HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017.02.14 Forest Lands Commission Minutes MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE
A SHLA ND FORES T LA NDS COMMISSION
Tuesday, February 14th, 2017
5:30PM to 7:30PM
Fire Station #2 Conference Room
1860 Ashland Street
I. CALL TO ORDER: 5:32 PM
II. INTRODUCTIONS
Alison Lerch, Fire Adapted Communities Coordinator
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Page 1: Add Jill Mullen-Feeley
Page 2, Item B: Frank will implement the agreed upon rules.
Page 2, Item C: Frank talked about a meeting with Adam Hanks
Page 3: Next
Matt Miller made a motion to approve the minutes from January 2017, Nate Louis
2'Zd, all in favor of approving the minutes as amended.
IV. PUBLIC FORUM
V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
Adjourn at 6:30
VI. BUSINESS
A. Trails/Recreation (1-2 min)
i. Jill's report: More signs have been put in, Snarls trail sign at the FS
Boundary. Please remove your horse droppings at Red Queen and
Bandersnatch. Cut out a hanger and downed trees at Gryphon trail. Big
tree (aft in diameter) at Oredson-Todd Woods. Trail maintenance,
reworked the switchback at Bandersnatch. Jackson County corrections
crew chipped the upper trail in Oredson-Todd Woods, replaced 9 juniper
steps, and staged some criblogs out there. The process of updating the
City's master Trail plan is underway. Master plan Chair is David Chapman
and Steve Jensen is vice chair.
ii. Stef suggested a new sign at the end of Lizard where it crosses Caterpillar
that says "Yield" or"Slow Down."
B. FLC Climate Policy Follow-up (1-2 min)
i. After the meeting with Chris, Frank and Adam Hanks, who is City staff on
the Climate Action Committee, some forest related comments were
incorporated into the Climate Energy Action Plan. Many new changes in
the natural resources section are now in line with the Ashland Forest Plan.
Chris will send a link to the Climate Energy Action Plan Draft when it is
available. Comments can be made at the City Council Meeting on March
7th
C. Ashland Ponds Update (10 min, 16 min total)
i. Frank gave this presentation to the Parks Commission about the ponds area.
Records show no coho salmon in Ashland Creek, although they have been
seen there. Ashland Ponds has already had equipment all over the area in
the past. Site restoration introducing heavy equipment to create off channel
rearing habitat would not be out of historical precedent. Riparian planting
has also been extensive. There is extreme fire hazard with blackberries and
a grouping of homes on one part of the property. There are invasive plants
in every unit. Lomakatsi has Ashland Pond Monarch butterfly waystations
recently planted. There are a lot of different projects going on so we need
to be careful about balancing priorities. Recommended to treat the entire
Ashland Ponds parcel, as a multiyear and multi-faceted project. Funding is
needed. Parks could possible secure funding as long as there is matching
contributions. Lomakatsi native planting has done all the native plants at
Ashland Ponds and we want to keep them healthy. There is real potential
for coho habitat and it is consistent with the riparian management strategies
in the Ashland Forest Plan.
i. What is the roll of the Forest Lands Commission in this project?
1. This has not yet been developed, because Forest Lands,
Parks will be working on the project together. ODF&W can
work with Parks on fish habitat. ODF&W will probably
come with funding opportunities.
D. City Forestlands Prescribed Burn Summary Presentation (20 min—32 min total)
i. Burning since 1997. Marty Main, Tom Murphy, and Chris Chambers have
been the 3 main players. 1997-2007 had 2 burns, 2012-present 83 acres
over 7 burn units . In 1995, the City started doing mechanical treatments
and mapped the WUI. 2001-2008: 352 owners, 400 projects, 1308 acres of
fuels reduction work were completed. The objective of the 2012 burn was
to build trust in the community for underburning. Monitoring is done at
permanent locations. Question: How do you measure CBI index?
Qualitative and quantitative analysis together. We have burned below low
severity in some cases, mosaic type and burning majority understory not
overstory. Did we meet our objectives? AAR style analysis. Outcomes
and trends: 1. Successful at achieving the 2 primary objectives, especially
providing public education. 2. The highest severity occurred on the steepest
slopes, with southerly aspects and in the afternoon. But high severity barely
made the moderate rating. 3. Dense overstory canopies have an underrated
effect on potential dampening of fire behavior. 4. Madrone is negatively
impacted by low severity fire, ponderosa pine and California black oak are
least affected. Post-fire tree mortality shows this. 5. Mosaic burning can
protect soil. Challenges and Opportunities: 1. We are trying to burn on
steep ground, with a very sensitive municipal watershed. (Is there a flush of
herbaceous vegetation after burning? We will be monitoring that to see if
that is the case.) 2. Large woody debris can complicate underburning
objectives. 3. Increasing ponderosa pine is a goal,but natural regeneration
of pine may be difficult with the burn intervals. 4. Raking around legacy
pines will reduce cambial heating. 5. Do this work strategically. 6. Larger
units will bring costs down, but costs will always be high because we have
complete mop up. 7. Maintenance is very important to our treatment areas.
8. Drought, insects, disease will influence fire behavior. We are trying to
avoid our large fire incidents, like in 1959 & 2009. We want put more good
fire on the ground and avoid unpredicted wildfire. Ecological goals and
Social goals are being accomplishments.
i. Comments: The juxtaposition of the wildfire to the gentle
underburn brings back the messages from Paul Hessburg's Era of
Megafires presentation. How do you want your fire, how do you
want your smoke?
VIL COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
VIII. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING
AGENDA
A. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting is March 14th, 2017
IX. ADJOURN: 6:30 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 35102-35.104 ADA Title I).