Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012.12.11 Forest Lands Commission Minutes Minutes FOR A MEETING OF THE ASHLAND FOREST LANDS COMMISSION Tuesday, December 11th, 2012 5:30PM to 7:30PM Siskiyou Room, Community Development Building 51 Winburn Way I. CALL TO ORDER: 5:38 PM John Williams, John Karns, Alicia Fitzgerald,Albert Pepe, Frank Betlejewski, Marty Main, Jim Berge IL INTRODUCTIONS 1 The group signed a get well card for Dan that Jim brought in. Marty reported that Dan is doing well. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: November Draft Minutes 1 Frank corrected the spelling of Bill Schaupp's last name. The "Pacific Northwest Insect and Disease Service Center" is actually Southwest Oregon Forest Insect and Disease Service Center. He also stated that Chris never sent him the codes used in AFR and AWPP Projects and asked that Chris do this ASAP. Also, under VL C. Frank stated that he sent Chris the updated version but Chris didn't send it out to the group as he was supposed to. 2 John W. pointed out that he had sent Chris the latest Outreach Plan that Chris was supposed to forward to everyone but didn't. John will forward it to him again. 3 Motion to approve with changes made by Williams, seconded by Jim and all ayes. IV. PUBLIC FORUM None. V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA None. VI. BUSINESS A. Ashland Forest Plan Revision i. John found the OWEB Watershed Plan, but only has small amount of information on the watershed and hasn't finished it yet. He found under each section, information was provided in mainly run-on sentences rather than being divided into categories therefore he thinks it needs editing. He would like more information and asked Marty and Chief if there are more resources for hydrology, fisheries, etc up in the watershed. John will work on these since there might be more information that they can add to the Forest Plan from these. Marty stated that there are recent inventories of West and East Fork, and Ashland Creek. John will email Marty. ii. For the recreation part, Albert will contact professors at SOU. John suggested he contact Ashland Parks and Recreation, AWTA, the mountain bike community, and the Forest Service. Specifically, the Forest Service could give information about the ski resort, hunting, and their trail survey. Steve Johnson is the one to contact there. Frank G:\fire\Forest Interface DivisionTorest Lands Commission\MINUTES\2012\December l lth,2012 Minutes.docx suggested the group look at the latest survey by Mark Shibley on www.ashlandwatershed.org . iii. Frank gave an update on his work in Oredson Todd and Siskiyou Mountain. He stated that he will not have his portion done until Groundhog day particularly in the Hillview Fire area, partially due to the density of brush. Bill Schaupp will not be able to get out there until January. He met with Kerry Metlen of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and discussed what TNC is monitoring for AFR. Kerry agreed to give information on stem and basal area distribution, fire frequency, etc. within a V2 mile of City Lands by the end of January. Frank discussed how in his report, Siskiyou Mountain will get "diced up" into smaller pieces, including Douglas fir dry, Douglas fir wet, and White fir. He discussed the most interesting thing he's found, on the south boundary, is possibly the Ponderosa pine series, and maybe 50 acres. Occurring in the Ashland area in Southwest Oregon, as the only other place he knows of this occurring is in the RNA. There's Douglas-fir but once gets to a certain diameter, approximately 12 to 16 inches gets attacked by borer, while the ponderosa pine are doing fine. Marty will send Frank a map of the units of the lower ownership (lower watershed) and inventory data for the 69 plots in Winburn. Chris will send Frank codes used in AFR and AWPP projects. Frank needs the 1973 Hillview fire boundary superimposed(photo and topo map) on Siskiyou Mtn Park. Marty suggested looking in the Environmental Impact Statement, and suggested that type of information would be good for the 59' fire too. iv. Marty discussed his search for historic information, which he stated the local district hasn't done a great job in keeping. Marty has some inventory information from Diane White, but he thinks it is mainly outside of the RNA, and much of it was done by Real Corps with inconsistent quality of data collection. V. Jim started re-writing the fire management portion from the old document and trying to incorporate portions from AFR. The Chief will get Jim the language of agreements to answer some of the questions Jim has. Jim plans to borrow heavily from AFR, and will include language on wildland fire use and revise the historical reference to more recent efforts that were done in the watershed(fires in the 1900s). The group suggested the work by Carl Skinner on fire frequency data. B. Update Commission 3-Year Goals i. The group needs to prioritize things on the list for the Community Outreach Plan. This will be discussed in greater detail as a group when Chris Chambers is present. Chris will send updated Plan out to group. C. Trails/Recreation Update i. None. D. AFR Project Update i. The helicopter finished yarding the Thursday before last. The work was on-again, off-again due to quickly changing weather. There is still G:\fire\Forest Interface Division\Forest Lands Commission\MINUTES\2012\December 11th,2012 Minutes.docx roughly 100 loads left on the hill, about 20 of which are on Skyline Ridge, which they hope to get out before it snows. Those not on Skyline are on lower landings not affected by snow. At most, there are 10 trucks working per day. Marty estimates there has been over 1 million feet but wasn't sure on the total volume. Crews have already started piling in the area. There is ground based work occurring on the Tolman Creek side and hauling down Tolman Rd, and the road is holding up better there. There has been piling and cleanup going on, and burning up there. Ongoing outreach has been really impressive. Determining the best way to utilize all the material has been challenging and there is a possibility of working with the Fuels Committee in the future. ii. Marty discussed that initially, the project was set up to prioritize work from a fire management prospective. With additional funding, there are two parts: expand into additional areas and maintain what was already done. Often the maintenance doesn't get funded though it is important. He discussed that both helicopter work and prescribed burning are very expensive and technical. Often in doing regular maintenance, money can be saved therefore it is important to do this. iii. AFR partners are still waiting to see comparison of the pre- and post- telemetry data for fisher populations, headed by Dave Clayton. For ground-based work, data showed that the fishers used the burn piles, possibly looking for prey. However, with a lot of upcoming burning and piling of activity fuels coming up for the project in the next few months, this may change. Williams will send a note to Chris Chambers to invite Dave Clayton to the next meeting to discuss findings. iv. John Karns has been in a lot of meetings regarding additional funding. He has a conference call with representatives from the National Forest Foundation Thursday. There may also be some grant opportunities from fire-fighter/1st responder safety standpoint. TNC is looking into CFLR money but they will need to expand their scope and collaborate with other forest projects due to the 50,000 acre minimum requirement for the grant. John also mentioned that one of the City Counselors is really supportive of the project and has been getting involved. V. Jim asked about a Forest Lands Commission Tour. The Chief and Marty agreed that this can be done, but that it was difficult to schedule during helicopter operations due to unpredictability of the work and safety concerns. The group will try to schedule to see the work areas sometime in Spring. IX. ADJOURN: 6:43 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\2012\December 1 lth,2012 Minutes.docx G:Afire\Forest Interface Division\Forest Lands Commission\MINUTES\2012\December 1 lth,2012 Minutes.docx