Minutes
December 15, 2004
Members Present: Laura Arnold, David Hoopes, David Loyd, Mary Masters, Kit Rawson, Jim Slocomb
Absent: Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, Mike Bertrand, Brian Calvert, Peter Fromm, Terrie Klinger, Kevin Ranker,
Dennis Willows
Guests: Mark Billington, Hilary Culverwell, Shannon Davis, James Hehre, Mike Kaill, Lisa Kaufman,
Jody Kennedy, Kari Koski, Rhea Miller, Victoria Parker, Francine Shaw, Fred Silver, Rowann Tallmon
Guest speaker: Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria, fish biologist, UW Center for Urban Horticulture
Chair Jim Slocomb called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Room at Islanders Bank Annex, Friday Harbor.
Citizens’ Comments:
Hilary Culverwell introduced herself as the new Local Liaison of the Puget Sound Action Team; Hilary’s office is in Bellingham and she’ll be covering San Juan, Whatcom, Snohomish and Skagit Counties.
DNR Restoration Manager, Lisa Kaufman, said that the process for getting the joint regional creosote removal project started (with NWSC) is going along; she asked if the MRC and San Juan County are interested in participating. David Hoopes suggested that she might want to talk to Ken Brown of Deer Harbor, Orcas Island, who has done research on using phytoremediation to deal with creosoted logs and wants to get a pilot project going here. Lisa said that the NWSC is applying for funding, with DNR restoration funds being used as match for NOAA and other funding of the project. Coastal Protection Zone money is also being sought to do, among other things, broad-based beach inventories, GPS plotting, and research into sources of creosoted marine debris; a pilot piling removal is also part of the effort. A working group is coming together soon to start planning for the ‘05-’07 project. Jim said that the issue is relevant in the San Juans and invited Lisa to do a presentation at an MRC meeting sometime in the next two months. Lisa said that the future of the project depends on the reallocation of DNR restoration funds.
David Hoopes said that Eric Youngren, of Rainshadow Solar on Orcas Island, is trying to promote renewable energies in the state; he asked that people contact Representative Jeff Morris urging him to support such legislation.
David also pointed out the guest column, by Jim Kramer of Shared Salmon Strategies, “Allowing People and Fish to Flourish,” in the 12/14/04 Seattle PI. He also recommended looking at the Nov/Dec “Sound & Straits” publication by People for Puget Sound for a number of very interesting articles.
Mary said that last night’s meeting on Orcas, part of the Sea Doc Society and San Juan Nature Institute-sponsored lecture series, featured the Derelict Gear Project. She added that she appreciated the program and Tom Cowan’s mention of the MRC, noting that 3 or 4 people out of the audience of 20 or so expressed interest in the MRC after Tom’s presentation.
Minutes:
Review of minutes of the 12/1/04 meeting was held over to the next meeting.
NWSC meeting update:
Jody said that the meeting two weeks ago included a presentation on Tunicates and on new technology to mitigate impacts from invasives coming in with ballast water. NWSC’s retreat will be held in January; Jody said that NWSC has asked for input from the MRCs on suggested agenda items for discussion at the retreat. It was noted that one issue is what the Commission might be funding with next year’s increased budget.
MRC Coordinator position:
Director of SJC Community Development and Planning, Francine Shaw, discussed Jody’s MRC Coordinator position which, she read from BOCC minutes, was only temporarily funded for 6 months following hire on 1/25/04; beyond that time, Jody could become a full-time grant-funded county employee with full benefits. Francine said that she spoke to the BOCC yesterday about this issue and the BOCC directed Human Resources Director, Becky Rusnak, to research budget implications. Jody said that she and Becky discussed a proposal, for this next year, for a professional services contract for this position. There was further discussion on the issue. Commissioner Miller said that a BOCC decision on the status of Jody’s position is expected to be made at an early 2005 BOCC meeting, taking into account that it is NWSC grant-funded.
Deer Harbor meeting:
Jim said that his presentation at the Deer Harbor meeting yielded less detailed audience input than at the recent meeting on Waldron Island, due perhaps to the fact that the Orcas audience basically came to the meeting to learn about the MRC and stewardship concepts and had not been actively thinking about such issues ahead of time. The Orcas audience asked many questions but MSA discussion was not as on point and concrete as on Waldron. Jim suggested that future outreach programs be modified so that the audience can be brought up to speed before meetings. He said that the decline-in-species graphs, for instance, that have been so controversial, need to be replaced to fill the gap credibly. Jody said that Joe Gaydos is willing to put together a slide show using the MRC data. Jim said the Orcas meeting was filmed so that video clips could conceivably be put into the Power Point presentation.
Guest presentation:
Dr. Sandy Wyllie-Echevarria said that he and Tom Mumford received a small grant from the Russell Family Foundation to look at seagrass loss in the San Juans. There is a reported trend of loss at 14 sites in the Islands. Sandy passed around copies of a chapter of the new global seagrass atlas that includes a table of distribution, reasons for protection and conservation, threats to their survival, etc. for regional species of seagrasses on the Pacific Coast of North America; he suggested that this information could be distributed for local education. He also passed around “A Comparative Analysis of Submarine Cable Installation Methods,” a paper written by graduate student, Shaun Austin, that discusses potential environmental impacts of cable installation in northern Puget Sound.
Sandy said that as part of the Friends of the San Juans’ grant from the Salmon Recovery Board that did surveys of forage fish spawning areas, Dr. Dan Pentilla had noted some eelgrass decline in Westcott Bay in the winter of 2002 but was shocked to find that when he revisited in 2003 the eelgrass was all gone.
Sandy said that Zostera marina (eelgrass) is commonly used as a signal species in water quality assessment; it is a single plant that responds quickly to low levels of light, heavy metals contamination, and increased sedimentation. He said the DNR Submerged Vegetation Monitoring Project, started in 2000, sampled some 70 sites randomly selected throughout Puget Sound, with 5 core sites that are monitored each year. Underwater video techniques were used to map growth and coverage of eelgrass. There were 45 acres of Z. marina in Westcott Bay in 2000 and 35 acres in 2001; and, in 2001, more than half of the eelgrass seen in 1995 was gone (based on estimates from archived DNR aerial photographs) and it was completely gone by 2003. Underwater video is used because seagrasses grow fairly deep here. Researchers are looking at the significance of the fragmentation of seagrass in particular sites. Sandy said there are some sites in the San Juans that show an annual variability but there are also bays that are “hot spots” (Fisherman, Shoal, Mitchell, Indian Cove...and especially, Garrison, Nelson and Blind Bays) with eelgrass in gradual decline similar to Westcott Bay. Fauna and aquatic vegetation datasets from other studies are being linked. There may be impacts due to combined natural and anthropogenic (human-caused) forces, Sandy noted; it’s also not known if the increase of marine diseases is due to global warming and attendant habitat changes. It appears that hot days (above 25 degrees C) along with low tides in summer can “cook” eelgrass.
The restoration project pilots a buoy-deployed seeding method; researchers are studying the flowering sequence of eelgrass in northern Puget Sound to determine maximum seed release conditions. Sandy said that NOAA may fund
projects in San Francisco Bay, the southern part of Puget Sound, and Rhode Island.
Sandy discussed the restoration project as one of the test cases for the MRC marine enhancement protocol. He said that, with respect to possible negative impacts to the Westcott Bay ecosystem, there could be some ecological displacement but the seeding should have a positive habitat gain over all. He noted that the question, “What are you destroying?” is a very interesting one that should be asked of every new enhancement project. “Local extinction” means that a species is gone from a particular site with little to no chance of being reestablished. There is some indication that sea slugs are gone from Westcott Bay (due to eelgrass decline?). With respect to the “introduced species” question on the checklist, Sandy said that seed is being harvested from nearby bays but caution needs to be used and potential impacts of seed harvest need to be monitored. Seeding efforts in Chesapeake Bay seem to be re-colonizing areas where the plants historically lived.
Sandy said that there are shoreline development pressures here, as in other areas, that impact water quality and, ultimately, seagrass. He noted that Z. marina had strong cultural value for native peoples here (used as insulation and as mulch). Hilary suggested that a public education component (from MRC?) on human factors that could contribute to eelgrass decline) might be critical to the success of the project and Shannon said that the Friends of the San Juans is planning a series of watershed impact sessions that will include such information.
Sandy will submit seagrass data for the MSA maps.
2005 Work Plan
Jody said that she received Terrie’s email comment on the draft plan, noting that the Work Plan was very ambitious. In light of this, Jody suggested that priorities need to be discussed for funding and time allocations. The sub-committee will attach member names to bullet items and will recommend priorities.
Motion: Laura moved, and Kit seconded, that the draft Plan be adopted, with edits.
The motion passed unanimously.
Victoria Parker said that she has submitted a letter of interest to the BOCC for MRC membership. She said some of the issues in her work with the San Juan Nature Institute overlap with those of the MRC.
Shannon requested that MRC members email Commissioner Miller to ask for BOCC consideration in the issue of the Friends of the San Juans not receiving the MRC-approved funding ($500) for last summer’s canoe journey. Jim noted that it is a legal issue involving the county Auditor at this point.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
Submitted by Helen Venada
