Conservation Commission

MINUTES OF THE MEETING August 5, 2015 LACONIA CONSERVATION COMMISSION AIMS SUBCOMMITTEE CITY Hall Room 200B Approved at the Thursday August 27, 2015 meeting I. CALL TO ORDER : D. Anson called the meeting to order at 6:15 PRESENT- Dean Anson, Deborah Williams, Lisa Morin, Jon Jude, Suzanne Perley ABSENT- Marnie Schulz and Mike Foote OTHERS PRESENT - Scott McPhie- Staff II. NEW BUSINESS D. Anson opened the meeting and immediately suggested the nomination of Suzanne Perley to take on the responsibility as Chair of the Subcommittee. S. Perley has extensive experience working with Milfoil issues on Lake Opechee. D. Anson nominated S. Perley to become Chair of the AIMS Subcommittee of the Laconia Conservation Commission. D. Williams seconded the motion. The motion passed 5-0. Three Long term goals were discussed as outlined by Amy Smagula, State Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator. A. Smagula, NHDES Invasive Aquatic Species Coordinator volunteered to write the Milfoil Management plan for Laconia If the following goals are reached: 1. Gather Volunteers for the Weed watcher program 2. Assessment and Prioritization of what action items we need to address 3. Complete a city-wide Laconia milfoil management plan J. Jude explained some of the major Aquatic invasive species challenges facing Lake Winnipesaukee today. Black Brook in Laconia still has Invasive milfoil issues and his company is looking into working with Spinaker Cove to address that issue. The Asian clam has been detected in Squam Lake and Big Island pond has Fan wart present. Moultonborough, New Hampshire use to have the worst milfoil problem on the Lake due to its geographical challenges. Since they began an Invasive Milfoil Committee they have now been able to manage and eradicate much of the problem. D. Anson suggested following their lead. The next Weed Watcher Education event will be discussed at the next Con Com meeting. J. Jude discussed pending OSHA regulations that will hurt small Milfoil dive teams. Many milfoil projects do not involve diving deeper than the deepest depth of an average swimming pool. The deepest a diver must descend to remove milfoil is only to the depth the sun can penetrate to. Even the clearest waters in New Hampshire only allow the Sun to penetrate at most 18-feet. Burdening small businesses with this regulation would have a negative impact on these small one to five person operations. D. Anson made a motion to approve J. Jude’s letter concerning pending OSHA regulations. D. Williams seconded the motion. The motion passed 5-0. III. Adjournment: L. Morin made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:00 PM. The motion was seconded by D. Williams passing 5-0