Minutes
March 15, 2006
Members Present: Laura Arnold, Michael Durland, Ron Hendrickson, David Loyd, Mary Masters, Victoria Parker, Kit Rawson, Howie Rosenfeld, Jim Slocomb, Jonathan White, Tina Whitman
Staff: Jody Kennedy, Helen Venada
Absent: Terrie Klinger, (Alan) Skeet Lowe, Ken Sebens, Joy Sevier
Guests: Mike Ahrenius, Kirsten Evans, Louisa Nishitani
Chair Kit Rawson called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Room at Islanders Bank Annex, Friday Harbor.
Citizens’ comments:
Laura Arnold expressed interest in the status of the Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) update process. Ron Hendrickson said the SJC Community Development and Planning Department (CDPD) has not been able to begin the process yet since there is not enough staff to even meet the minimum thresholds for compliance by December of this year. He added that there will be a meeting of state agencies on the 31st but there may not be a consultant on board by that date. Laura suggested that much of the work done by Whatcom County in this area is relevant to San Juan County’s work. Ron said that once a consultant is hired a review of resources will be done. He added that there may be some opportunities for interaction with the MRC given its resources and things the MRC would like to do after the consultant has time to assess what needs to be done. Tina said examples of such interaction are the eelgrass mapping project and the salmon recovery plan. Kit said that the MRC is poised to jump in as soon as the appropriate moment is here; Ron added that the timing depends on funding being available. Jim added that it would be good for the MRC, at the appropriate time, to be involved in how its best available science efforts are worked into policy and then into law; he proposed a formal discussion soon on whether to do that and how to do that.
Minutes:
Minutes of the 3/1/06 meeting were approved as read. Kit noted that WDFW does have a science division (i.e. research arm) with about 30 people and the question is priorities, not a lack of research capacity in the agency. As additional follow-up to Brian Williams’ presentation on the HPA process, it was agreed that MRC send a formal letter to WDFW requesting that the fish window be changed to be more appropriate.
Work Session:
Jody gave a brief MRC projects update. She noted that this was a good time to discuss subcommittee makeup, function, and reporting process to MRC. A list of existing subcommittees, their duties, and current membership was distributed and the following edits were made:
- “Executive and Planning Subcommittee:” the MRC Chair and Vice Chair are ex-officio members; Jonathan White was added to the membership;
- “Outreach and Education:” Victoria Parker agreed to preside as Chair for six months; Michael Durland and Skeet Lowe were added as members;
- “Science Subcommittee:” Terrie Klinger and Kit Rawson will co-chair; Ken Sebens was added as a member;
- “Policy and Management:” Tina Whitman will Chair the subcommittee and Barbara Rosenkotter was added as a member;
- “Salmon Group:” Barbara Rosenkotter, Tina Wylie-Echevarria, and Howie Rosenfeld were added.
The “core planning team” is made up of Jacques White, Ginny Broadhurst, Joe Gaydos, Mary Masters.
Each subcommittee will meet with Jody soon to further develop its respective scopes, to examine its work plan projects and budgets, and update its status.
Jody distributed copies of her memo on NWSC grant commitments, requesting that members discuss how to assure that all of the deliverables are met in a timely and on-budget manner. She explained that the NWSC grant cycle is from June 2005 to June 2007 so that some of the projects will need fieldwork done this summer. The MRC’s status and progress reports are due in January and final reports are due in June.
Jody said that Task 1 and Task 2 are administration, assigned to the Executive subcommittee (e.g. which will help with the contract process). Jody discussed the status of each of the projects under Task 3, “MSA Management Policies,” and suggested revisions were made.
Task 3.1 - “MSA Plan” - Jody will email The Nature Conservancy/MRC MOU to members; she is waiting for TNC’s signature on the cooperative agreement that provides for TNC to cover $24,000 for Kirsten Evans’ work. The contract with Kirsten has been sent to the Prosecuting Attorney’s office.
Task 3.2 - “Conservation and Human Use Priorities” - This is part of the 5-S process. Tina asked about the outreach component.
Task 3.3 - “Mapping Marine Habitats” - The science subcommittee will serve as lead and will work on fleshing out its scope of work.
Task 3.4 - “Collect Anecdotal/Local Knowledge Data on Marine Resources” - The next step is to continue to pay Nancy Larsen to complete the interviews and get releases from the interviewees. The lead will be the executive subcommittee. Jody pointed out that a second deliverable under this task is to collect tribal anecdotal data, the scope of which needs to be developed.
Task 3.5 - “Local Outreach” - Other consultants, besides Candace VerBrugghen, will likely be added as this task is developed. Jody said that deliverables of this task can help meet the outcomes of 3.2.
Task 3.6 - “Work with Marine Managers” - The lead is the Policy and Management subcommittee; added deliverables include the Critical Areas Ordinance update and WDFW work on docks.
Task 3.7 - “Identify Sites for Greater Protection” - Lead is the Policy and Management subcommittee.
Both subtasks under Task 4.1, “ Filling Data Gaps and Monitoring Existing Reserves,” will be under the leadership of the science subcommittee. Jody said that Task 4.1, “Bottomfish Recovery Zone Dive Surveys,” has been derailed due to contract difficulties. It was hoped that an intern could assist with Task 4.2, “Fishing and Boating Pressure in MSAs,” an added deliverable is overflights of the MSAs.
Task 5, “Eelgrass Mapping,” under the science subcommittee, is on-track.
Jonathan suggested a re-structuring of subcommittees be discussed by the executive subcommittee. He also said that new members could be recruited and initiated into MRC activities through the web page. There was discussion of Jody’s contract. Tina gave a brief update on the Salmon Group, noting that an updated draft plan is due in April. There was discussion on when subcommittees would meet and how they would report back to the MRC. Jody suggested a default agenda with subcommittees submitting a written summary before the first meeting of each month for member review; she will contact the leads of each subcommittee one week before each MRC meeting about agenda items.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 am.
Submitted by Helen Venada
