Held after a meal at Daniel�s Restaurant, Henniker
Present:
Antrim- Rod Zwirner
Bennington- Jeff Rose
Concord- Ted Hillson
Hancock- Dick Bell
Henniker- Holly Green
Hillsboro[ Marian Baker
Jaffrey- Ron Rogstad
Hopkinton- Byron Carr
Peterborough- Beth Cote
Rindge- Shirley Carney, Bob Henderson
Ex Officio- Steve Lopez- CNHRPC
Four spouses also visited
Regrets from Chris Stephenson, Lorainne Carey Block, Rod Cyr, Dennis Rossiter
1. News from towns
Antrim- Rod Zwirner has found that sewage sludge is spread in three sites in his town.
Bennington- Planning board is dealing with a large 13 to 14 lot subdivision along the edge of the river in North Bennington, that fronts on the railroad tracks
Concord- The project of the old tannery in Penacook is still in progress. At present the 250 foot buffer for spreading of sludge near the river is in the process of possibly being changed.
Hancock-The 5 acre lot on Forest Road bordering the Contoocook river has been sold to a local townsman, who does not plan to build on for the next few years.
Henniker- The dam has been breached. The Conservation Commission has recently finished an NRI inventory.
Hillsboro- A group of concerned citizens have been formed to work on the proposed Walmart Megastore.
Jaffrey- The dilemna of what to do with the wastewater in Jaffrey continues.
Hopkinton- Bioenergy is in the courts at present. A proposed buying of 250 acres along the river for an 85 cluster development fell through recently.
Peterborough- A very informative presentation was done recently on buffers and the reasons for buffers, We might want to have this presentation at one of our future meetings. Beth found that they have never cleaned out the sludge of the sewage lagoons in Peterborough. The aeration in the lagoons was recently improved.
Rindge- Monadnock Conservancy is taking an easement from Franklin Pierce College- a piece of 50 acres between Poole and Pearly Pond. (Poole Pond is a tributary to Contoocook River).
2. Update on Education Grant. The grant was officially approved by the state. Marian will consult with Chris Stephenson on computer equipment needed to update the present CNBRLAC computer.
3. Concord Water Supply
James Donison from Concord Water Supply stopped in briefly. He will present at next meeting. The City of Concord wants to protect the water supply up river from Concord. The City of Concord is halfway into revising a master plan. They are interested in working with us to protect the water supply which the city draws from the Contoocook , possibly improving land use regulations.
Steve Lopez reported that there are grants available for citys to work with local communities to protect the quality of water supply, study projects such as land use regulations along the corricor, implementation of BMP�s, and storemwater treatment. We might want to test out the effectiveness of various plant buffers that could be used to protect the water quality. We might want to do some phosphate loading testing. Any testings and study could help establish the best buffers for this part of the river. Doing some study might help us find the best management practices to keep the water clean for this part of the river. Grants for such would be due in November, for starting work this coming spring.
4. Treasurer�s Report. Cote reported that there is no change in our balance this month.
5. Dredge and Fill Walmart has submitted a dredge and fill application to build on the top of Comstock Hill in Hillsboro on a site that would drain into Shedd and Beard�s Brook, two major tributaries of the Contoocook. Ed Cobbett of Deering and Marian Baker of Hillsboro were appointed to write a letter of concern about the effect of such a project on the river on behalf of our LAC.
6. Dam removal- Holly will check with Martha Sunderland, Henniker Conservation Commission about the continued removal of the dam and videos taken of the project.
7. Secchi Disk Dip In Data was collected in the towns of Jaffrey and Ridge by Ron Rogstad and Bob Henderson. Data will be sent in to the national data base. It was suggested that we try to do a more comprehensive teating in future years as use it as one way to check the overall water quality of the river each year.
8. Management Plan In order to get Steve to help us after December of this year, we will need to create a project and apply for his help, as the new state administration is making the funding a competitive project (rather than the present equal funding for the assistance to all LAC�s.
9. Upcoming Events
Contoocook River Improvement Society ( Penacook part of river), will hae a progressive lunch at Daisy Beach on 24th July, from 10AM-1PM.
Contocook Lake will have a sailboat race on August 21st.
Deering Association will host a slide show on the river on August 21st at 7PM at Deering Town Hall.
10. Previous minutes were approved as received.
11. Next Meeting On August 16th, we will meet at the Boat launch by the Covered Bridge- Hancock/Greenfield line for a boat ride.(BYO canoes/kayaks/boats) followed by a picnic at 5:30PM. We will then move to Greenfield town hall or Monadnock Paper mill to watch the videotape of the Dam removal and conduct business as needed.
Meeting adjourned at 9PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Marian Baker, Secretary