Vassalboro Conservation Commission
Minutes 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 throught 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 and Dixmont.
We will invite John Melrose and other collaborators to come to our next meeting. (John walked in the door at about that moment……) Don knows a speaker to invite to talk to us about about options for development.
We need to determine the cost of membership for some of these organizations and then determine if there are funds available through the Town to join.

It was mentioned that we need to build a list of protected properties in the Town. Discussed was the Sturgis Property, conserved by Maine Wildflower…..?

Other ways of conserving land need to be looked at. Economic development that fosters profitability for farms and forests will keep them in private ownership.

John Melrose mentioned conservation comm. work from town or others is needed on old Lewis Road area off of Webber Pond Road.

The Town has some excellent maps that we spent some time reviewing. Very helpful to look at the maps as various properties were discussed.

Next Meeting will be July 17, 7 PM

Adjourned at 8:45.

Respectfully submitted,
Lauchlin Titus