Town of Vassalboro Conservation Commission
May 15, 2007

Present:
Chad Arms
Lauchlin Titus
Mary Ellen Johnston
Steve Jones
David Jenny
Holly Weidner

Absent:
Donald Robbins

Meeting was held at 7PM at the Town Office.


Holly gave an overview of the planning process to date. Coming out of the vision gathering meetings were heavy interest in numerous areas including natural resources, public access to land, trails, farmland protection, forest lands.

Introductions:
Mary Ellen worked at the Dept. of Agriculture for several years and has an extensive background in farmland protection, land trusts, etc and has a lot of contacts in that “community”. Steve has an ornamental plant business, sees many local people on a daily basis, has a tree farm and forest has a management plan. Also works with NRCS on forest conservation projects. Chad is a retired University of Maine Cooperative Extension dairy specialist. He has been on several town committees, is an associate director of Kennebec County Soil and Water Conservation District, is involved with some land trusts, and writes for the Country Folks publication. David is the capitol rep for Small Woodlot Owners of Maine (SWOAM) and owns two wood lots, both with mgmt. plans. He is particularly interested in forest issues. He expressed his concern about population growth in Vassalboro. Lauchlin is a private agronomist (crop consultant), has been involved in several town committees (school, budget, road, solid waste). Also involved in state ag associations. Holly will not continue as a member of this committee, but has used her expertise to bring the group together as a first step towards accomplishing something.

We reviewed and discussed the purposes and tasks that had been previously distributed by Holly and refined by David. Purposes have been assigned to us and they are fairly loose “Mom and Apple Pie” ideas that are pretty hard to disagree with. We did clarify for ourselves some of the terminology used. Chad suggested we look into joining a State Cons. Commission. Mary Ellen will first work with the Kennebec Land Trust. We may be able to partner with them or Maine Farmland Trust at no cost to us to get into that loop. Mary Ellen will check this out. Holly suggested we see what other towns have done with regard to Conservation Commissions as part of their planning processes. We did not resolve who would look into this. A key element of our discussion was the need for excellent communication. Several committees—ours, trails, planning board, recreation-- will be working on similar tracks and all need to be aware of what the others are doing on various issues as they may relate to each of us. Lauchlin will bring this concern to the select people and town manager via e-mail. Lauchlin suggests we need to know what land the town owns and what the parcels may have for forest or conservation plans attached to them. David will begin this process. Would also be good to know what properties are enrolled in Tree Growth and Farmland and Open Space—assume this is public information. Excellent maps of the town environmental resources exist and were viewed earlier in the planning process by others. Holly will attempt to find out who may have them. It was suggested that they probably came from Kenn S&W Cons. Dist. or NRCS. Mary Ellen offered to contact Ron Desrosier, NRCS district conservationist for Kennebec County about this. We need to identify groups that work in Vassalboro on projects related to our tasks. Known at present are KSWCD, Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), China Lakes Alliance, a Webber Pond group. We may want to meet with representatives from these groups to learn what all are doing. Once we have a grip on what is going on and what resources are available, Lauchlin suggests we could host informational meetings for town residents in several subject areas.

Discussed who else we may invite to join this commission. Jeff Michaud, forester who lives next to Town Office, was mentioned. Other names were discussed, but none were “put forward”.

Next meeting date was set for June 19. A chairperson and secretary will be decided upon at that time. (Don’t be late!)

Respectfully submitted:
Lauchlin Titus

Town of Vassalboro Conservation Commission
June 19, 2007
Met at 7 PM at the Vassalboro Town Office

Present: Paul Mitnik Mary Ellen Johnston
David Jenny Steve Jones Don Robbins, Lauchlin Titus
Holly Weidner, John Melrose

Paul Mitnik, a new member of the Conservation Commission, introduced himself. Paul is retired from the Dept. of Environmental Protection and is currently the Code Enforcement Officer for the Town of Vassalboro. He has a strong environmental ethic and has been active in several watershed associations.

Minutes of the May 15 meeting were sent out vial e-mail and they were approved as submitted.

Mary Ellen Johnston agreed to serve as chair of the Conservation Commission.

Lauchlin Titus agreed to serve as secretary.

Old Business: Discussed positive responses to our communications questions developed at the first meeting. The Town website is being revised and Mike Vachon, Town Manager, has suggested we submit our minutes and meeting notices and other information to the Town Office and he will see that it gets posted on the website.

Is there a state group for our interests? Yes. Mary Ellen reported back that it is called the Maine Land Trust Network and they have a good website. www.mltn.org The Land Trust Network has grant opportunities for groups like ours.

More local is the Kennebec Land Trust. John Melrose is active in this group and is the Steward for Vassalboro. They have the Vassalboro Wildlife Habitat Land Trust with acreage on both the east and west sides of Webber Pond. Also have the Davidson acreage on Tabor Hill Road.

Land for Maine’s Future—LMF—They list some projects in Vassalboro—some around Spectacle Pond. Mary Ellen knows some of these folks with this agency and will get more info. Web site can be found by going to www.Maine.gov and looking under State Planning Office. Kennebec River Initiative : They are working on a big project this summer. This is through Kennebec County Soil and Water Conservation District. Paul volunteered to attend their meetings and get contact information.

Other towns that members present know to be active in this sort of work are Litchfield, Readfield and Dixmont.

The next meeting is scheduled for July 17, at 7PM

Vassalboro Conservation Commission
Fire House
July 17th, 7Pm

Agenda:
7:00- Introductions
7:10- Guest speaker, Peter Garrett- low impact development
7:45 – Guest speaker, Josh Platt- Kennebec River Initiative
8:20-Wrap up

Note to Commission members:
Old business: although this can be tabled till our next meeting if we don’t have time, we still need to decide on some Commission procedures, ie, voting, attendance, length of meetings, sub-committees, outreach and public participation, etc.
Think about these things so we can move through them quickly!
Mary Ellen Johnston

Town of Vassalboro Conservation Commission
July 17, 2007

Location: Vassalboro Fire Department
Time: 7:00PM

Attending:
Members- Chad Arms, Don Robbins, Paul Mitnik, Holly Weidner, Mary Ellen Johnston, David Jenney, Charlie Hartman.
Guests: Ginny Brackett, Sally Butler
Speakers: Peter Garrett, Josh Platt

Meeting convened at 7:05 with introductions. One new member of the Commission, Charlie Hartman, shared her experience on the China Lake Committee while she was a resident of China. Now she lives in East Vassalboro.

Our first speaker was Peter Garrett, a Hydro geologist and consultant who presented a slide show on the topic of Low Impact Development. The impact of storm water runoff from paved surfaces, particularly in housing developments, can have detrimental effects on the nearby streams, rivers and water supplies. Through proper planning and innovative techniques, these negative impacts can be reduced. You can contact this committee for more detailed information or call Peter Garrett at 872-0613.

Our second speaker was Josh Platt who is with the Kennebec Soil and Water Conservation District and is coordinating the Kennebec River Initiative in our region. The plan includes recommendations for protected areas, access sites, and trails. We are excited about working more closely with this project to insure that Vassalboro residents are informed and have input regarding our stretch of the Kennebec. Josh can be reached at 622-7847.

We thanked our two speakers for their excellent presentations, mentioning also that we might wish to invite them back for a larger audience sometime in the future.

The next meeting of the Vassalboro Conservation Commission is August 14th at 7 PM. Location will be at the Town Office.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:30.

Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ellen Johnston
Chair