Albany commission allows Tin Mountain butterfly survey, sets May workday

The Albany Conservation Commission on April 7 approved a request from Tin Mountain Conservation Center to conduct a summer butterfly sampling in the Albany Town Forest and scheduled a volunteer workday for mid-May.

Chair (S1) told members the commission had received an email from Cindy Sellers asking permission for Dexter Harding and a small team from Tin Mountain to sample butterflies in the fields behind Kennett Middle School. "...asking if Dexter and his team to access the property for this purpose," the chair said while reading the request. Committee member (S2) moved to approve the access and the commission approved the request by voice vote.

The commission discussed scheduling for both the survey and routine volunteer work. Harding indicated the field sampling would take place on Saturday, July 18 or Sunday, July 19; members approved allowing the survey to proceed on those dates. For on-the-ground volunteer work the commission settled on a spring workday: "we will just meet on Saturday the 16th, at 09:00 and for a work day," Chair (S1) said, and members confirmed tasks such as boundary marking, trail cleaning and kiosk maintenance.

Members also discussed local outreach and capacity: the commission said it will notify Cindy Sellers and file contact information for a New Hampshire forester, Kobi Wong Fong, who had reached out offering services, but indicated there is no need to change current management arrangements at this time.

The commission did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript for the survey motion; the chair declared the motion approved by voice vote. The commission said it will follow up with the requestor by email to confirm logistics and any required site coordination.