The Conservation Commission consists of up to 7 Commissioners appointed by the Selectboard; appointments are renewed annually. The Commission in Huntington is approximately 15 years old. In the beginning, the Commission focused mainly on educational activities such as providing workshops on environmental issues. In March of 2000 the Town of Huntington passed an article adopting the Conservation Fund, which provides an annual allotment of $16,000 towards the Fund. The article seeks the acquisition and perpetual protection of critical historical, agricultural, and natural resources within the Town of Huntington. The Conservation Commission was instrumental in designing the criteria for use of the Fund, and reviews applications for possible recommendation to the Selectboard, who make a final determination on Fund use.

The Commission continues to sponsor the annual Sugarmakers Open House each March, and has been testing the Huntington River for e-Coli each Summer since 2002. Recently, the Commission has become involved in devising a management plan for the Town Forest. Please read the Annual Report below for more information on the activities of the Commission in 2006.

The Huntington Conservation Commission (HCC) had a busy year in 2005. We began a “101” speaker series with two presentations, we completed a year-long grant funded project to create a scenic inventory methodology we had a great turnout at the always popular Sugarmakers Open House and we spent another summer with many local volunteers studying the water quality of the Huntington River.

In March The HCC sponsored the first in our speaker series entitled “Dairy Farming 101”. Speakers presented information on modern day farming practices including water quality, soil conservation, nutrient management and disease prevention. The event was well attended and very informative.

In November the second in the series, titled “River 101” was held covering the physical, chemical and biological health of the Huntington River. Nick Staats from the US Dept. of Fish and Wildlife discussed salmon restoration in the Winooski and Huntington Rivers, Kari Dolan from the National wildlife Federation and Dori Barton from Arrowwood Environmental presented information about a current study determining areas of high erosion and how to stabilize the river channel to help prevent the loss of land. Finally, Neil Kamman from the VT Department of Environmental Conservation and Aaron Worthley from the HCC discussed the status of four years of study of E.coli bacteria in the river, what will be happening next and what can be done to help make the river safe again.

For the 11th year in a row the HCC sponsored the annual Sugarmakers Open House during the last weekend of March. There were nine sugarhouses operating that day offering visitors samples, food and information about all the work involved in making maple syrup. Look for brochures wint maps and other information about the 2006 Open House!

The Scenic Inventory project was completed after a long process that started in 2003 with a Municipal Planning Grant. Landscape Architect Jean Vissering worked closely with the HCC to develop a methodology for evaluating Huntington’s many scenic qualities. Many drafts of the methodology were tested at multiple locations throughout Huntington to create the fairest and most objective way to help identify scenic areas in town. When it was completed Jean presented the methodology and discussed how it could be used members of the HCC, the Planning Commission, the Selectboard, and the Huntington Historical and Community Trust.

E-coli testing of the Huntington River continued again during the summer of 2005. The HCC along with many volunteers helped sample up and down the Huntington River throughout the summer. Unfortunately, the summer of 2005 saw the highest e.coli levels in the four years of our sampling. We intend to continue this important work in 2006 and continue to seek answers to this pollution problem. We completed a test run of optical brightener sampling this year. Optical brighteners are chemicals found in laundry.

Aaron Worthley (434-7012) for the Huntington Conservation Commission