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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017.09.12 Forest Lands Commission Minutes MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE A SHLA ND FORES T LA NDS COMMISSION Tuesday, September 12th, 2017 5:30PM to 7:30PM Fire Station #2 Conference Room 1860 Ashland Street I. CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 PM In attendance: Frank Betlejewski, Luke Brandy,Nathan Lewis, Shannon Downy, Marty Main, David Chapman, John Williams,Jason Minica, Stef Seffinger, Steve Jensen, Chris Chambers, Alison Lerch,Jim Falkenstein II. INTRODUCTIONS Adam Airoldi (City of Medford arborist and open space manager) III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Williams motioned, Betlejewski second. All in favor. -Change item E and put it as a paragraph under D. -Public Forum: The 81h line: She apologized sentence. Dr. McGinnis (He) offered. -The FLC offered to go to the Conservation Commission to present the Forest Plan. IV. PUBLIC FORUM V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA VI. ONGOING BUSINESS A. Trails Master Plan Update i. Water Treatment Plant Trail alternate route update (Chambers, 5 min) i. Talk to Paula Brown. Public Works is going to take the location of the new Water Treatment Plant to the City Council in October. The Forest Commission can make adjustments after that meeting. ii. There is a section in the Forest Plan about trails, including information about how to build trails. ii. Forest Lands Trail Corridors (Jensen/Brandy, 10 min) i. Worked with Tolman Creek, Roca Creek and SOU representative Mike Oxendine. He is interested in having a loop trail all around campus. The new areas "East Forest Lands" and"West Forest Lands"which are connections to watershed USFS trails. There is also a Cascade Foothills trail region. ii. Frank inquired about if there was a cap on trail building on City forest lands. There are plans for new trails on the Hitt Road side of Ashland Creek. There are also some dead end trails that need some connections. One location by Ashland Creek ends in a cul-de-sac and has transient camping issues. New trails need to have loops and high traffic, in addition to the staffing and volunteer needed to maintain them. Numerous easements need to be acquired to create trail connections along Ashland Creels. iii. The Trails Association is planning on creating an email/call system to report problems along trails B. Climate Energy Action Plan Update i. Ordinance and Ad-hoc Committee (Seffinger, 15 min) i. Stef has a meeting with Adam Hanks and the Mayor on Thursday to finalize which groups are going to be on the CEAP Ad-hoc Committee. This committee will develop the benchmarks and the standards for the CEAP. Stef recommended someone from the Conservation, Forest Lands and Transportation Commissions. Stef would like all Commissions to address the 60 plus goals in the CEAP plan and pull out the goals that pertain to their mission. ii. Frank presented information about the objectives of the Ad-hoc Committee in relation to the Ashland Forest Plan (AFP). The AFP has significant monitoring information that could contribute to the CEAP. A sentence needs to be added about managing for young seral stages of forests and gaps, in addition to older forests over time. There is also a lack of discussion for managing for water quality or soil stability. 1. There are 3700 acres of piles in the watershed that need to be burned in AFR. C. AFR and AFAR Project Update (Chambers, 5 min) i. AFR is on hold because of fire season. The ground based operation by horn gap has been on hold due to equipment restrictions. The contractors only have 2 hours of work and 6 log trucks left and have asked for a waiver from the Forest Service to finish the project. The partners are having a strategy meeting in the next couple weeks to look at completing the remaining acres on the stewardship project. ii. AFAR is in the 3rd year of Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) funding. When restrictions ease up from fire season the crews will continue working on private lands. A large portion of OWEB funding is being moved to treatments on Forest Service land due to a $900,000 new funding award from State and Private Forestry. The OWEB funding will treat over 1,000 acres of Forest Service. There will be a community outreach push in the fall for burning including the Southern Oregon Healthy Living Magazine, movie theaters and in the Daily Tidings. Chris is looking to bring Paul Hessburg back in the fall for a regional presentation of Era of Megafires. i. Are there plans for creating clean air sanctuaries at the Senior Center? D. 2016 AFP City Lands Update (Main, 10 min) i. Currently working on the Winburn parcel but it is spooky to be working there due to the fact there is one ingress/egress and lack of safety zone. Marty keeps in contact with Chris by radio because of the lack of cell service. Marty cannot stress enough how susceptible the watershed is to high intensity fire. A recommendation was made to increase the communication potential while working there including getting a Spot or Satellite phone. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. APRC Lithia Park Master Plan Process (Miller/Betlejewski, 30 min) i. There is an opportunity to get information into this planning process. Matt is the liaison to the Parks Commission. We need to ask the contractor to read the executive summary and goals of the Ashland Forest Plan. There is an Online Interactive Map as part of the Strategic Analysis of Lithia Park. Could there be a tie into the Ashland Forest Plan Interactive Map Package? Management recommendations for 50.02 acres in the Upper Lithia Parcel includes invasive species treatments and thinning from below. The fire risk is high or extreme on most of these acres. Are these forested acres included in the Master Plan Process? This information needs to be presented to the contractor. Matt has invited them to a Forest Lands Commission meeting. Who can ask them about what the contractor is using the money for in the contract? Parks needs to see what was written in the scope of work to see if there is space for the contractor to do research in the Ashland Forest Plan to get data about past forest treatments. i. Steve will bring these questions and concerns to Matt. Steve, Matt and Michael will meet and get on the same page. VIII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Oregon's oldest Boy Scout troop completed the Lewis Lookout trail this past weekend. The troop built a picnic table with old parks equipment and hiked it in 2 miles in pieces. They also installed 3 signs. They also decommissioned the Pete's Punisher trail. There were 22 total volunteers. This was John's son's Eagle Scout project. Chetco Bar Fire is only 8% contained and is up to 180,000 acres. There is also a new fire on the east side that is over 100,000 acres. Should there be enhanced law enforcement in the parks where there is illegal camping? We need to give regular fire data to the Police Department and City Council to keep this as a priority for the city. Do we need an MOU with the Forest Service to assist with this? There is already a joint contract with the Forest Service for enhanced patrol. IX. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING AGENDA A. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting is October 1 oth, 2017 IX. ADJOURN: 7:15 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).