Merrimack commissioners urged to recruit representatives for Merrimack and Souhegan river advisory committees

George May, a member of the local advisory committee for river protection, asked the Merrimack Conservation Commission on March 24 to help recruit town residents to serve on the Merrimack and Souhegan (Souhegan) River local advisory committees and to publicize upcoming events on river stewardship.

May said the advisory committees — created under state river-protection legislation to provide local input to permitting decisions — need representatives from Merrimack. "Merrimack now has nobody and that's not acceptable," May said, urging commission members to identify volunteers and pass names to the town council for formal appointment. He described the committees as "another set of eyes, of the community looking at what happens along the river development."

The commission discussed how the committees operate: members typically meet as needed (May said the Merrimack committee met about three times in the past year) and consider projects within roughly a quarter mile of the river, then send recommendations to the state Department of Environmental Services (DES) when DES requests review. May said some advisory-committee meetings for the Merrimack are held at Nashua City Hall and that meetings usually last about an hour.

May also asked the commission to publicize a sustainability fair he said the Souhegan Local Advisory Committee will run at the Milford Boys & Girls Club "on Saturday the fifth" and to note the Merrimack River Watershed Council’s water-quality roundtable. He gave a date for the roundtable: "Tuesday, April 9, '9 to 12, and it's gonna be at in Haverhill," and said the watershed council has 25 years of data and is pursuing water-quality studies for New Hampshire sections of the Merrimack.

Commissioners said they could post volunteer calls and event notices, and one commissioner volunteered to ensure the commission’s outreach gets to the advisory-committee contact. Andrew (first name only in the record) said he would be "certainly interested" in the Souhegan committee and the commission agreed to pass potential nominees to the town council for formal appointment.

The commission did not take a formal vote on appointments; May asked members to pass names on and to attend advisory meetings as appropriate. The commission also discussed coordination with the Merrimack River Watershed Council and the Souhegan Watershed Council for water-quality monitoring and education.

May closed by stressing the historical and recreational value of river access and local monitoring, and commissioners agreed to publicize the committees’ needs and the announced events.