HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010.09.14 Forest Lands Commission Minutes Minutes FOR A MEETING OF THE
ASHLAND FOREST LANDS COMMISSION
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
5:30PM to 7:30PM
Siskiyou Room, Community Development Building
51 Winburn Way
I. CALL TO ORDER: 5:43 PM
Gary Pool, John Williams, Tony Kerwin, Frank Betlejewski, Marty Main, Craig Gorson,
John Karns, Chris Chambers, Chris Iverson, Jake Robinson
II. INTRODUCTIONS
Jake Robinson, Northwest Natural Resource Group
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: August loth meeting
Motion made to amend minutes and approve with completion of sentence at the end of the
Public Forum section to read "McFarland explained briefly about the history of the
Siskiyou Mountain Park property."
IV. PUBLIC FORUM
V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
John Williams update on AWAC
VI. BUSINESS
A. Presentation by Jake Robinson on FSC Certification
Jake explained the organization Northwest Natural Resource Group and his job as
SW Oregon representative. One of his jobs is recruiting landowners to become
part of the Forest Stewardship Comm certified forestry program. Currently there
are only 19 owners in this program in Oregon, but 142 in Washington State. FSC
is the most stringent program for sustainable forest management and comparable
to Oregon Tilth in the organic foods realm. It is the only certification that is
recognized by the Green Building Council and LEED standards. Jake would like
the City to join the NNR group and become a FSC certified landowner. He said
the City far exceeds the current requirements in practices and monitoring. Part of
membership would help focus on developing local markets for certified wood
products. The City's membership can help establish a market for the SW Oregon
region. The City could use FSC wood from it's forests and parks to meet LEED
standards in City buildings. Membership costs 3,000 dollars initially and then audit
costs of 1-2 thousand dollars per year. Another possibility in another program
under the NNG is carbon offsets. Federal lands are not part of the program so the
AFR project wouldn't qualify. Jake said that non-dimensional lumber has the best
premium for FSC certification. The only local mill with FSC certification is Rough
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and Ready in Cave Junction. Some of the owners saw/cut their own wood and
maintain a chain of custody. Individual trees could even be marketed, mostly in
Parks trees that are removed from year to year. Iverson asked Main about the
City's most recent helicopter thinning project. Main said the downside of the
City's situation is that we are locked into helicopter operations and generate a
large amount of volume at one time, which makes it difficult to maintain the FSC
processing chain for that much volume at one time. Robinson said the City could
"hire" a mill to process a large amount of wood at once and still retain ownership
of the wood for buildings or to sell. Jake said that the vision of a small local mill,
or portable mill, would work well for street and park trees. The costs include
more education by NNG and could be lowered depending on the amount of
involvement by NNG to gain certification. There are a number of municipal, state,
and county governments who have certified wood programs.
Main said the City's ownership is 645 acres, but with Parks is over 1000 acres.
Jake said that there are other non-timber products that are possible under FSC
certification. He left references from an FSC municipal park. The NNG website is
www.nnrg.org. Main asked who would be working on local mill certification. Jake
is meeting with Sustainable Northwest to see what local mill options are being
developed for larger quantities. He said it would be difficult to get a premium on
FSC framing wood (Douglas-fir) in the current market and without a large market.
The City budget environment would be challenging in order for the City to
maintain ownership of the wood and still meet budget timelines. The markets have
been unpredictable lately and there is lot of change happening with mills, but prices
are historically low right now. Iverson suggested that the City's building projects
could help provide a use for local wood. An analysis of numbers and projects
would have to be considered before any decisions are made. Main said that based
on values, the City's ownership would be a good candidate. The City could also
process any amount of wood as non-certified and then a few loads of a sale as
certified.
B. Ashland Water Advisory Committee
Williams talked about the options the committee has considered to date. They
would like a redundant water system in place. One of the options is the Talent to
Ashland intertie, which hooks Ashland up to the Talent water supply for 15 million
dollars. Another option is to get more water from TID. The City isn't using all its
TID allocation at the current time. Another consideration are large groundwater
wells. Williams said that idea isn't reliable at this point. The group will be voting
on an option as soon as October. Meetings are open to the public, although there
hasn't been much public attendance. Iverson asked if rain catchment has been
considered and Williams said it was brought up but didn't sound feasible based on
professional opinion. The next meeting is October 21 s'
at 4pm. Main asked about the need for more water. Williams said the City won't
be able to meet water needs within a couple decades based on growth estimates.
The other major issue is not having a redundant water supply if something were to
happen to the reservoir or treatment plant. Main commented on the ongoing needs
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for water across the west and in our valley. The TID water comes from the
Klamath Basin, where water is a significant issue. TID also charges many
groundwater sources via leakage from the ditch. Williams said that 20% of the
water is lost to leakage and evaporation. Water will continue to be an important
issue for Ashland and the region.
C. Watershed Trails Discussion follow up
Chambers had talked to Steve Johnson at the Forest Service about the trails
management effort. Johnson had not been in touch recently with the players in the
trails issue, but said that the Trails Unlimited group would be back in the first week
of October to finish the watershed trails assessment and recommendations.
D. AFR Project Update including Community Engagement
Main said that no implementation on the ground has taken place due to fire season.
What has taken place is planning to have work planning completed to start work
by mid to late October for the simpler areas including pine plantations and
madrone stands. The prescriptions are being developed from data being collected
with plans for internal and external reviews before work is done on the ground.
The partners are in a good position to get the reviews completed and get work
done on the ground soon. Small chunks are being taken off the whole project to
create timely small projects for contracting and review. Monitoring is being
completed, including the 700 plus permanent plots. Betlejewski asked who will be
monitoring the project's compliance with the Community Alternative. Main said
that the Forest Service's use of the Community's input will be monitored by the
partners because the Community Alternative is in large part the Preferred
Alternative. The partnership itself is unique. Betlejewski will keep asking about
how the Community Alternative is being implemented. There are challenges to
collecting and analyzing the data in the Forest Service's system and those are being
worked on.
Chambers commented on Community Engagement in the AFR project. He said
that they are engaging the High School and SOU in watershed education efforts.
There is a tour this Saturday the 18th to Reeder Reservoir. The next event after
that is the Bear Creek Wateshed Festival on October 2nd
E. Public Outreach Plan Watershed Map Project
Pokey did not make it to the meeting. Iverson will email out the draft copy of the
map for next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 7:30pm.
VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
VIII. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING
A. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting: October 12th, 2010
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IX. ADJOURN: 7:30 PM
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in
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).
GAfire\Forest Interface Division\Forest Lands Commission\MINUTES\2010\September 14th minutes.doc