Minutes
November 1, 2006
Members Present: Laura Arnold, Ron Henrickson, David Loyd, Mary Masters, Kit Rawson, Howie Rosenfeld, Jim Slocomb, Jonathan White, Tina Whitman
Absent: Mike Ahrenius, Michael Durland, Terrie Klinger, Skeet Lowe, Ken Sebens, Joy Sevier
Staff: Shireene Hale, Barbara Rosenkotter, Helen Venada
Guests: Susan Key, Kari Koski, Barbara Marrett, Kevin Ranker, Rowann Tallmon
Chair Kit Rawson called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Room at Islanders Bank Annex, Friday Harbor. Kit reminded everyone of the importance of attending the NWSC training conference at Rosario Resort this weekend.
Citizen comments:
County Councilman Kevin Ranker said that Community Trade and Economic Development (CTED) has awarded an $84,000 grant to a partnership of Skagit, Island, Whatcom, and San Juan Counties for developing and marketing the marine industry in the San Juan Archipelago. A 2004 report by the SJC Economic Development Council (EDC) inventoried the marine industry here and this grant, Kevin said, is the next step of providing the marketing tools. The EDC is not yet a partner in the project, he said. Kevin added that Ralph Hahn has a copy of the EDC report and inventory.
Minutes:
Minutes of the 10/18/06 meeting were approved as read.
San Juan Initiative policy leadership group:
Kit said that Carol McIlroy called to remind the MRC that recommendations for the composition of the San Juan Initiative policy leadership group are due; he added that Carol expressed interest in which entities should be represented, rather than which individuals should be appointed. Kevin said that this group will act as the governing body of the Initiative and will set planning and management strategies as well as give policy direction to staff. He added that, along with the MRC, groups likely to be sugggested for representation are the Board of Realtors, Builders Association, SJC Water Resources Committee, the Agricultural Resources Committee, Conservation District, Land Bank, and the Port of Friday Harbor, the Town of Friday Harbor, fishermen, UW Marine Labs, state agencies and the tribes...for a total of around 17 members. The Council has already invited DNR, DOE, WDFW, the Lummi tribe and the Tulalip tribe to participate.
Members agreed that the MRC should be represented on the policy leadership group. Suggestions were made that a federal agency, such as NOAA or the USFWS, be included to address issues such as salmon, whales, endangered species; other ideas included marine and other tourism industry, school districts, the federal DOT, large commercial landowners (such as Roche Harbor Resort). There was consensus that it is important to connect shoreline and upland issues, to address marine transportation issues, and to attempt to have representatives from all the islands. MRC recommendations will be needed before the next regular meeting; There was consensus from the Committee for Kit to send this MRC list to Carol within the next few days.
Transborder agreement:
Laura reported that the MRC is on the November 14th County Council agenda. The Council, she
said, accepted MRC’s offer to recommend for its review revisions to the 1998 Transborder Cooperation Agreement and the 2000 Transborder Marine Protection Protocol Agreement.
Laura distributed copies of a draft MRC memo to the County Council that includes background information and a proposal for the Council to take to the joint meeting in December with Islands Trust of British Columbia, Canada. The draft proposal describes an opportunity for the two governments to explore how a new action plan might be developed for the benefit of both sides of the border. The memo proposal gives steps to be introduced at the December meeting: to share preliminary information on San Juan County’s marine stewardship program (the MSA) and on current marine area planning activities in the Islands Trust area leading to an updated plan and follow up at the joint meeting in June 2007. The MRC could be formally authorized by the Council to facilitate communications over the first half of 2007 from government to government and community to community about marine stewardship in the transborder region. The MRC would take these steps within its approved 2007 budget and would report results.
Motion: Jim moved, and David seconded, that the memo be approved and forwarded. Discussion followed, with Laura explaining that the Council should contemplate updating the two agreements: the 1998 Agreement addresses a host of issues, she said, and was based on a 1995 conference that identified common issues for ongoing collaboration that includes infrastructure, marine issues, and economics. She added that the 2000 Protocol Agreement was developed specifically for marine protection. The vote was unanimously in favor of moving the memo forward.
Experimental Docks/Floats in San Juan County:
Tina circulated copies of a draft from the MRC to the County Council, requesting action to address the experimental moorage/float policy being piloted by WDFW (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife) through its Hydraulic Project process in San Juan County. The draft recommends that the program be ended, stating that it conflicts with local and state eelgrass protection policies and that alternative methods exist to gain clearer information and better resource protection.
Kevin suggested that the draft to the Council have more detail to strongly express concerns; other edits were agreed upon and the revised memo will be forwarded to the Council with the recommendation that a letter be sent to Jeff Koenings, Director of WDFW, with copies to the County Administrator and the Prosecuting Attorney.
100% of the docks permitted under this program are in San Juan County, long-term monitoring strategy is incomplete, and no follow up action is recommended when experimental dock designs are shown not to be effective.. Kevin suggested that the draft to the Council have more detail to strongly express concerns; other edits were agreed upon and the revised memo will be forwarded to the Council with the recommendation that a letter be sent to Jeff Koenigs, Director of WDFW, with copies to the County Administrator and the Prosecuting Attorney. The MRC will include discussion of this draft in their presentation to the Council at its November 14th meeting.
Kevin said that the Council has sent out a letter to all departments requiring that all meeting-related materials be received in the Council’s office two weeks before presenting to a scheduled meeting.
Tina will email a revised draft of the memo tonight to members for their review and will submit the final to Shireene who will get it the Council in time to meet their new requirement. It was suggested that MRC members be mailed a copy of the content of the Council presentation for the14th.
Critical Areas Ordinance update:
Shireene said that the CAO review committee is being put together, with MRC representation; there will likely be a conference call or meeting twice a month for the near future. Laura suggested that UW MRC
students could help mine existing regulations and policies.
Motion: Jim proposed, and David seconded, that the budgeted $5,000 be used to contract with Laura, as allowed by the County, as temporary compensation for filling a vacant staff role. Jim noted that the MRC has paid members in the past for similar work efforts. The motion passed, with Laura abstaining.
Water Quality Research Needs Workshop:
Shireene announced that the workshop, to be held on November 15th in Seattle, is requesting MRC expertise and experience to identify priority threats and research needs related to pathogens, biotoxins, and water quality indicators. She asked that members email her their thoughts. Kit said comments to the NWSC should emphasize that water quality is very important to the MRC.
There was some discussion regarding how the strategies list could be reorganized to show a clearer relationship between the strategies, threats, and the original biodiversity and socioeconomic targets. Tina will take the first shot at this reorganization..
MRC Retreat:
Kit announced that there will be a professional facilitator for the MRC Retreat on the evening November 16th and all day the 17th at the Deer Harbor Inn; he strongly encouraged full MRC attendance.
MSA Strategies Work Session:
Kit presented an overview of the October 24th strategies workshop for the Marine Stewardship Area (MSA) plan.. Copies of the draft MSA strategies from that meeting were distributed; the strategies need to be approved at the next MRC meeting and several MRC will meet informally with Pete Rose and Ron Hendrickson, to discuss the strategies in the context of the goals of the stewardship area. The draft strategies list will be presented for public review and comment over the next several months.
Based on today’s work session, Tina will revise the draft MSA strategies under EPA’s conservation target benchmarks.
SRFB Round 7 proposals:
Barbara said that, in conjunction with Shared Strategy, through the Puget Sound Partnership for Salmon, a capital projects request is going to the Governor today; she added that she was asked to put together a $5 million list and a $10 million list of capital projects. Barbara explained that San Juan County could receive about $4 million out of the $10 million state allocation for capital projects (restoration) for the next 3 years to implement the salmon recovery plan. She will also be working on putting together a list of non-capital projects and looking for funding for them. Kit admonished that the MRC keep an eye on the process.
Copies were distributed of feedback from the SRFB Review Panel on two proposals identified as “Projects of Concern” (POC). Barbara explained that five proposals were originally submitted and all were re-written to address eligibility issues (one proposal was withdrawn). She met with SRFB’s review panel to try to make the case for the POC’s, since all of the proposals from San Juan County, except the WA Trout project, had been identified as such. The POC issue needs to be resolved by November 14th. Barbara said that we seem to be having policy and strategy questions/issues with the Review Panel (e.g. the panel feels that past assessments done here should be sufficient to do
restoration projects) and she believes the only way to resolve the policy issue is to take it to the SRFB meeting in December, supporting the projects as originally proposed. This issue has also been raised at the Shared Strategy level, Barbara added.
Kit said that since the original issue is that the San Juan Islands are important for salmon, the MRC has to advocate for our part in the salmon recovery plan, whether it be assessment, restoration, or protection projects.
Motion: Tina moved, and David seconded, that a delegation from San Juan County do a presentation to SRFB on the policy issue, advocating for our original process. The motion passed unanimously.
Kit said that Fayette Krause reported that The Nature Conservancy has formally proposed to WDFW a salmon fishing closure for Yellow-Low Island Reserve.
Barbara Marrett said that she is attending today’s meeting in Mike Ahrenius’s place. He is expected to submit his resignation and Barbara will send her application to the County Council for appointment as an MRC member.
Next meeting: The next regularly-scheduled MRC meeting will be Wednesday, November 15th, from 8:30–10:30 AM at the Islanders Bank Community Room in Friday Harbor.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
Submitted by Helen Venada
