Conservation Commission Meeting Minutes
The Commission approved July 23, 2026 minutes via a motion by MSellingham and a second by NTewksbury. Regarding Merriam Woods, the Commission authorized Barnard Surveyor Associates to prepare necessary legal documents for Grafton County recording and bill the town; the surveyor quoted $150 for materials. JChesebrough is tasked with obtaining pricing for various cutting and site construction levels from Forester Kevin Lemire to finalize the Forestry Plan before 2028 work. He will also consult the Selectboard on public communication preferences. Attendees were reminded of the September 26 Hubbard Brook event. RWhitaker updated that work on the first kiosk continues, with completion expected soon, while ordering the second kiosk is pending. The next meeting is scheduled for September 17, 2026. Source: https://www.woodstocknh.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1471/f/minutes/approved_minutes_082026_conservation_commission.pdf
Woodstock Conservation Commission 165 Lost River Rd PO Box 156 Woodstock, New Hampshire 03262 Samantha Bobo-Woodworth: Chair, James Chesebrough: Secretary Members: Roy Whitaker, Tracy Morgan, Mark Sellingham, Nicole Tewksbury Gil Rand, Selectboard Rep. Business: 603-745-8752 Email: admin@woodstocknh.org Fax: 603-745-2393 The Town of Woodstock PROHIBITS DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF RACE, COLOR, NATIONAL ORIGIN, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, RELIGION, AGE, DISABILITY, MARITAL OR FAMILY STATUS The Town of Woodstock Is An EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER 1 APPROVED Minutes Woodstock Conservation Commission Thursday August 20, 2026, 5:30-6:30 PM 165 Lost River Road, Woodstock, NH 03262 Attendance: Jim Chesebrough (Secretary), Tracy Morgan (Commissioner) Nicole Tewksbury (Commissioner), Mark Sellingham (Commissioner) Absent: Samantha Bobo-Woodward (Chair), Roy Whitaker (Commissioner), Gil Rand (Selectboard rep) Call to Order – 5:31 PM– JChesebrough – (in absence of President) Approval of Minutes from 07/23/26 – Motion: MSellingham 2nd: NTewksbury Unanimous Approval Correspondence – 1. Submitted by Kristen Durocher From: Holly Henderson <holly.henderson@uvlt.org> Date: August 12, 2026 at 2:14:10 PM EDT To: undisclosed-recipients:; Subject: Deer browse walk at Brookmead, Mon., 8/31 Dear Upper Valley Conservation Commissioners, Would you like to know if White-tailed deer overbrowse could be negatively impacting a forest you town, manage or enjoy? The Upper Valley Trust and Hanover Biodiversity Committee invite you to an educational forest walk led by VT Windsor County Forester Dan Healey and NH Grafton County Forester James Frohn. Our trip leaders will guide us through use of VT's deer browse assessment index (attached), covering identification of deer’s favored plant species and the range of browse intensities covered in this guidance. VT F&W Deer and Moose Project Leader Nick Fortin will also attend and can answer questions along the way. This walk will take place at Brookmead Conservation Area in Norwich, VT on Monday, August 31st from 3-5 pm. Coffee, tea and cookies will be provided. This event is being organized primarily for Conservation Commissioners and provides a wonderful networking opportunity in addition to the focal topic. Partners for this event include the VT Dept. of Forest, Parks and Recreation, UNH Cooperative Extension, VT Fish and Wildlife, and the Hanover Biodiversity Committee. For more information or to register contact Naturalist and Outdoor Program Leader, Holly Henderson. Holly Henderson Naturalist, Outdoor Programs Leader Associate Wildlife Biologist® 2. Correspondence regarding lack of legal documents to have Merriam Woods Survey recorded in Grafton County. – Aug 9, 2026 Hi Alan: Judy Welch Town Administrator, has asked that you proceed with the documents and send her the invoice marked to her attention. Thank you, Jim Chesebrough On Aug 9, 2026, at 2:50 PM, Judy Welch <admin@woodstocknh.gov> wrote: Please have him proceed and send the invoice to my attention. Thank you! Judy Lynn Welch Woodstock Town Administrator From: James Chesebrough <jchesebrough@keene.edu> Sent: Friday, August 7, 2026 5:29 PM To: Judy Welch <admin@woodstocknh.gov> Subject: FW: Merriam Woods Survey FYI 2 From: ALAN BARNARD <bsai663@gmail.com> Date: Friday, August 7, 2026 at 2:30 PM To: James Chesebrough <jchesebrough@keene.edu> Subject: Re: Merriam Woods Survey James, It would be $150.00 for the mylar and two paper copies as one needs to go to the the Planning Board for their records as part of the recording requirements for Recording the survey with the Grafton County Registry of Deeds. Regards, Alan Barnard Survey Assoc. Inc. 86 Hobart Hill Road Hebron, NH 03241 On Fri, Aug 7, 2026 at 2:11 PM James Chesebrough <jchesebrough@keene.edu> wrote: Alan Barnard Barnard Survey Associates Inc. 86 Hobart Hill Road Hebron, NH 03241 Hi Alan: I am following up on our phone messages which we exchanged yesterday and today. The first thing that we are trying to ascertain is that you receive $14,500.95 as a payment. We are wondering why it was sent to FRCLLC Forest Resource Consultant? The next question is why this was not part of the original contract? In the past, surveys done for our town have included the required documents for filing in Grafton County. You seem to be aware of this requirement and without the Mylar Map, filing the document cannot be considered legal. Since the documents you sent are also unsigned or certified, they have no legal standing. Finally, will there be a cost to receive the needed materials? At this point, I do not have the authority to approve this. I have included our Town administrator, Judy Welch (603-745-8752), in this email. Please include her in your replies. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you, Jim Chesebrough James Chesebrough, Secretary Woodstock Conservation Commission ACTION: AFTER DISCUSSION W/ TOWN ADMIN. WCC SECRETARY ASKED BARNARD SURVEYOR ASSOC TO PREPARE DOCUMENTS AND BILL THE TOWN. 3. Estimated Timber Volumes and Values Rec’d from KLemire July 16, 2026 Estimated Timber Volumes and Values Town of Woodstock - Merriam Woods Woodstock, NH DATEPREPARED: 7/6/2026 FOREST LAND CRUISED: 76.10 +/- ACRES Acres Operable 76.1 Natural Areas 0.0 Non-com m ercial 41.9 Open 0.0 Total Acres 118.0 Total Acres Estimated Value Per Acre $960 Sawlog Volume +/- Pulpwood Volume +/- Total Volume +/- Total Operable $1,488 Total Operable 14.2% 13.0% 9.6% SPECIES/PRODUCT ESTIMATED TOTAL OPERABLE TIMBER VOLUMES & VALUES Sawlogs: White Pine Red Pine Hem lock Spruce/Fir Softwood Pallet Red Oak Veneer Red Oak #1 Red Oak #2 White Ash Sugar Maple Veneer Sugar Maple #1 Sugar Maple #2 White Birch Red Maple Yellow Birch Veneer Yellow Birch #1 Yellow Birch #2 Black Cherry MatLogs Hardwood Pallet Pulpwood: Pine Hem lock Spruce/Fir Hardwood Whole Tree Chips: VOLUME UNIT VALUE TOTAL VALUE 12.861 MBF 121.91 6.602 122.649 26.482 18.913 14.423 15.763 1.894 3.817 13.788 26.030 39.580 6.803 49.073 30.100 180.927 24.475 6 CDS 593 $1 19 $0 967 $4 2,273 TONS $0.10 /TON $150 /MBF $50 $40 $150 $10 $600 $325 $200 $250 $600 $300 $250 $175 $180 $500 $225 $180 $180 $1,929 $0 $4,876 $990 $1,226 $15,889 $6,147 $2,885 $3,941 $1,136 $1,145 $3,447 $4,555 $7,124 $3,402 $11,041 $5,418 $0 $32,567 $857 $0 $593 $0 $3,868 $227 Woodstock Conservation Commission 165 Lost River Rd PO Box 156 Woodstock, New Hampshire 03262 Samantha Bobo-Woodworth: Chair, James Chesebrough: Secretary Members: Roy Whitaker, Tracy Morgan, Mark Sellingham, Nicole Tewksbury Gil Rand, Selectboard Rep. Business: 603-745-8752 Email: admin@woodstocknh.org Fax: 603-745-2393 The Town of Woodstock PROHIBITS DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF RACE, COLOR, NATIONAL ORIGIN, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, RELIGION, AGE, DISABILITY, MARITAL OR FAMILY STATUS The Town of Woodstock Is An EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER 3 $180 $35 $0 /CD TOTALS 716 MBF 1,579 CDS 2,273 TONS 6.1 MBF/Ac 13.4 CDS/Ac 19.3 TONS/Ac $113,264 Based on 25, 15 BAF prism sample plots on 76.1 acres of commercial forest land (+/-3 acres per sample plot). Prepared by: PO Box 597 Rumney, NH 03266 Voice: Fax: Email: (603) 786-9544 (603) 786-9545 admin@forecollc.com Old Business – 1. Kiosks- RWhitaker – • Progress on 1st Kiosk? RWhitaker reported, “Still working on it actually, prolly done this weekend. The sign installation should be fine with Kris and I. . • Status on2nd Kiosk RWhitaker will get the order underway for 2nd Kiosk. 2. CNHCA land for 2nd Kiosk -JChesebrough no action taken at this time. When closer to 2nd Kiosk completion, WCC will contact the climbers. Public Participation - NONE New Business 1. Membership on WCC- Looking for new members for WCC. WCC members asked to consider people. 2. Discussion on Forestry Plan JChesebrough will contact Kevin Lemire, Forester to get prices for various levels of cutting and site construction. • Need info for us to decide on plan. • Cutting should be scheduled on 15 year cycle • Need to have a big enough project to entice logging companies. • Looking to do work in 2028. • JChesebrough will check w/ Select Board to see what type of communication they would like to see with public regarding foresr work. • WCC feels we should announce that the plan would be discussed at a regularly scheduled meeting have an info meeting. • TMorgan asked about Eversource plans: Would that be a conflict with the forest work?? Things slowly moving as Eversource moves forward. 3. SBobo-Woodward-Reminder of Hubbard Brook Talk and Guided Tour sponsored by Thornton Conservation Commission September 26, 2026 10 AM-1PM. Jim Chesebrough has asked to be included in event.. 4 Next WCC Meeting: September 17, 2026, 5:30-6:30 PM Town Offices Adjournment: 6:12 PM Motion to Adjourn: TMorgan 2nd:MSellingham Unanimous Approval SIGNED COPY IN TOWN OFFICE _________________________________ Samantha Bobo-Woodward, Chair __________________________________ James Chesebrough, Secretary __________________________________ Mark Sellingham __________________________________ Roy Whitaker __________________________________ Tracy Morgan __________________________________ Nicole Tewksbury