Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017.05.09 Forest Lands Commission Minutes MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE A SHLA ND FORES T LA NDS COMMISSION Tuesday, May 9th, 2017 5:30PM to 7:30PM Fire Station #2 Conference Room 1860 Ashland Street I. CALL TO ORDER: 5:35 PM Present: Jeff McFarland, Stef Seffinger, John Williams, Steve Jensen, Marty Main, Nathan Lewis, Luke Brandy, Frank Betlejewski, Chris Chambers, Alison Lerch, Shannon Downey Guests: David Chapman, Jim Falkenstein II. INTRODUCTIONS III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Introductions: Jim Falkenstein Approval of minutes: Plant Association Group (PAG) D is Oredson-Todd VL A. I: Greensprings (one word) Luke Brandy motions to approve minutes as amended. Nathan Lewis seconds. All in favor. IV. PUBLIC FORUM V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA Legal controversy with private organizations building trails on City Lands; VI. BUSINESS A. Trails and Recreation(15 min) i. Lewis Lookout picnic bench (10 min) i. Two meetings ago we approved an extension to the Lewis Loop Trail. It is all in and looking very beautiful. This extension is for the spur to the Lewis Lookout that is a dead end. Torsten would like to add a picnic bench to the lookout point. Trail and signage have already been approved. John would like his son to build the picnic bench as his Eagle Scout project. The picnic table will be all wood with a metal frame designed to be outdoor and exposed to the elements.John Williams made a motion to allow AWTA to build a picnic table at the Lewis Lookout on city property, Luke Brandy second. All in favor. ii. Waterline Trail alternate route proposal (5 min) i. Waterline Trail has a steep curve going into a corner where a number of complaints and injuries have occurred. A new pedestrian only trail could be put in to bypass BTI and Jabberwocky and help solve the congestion issue. AWTA wants some legal assurance as the City that they are covered by the city that they cannot be sued for a number of issues with trail injuries. A geology review needs to be done on the hillside. Separate traffic and resolve a safety issue. The City is looking into the legal issues. Trail building usually halts during the summer so if this issue isn't resolved it may still post a hazard until fall. A new water treatment plant is being built in the area and David Chapman suggested putting a shared road where Pete's Punisher used to be. David will bring a more detailed proposal to the June Forest Lands Commission meeting. B. City Forestlands Online Map Interface (30 min) i. The maps from the old Ashland Forest Plan are hand drawn. Part of the Ashland Forest Plan Update was the creation of an online mapping tool. The Online Map is an interactive map where users can view multiple layers on an Arcview interface. There is a two page write up that will be linked on to the map interface. The write up needs to be finalized by June 9th. There is a Bookmarks icon with preloaded trail areas. The idea of this map is that it provides a tremendous amount of outreach to trail users and connects them to the Ashland Forest Plan. The next Ashland Trails Map should have the link to the Online Map Interface. All Ashland maps should show the same trail information/color scheme. C. Elect Chair and Vice Chair(15 min) i. Steve Jensen volunteers for Chair. Shannon Downey volunteers for Vice Chair.John motions to approve, Luke Brady seconds. All in favor. D. City and Parks Underburn Update (10 min) i. Jeff McFarland showed some photos from the 16 acre burn today at Siskiyou Mountain Park and the Epstein property. The project was paid for by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) grant. The unit stayed out of areas of manzanita. Jeff really appreciated the use of fire as a maintenance tool after over 20 years of project work in the park. The primary objective of the burn was to get fire in a high traffic trail area close to town (0-1% of the overstory trees, 20-45%unburned mosaic). All the trails were closed in and out of the burn area. Most of the locals are aware of this project and happy to see underburning next to their neighborhoods. This area tells a good story of the amount of time, work and planning that goes into a project area to get to the point of underburning. This area is on a 5-10 year maintenance interval in order to preserve the investment in fire safety. E. AFR and AFAR Project Update (10 min) i. Helicopter is more than half way done. Log trucks come down Tolman Creek Road and head south to enter the highway at exit 14. Logs are going to mills in Glendale and Roseburg. Burning on AFR has been slower. A 25 acre underburn at the Skyline Mine area took place. Chris would like to see more Forest Service burning on AFR. ii. AFAR completed work on the Acid Castle Rock property. Thinning on 58 acres plus swamper burn on 16 acres. Completed 20 acres of broom treatment. $1.2 million was acquired from State & Private Forestry to support project work in the AFAR budget. An outreach to private landowners for next year's OWEB cycle is going out this week. VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Frank: July is the Forest Lands Commission Annual Report. Stef: Toured the area where the second watershed art piece will be with Mike Fought. Karen has finished the piece and would like to get it installed before June. John: Reeder Reservoir as of May 1 St was 55% full. Ashland Creek has dialed down now, with a goal of June Pt to fill Reeder. There is a 141% of normal in the Rogue River Watershed of snowpack. Mt. Ashland is 160% of normal. Howard Prairie and Emigrant Lake are 100%. Luke: Trails Master Plan Committee are meeting every two weeks. The goal is to complete the Trails Master Plan by the end of the year. Working on the Greenway first. Compliments to the Parks Department for their hard work. Marty: Kudos to Frank for being on the Forest Lands Commission for 12 years and the Chair for the last 2 years. VIII. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING AGENDA A. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting is June 13th, 2017 IX. ADJOURN: 7:18 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).