Minutes of the Februrary 25, 2010 Meeting of the Cold River Local Advisory Committee
Members present: Charles Montgomery, Jen Polcari, Sam Sutcliffe, Mike Heidorn, Susan Lichty, Austin Hunter, Debby Hinman
Absent: Cathy MacDonald, Carol Drummond, Fred Ernst, Richard Morrison
Order of Business: Co-Chairs agreed the following items in the ‘Tickler File’ will also be discussed tonight :
- Web Site
- Educational Workshops for 20010
New Business: none
MAIN ISSUES
Minutes of 19 November 2009 passed as submitted on motion from Sam Sutcliffe and seconded by Austin Hunter.
Minutes of 28 January 2010: minor changes were made. Minutes passed unanimously as amended on motion from Austin Hunter, seconded by Sam Sutcliffe.
Treasurer’s Report--- Samuel Sutcliffe
The Treasurer presented the report; there were no expenses in the past month and only $3.69 in interest added. Signed copies were submitted to the Chair and the Scribe. The bill for the protected river signs will be paid as soon as Debby sends him the invoice. The Annual Treasurer’s Report will come soon.
Water Quality--- Michael Heidorn
- A wetland permit is being considered for the proposed pond to be built on Pratt Road.
- Our “sampling Troll”, the critical piece of water quality testing equipment, needs the DO sensor and calibration sensor to be fixed and must be sent to the manufacturer for this work. It will cost several hundred dollars but without it, our testing program will be limited. A motion by Sue, with second by Debby for Mike to take care of this important maintenance work on the Troll, passed unanimously.
- Mike suggested inviting Ted Walsh and Jen Drociak at DES to talk with the LAC and the public about our water quality testing results. The LAC would like this; Mike will invite them and Jen Polcari will make arrangements for location and advertising the event.
- Mike gave a review of the 2009 Cold River WQ Report. There is much information on each graph. They read left to right/upstream to downstream. Some points of particular interest:
- Lowest pH readings remain in the large wetland complexes of the river
- Highest Turbidities are at the NH DOT Garage on Rt 10 in Lempster and on Warren Brook in Alstead.
- Elevated Conductivity shows along the Rt 10 tributaries in Lempster, most likely from residual road salt impacts, and at the NH DOT Garage on Rt 10 in Lempster. Other high readings, either from road salt or high nutrient levels are on Crane Brook in Acworth and on Little Brook, Ram Brook and Brush Meadow Brook in Langdon.
- Temperature readings above 21 degrees Celsius/Centigrade were found below the two lakes and at several other locations. If sustained for long periods, this can be a critical temperature above which trout don’t thrive.
- Phosphorous: Little Brook showed levels at 10 times above the state’s level of concern. Other elevated readings were found at Crane Brook, Ram Brook and Brush Meadow Brook.
- Nitrogen: Elevated levels were observed at Crane Brook, Little Brook, Brush Meadow Brook and Ram Brook.
- Chloride (salt): Elevated levels at the Lempster tributaries on Rt 10 and the NH DOT Garage on Rt 10 as well as Little Brook in Langdon.
Mike said that the elevated chloride readings are comparatively high for the Cold River watershed but not yet above the state’s recommendations. They remain noteworthy, however, since these elevated sites are so much higher than the other sites tested in our watershed. At Charlie’s query, Mike said that he feels that he will be able to continue the testing program this coming summer as long as LAC members continue to assist him.
Warren Brook Restoration Planning and Review: Sean Sweeney (Headwaters Hydrology) and John Magee (NH Fish and Game) presentation on 2/9/10 to the Alstead Select Board. ---Fred
In Fred’s absence, we note the excellent minutes that he took at this meeting. In attendance were: The Alstead Selectmen, 6 members of the Cold River LAC, Madeline Batchelder (the adjacent landowner of proposed project at Griffin Hill Road), Laura Weit (Acting Coordinator of NH Rivers Management and Protection Program), several Alstead Conservation Commission members and other residents. It was very informative meeting.
Fred submitted a draft letter of support for the proposed work at the Griffin Hill Road intersection for the LAC’s consideration. The LAC voted to send the letter and Jen will handle this immediately. (See attached)
Spring Programs ----- Jennifer Polcari
We discussed whether or not to hold spring workshops or outings other than the Water Quality presentation that Mike will arrange with DES. It was agreed that we want to hold more than that, so Sue will make contact with folks about a spring warbler walk and Debby will conduct a macroinvertebrate exploration at one or more sites on the river in late May or early June. More details at next meeting.
Need to Fill empty Membership Slots ----- Jennifer Polcari
Members are nominated by the selectmen of their town and appointed by the Commissioner of DES. There remain open positions in Acworth and Lempster. We all are urged to encourage those towns to fill their two other LAC positions. Cathy MacDonald, our Membership Coordinator, has all the forms needed and can advise on procedures to apply.
Website-Jen
Good review of what is needed to get the Cold River website to a more dynamic place now that we have Karen, our Webmaster. Jen will work directly with Karen about posting events of interest, but all LAC members should work directly with Jen to submit content for pages on the website that are currently still “Under Construction” or simply out of date. No one is to go directly through Karen without the Co-chair’s approval since we are watching out budget and our web presence carefully.
Remaining 2010 Meetings Schedule for CRLAC ----(we did not discuss this tonight)
25 March, 22 April, 27 May, 24 June, 22 July, 26 August, 23 September, 28 October, 18 November. Should we, as last year, omit having a meeting in December?
Closure
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM and away all members went into a wild night of heavy rain, ice and snow.
Respectfully submitted,
Debby Hinman
Scribe
(see attached below)
(Attached) Notes from Alstead Select meeting 2/9/10
John Magee, Sean Sweeney Presentation
Attendees: Alstead Selectmen, 6 members of CRLAC, Madeline Batchelder (adjacent landowner), Laura Weit (Acting Coordinator of NH Rivers Management and Protection Program), Alstead Conservation Commission members, other residents.
John Magee stated that:
* work proposed by Sean will cost $265,000 and is fully funded by the State.
* the project needs to be approved quickly so that work can begin in early summer.
* Sean’s proposal for work to be done on a 900' section of Warren Brook between Griffin Hill Rd. and the Route 123 crossing is a modification to stabilization work done by DOT which will not be significantly altered.
* this is expected to be a demonstration project which can influence the treatment of other river restorations.
Sean Sweeney summary:
* a 900' restoration design recommended by Sean which includes stone and wood vanes; these should minimize the risk of Warren Brook eroding and create natural habitat for fish and wildlife which does not exist currently.
* in addition to stone and wood vanes, the existing flood plains, which were rebuilt during the stabilization work, will be lowered by 4 feet to compensate for the lower brook bottom, a result of the flood.
* all land adjacent to Warren Brook is owned by the State and Madeline Batchelder, each of whom supports the project.
* certain well-calculated compromises have been made to insure the project comes within budget, particularly the number of culverts planned under Griffin Hill Rd.
OTHER:
- the peak water flow during the flood of 2005 was 24900 cfs.