Minutes of the Upper Nehalem Watershed Council

Vernonia Grange

24 June 2004

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM. Those present introduced themselves:

Marc Auerbach

Landowner

Marcie Denison

P. R. Wildlife Guardians

Cindy Ball

City of Vernonia

John Hawksworth

ODFW

Steve Butsko

Longview Fibre Co,

Jay Holland

LNWC

Jim Buxton

Landowner

Dennis Nelson

Izaak Walton League

Woody Buxton

UNWC Weed Surveyor

Maggie Peyton

UNWC Coordinator

Dan Clough

ODFW

 

 

 

The minutes were distributed, but not approved due to the lack of a quorum. The treasurer’s report was explained and circulated.

Coordinator Maggie Peyton gave a report of her recent activities, summarized here, full report attached to official minutes. She reported on the status of the macroinvertebrate study, her involvement with the Oregon State Forestry Advisory Committee, OWEB Rules Advisory Committee, her attendance at the River Network conference held recently in Washington, D.C. She talked about the CREP program; that the CREP Specialist position has reopened for our area. She presented several aspects of our involvement with the BLM plant cooperative. They have been refunded this year. They will be looking at our plantings this summer. She described the Knotweed program and recent activities. She will start writing the Council Support grant application for the next biennium. This summer’s projects are East Humbug habitat improvement, Crooked Creek fish passage improvement, the Knotweed project, Green's Riparian Restoration and Streambank Stabilization project and the Bear Creek Restoration project. Future projects are: more Bear Creek project development, Cedar Creek fish passage improvement, East Fork Nehalem fish passage, Humbug fish passage, Boxler Creek weir improvement and the recently approved riparian restoration grant from the DEQ. Columbia SWCD has a watershed education specialist so we will work to get a countywide grant to get hands-on watershed education back into the schools and the community.

 

Knotweed surveyor Woody Buxton reported on locations where Knotweed has been sighted: Tophill, Staleys (out of our watershed – just happened to see it there), Cochran Road and Jewell. He has heard that there is some on the linear park trail, but has not yet verified it. Has not yet found any on the East Fork of the Nehalem, Apiary Road, Scappoose-Vernonia Road. Maggie added that Dale Webb and Troy Horton are surveying the mainstem by Kayak.

 

Dan Clough, Oregon Department of Forestry Watershed Analysis Coordinator and John Hawksworth, ODF Watershed Specialist were in attendance. Dan Clough gave the council a presentation on the State Forest Program Watershed Analysis. An information supplement is attached to the official minutes. Some of his remarks are summarized here. ODF’s Watershed Analysis project is conceived as a tool to assemble and analyze watershed information, which can be used in a number of different ways. The primary goal is to “verify appropriate site-specific practices to achieve aquatic-riparian Properly Functioning Condition”. Secondary benefits were listed as well. He discussed the manual development, ODF’s approach, and the project’s process. Trask and Elliot State Forest were pilot projects and are completed. ODF will complete two projects per year. The Miami River project started in June and the Upper Nehalem project will start in September. Next year the Lower Nehalem and Wilson will be done; the year after that the Kilches and North Santiam. All priority watersheds will be done by 2009. ODF plans to analyze all watersheds in all ODF land in the state.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:19 PM.

 

Respectfully Submitted

 

 

 

Jim Buxton, Secretary