Minutes
of the Upper Nehalem Watershed Council
March 25, 2004
The meeting was called to order at 7:10PM by Dennis Nelson, Chairman. Those present introduced themselves:
|
Marc Auerbach |
Landowner |
Michele Long |
ODFW |
|
Nick Berg |
Landowner |
Dennis Nelson |
Izaak Walton League |
|
Jim Buxton |
Landowner |
Maggie Peyton |
Coordinator UNWC |
|
Bill DeJager |
Columbia SWCD |
Les Pugh |
ODOT |
|
Lauren Jacobsen |
Landowner |
Dave Stewart |
ODFW |
|
Alan Kelso |
ODF |
Dale Webb |
Izaak Walton League |
|
Bill Langmaid |
UNWC |
|
|
Jim Buxton, Secretary, summarized the minutes of the previous meeting. The minutes were approved.
Coordinator Maggie Peyton reported on the OWEB grant writing class, which was held in Cannon Beach on the 9th of March. Several of the grants that Maggie had written were used as examples of presenting the information in a way that OWEB liked.
Maggie announced that Bill Langmaid wrote a $11,000.00 Knotweed eradication grant that the Department of Agriculture approved. Discussion of weed eradication followed.
Bill Langmaid announced that the BLM’s web service and e-mail is shut down due to Bureau of Indian Affairs litigation, which has cut into UNWC’s communication regarding the East Fork grant.
Jim presented the Treasurer’s report. He circulated a listing of checks drawn on the UNWC account.
Maggie gave the Coordinator’s report: She circulated photos of Coho in Boxler Creek. She has agreed to OWEB’s request that she be on their Rules Advisory Committee. She has cleared it with the UNWC Steering Committee, and will ask the Joint Steering Committee. Her two-year term on the State Forestry Advisory Committee has expired and she will no longer be serving on that. She served on the subcommittee for Watershed Analysis, which has just concluded with the approval of the work that they did to create the Oregon Department of Forestry Watershed Analysis manual. The Nehalem is their number-one priority watershed. We need to share our data with them in May to July when they send their contractor to our office. Maggie sees at least a couple of years of assessment. Coastal Landscape Analysis Model Study (CLAMS) has digitized historical and current forest cover and on that basis, project the future. They want to be involved with us. BLM is coming through with the money for the East Fork Assessment. We may be one of the first of the grass-roots organizations to successfully deal with the BLM. NRCS mainstream and Rock Creek stabilization projects have been approved and will begin in May. The projects were described and discussed. The East Fork Humbug Habitat Restoration grant and the Crooked Creek culvert replacement grant appear to have passed OWEB technical review. UNWC’s riparian restoration has been going well. Maggie gave credit to those involved. Maggie passed around the book "Understanding the Nehalem Watershed".
Nick Berg expressed concern of bank erosion on his property near Fishawk road. He is willing to do the necessary work to correct the situation, but wanted technical support. Michelle Long outlined the legal process and suggested technical sources. Nick said that he intending to do the work and foot the bill, and was merely sharing information with the council. Maggie offered help.
Lauren Jacobsen reported on the Steering Committee meeting. She delineated the proposed revision of the Bylaws. Also Principal Activities and Mission Statement as they appear on the website need revision.
Maggie, Lauren and Jim reported on the Necanicum WC addition to NWC. Discussion followed.
Webmaster Marc Auerbach updated the council on progress made on the website. There are some parts that need work, but the website is ready to go. He showed business cards that he had created for Maggie. Discussed printing and signage.
Past Chairman Bill DeJager reported on Oregon Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) watershed council support. He started with some preliminary remarks concerning the Food Security Act. The new concept is to fund conservation and those doing a good job. The plan is to eventually eliminate price supports. Moving to set up agricultural entitlements. That is driving changes in NRCS. Money is going to be diverted to outside service providers: Environmental companies, individuals, engineering firms, SWCDs, perhaps watershed councils.
The State Board of the OACD recently met. Sometimes there has been friction between SWCDs and WSCs. The chairman and Bill DeJager favor WSCs and understand how WSCs and SWCDs should work together. He said that it became clear that members that had problems with WSCs really were difficulties generated by the relationship between the WSCs and OWEB. OACD made their concerns known to OWEB. There is probably not enough money to fund all WSCs. OACD’s position is that OWEB should fund fully the WSCs that are doing well. Others may fall by the wayside. Those may need to find other sources of funding. OACD made two major decisions, one to make their concerns known to OWEB, the other to start to help find funding for WSCs.
Dave Stewart of ODFW presented his Steelhead spawning survey project. He will present data at a later date. He has a crew of six out on the north coast. The Steelhead survey is relatively new. This will be the third year of the survey coast-wide. There have been salmon surveys for some fifty years. They are checking to see if there is habitat on mainstems and if the steelhead are using it by counting redds. They have two years of data so far. They intend to compare this years' data with previous data. Past ODFW assessments remain "heaps of raw data" according to Michelle. Some actually are on computer. Discussion followed.
Mark Auerbach recently hosted a watershed restoration project on his property at his expense. In addition, he created a wildlife corridor. He asked whether the WSC would want to manage such projects. There may be funding for upland restoration through other sources. A USFW grant may be available in future. Discussion about tree planting and success followed.
Nick Berg asked people not to run over the pheasants that they raised and are running loose. The pheasants are living between Mist and Birkenfeld and seem to like the roads.
Michelle Long has been contacted by the EPA concerning testing of the locations where fish carcasses have been placed. They are looking at West Humbug, Hamilton and Oak Ranch Creeks. They are looking for any macroinvertebrate data taken from these streams. They are trying to follow certain nitrogen isotopes through the system, from the carcasses through the macroinvertebrates into the soils, etc. The tons of biomass that used to spawn and die in the riparian area years ago no longer occur. It would be good to know the difference.
The meeting adjourned at 9:20PM.