Minutes
May 3, 2006
Members Present: Laura Arnold, Michael Durland, Ron Hendrickson, David Loyd, Mary Masters, Victoria Parker, Kit Rawson, Howie Rosenfeld, Ken Sebens, Joy Sevier, Jim Slocomb, Jonathan White
Staff: Jody Kennedy, Barbara Rosenkotter, Helen Venada
Absent: Terrie Klinger, (Alan) Skeet Lowe, Tina Whitman
Guests: Kat Fennel, Marilyn O’Conner, Rowann Tallmon
Guest speaker: Dr. Russel Barsh
Chair Kit Rawson called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Room at Islanders Bank Annex, Friday Harbor. He displayed the back page of the newest state fishing regulations and noted that the MSA map and information looks and reads better than before. David suggested the idea that the MRC information be made into page-specific inserts for future printings.
Minutes
Minutes of the 4/16/06 meeting were approved as read
Elections
Kit Rawson was unanimously re-elected as Chair and Jim Slocomb was elected Vice Chair.
Salmon Recovery
Barbara presented an update on the Salmon Recovery work. She reported that the National Fish and Wildlife Federation has now allocated $100,000 from their community salmon fund for salmon recovery work in San Juan County; Barbara will inform the committee when more details are known.
Barbara said there has been discussion on how the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) Round 7 will be done. She said SRFB is now pursuing the concept of a block grant approach with a similar timeframe as the last round. Shared Strategy is leading the Puget Sound process and is looking at how to allocate funds if a block grant is given. Barbara pointed out a red flag in that there was a proposal at the April meeting to not fund additional assessment projects through SRFB; the concern is that no real analysis has been done in all the previous assessments that were funded and an “assessment of the assessments” may be called for. Barbara is preparing a paper to SRFB explaining why assessments are important and necessary in San Juan County and she will attend the June meeting to present the case.
Barbara suggested that members review the three-year plan and narrative which she will go over on the
May 17th MRC meeting. The concept is that this is how we will fund projects throughout the Puget Sound region, she said.
Critical Areas Ordinance
Ron Hendrickson reported on the status of the CAO process. He said a short-term contract is being finalized with Stewart & Associates CTED up to the end of June and corresponding to the end of the County’s CTED funding. Ron said that in that period John Lombard will do an analysis of the CDPDs work and, using best available science, submit a report outlining options; a public meeting will then be held before the end of June to present the report’s findings. Two other unanswered issues, that will be tackled in the next few weeks, Ron said, are what type of committee structure will be put together and how will the public participation process be designed. By contacting the various agencies, including the MRC, the Department will begin to gather the best available science.
Kevin said that he has discussed with Jim Kramer the idea of front loading the best available science so that it will be readily available for the CAO process.
Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council Update:
Kevin Ranker, County Council Liaison to the MRC, explained that technically he votes for the MRC as representative to the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council. Kevin said that SRFB is in fact moving towards a block grant funding program. The good news, Kevin said, is that it has been proposed that sixty percent (60%) of the total state funding go to Puget Sound projects. Three technical criteria were proposed for determining how to spend the money for Puget Sound: (1) insuring survival of high-risk stocks;
(2) insuring that the more robust populations continue to be strong; (3) early improvements in monitoring and assessment of natural populations.
Kevin said that the San Juan County nearshore environment may be very important to the salmon cycle; one criteria is the amount of nearshore habitat lying within a watershed. San Juan County has more shoreline than any other county in the lower 48. Kevin asked how we would evaluate if local, state, tribal regulatory mechanisms are working (including enforcement). Is this a priority for this WRIA-2 Citizens Committee, Kevin asked? Kevin said we all recognize that San Juan County could be a model for great things in the Puget Sound region and also recognize that what we accomplish here can have far-reaching implications for the entire ecosystem. What we’re talking about in prioritizing projects to be funded, he said, is the common good of the region.
There was committee discussion on the habitat and species protection part of plans and how to fill data gaps in areas of land use, and, relatedly, of harvest and hatchery management. Kit said that the All-H work group he participates in is supposed to be coordinating all the management actions anyway and are working with federal, state, and local governments. Kevin said that the long-term vision is to fund action-oriented projects (e.g. restoration with regional impact). Kevin’s goal is to have San Juan County’s nearshore habitat acknowledged as critical to regional salmon stocks, with protection work here promising region-wide benefits.
Barbara expressed caution that San Juan County has been struggling for years to get basic information and, therefore, assessment projects need to be funded over the next few years so the recovery effort can finally move forward. Kit said the reality is that assessment needs to be linked to on-the-ground action. All 22 stocks in the region spend some time in the San Juans, Kevin said. He said that SRFB is looking at private sector funding to supplement its funding goal for the 10-year plan. Jim stressed that local on-the-ground enforcement is the single weak link here and the structure of regulations is secondary. Therefore, he suggested, that enforcement be a first allocation priority...San Juan County nearshore habitat is protected in theory, he added. As for the importance of assessment studies here, he said, you can’t protect the eelgrass if you don’t know where it is.
Kevin pointed out that San Juan is the fastest growing county in the state so that even though it is relatively small growing potential threats here may be of great concern. David noted that one of the hot spots in the salmon recovery discussion is the role and significance of uplands. Laura added that we’d be more successful in cooperation with the other watersheds if we had assessment work (e.g. genetic stock study) done. Barbara thanked Kevin for doing a fine job of representing the County; she added that he is respected and people are listening.
Kevin said there is an opportunity now for the county in its Eco-Based Management (EBM) initiative and for salmon recovery efforts associated with the initiative. There is substantial private money out there, he said, which can be the best way to get the work done.
Reports:
Victoria said that the last meeting of the Outreach & Education subcommittee was the Orcas Hotel and was well attended. The focus was on deliverables for the NWSC grant. Topics discussed were an anticipated summer report; projects with partners are being considered, such as a lecture series, to focus on critical nearshore habitat issues identified by the 5-S process; a program for recognizing existing best business practice was discussed (e.g. at next year’s MSA anniversary celebration). Jonathan suggested a future MRC publication in conjunction with other groups in print to carry the MSA message Members were asked to review the MRC webpage and to send comments to Jody. Jody will email the minutes of the Orcas meeting. The next meeting will be at the Orcas Hotel on May 8th at 12:30 pm.
Marilyn O’Conner said the Port of Friday Harbor is interested in using the MSA map on a Port publication; There was consensus that this was a good idea.
Washington Trout presentation
Jamie Glasgow said that the organization recognizes that there is a need in San Juan County to assess and monitor salmon-related and other species. The non-profit fish conservation group, Washington Trout, is gathering information on Orcas Island such as fish counts and water typing projects,,,all with the mission to preserve, protect, and restore ALL native WA fish The recovery of abundance and diversity of Pacific NorthWest salmon stocks depends on restoration of habitat and watershed processes, including protection from further degradation.
Jamie explained that “water typing” is a stream classification system used to regulate land-use around streams. It was developed by WDNR and has since been adopted by most local governments. The question is Where are the Fish and where are their Habitats? Jamie said the 9 categories of criteria spelled out in the state code, WAC 222-16-031, helped to develop criteria for the entire state in the 1970s; the information is now being updated and ground-truthed. The idea is to identify fish-bearing habitat to prevent future inappropriate land use management. Salmon-related habitats are not receiving the protection their value warrants under existing laws, Jamie said. Maps need to be improved and the process is in place to update them in light of the ground truthing process. Survey forms and proposals are reviewed and can be accepted as rule with map updates following later.
Jamie said that 5,000 different streams are in the survey. Survey areas are: 1) fish composition and distribution; (2) results posted to an interactive web-based GIS format at http://www.washingtontrout.org;
3) habitat and barrier characterizations. Recommendations for appropriate protection measures and suggested outreach campaign will be made. Portions of the WRIA 2 Watertyping Assessment (10 separate watersheds) are being done on Orcas Island with Russel Barsh; surveys were started on Lopez last spring but are not funded now. Results show that 8,745 meters (5.44 miles) of newly-identified fish habitat (type 3) can be added to San Juan County’s total. Juvenile coho, three-spined Stickleback, juvenile chum, Flathead minnow, Rainbow trout, Pumpkinseed, Cutthroat trout, Sculpin, Brook trout are being fund in Orcas’ streams...not all of which are native fish species. Jamie said that identified barriers to fish success are almost always road-based contrivance. There will be follow-up public presentations after the survey results are compiled and habitat restoration priorities are listed. Ken Brown and Isabel Athmann have also been working on the Orcas surveys. The Orcas work to date has cost $30,000, Jamie said. Laura noted that this kind of survey information is an opportunity for CAO update work.
There was discussion about DNR’s proposal to trade Mitchell Hill on San Juan Island and Lopez Hill on Lopez Island to a developer for more forested land in eastern WA.
Citizens comments:
Rowann Tallmon suggested that the MRC share a space and coverage with the Beach Watchers at this summer’s County Fair.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 am.
Submitted by Helen Venada
