HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017.03.14 Forest Lands Commission Minutes MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE
ASHLAND FOREST LANDS COMMISSION
Tuesday, March 14th, 2017
5:30PM to 7:30PM
Fire Station #2 Conference Room
1860 Ashland Street
L CALL TO ORDER: 5:35 PM
IL INTRODUCTIONS
Stef Seffinger, Frank Betlejewski, Marty Main, Jill Mullen-Feeley, John
Williams,Nathan Lewis, Luke Brandy, Steve Jensen, Shannon Downey, Alison
Lerch, Chris Chambers
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Move one line to go up to the previous paragraph
C.i. 12th line down lst sentence, "Lomakatsi native planting..."
D third line down- seven burn units
Outcomes and trends #2: southerly aspects
#4 madrone is impacted by low impact....
John Williams Motioned,Nathan Lewis Second, All in favor.
IV. PUBLIC FORUM
V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
Talk at the April meeting about Trails:
VI. BUSINESS
A. Trails (5 Min)
i. At the January meeting, Torston Heycke proposed an extension to the
Lewis Loop, to be called Lewis Lookout. It brings you to a lookout and
there is already a sign in place. There is a well-worn trail in place already.
The Ashland Boy Scout Troup#112 would like to help AWTA to smooth
out the trail and build a bench at the end of the spur trail. This runs up to
the May timeframe where the soil gets too hard and AWTA breaks from
trail building until the fall. AWTA is ready to do this, but they need the
approval from the Commission on their application that they submitted in
January. What is the proper paperwork procedure for this? The organized
field trip was canceled due to weather, and needs to be rescheduled. City
Trail Construction- Forest Lands Commission- give input at the meeting,
then the Commission.
ii. Nathan Lewis made a motion to approve the extension of the Lewis
Lookout,Nathan Lewis, Shannon Downey second, all in favor.
B. Prescribed Burn Summary Discussion (45 min)
i. Marty put together a great report. Here are some suggestions for changes: �
a. Change the nomenclature for the units to be consistent with the �
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Ashland Forest Plan? Change it to "Lower Watershed, Unit A."
b. We should also add the units into the map
c. Describe the dead wood using the habitat classification
ii. Chris updated the Commission on planned burns for spring 2017. Finish
E5/B5-2 next to the Red Queen Trail, E 1/B sits between two previously
burned units, and T/U is next to the city granite pit. Marty Main and Tom
Murphy are also working on a burn plan for Siskiyou Mountain Park up
from the waterfall, which includes some private property. Lomakatsi
started working this week on a 42 acre thinning project on Acid Castle
property. The Community Justice Crew is pulling out Scotch broom by
hand. Plant Association Group (PAG) can be found on the Ashland Forest
Plan Maps.
a. Acid Castle Rocks is not covered in the Ashland Forest Plan. Do we
need another chapter in the Ashland Forest Plan to integrate newly
acquired forest parcels? Frank will send a list of typos to John and
he will update the online version of the plan. Including new
properties will have to wait for at least a yearly update.
iii. Marty gave a landscape level overview of burn units. The risk of wildfire to
the City of Ashland is at the wildland-urban interface. The current burn
units are strategically planned to help suppress a fire on either side of
Ashland Creek. Are some of the older units near Reeder Reservoir M2-M I
ready for a reburn? This would be a project to tie in with a larger Forest
Service burn in order to maximize the effectiveness.
iv. There is a misconception that the prescribed burn projects will stop a fire.
The up to date burn treatments will have different fire effects but there will
still be fire. These projects are trying to achieve more acres burned but at a
lower intensity. Chris could write an "Alarm Box" column about this trade-
off.
C. Climate Energy Action Plan (LEAP) Implementation (30 min)
i. The Commission would like to help with the implementation of the CEAP.
The Ashland Forest Plan is incorporated into the CEAP. Frank proposed a
project to Strategy NS-1-1: Promote Ecosystem Resilience. We could
organize the 25 year plot data from the watershed that has not been
thoroughly analyzed and answer some questions. How has the forest
developed over the last 25 years? How can we use this data to support our
CEAP? Chris and Marty are going to update the 10 year trend data with the
OWEB. NS-1-3: Ashland Ponds project. NS-14: Share the late
successional reserve maps. This topic can wait until summer.
D. Trails and Recreation (10 min)
i. Parks put a new sign at Bandersnatch. Installed a few signs on Hitt Road
saying"Hitt Road Trail," "Mixed Trail Traffic," "Slow". Taking out the
blind corners of manzanita on the trail. Lots of tree work this month,
including a huge hanger at Oredson-Todd Woods. Removed 3 hangers in 1
big madrone at the new Jabberwocky trail and one at Bandersnatch. Felled
15 snags at Bandersnatch, all Douglas-fir between 7-17 inches in diameter.
Cleared duff and madrone on Ponderosa pines with JC Correctional Crew N
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to prep for underburns (Siskiyou Mtn Park). Pulled 2 acres of Scotch a
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broom on Acid Castle Rocks. There are new signs for the Jabberwocky
trail that will recognize the AWTA. On March 25th the Stadnisky
Foundation will work on the Lawrence property and Acid Castle Rocks.
Meeting with Jeff M, Mike Faught (Public Works Director), and Karns
about the new water treatment in regards to the new Bandersnatch Trail.
New Jabberwalkee finished today, but is not officially open yet.
ii. Stef mentioned that there should be public outreach about the amount of
work the Parks Department does to keep the trails safe. The Chamber of
Commerce could also be a voice for the Parks Department.
E. AFR and AFAR Project Update (10 min)
i. AFR: Helicopter has been down for a few days for routine maintenance,
replacing the engine and transmission and will likely be back tomorrow.
Working towards the spring bring season, did a small test burn at Lamb
Saddle. The FS is working on a burn to increase acres near No Candies
Trail/Skyline Mine Trail. Working on a Community Engagement update
and Smoke Marketing. TREX event is the first 2 weeks of May. There are
45 participants from all over the nation and 3 from Guanajuato. OWEB
grant(AFAR) starting up at Acid Castle Rocks. The city burns are funded
on OWEB, as well as 280 acres of thinning on Forest Service land.
F. City and Parks Underburn Planning (10 min)
i. 3 units on City lands, 2 on Epstein parcel and 1 Parks burn. Issuing an RFP
for the City and Parks parcels and would like to award the contract for 3
years.
VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
A study from Lassen National Park showed that high severity fire has way more
effect on vegetation change, whether you salvage anything or nothing post
wildfire.
VIII. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING
AGENDA
A. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting is April l lth, 2017
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).
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