01/23/2020 CONSERVATION COMMISSION Minutes

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• Vote: Authorize release of $995 from Lands & Maintenance account to purchase new Mashpee River Woodlands Fitch property sign. Sign will be purchased from Day Signs. Motion: Mr. Cook moved to authorize to release $995.00 from Lands & Maintenance account to purchase anew Mashpee River Woodlands Fitch property sign. Mr. McKay seconded. Vote: 4-0 unanimous • Update: Willowbend Enforcement Order We sent citations to Willowbend and the tree company. We received the $300 fine from Willowband, still waiting for the $300 fine from the tree company. There is a meeting on February 5, 2020 and we believe a contractor has already been hired to do the restoration work. • Update: Assistant Agent Updates: Santuit Pond Preserve Land Management Meeting is scheduled for February 4, 2020. EOC will go forward with the EPS and Plastic Straw ban at the May Town Meeting. Herring count program: we're gearing up for the season, three talks are scheduled at Southport, Mashpee Environmental Coalition, and the Senior Center. It has been posted on Facebook. Need to schedule library and training sessions. This year counting at Santuit is of utmost importance with the upcoming changes the NRCS has recommended for fixes to the fish ladder. Also, with the study going on with The Tribe and NOAA as far as issues that may be related to River Herring there. Mr. Sweet asked if we'd get the changes recommended for this coming season, Ms. Cadoret said we are unaware of NRCS'timeline. Not quite sure when those fixes will be coming. This spring there is a potential for a video counter prototype to go in there, so for us to have the better count data, we'll be able to better gauge the effectiveness of the video counters and have better data in general .The protocol sets up for 9 counts per day, which is very difficult to achieve through the months of April 1 st—June 1 st The Land Stewards cleaned up more trash. Elder service volunteers hopefully making more pollinator boxes. Eagle Scouts finished installing 6 bat boxes at Pickerel Cove, John's Pond, and Santuit Pond. Another Eagle Scout is planting a pollinator box off Great Neck Road North. Americorps has done trail maintenance, including rebuilding the steps at Fitch. They'll be coming back in February for herring run maintenance. In the spring they will come again for more trail work, potential vernal pool certification, and building walkways over the pools on the trails leading to the Quashnet bogs. MACC Conference is February 29, 2020 in Worcester. The Assistant Agent has been taking hunter education courses, will be taking a boater safety course in the spring, and ATV training course in Plymouth once they have enough people signed up for the course. • ADDITIONAL TOPICS: (This space is reserved for topics that the Chairman did not reasonably anticipate would be discussed). There's a community preservation committee meeting happening now regarding the 2 applications we submitted for Santuit pond nitrogen and phosphorous remediation. One of the applications is to do wetland restoration on the southeast 13 acre bog with the hope that the addition of wetland habitat will mitigate phosphorous via flooding and also mitigate nitrogen going into the Shoestring Bay watershed. The other application is the purchase of the Chopchaque Bog and surrounding upland habitat, again with the hopes of remediation of phosphorous through wetland habitat restoration and/or flooding and/or other means depending on how feasible all those options are.