HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009.11.10 Forest Lands Commission Minutes Minutes FOR A MEETING OF THE
ASHLAND FOREST LANDS COMMISSION
Tuesday, November loth, 2009
Siskiyou Room, Community Development Building
51 Winburn Way
I. CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 PM
Present: Tony Kerwin, Marty Main (contract forester), John Williams, Melody Noraas,
Christopher Iverson, Chris Chambers (staft), John Karns (Fire Chief), Pieter Smeenk
(staft), Gary Pool(public), Dan Maymar, Craig Gorson.
II. INTRODUCTIONS
Gary Pool introduced himself again. He recently put in an application to become a
commissioner.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: October 13th meeting
Approved with edits of typo in first paragraph under "Public Outreach Plan
Discussion". An "o" was left without a finished sentence so it was removed and
further edits proposed by Kerwin to remove the term"more legacy trees" in that
same sentence were accepted.
IV. PUBLIC FORUM
None
V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
None
VI. BUSINESS
A. Ashland Forest Resiliency Review &Update
Record of Decision is signed and the FS has dedicated a person (Don Boucher) to
work on AFR full time. Forest Service is putting in plots for AFR monitoring.
Marty has been inspecting the data collection, which will eventually include 700
plots. Plots are close to the City for now and will likely continue work until winter
and then pick up again in the spring. There is funding for the AFR project, at least
two million dollars which includes monitoring. There is more monitoring identified
by stakeholders that is not funded, but still important. Water quality is one—Pieter
talked briefly about sediment monitoring that the Forest Service will do in the
reservoir. Melody said that Parks is already planning water quality monitoring in
Lithia Park (Ashland Creek). SOU students may be available through North Mt
Park program to do macro invertebrate studies in the watershed. Marty stressed
the importance of 700 plots being installed—a high number that supports good
monitoring. Dan asked about the plot locations and Marty explained that they are
randomly located for statistical analysis and not nested.
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Discussion then centered on SOU's potential involvement. Students are working
on getting a structure in place for SOU to be involved with AFR in a
programmatic way.
B. AFR Community Engagement-FLC's role
Chris explained the upcoming meeting and potential role for FLC.
Marty reminded the commission that the FLC role has historically been involved
on City Lands, but with AFR the need to focus on federal land is apparent and we
need to recognize that different roles will be needed. Gorson wondered what roles
the FLC will play just monitoring? Gorson asked what position Linda Duffy is in
now. Marty explained that Tim Chesley is the interim ranger and they'll hire a new
district ranger in the coming months.
Tony had a discussion with Darren Borgias about the monitoring of AFR and how
the FLC will fit in. Tony asked what the FLC's role will be in monitoring. Marty
explained that he is inspecting the Forest Service's plots right now as a piece of
monitoring. Tony wanted to know what the process might look like. Chambers
explained a two part process involving community engagement and technical
monitoring with subcommittees for each. Pieter said that public works will be
trying to get water quality monitoring funding in the coming budget-but that may
not continue into the future and more funding would help. Chambers said the City
will be negotiating with the Forest Service for a role in AFR implementation and
possible funding. Dan asked if there is additional work that the Forest Service
contractor establishing plots could do. Marty said it's unlikely that the could
accommodate that right now in the process. The addition of the plots being
permanent was a request of the City. There was an oversight committee who
oversaw the NFF grant for AFR monitoring that composed of the City, USFS, and
The Nature Conservancy. This committee is still working, but the organization of
this oversight group is in limbo. Gorson said the NFF effort was good and the
group who worked on it did good work at involving the public. Iverson suggested
being involved intimately in the middle of the process in order to be a liaison for
public engagement and monitoring. Marty suggested that the community-based
monitoring component is in place and can continue to serve an important role that
the FLC can be involved in. Gorson said that what we want to monitor has largely
been indentified by technical folks, which is important. Marty reminded the group
that even if AFR didn't go forward, there's still a role for the FLC to be involved
in City land management, monitoring, and public education. Chief Karns likes the
idea of the FLC facilitating public interaction on the project and the commission
agreed that would be a good role. The website www.ashlandwatershed.or has
been established and can be used for public communication. Marty said that the
FS has taken the FLC's recommendations on implementation planning from 2007
and is using them now. Iverson said that the we're looking ahead in this process to
shortcut potential problems. There are a few groups who have many members
locally that could be tapped into. Melody likes the idea of the FLC serving as a
coordinating body. Dan questioned the role of the FLC as advisory to the Council
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and how that would function in AFR. Chief Karns said it would likely be part of a
larger proposal going to Council for City involvement in the process.
Marty pointed out that SOU is more interested in participating in both Forest
Service and City forestlands management. It would be advisable to pursue another
student liaison from SOU.
C. Public Outreach Plan Continued Discussion
Iverson reviewed the Ashland Watershed Map Contest handout. Chambers will
look into how the Commission money can be spent. An award?
Committee discussed the process by which artists will create and submit maps and
how they will be judged. Suggestions included changing the handout to more
succinct text and blowing up the sample map. Marty suggested adding other
members to the panel that judges the map. Iverson listed the components of the
map. Others suggested winnowing this list down to key components. Iverson will
post the flyers around town and Chambers will get the information onto
ashlandwatershed.org, including a watershed "normal" map. Deadline for
submissions needs to be established first draft due in 2 months. Tidings article
would be great.
Gorson wondered if there was an update on schools involvement and how Laurie
Hayden could be involved similar to her current role teaching about forests in the
schools. Iverson said she's waiting to see if the FLC would move on getting
funding for it. Gorson is interested in getting funding and so is Iverson.
Can the FLC craft letters independent of the Council? What are the limits?
D. Ashland Forest Plan Update Discussion
Tony will get something crafted and submitted to city staff about updating the
forest plan to see what interest there is in the community and proceed accordingly.
E. Commission 3-Year Goals
Will deal with this at a later date.
VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
Marty has been to a couple symposiums in the past month regarding dry forests, wildlife,
and fire. He was impressed with the integration of these disciplines and felt good about the
work the FLC and others have done in Ashland.
VIII. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING
A. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting: December 8th, 2009
IX. ADJOURN: 7:30 PM
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this meeting,please contact the Public Works Office at 488-5587(TTYphone number 1 800 735 2900).
Notification 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to
ensure accessibility to the meeting (28 CFR 35.102-35.104 ADA Title I).
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