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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017.10.10 Forest Lands Commission Minutes Minutes FOR A MEETING OF THE A SHLA ND FORES T LA NDS COMMISSION Tuesday, October loth, 2017 5:30PM to 7:30PM Fire Station #2 Conference Room 1860 Ashland Street I. CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 PM Frank Betlejewski, Luke Brandy, Shanon Downey, David Chapman, John Williams, Jason Minica, Matt Miller, Stef Seffinger, Marty Main, Steve Jensen, Chris Chambers, Alison Lerch, Michael Black Guests: Joanne Eggers, Hal Slack II. INTRODUCTIONS III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES September 2017 Matt motioned, Luke seconded, all in favor. -B.i.ii.l. Remove entire sentence. -VII.a.I. line 7. The fire risk is majority extreme in these acres. Change this sentence to: The fire risk is high or extreme on most of these acres. -Commissioner Comments: First Sentence- Change the first sentence from Ashland's oldest boyscout troop to Oregon's oldest boyscout troup. IV. PUBLIC FORUM V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA Approval for a plaque on the Lewis Lookout Trail VI. ONGOING BUSINESS A. APRC Lithia Park Master Plan Process (Miller/Black, 30 min) i. Parks hired MIG from Portland to conduct a Master Plan of Lithia Park. This has been on the radar and is a high priority. The project will cost around $230,000 fora 100 acre area. The FLC will have input on this process and Matt and Jason are on the planning team. They are just beginning the process, so now is the time for the FLC to gather materials for the initial evaluation and get them to the consultants. During Phase 2, there will be a strategic analysis of the material. At that point it is important as a stakeholder group to report through the core group. After the analysis, they will work on designs. The kick off meeting is October 27th. Expected completion date is December 2018. Adoption by January 2019. i. How does the FLC want to hear information? FTP sites? Parks will not be able to schedule additional meetings with the consultants, but they will work in a subcommittee of FLC members to meet with them during an already scheduled meeting. Michael suggests doing this during Design Week when they are developing and linking plans. Sherette? 11. Why is the general public not identified as a stakeholder? The term stakeholder here means an organized group. The public is the biggest stakeholder and the most important group. There will be meetings titled stakeholder meetings with members of the public. Joanne will make an appointment with Michael. 111. How are specific areas of Lithia Park going to be distinguished in this process? The park may be distinguished by zonal maps, like wildland, urban city park, high use, ecology, etc. The plan is sectioned out in different management goals. The approach and goals will not change, but the distinguishing characteristics may be different depending on recommendations from the consultants. iv. Do we hand the consultants the Ashland Forest Plan and let them digest it? Michael would like to minimize redundancies and have stakeholder representation during the Strategic Analysis. v. Can the consultants adopt the glossary from the Ashland Forest Plan? There are very basic prescriptions in the undeveloped forest lands that need to be refined down. Continuing the invasive species treatments. vi. In 2009, a fire analysis was completed for 2,600 acres. Lithia Park has from high to extreme fire danger. Will this plan address the fire hazard and the homes in the area? vii. Could the consultants send comments on edits to the Forest Lands Commission? Yes. ii. Future Action: FLC needs to form a subcommittee. Matt will be on the subcommittee. B. Trails Master Plan Update i. Forest Lands East/West Side Trails (Jensen/Brandy, 10 min) i. In order to be inclusive, a uniform nomenclature of East Side/West Side was decided on. Highlights from the meeting include parking issues and a request to have designated parking spots. Designated parking areas may come with liability issues. A priority on the West Side is getting an easement off Hitt Road. What about trail proposals on Parks land? FLC does not have the authority to approve trails through Acid Castle Rocks. This is a work in progress and will continue to get information to the FLC. 1. Is there a priority for better signage through the Lithia Park on the hillside and along the stream trails? This would be up to the current Park's Commission. 11. Torston brought up a map of named renegade trails on private lands. C. Climate Energy Action Plan Update i. Ordinance and Ad-hoc Committee (Seffinger, 5 min) i. Appointments have not yet been made on the As-hoc Committee. There should be a seat for someone from the Forest Lands Commission. Shannon and Frank have volunteered to be on the Ad- hoc Committee. This is a work in progress. Steve will attend the next brown bag lunch and ask the Mayor if the FLC should appoint a commissioner on the Ad-hoc Committee or if he is going to choose the individual. D. AFR and AFAR Project Update (Chambers, 5 min) i. Work is picking up in the watershed. Currently three different contract crews are working on surface/ladder fuels, helicopter clean up, and the last log trucks have left. There were 3,009 log trucks over 5 years, including $5.5 million of commercial byproduct sent to mills from Yreka to Roseburg and 11 million board feet (west side scale). We probably won't have log trucks for a couple years when AFR Phase 2 begins. There maybe some roadside thinning left. The big push to AFR will be pile burning after it starts to rain. There are 3,700 acres of burn piles to get burned this year on AFR and AFAR. A dual pile burning entry maybe needed for higher elevation. E. City Lands Management Update (Main, 10 min) i. Wrapping up the 10 year inventory and will have a report for the next FLC meeting. All city ownership is completed. When the weather allows, a project around the water treatment plant will be started. Unit U underburn was started last spring and was half completed. This Unit is set up for a fall burn if conditions and prescriptions are met. F. Lewis Lookout Trail Plaque Approval (Williams, 10 min) i. The picnic table at Lewis Lookout Trail needs a plaque on it. It will be modeled after the plaques in Lithia Park. They screw into the table. ii. John made a motion to approve the installation of a plaque on the picnic table. Luke second. All in favor. i. Question: Is the plaque going to state the Troup or the Individual or both? It will have both. VIL NEW BUSINESS A. 2016 Ashland Forest Plan Updates and Web Page (Betlejewski, 15 min) i. City forest inventory data is available through a link on the City's website. When you download the excel file it becomes editable. Chris checked with the City's GIS Specialist to ensure that the computer file cannot be changed through this avenue. ii. Paradise Creek stand SMPR-1 does not have any data associated to it. If anyone would like to come along with Frank he will be taking inventory and editing the database. Frank will email the Commission when he is going out. There is a great example of a thinned/unthinned area in this area. B. 2017 Commission Annual Report(Jensen, 10 min) i. Steve shared the presentation that he gave to the City Council in July. VIII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Matt sent out the most updated Trails Master Plan to everyone. Check your email! Paula Brown was brought in after Mike Fought retired and she would like to reevaluate everything that Ashland Watershed Advisory Committee (AWAC) has done in the last 5 years. They are looking to hire a water consultant for this project. The water treatment plant is on hold, including piping the south side of the TID. The tap line was connected to Medford under an emergency basis because of the drought. The Sonoma/Napa fires are devastating. Go to the San Francisco Chronicle for over 100 photos of the fire. IX. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING AGENDA A. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting is November 14th, 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 35102-35104 ADA Title I).