The Milford Conservation Commission voted on Oct. 12 to lower Heron Pond by a foot! It’s quite an arbitrary decision, motivated not by what’s in the best interest of the pond and the threatened and endangered wildlife it sustains, but by vague expressions from the Public Works Director that the water is high enough already.

In summer 2014, Director Riendeau’s crew destructively lowered Heron Pond by four feet, absent a real emergency. The beavers eventually repaired the breached dam.

In fall 2014, along the Rail Trail, the CC had beaver pipes installed so low down that three ponds were drained of much of their water, one of them the lovely place called Dickerman’s Pond.

The CC, led by its coordinator, is to blame for unnecessarily lowering and draining some of Milford’s best ponds. Now the coordinator is targeting Heron Pond.

But instead, the CC members should be educating themselves more about the value and functions of a healthy wetland like Heron Pond that actually plays a major role in flood prevention.

They would also learn that drawing down Heron Pond with its Blanding’s and spotted turtles during the fall violates the directives in the N.H. Wildlife Action Plan that says turtles would likely die.

This anti-conservation move on the part of the CC must be opposed by all who care about wetlands and wildlife.