Dublin Conservation Commission
Minutes
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Attending: Jack Lewis (chair), Anne Anable, Jerry Branch, Karen Bunch, Charlie Champagne, Suzan Macy and Sue Yarger
The minutes of the meeting of Wednesday, September 10, 2008 were reviewed and approved as amended.
Dublin Lake: Karen Bunch passed out the latest set of reports on water testing. Lake water quality, tested at inlets around the lake appears to be quite good, and has improved between July and September. The deep water tests done recently were also quite good. The lake water testing has been a wonderful job done by Karen and Felicity Pool, and the Commission expressed its great appreciation for their dedication and fine work.
Karen also noted that Mary Lee is hoping to put together calendars for 2009 and 2010 based on photos of Dublin Lake. She passed around samples of the possible calendars, and many commission members thought that they would be wonderful to be able to get.
Howe Reservoir: Jerry Branch is continuing to build support in the Rotary Club to develop a plan to make the town’s Howe Reservoir property more inviting and usable for Dublin and area residents. He put together a Labor Day canoe excursion, and plans another one around Columbus Day.
DCC 2009 Budget: Jack Lewis asked Commissioners to let him know if they had any initiatives for 2009 that would require funding beyond the levels in the 2008 budget. He planned to submit a preliminary budget to the town in the next week, and would review and revise the budget with the Commission at its November meeting.
Forest Society Annual Meeting: Jerry, Sue and Jack reported that the Forest Society Annual Meeting was informative and enjoyable. The main speaker talked about the national movement toward more local agriculture and about his views about what that meant for New Hampshire and its citizens.
Fracture Mapping: Jerry reported on his review of the Fracture Maps recently done of Dublin. He said that the maps could be a valuable resource, but that in order to provide accurate information on aquifers, water quality and water availability, they needed to be supplemented by a good deal of other information, including the bedrock geology of the town, historic well depths and flow rates, and changes over time in water flow and quality. He looks forward to gathering more of the needed information, at least a portion of which may exist already in the town.
Cell Tower Balloon Test: Several commissioners searched for sight of the Cell Tower balloon during the test on October 4. Their consensus was that the balloon was not very visible at all. There was some questioning of whether having a test with leaves off the trees would produce different results.
Dublin Advocate Involvement: The Commissioners discussed the idea of having the Conservation Commission have a regular or occasional feature in the Advocate. Although the idea was in general appealing, no decisions were made about who would take charge of the effort and how regular a feature would be appropriate.
Other Business:
- The NH Lakes Association Watershed Conference, scheduled for November 15 was recommended again.
- The New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions is holding its Annual Conference on Saturday, November 1. Jack Lewis mentioned that he had gone in the past and that he found the conference very informative, both because of the workshops and because of the ability to exchange thoughts with commissioners from around the state. He said that he planned to go and recommended it to others.
- The Cheshire County Cooperative Extension has a fall program of four excursions. Jack passed out copies of the brochures and recommended especially the Leighton Forest Timber Harvest program, scheduled for October 24.
Meeting Schedule: The Commission will continue to meet at 7 PM on the second Wednesday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for November 12, 2008.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:53 PM.
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