Attention
BYBSA Baseball and Softball signups will be a little
earlier this year! Please note the following dates:
• Monday,
February 7, 2011 6:30 – 8:30 pm at the Oscar Foss Library
• Saturday,
February 12, 2011 9:00 am to 12:00 noon at the School (BES)
•
Saturday, February 19, 2011 9:00 am to 12:00 noon at the School (BES)
Any questions about signups feel free to email –
[email protected]. Please
bring back any uniforms you have from prior years.
Thank you!
Pittsfield Senior Center will be participating in a back yard
winter bird survey, February 7-13. Would you like to spend an hour
or two on Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th observing birds from
your own home? Come to the Senior Center to pick up the NH Audubon
survey materials to help you enjoy this great winter pastime.
On
Tuesday, February 8th, from 10 am to 1:00 pm, the Center will be
offering free volunteer income tax preparation assistance. Call
435-8482 for an appointment.
Local
Residents Provide Input On The Pemi River Corridor Through Survey
The Pemigewasset River Local Advisory Committee (PRLAC) is pleased to
announce the results of their 2010 River Corridor Survey. The goal of
the survey was to gather local input about the Pemi River corridor, how
the river gets used, and a variety of issues that may impact the
corridor in the future.
In 2001 PRLAC developed the Pemi River
Corridor Management Plan. Since then there have been some changes along
the river corridor. The local input from this survey will be
incorporated into the update of the Pemigewasset River Management Plan
slated to begin in the next few months.
The Pemigewasset River has
its headwaters in Franconia and flows through the towns of Lincoln,
Woodstock, Thornton, Campton, Plymouth, Holderness, Ashland,
Bridgewater, New Hampton, Bristol, Hill, and Sanbornton before joining
with the Winnipesaukee River in the city of Franklin to form the
Merrimack River.
PRLAC developed this survey by adapting its 1998
questionnaire with input from the public, NH Department of Environmental
Services (NH DES), the Lakes Region Planning Commission (LRPC), and
North Country Council (NCC); the survey was available for the public to
complete electronically and in paper format for five weeks in October
and November.
One hundred seventy-one people responded to the
survey, more than 80% of whom were residents of corridor communities.
One-third of the respondents said they use the river at least 12 times
per year. Forty-two of the people filling out the survey own frontage
along either the Pemi or one of its tributaries.
Of the eight
objectives presented to respondents, the three that were rated most
important were: protecting water quality, protecting aquifers (drinking
water), and protecting scenic beauty. Opinions were mixed regarding the
need to increase public access.
A majority of the survey respondents
expressed concern about each of the ten potential threats to the river
ecosystem that were listed. Those potential threats that were of the
greatest concern (when the two highest ratings were combined) included
failing septic systems, the use of pesticides and herbicides near the
water, erosion from development activities, and increased polluted
runoff from impervious surfaces such as roads, parking lots, and roofs.
When presented with a list of eighteen different river and shoreland
uses, most respondents felt that the current levels of use for most
activities were appropriate. Respondents would, however, support more
walking, bird watching, canoeing, and kayaking. They would prefer to
have less high density residential development, motor boating, and
commercial or industrial withdrawals of water.
Of the 42 respondents
who own land along the river or a tributary, half report that they
maintain vegetated buffers along the shorefront (a requirement of the
Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act), 40% have their land in Current
Use, a few people have conservation easements or restrictions on their
land, and a majority of these riparian landowners have not considered
donation as a protection measure for their property.
When asked
whether they might support several regulatory measures intended to
enhance the protection of water quality in the Pemigewasset River, a
majority of the survey respondents expressed full support for
prohibiting the use of fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides within 50’
of any surface water, ensuring the protection of natural resource areas
identified as important for watershed health, more stringent regulations
of development on steep slopes, and requiring a vegetated buffer on
larger tributaries to the Pemi. There was much more of a mixed response
to the concept of requiring inspection and reporting of septic systems
every three to five years.
The Lakes Region Planning Commission and
North Country Council are providing support to PRLAC in this effort with
partial funding by NH DES through the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009. The full results of the survey are available at
http://www.lakesrpc.org/ and
http://www.nccouncil.org/. If
you have any questions, contact David Jeffers (LRPC) at 279-8171 or Tara
Bamford (NCC) 444-6303.
A Real
Early April Fool’s Joke
Mother
Nature sent the Barnstead Old Home Day Committee a blizzard causing the
cancellation of the January meeting. She sure has a funny sense of
humor!
So, we
are going to try to sneak in a meeting on February 9, 2011 at 6:30 pm in
the Town Hall.
Shhhhh, don’t tell Mother Nature and maybe she’ll be quiet for that
night. Hopefully, we all won’t need a team of sled dogs to make it
there.
Come join us and help plan the 2011 Old Home Day Event.
See you on February 9th. If you have any questions, or if you want
more information, give Peggy Sweeney a call in the evenings at 435-6505.
Accolades
for LaVerne! Mrs. LaVerne Bly, of Center Barnstead, NH,
participated in New Hampshire’s first Macaroni & Cheese Bake-off;
sponsored by the Granite State Dairy Promotion, on Saturday, January 15,
2011 at the Holiday Inn in Concord. What a Crowd!
Congratulations go out to LaVerne for winning, Third Place Ribbons in
The Best Traditional Macaroni & Cheese and The People’s Choice Award.
Not bad considering the other 35 chefs, individuals, and restaurants
that contributed their very best to the occasion.
Snowshoe
Hiking For Families And Friends
The Women’s Fellowship of the
Congregational Church of North Barnstead is sponsoring a community wide
snowshoe hike for families and friends on Saturday, February 19th, 10
am. (Snow date Sunday, February 20th, 12 noon). The
hike will begin at the Barrafords at 1080 North Barnstead Rd., where you
can park.
From there plan to hike on Blue Job Mountain Rd. towards
Strafford and return to have lunch at the Barraford’s. This wooded
road has a moderate slope. The hike to the end and return will take
about 60-90 minutes.
Plan to enjoy a Pot luck lunch of soup, drinks,
and desserts. Please RSVP to Cate at 776-5522 or e-mail to:
[email protected].
Obituaries
Veronica
Kudron
Veronica (Vicky) Agnes Kudron, 69, of New Road, Barnstead,
died Sunday January 23, 2011 at Hospice House in Concord, after a short
battle with cancer. Vicky was a longtime resident of Pittsfield where
she tended to the elderly. She was born on January 13, 1941 in Tewksbury
Mass.
Vicky is predeceased by a son Wayne Bartrum and a granddaughter
Andrea Bartrum. She leaves behind two sons and a daughter, Edward Kudron
and Dean Bartrum both of Chichester and Rosemary Butterworth of
Pittsfield. She had several grand and great grandchildren.
Vicky spent the last seven years of her life with her extended family
Rick and Casey Lavallee. She was an avid bingo player, enjoyed reading
westerns and spending time with her cat Blackey and her dear friends
Jean Jelley and Nancy White.
There will be no calling hours.
