Minutes
April 21 , 2004
Members Present: Laura Arnold, Brian Calvert, Peter Fromm, David Hoopes, David Loyd, Mary Masters,
Kevin Ranker, Kit Rawson, Jim Slocomb, Dennis Willows
Absent: Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, Mike Bertrand, Terrie Klinger
Guests: Kim Barrett-Smith, Ray Bigler, Mark Billington, Two Crow (aka Jim Schumacher), Robyn du Pré,
Dr. Gunderson and UW Labs fish biology class, Jessica Hayden-Spear, Jody Kennedy, DJ Sessner
Guest presenter: Tina Whitman, Friends of the San Juans, and Jim Slocomb, MRC
Chair, David Loyd, called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the conference room at Islanders Bank, Friday Harbor.
David Hoopes reminded everyone that the documentary on the impacts of salmon netpen aquaculture, “Net Loss,” can be viewed tonight on KCTS-TV.
Kevin Ranker pointed out that an article on the recently released report from the U.S. Commission on Oceans Policy is on the front page of today’s Seattle P.I., noting that this is the first time in 35 years that we’ve looked at ocean policy as a nation.
David Loyd reported that Dr. Dennis Willows presented a dramatic talk at Camp Orkila; Dennis said that he reported on research showing the way geomagnetic sensors in marine animals work; he added that more research on the topic is planned, involving Camp Orkila.
Guest presentation: David introduced Tina Whitman and Jim Slocomb’s presentation on the forage fish project final report, noting that this constitutes one of the MRC work plan items. Tina reported that the surf smelt and sand lance habitat assessments portion of the project is completed, final reports are all in, and a database has been created. Additional analysis of the data is being done now. Tina said that the nice thing about this project is that the required time and energy was expended to fundraise and make the links so that next year can be spent on assuring that the data is available and is applied. She said there is already a lot of interest and positive response to the information.
Primary partners in the forage fish project were Friends of the San Juans, WDFW, SJC MRC, and UW Labs. The
initial phase was habitat assessment with leads, Larry Moulton and Dan Pantilla, developing survey protocol and using aerial photo analysis. Tina said that 600 potential spawning beaches for surf smelt and sand lance were mapped and over the course of the last three years, 1250 samples were collected from 24 islands; 63 actual spawning sites were documented, of which 39 were previously undocumented by WDFW. Tina said that about 91% of the 77 miles of potential spawning sites in the San Juans were surveyed with the assistance of 75 trained volunteers for up to 800 hours; 375 students from 6 islands were involved in field and lab work, and data collection/compilation.
Tina said that no sites had ever been documented for smelt on Orcas Island; now there are 10 documented sites on Orcas and the first documented sites on Waldron and Stuart Islands. Tina said that under existing no net loss habitat WAC regulations, a 500-foot radius around spawning sites is protected; about 12.6 miles of actual length of spawning beaches are protected in the San Juans (not including herring spawning beaches). Tina said that surf smelt appear to be spawning year-round in San Juan County, based on year-round sampling data from index sites on San Juan, Shaw, and Lopez Islands.
Tina said that the project is trying to reach a broader audience, beyond feeding information to WDFW and San Juan County. An all-day training was provided in January to 46 participants, with up to date science on SJC spawning sites, existing regulations, and mitigation efforts. In addition to county staff from the Department of Environmental Health, Parks, Public Works, Planning and Community Development, 9 private land use consultants and people from conservation non-profits and state parks also participated in the training session, learning how land use managers can make better decisions by using the data. Data distribution, an important component of the project, included 75 mapsets and complete discs on the “San Juan County Forage Fish Project going out to local, state and federal agencies with interest or jurisdiction in San Juan County shorelines. Shoreline information will be fed to the county for its critical areas updates next year. Initial analysis on protection and restoration sites based on forage fish habitat has also been done and will be used to identify restoration and protection projects.
Tina gave an overview of the pilot nearshore restoration project funded through the MRC action grant last year. Shade analysis was done to assist in studying how to increase the success of eggs in the summer months. Tina said that all identified sites at Camp Orkila on Orcas, Upright Head on Lopez, and Blind Bay on Shaw, have been planted (with mixed sizes of maple, alder, willow, native rose, blackberry, twinberry, thimbleberry, mock orange), providing shade to surf smelt eggs, bank stabilization and species diversity; monitoring of egg mortality and shade impact has not yet begun; monitoring of plant survival is underway. Tina said that a major goal of the project is to get people to think about the connection between coastal forests and fish and marine species, juvenile salmon diets can include a high proportion of terrestrial insects. An interpretive panel will be installed by the planting site at Camp Orkila.
Partners in the nearshore restoration project included the Land Bank, YMCA Camp Okrilla, and private landowners; volunteers from Camp Orkila, the Lopez WET (watershed stewardship) project, OASIS home school group, and Shaw 4-H will do ongoing monitoring, watering, and other maintenance to increase plant success. Project goals include enhancing shade areas on summer smelt spawning sites (and our understanding of them), improving water quality with bank stabilization, enhancing riparian habitat for fish and other wildlife, and increasing awareness of the role of coastal vegetation.
Next steps for the forage fish project is a “from science to stewardship” campaign, including workshops and field trips. This project is partially funded trough a PIE grant. Workshop topics include shoreline processes, teacher training in partnership with the Labs, upland impacts (e.g. stormwater outputs), and a realtor training, “With a Water View,” for professional credit.
Jim Slocomb said that the maps database is available in pdf format and on the website. Tina pointed out that the initial analysis and resulting mapping does not yet include overlays of multiple protection and restoration factors.. There was discussion on repairs of existing seawalls in the county. Kevin noted that grunion egg mortality studies done at Pepperdine in California found no correlation between water quality (impacted by runoff) and spawn success.
Tina said the forage fish project looked at the existing level of protection in the San Juans to research whether increased protection was needed and whether existing protection is actually happening. Based on land ownership analysis, beaches whose entire length is either in Nature Conservancy, Land Bank, San Juan Preservation Trust, or UW lands were considered fully protected. Long-term management was looked at with respect to compatibility with forage fish habitat goals.
The issue of docks/ramps shading eelgrass was discussed. Tina noted that the county’s 10-foot standard (roughly) for how close a dock can be to an eelgrass bed seems to be somewhat arbitrary; David said that Fisheries’ standard is related to height and width of the dock. Since eelgrass communities migrate, the ecological concept of protecting eelgrass is difficult to implement. Brian pointed out that the permitting process for any changes over the water (e.g. docks, new pilings) is so cumbersome and lengthy that only the deep pockets can afford it. He said that the cost of getting the permit far exceeds the cost of engineering and construction; it could be better spent on engineering docks that actually work and are in the right place. Tina’s hope is that the permit process can be changed so that new data will be used early in the planning process by all parties. She said that another huge impact to nearshore habitat comes from roads, road construction, and road maintenance; again, early use of the new data can improve the process.
Tina said that the loss of eelgrass beds in Westcott Bay is now over 35 acres and seems to be continuing. Sandy Wyllie-Echevarria will be back to visit the MRC with more data on results of the eelgrass mapping, coordinated by
Friends of the San Juans.
Jim said that the database opens to the standard state survey form and includes state codes for beach types, original field sheets, and beach images from the sites surveyed by the forage fish project. There was discussion about posting the entire database on the web. Jim said that the challenges to getting the database interactive online are basically political and financial, and not really technical. Tina noted that any cost estimates should take into account long-term maintenance and responding to questions generated by public use.
David Loyd thanked Tina and Jim and said he was pleased to see how integrated the elements of research, education and outreach have been throughout the project.
Minutes:
Minutes of the 4/7/04 meeting were approved with the correction that derelict fishing gear was removed from Lopez, not Orcas, Island (page 3, lst line under “NWSC”).
MRC Coordinator’s Report:
Jody distributed copies of the brochure, “Introducing the San Juan County Marine Stewardship Area,” for members’ review; there was general agreement that the brochure looks very good, with a few suggested edits. Jody noted that this is a work-in-progress, as is the Stewardship effort. She asked for direction in putting together the full-page ad for local newspapers.
Brian said that boaters’ licensing will soon require mandatory training (e.g. Power Squadron) and the information in the brochure could be part of that training. Kevin suggested a presentation to NWSC on the issue.
Jody said that Dr. Tina Wyllie-Echeverria will be presenting forage fish/eelgrass data to the Pacific Estuarine Society in Port Townsend on May 16th and she has requested that the MRC reimburse her for the $250 cost of registration and travel.
Motion: David Hoopes moved, and Brian seconded, that Dr. Wyllie-Echeverria be
reimbursed $250 for her costs associated with the Port Townsend presentation. Motion
was unanimously approved.
There was discussion on the draft letter to the BOCC recommending that Debra (DJ) Sessner be appointed to the MRC as a voting member. It was unanimously agreed that the letter be sent.
Jody reiterated that the volunteer tracking sheets for the period from 1/1/04 to 4/30/04 need to be completed and submitted to her before the next meeting.
The June 4th-5th NWSC Conference in Everett plans to include recognition of one major accomplishment from each of the MRC’s. Jody asked that members interested in attending the conference send information to her by the end of April.
Motion: Kevin moved, and David Loyd seconded, that the Marine Stewardship Area be
presented as this MRC’s major accomplishment to the NWSC conference and that Jim
Slocomb be the presenter. Motion passed unanimously.
Jody reported that because Ginny Broadhurst has been called to jury duty she may not be available to attend the May 5th meeting. MRC elections will be held on May 5th so all members are encouraged to attend the meeting in Friday Harbor. The process for MRC elections was discussed.
Motion: Brian moved, and Kevin seconded, that hardcopy absentee ballots be printed and emailed to members and that they could either be emailed/mailed (postmarked by May 5th), or delivered to the MRC office by May 5th. The motion passed unanimously.
Nominations (preliminary docket): Chair: Jim Slocomb
Vice Chair: Mary Masters
NWSC representative: Kevin Ranker
NWSC alternate: Dennis Willows
Further nominations can be made by contacting Jody.
Kevin reported that Senator Patty Murray has said that she is very impressed with NWSC’s recent report card. The grassroots effort, he said, seems to meet the criteria of a regional oceans council. Senator Maria Cantwell’s press release also lauded the NWSC effort.
DJ Sessner, Planner with the SJC Community Planning and Development Department, said that the forage fish project’s outreach could include setting up an interactive website, which could also serve to track projects). This would require staff support plus the funding to sustain it.
David Hoopes announced that the second National Conference on Coastal & Estuarine Habitat Restoration will be held September 12-15th in Seattle Visit www.estuaries.org for more information.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
Submitted by Helen Venada
