJ MacGowan, Chair, Betsy Janeway, Nancy Van Loan, Bob Quinn, Sally Embley, Nancy Clark and Susan Roman
Meeting opened at 7:40. S. Roman appointed Secretary.
1. Carol Foss form the Audubon Society was in attendance by invitation to discuss Conservation Planning, particularly with regard to the inventory of Natural Resources and supporting resource maps. She told the commission that the Audubon has been helping towns in two primary respects: 1) to review their planning documents to assess their interaction with town natural resources, including wildlife; and , 2) to produce spatial analyses of important natural resources in the context of the town’s current planning and zoning regulations, with an emphasis on identifying natural resources that can not readily be replicated by human restoration efforts. It was noted that Webster’s resource inventory has not been updated based on the NH Wildlife Action Plan. Audubon has, with
others, produced a NH Wildlife Connectivity Model that can be applied in the above analyses. However, Ms Foss did note that wildlife movement and connectivity is somewhat aided by Webster’s five acre zoning, and may not therefore be a major issue for Webster. It was decided that the Commission would like to have the following maps, ideally in a form that could be overlayed with the Town tax maps: Wetlands, Steep Slopes, Aquifers, Prime Agricultural Soils, Large Unfragmented Parcels and Vernal Pools. Ms Foss will provide the Commission with cost estimates for producing the above, excepting the vernal pools (for which data is unavailable), with a separate estimate of the cost of a tax map overlay. With respect to vernal pools, the Commission plans to update a survey completed by Betsy Janeway, which update is to include GPS data. Ms MacGowan will check on the means of obtaining tax map data and on which agencies are responsible for updating the Granite system with
recently conserved parcels and the status thereof. With the expressed gratitude of the Commission, Ms Foss departed the meeting.
2. Ms Roman moved to approve the December 14, 2010 minutes. Ms Van Loan seconded the motion. The minutes were approved by unanimous vote.
3. Easement monitoring forms were distributed. Ms MacGowan will contact Steve Walker to ask when the LCIP easement monitoring forms are due. The Commission noted the desirability of completing all monitoring forms for a parcel at the same time.
4. Correspondence was reviewed and no action was needed. Two letters reflected the resolution of complaints. The third reflected a recent complaint being answered by the homeowner.
5. Ms MacGowan reported on her meeting with Bob Boley of Five Rivers. The thrust of the meeting was to rekindle interest of Five Rivers in conservation work in Webster. Ms Roman will follow up on a potential project with an interested landowner in Town and report back to the Commission as to whether the landowner would like to proceed.
6. The time and date (Sunday, Feb 20 at 1:00 p.m.) for the WCC snow shoeing event to be hosted by the Van Loans was noted.
7. After due consideration, A motion was made Ms Embley to authorize Mr. Quinn to spend up to $150 of Commission funds to purchase a GPS device. The motion was seconded my Ms Janeway and passed unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:34 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan C. Roman
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