Town of Becket - Conservation Commission Minutes 6/5/08

Becket Conservation Commission

Approved Minutes

Meeting Opens at 6:29 PM

Commissioners Present: Josh Lombard, Chair; Purr McEwen, Vice Chair; Alice Briggs; Scott Morley; Bud Moylan; Marty Winters

Absent: Kathy Vsetecka

Others Present: Mercedes Gallagher; Al Kirchner; Blanche Lennington, recorder

1. Approval of May 15, 2008 Meeting Minutes.

Tabled to the end of the meeting.

2. Continuation of Center Pond Preservation and Protection Foundation: Center Pond Weed Treatment under Order of Conditions DEP #102-253

Present: Al Kirchner representing the Center Pond Preservation and Protection Foundation

Public Present: Mercedes Gallagher

Josh reads a letter from the Westfield Wild & Scenic River group expressing concerns regarding application of diquat to Center Pond. They cite the existence of a state listed dragonfly at Center Pond and are concerned about how diquat might affect them as well as some invertebrates and fish. They cite dying of all milfoil and curly leaf pond weed when the pond was treated in 2004.

Josh asks Mr. Kirchner if he would like to read pertinent parts of the MESA letter; Mr. Kirchner waives the reading since all of the commissioners have read it.

Mr. Kirchner reports on the current situation at the pond. There was a directors meeting last Saturday; Ms. Gallagher made a presentation there. The foundation agreed to hand pulling of the east side by the end of May and the west side by the end of June and someone from the foundation will verify this. They voted to pay $2000 for the pulling on the east shore and to pay for the pulling on the west shore when it’s completed and they are satisfied that it is done. They decided to treat the north center part of the pond with the herbicide. He requests and is given a copy of the letter from the Westfield Wild & Scenic River group.

Statements/Questions from Commissioners:

Bud likes the two pronged approach and thinks it’s an excellent way to go. He is not one hundred percent in favor of chemicals but feels this will work.

Purr would like to sum up where she thinks it was left at the last meeting which was that the divers would continue the hand pulling efforts focusing on the east shore with that being done by the end of May and then the west shore would be done by the end of June and then the north center area would be treated with diquat. So, how’s the east shore? Did it get cleaned up by the end of May?

Ms. Gallagher says that there was an appointment of a weed committee by the foundation who are now in touch with the diver project and two of them will be verifying the work on the east side this weekend. They did start Monday on the west side. There was road work being done which prevented them having access to the Camp Greylock area (on the east side) until today but they did start on that area today. When asked by Purr to estimate how much of the east side is now done Ms. Gallagher says she hasn’t thought of it in terms of percentages but perhaps around 90% of the east side is now done.

Purr asks Mr. Kirchner if he’s been out and looked at the work and he says no, that verification will be done this coming Saturday.

Purr verifies with Mr. Kirchner that he is now proposing that just the north center area be done with the herbicide and he says yes because they felt that the board would not approve an herbicide on the west side.

Scott asks about the monetary compensation for the west side pulling. Mr. Kirchner says they’ll check at the end of the pulling and/or the end of June. He says it’s more difficult there because of the terrain. They also recognize that they are now in a different phase of the weed pulling program and they’ll see how that goes.

Scott asks Ms. Gallagher what she thinks realistically for scheduling; does it still look doable? She says yes it does. He asks about access to the west side and she responds that they do have access; it is difficult but they are managing it.

Marty says he did a lot of investigation and came up, as Bud, Purr and Scott have said, with the conclusion that chemicals unfortunately sometimes have to be used. He is in favor of the plan as presented.

Alice asks Ms. Gallagher if it isn’t easier to swim across to the west side. Ms. Gallagher says no; the pontoon boats make it easier and they will have access to those after this weekend. She says it’s a long way to swim.

Alice says she has helped with hand pulling in previous years. She saw a female moose swimming across the lake last weekend and there was a family of ducks there too. She says she was told that there was also a dog seen drinking lake water and she doesn’t think any of these animals could read the signs that will be put up warning about the herbicides. She thinks that the divers are capable of doing the center area also. She thinks it’s wonderful that the new weed committee has been appointed and she urges them to give the divers a chance to do the middle as well. She reminds the commissioners that they are voting if the density of the weeds warrants treatment and she doesn’t know how many of the commissioners have viewed the pond. She urges consideration of exclusively using hand pulling.

Josh says the vote, according to the permit is on whether the weeds are hand pullable or not. He has not seen any explicit delineation of areas that the consultant feels can not be hand pulled. He asks if anyone in the room recalls such a delineation being presented.

Purr says she represented the commission on the survey and in her estimation the north center area is definitely more dense than the 500 plants per acre in the practical guide. Her understanding from Marc Bellaud’s comments and from Mr. Kirchner’s comments is not that it can’t be hand pulled but that given the camps’ opening at the end of June there would not be time to do this before the boats start going through it. She knows it could be hand pulled but there is a time constraint.

Josh says that doesn’t answer his question. There is no explicit statement.

Alice says he’s right. She asks Ms. Gallagher how long she thinks it would take to do the center part. Ms. Gallagher says they did do one dive there and it definitely can be hand pulled but she thinks the concern is in terms of timing. They need calm days to do it with good visibility. She was not able to commit to getting it done because of the need for calm days and a lot of skimmers. She now has more confidence that they could do that by mixing it in with the west shore work. They would make it the priority over the west shore.

Mr. Kirchner reads form the spring survey naming as the number one priority the north center bed.

Josh says that implicit in the information the commission has received is that there are various areas that should be treated chemically rather than by hand pulling but nothing explicit has been presented. Mr. Kirchner says the levels of density are judgment calls by the people doing the survey. Josh would like the consultant to specifically say, next time, that “this area can not be hand pulled because . . .”

Bud asks Ms. Gallagher if she’s gotten access from the beach at south cove and she says yes. He asks why they use plastic milk bottles to mark the areas and suggests they use bottles that have a screw top. He thinks a lot of milk jugs sink to the bottom. Ms. Gallagher thinks they drift to the shore.

Alice asks when the camps open. Mr. Kirchner says the staff comes on the 17^th and the camps open following week (the third week in June). She asks when the area would be treated and he says a schedule will be set up with A.C.T. once approval is obtained. Alice wants to know if the staff will be told that the water has just been treated a week earlier. Mr. Kirchner says notice is posted on roads into the lake and sent to the camps. Alice asks how long you’re not supposed to go in the water for. He says one day.

Marty moves to approve the plan for treatment of Center Pond as presented. This plan calls for hand pulling of the east and west shores and diquat treatment in the north center area of the lake which is a coverage of 1.45 acres. The chemical applied and the application method will be per A.C.T.’s report.

Alice thinks this is a very big mistake. There are plenty of commissions that have the courage to say no to chemicals.

Blanche raises a point of order that the motion should be seconded before discussion.

Purr seconds the motion.

Alice says she just thinks it’s wrong. Scott reads from the fall survey which says that the application rate will be reduced to 1.0 – 1.5 gallons per acre and the herbicide will be injected deeper using long weighted hoses. Scott asks if anyone can go with them when they do the application. It is not certain but Josh says they are professionals and some level of trust must be exhibited.

Scott amends the motion to say to approve the plan for treatment of Center Pond as presented. This plan calls for hand pulling of the east and west shores and diquat treatment in the north center area of the lake which is a coverage of 1.45 acres. The application rate will be 1.0 – 1.5 gallons per acre and the herbicide will be injected deeper using long weighted hoses per A.C.T.’s report dated Fall 2007.

Purr seconds the amendment.

Josh calls for a vote on the motion.

Josh states that the motion carries.

1. (Revisited) Approval of May 15, 2008 Meeting Minutes.

Josh asks Blanche to go over the open questions in the most recent draft of the minutes.

o Alice thought the discussion of herbicide treatment for Sherwood Greens could be summarized; Blanche requests suggested wording; Alice says it doesn’t matter – it can be left as is.

o Alice objected to the manner in which Marc Bellaud’s answer to her question regarding Triclopyr was reported in the original draft; Blanche submitted a revision which provided his response in verbatim detail; Alice responded to this by suggesting just saying, “Mr. Bellaud’s answer included uncertainty of its effectiveness and testing and he prefers Sonar®”. All commissioners present except Alice prefer to leave the verbatim detail in.

o There is extensive discussion of how the minutes should report Alice’s reading of information about fluridone and Marc Bellaud’s response. It is agreed to insert, “Alice cites sources.”

o Alice had questioned the omission of her statement that Terry Eucker had indicated willingness to be hired as a consultant for the Sherwood Greens project. Blanche corrected this omission by supplying verbatim detail which included Alice saying, “I asked her today if she’d be willing and she said yes.” All commissioners present except Alice wish to leave the verbatim detail in.

Josh feels that the expeditious course of action would be to approve the lengthier version of the minutes tonight saying that he plans to propose a change in the format of the minutes at the next meeting.

Purr moves to approve the minutes as amended; Scott seconds; unanimous approval.

Scott asks about the different format Josh is going to propose for the minutes at the next meeting – will that be at the beginning or the end of the meeting? Josh says at the end in administrative.

There being no further business, Alice moves to adjourn; Scott seconds; unanimous approval. Meeting adjourned at 7:35 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Blanche Lennington, Recorder

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Josh Lombard, Chair Date

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Purr McEwen, Vice Chair Date

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