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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011.12.13 Forest Lands Commission Minutes Action Minutes FOR A MEETING OF THE ASHLAND FOREST LANDS COMMISSION Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 5:30PM to 7:30PM Siskiyou Room, CommunityDevelopment Building 51 Winburn Way I. CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 PM David Chapman, John Williams, Gary Pool, Jim Berge, Dan Maymar, Albert Pepe, Marty Main, John Karns, Chris Chambers II. INTRODUCTIONS III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: November 8th meeting Pepe moved to approve the November minutes change "Agenda"to "Minutes" at the top and added Stefani Seffinger to list of attendees. IV. PUBLIC FORUM None. V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA Maymar suggested a tribute of some sort for Chris Iverson. Williams volunteered to have a t-shirt made with the watershed map on it. VI. BUSINESS A. Trails/Recreation Policy Subcommittee: Application from AWTA and report back on BTI trail field trip Karns reported back on the field trip to the BTI alternative proposed trail area as part of the strategic plan for trails on City forestlands. Karns asked what conditions should be placed on the approval of the trail. Karns read a proposed list of conditions including: AWTA intends to follow the Forest Service standards for construction, the AWTA will follow the Amrhein geologic report recommendations, AWTA will provide a trail use and sustainability report after trail completion and at 12 months to include the number of users, types of users, sustainability of the trail, and any concerns. Williams asked about trail signage. Karns likes trail signs he saw in Sisters that have inlayed names on a 4 by 4 post. There could also be carsonite markers along the trail for reference and possible emergency access aid. Maymar asked about how AWTA could compile use data. Chapman said that AWTA has a trail counter that's been used in the past couple years on local trails. Williams would like to ask AWTA to submit a maintenance plan for the trail. Karns agreed and added it to the list of conditions. Main spoke about the need to protect natural resources from human use in the watershed. He would like to see trail users G:\fire\Forest Interface Division\Forest Lands Commission\MINUTES\2011\December 13th,2011 Action minutes.docx have a level of responsibility and education upon using trails in the watershed. One idea is to place some responsibility on the AWTA or users to do some education. Maymar agreed about the need to educate but didn't see the watershed impact of this particular trail in its location. Williams suggested using natural barriers to proactively protect sensitive places on the landscape. Karns spoke about a trail host program that would distribute information at certain high use times on the trails. Chambers brought up the location of the fire ecology interpretive signs on the BTI and the possibility of abandoning that interpretive installation in the midst of switching pedestrian traffic to the proposed trail. Pepe likes the emphasis on education and putting signs and information out at the trailheads, which would be the City's responsibility. Maymar would like to include the education component in the conditions with the City supplying the verbiage to be used in education. Main suggested an adopt a trail program and Karns would like to see that in the long term. Karns sees the Trails Master Plan as putting the Forest Lands Commission in charge of trails oversight. Karns will write up the proposal and send out to the Forest Lands Commission. Berge asked about the pitch of the trail at the end near Alice in Wonderland and the intent of the usage. Others replied that the trail will be a hiking trail and some of the slopes are steep in order to discourage mountain bike use. The commission will vote on the issue next month. B. Ashland Water Advisory Committee Update This item was moved up to get Williams' report. He explained the final vision agreed to by the AWAC group. The basic idea is that the existing plant is in a very vulnerable location and money spent upgrading that plant would be ill advised over time. A new plant could be phased in over time. Fire came up as an issue due to limited storage and the vulnerability of the plant. Piping TID came up as an important recommendation to save water and would also reduce pollution. Another part of the plan is to lay the water pipe from Ashland to Talent that could be used within 24 hours during an emergency. The price tag will be large but spread out over many decades. The committee's task now is to work on how the City will pay for the upgrades and educate the public. Maymar asked where the new plant would go. Williams discussed an existing study from years ago that would place a new plant above the swimming reservoir in upper Lithia Park area. There are suggested timelines in the plan including the new plant within 4-5 years. The current time is a good time to be financing projects due to good rates. If the current plant sustains significant damage it would take months to get water back in the taps. The committee explored the water rate increases needed to do this work and upgrade the water pipes in the city, which are in backlogged maintenance in the millions of dollars. In the last ten years, the population has turned over significantly. The flood cycle has been every 25 years or so. C. AFR Project Update including Community Engagement Main said that work has been ongoing in the Horn Gap area due to the break in the weather recently. No burning has taken place due to the high pressure and stagnant air. Lomakatsi contracted with Grayback Forestry to due burning G:\fire\Forest Interface Division\Forest Lands Commission\MINUTES\2011\December 13th,2011 Action minutes.docx in the AFR project which may allow for increased capacity to do burning. Ongoing work in developing prescriptions for the next round of marking next spring and summer is taking place. Maymar asked about prescribed burning. Main said the City is planning to burn this spring and is pursuing a contract this winter. In the AFR project, prescribed burning is planned for spring with increased acres to come in the future as funds are retained during commercial thinning operations. D. Outreach Plan Review and Discussion Chambers passed out a copy of the draft plan. Chambers will send out a scanned version for review and discussion at next month's meeting. E. Watershed Map Distribution Maymar asked Rogue Valley Runners and they would like a poster size version. Chambers will look for the price payed for printing. Chambers will add the back page of the map to the FLC site. Pool would like to see a way for people to give feedback on the map. A link could be added to the back of the map to encourage feedback via a website. The commission will think about how to supply the maps over time. Chambers has the list of places that the maps were distributed. A certain amount of money could be dedicated each year. F. Update Commission 3-Year Goals Chambers handed out a summary of previous meeting minutes from the last time the commission discussed the three year goals as well as the table of the goals. Maymar would like to commissioners to review the handouts for next meeting. Pepe motioned to adjourn and Berge seconded. VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS VIII. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING A. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting: January IOth, 2012 IX. ADJOURN: 7:10 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). G:Afire\Forest Interface Division\Forest Lands Commission\MINUTES\2011\December 13th,2011 Action minutes.docx