Minutes
October 18, 2006
Members Present: Laura Arnold, Michael Durland, Ron Henrickson, Skeet Lowe, David Loyd, Mary Masters, Kit Rawson, Howie Rosenfeld, Ken Sebens, , Jonathan White, Tina Whitman
Absent: Mike Ahrenius, Terrie Klinger, Joy Sevier, Jim Slocomb
Staff: Shireene Hale, Jody Kennedy, Barbara Rosenkotter, Helen Venada
Guests: Russel Barsh, Mark Billington, Shannon Davis, Eric Eisenhardt, Kat Fennel,
Phil Green, Ralph Hahn, Kari Koski, Fayette Krause, Rowann Tallmon, Bob Warinner, Chris Wilke, Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria, Ron Zee
Presenters: Tina Whitman, Friends of the San Juans (FOSJ)
Autumn Salamack, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation
Chair Kit Rawson called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Room at Islanders Bank Annex, Friday Harbor.
Citizen comments:
Chris Wilke of Puget Soundkeepers Alliance introduced himself. He said he’s working on certifying marinas in the San Juan Islands as Clean Marinas, a three-way statewide partnership of government, business, and non-profits. The Clean Marina project is active in 22 other states. Chris makes site visits to help marinas complete a questionnaire/checklist for them to receive the certification; 20 marinas in the state have been certified as Clean Marinas to date. Chris is now working with the Port of Friday Harbor, Deer Harbor Marina, and Cayou Quay Marina and hopes to include Roche Harbor Marina in the near future under a Puget Sound Action Team grant that includes Island and Skagit County marinas as well. He explained that marinas have issues with sewage, fuel/oil spills, boat maintenance, etc. and are being recognized for taking proactive steps in these areas. Chris asked that members refer local marina managers to the effort’s website: http://www.cleanmarinawashington.org
Tina Whitman said that Friends of the San Juans (FOSJ) is co-sponsoring a 4-credit realtors’ workshop with the Orcas Island Realtors Association and the County on the subject of water (10/27 at the Orcas Center). The workshop is open to everyone and will include panels on stormwater, wastewater, and fresh water resources.
Tina Wyllie-Echeverria reported on the results of a three-year study of docks over eelgrass beds. She said that no net loss was reported, that some loss could be mitigated by re-growth but not at the original density. The study is published on Ecological Engineering’s webpage.
Barbara said that abstracts for the 2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference (March 26-29th in Vancouver, B.C.) are due November 1st. Jody said that the she has been working with MRC partners to draft an abstract on the 5-S process; she will send the draft to members before the next MRC meeting. Jody added that Jeff Demuth will also submit an abstract on the vessel survey; he will be presenting on his work to the MRC in November.
Minutes:
Minutes of the 10/4/06 meeting were approved as read by unanimous vote.
Nearshore Impact Assessment and the Soft Shore Restoration Blueprint:
Tina Whitman presented a report on FOSJ’s 2006 nearshore habitat project which builds on the past forage fish and eelgrass habitat assessment work. The data from the earlier studies is being used in different applications, Tina said. The first study was an assessment of county impacts (e.g. from roads, structures) and the second project looked at other known armorings (e.g. bulkheads, boat ramps, docks, roads, pollution, vegetation removal). The purpose is to inform and improve project management and planning efforts by county departments and to identify opportunities for public protection and restoration projects.
Results of the initial assessment, using simple GIS overlays:
• San Juan County owns 7 parcels with armoring (5 of which are on documented surf smelt spawning beaches);
• 8 miles of county roads are located along forage fish spawning beaches;
• 99% of stormwater outfalls in the county drain on to beaches with eelgrass communities and 62% of the outfalls drain on to documented forage fish spawning beaches; some erosion is associated with the outfalls;
• The county owns or manages 8 docks within county parks, managed by the Public Works Department; 50% of these are located on documented forage fish beaches and 100% are located on eelgrass habitat areas;
• The county owns or manages 7 improved boat ramps; 3 of the 7 are located on documented forage fish beaches all are located on suitable eelgrass habitat.
Primary areas of impact are Eastsound, West Sound, Blind Bay, Barlow Bay, Mackaye Harbor, Fisherman Bay. The largest impact comes from the county road system and associated hardening and stormwater outfalls. Tina said that there is great opportunity to develop demonstration projects and interpretive centers in county parks. Protection of healthy nearshore marine habitat, she said, has been identified as key to salmon recovery. Coastal Geological Services and FOSJ are looking at the most suitable places to remove armoring, etc.; FEMA could help pay for some of the restoration.
The Soft Shore Restoration Blueprint includes forage fish habitat restoration prioritization for San Juan County. Biological data is being integrated with coastal process analyses and with landowner engagement (e.g. the Land Bank is removing the old Deer Harbor swimming Pool on its property).
Tina said that 181 beach segments with 10 miles of county roads and over 100 individual bulkhead sites were included in the study, using GIS data, aerial photography, site visits to groundtruth data, and historic photographs. 51 feasible sites were identified for full analysis in the first tier prioritization. Landowners were mailed stewardship guides and shoreline erosion surveys (113 out of 260 were completed). Skeet Lowe asked if places suitable for adding bulkheads were also identified; Tina said that approach was not taken in this study. The highest rated segments for restoration included 16 on Lopez, 16 on Orcas, 7 on Shaw, 15 on San Juan; 10 of the top 14 scored sites were beaches modified by roads and, Tina said, full restoration often requires road relocation. Areas with enhancement opportunities (beach nourishment) were also evaluated. Tina said lots of creosoted structures are present in the areas surveyed, with opportunities for removal. There are also beaches where yard debris has been used for bank stabilization.
Funding for this grant came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Russell Family Foundation. Next steps include sharing results with landowners including a list of potential follow-up projects, doing more one-on-one outreach, and securing funding for implementation. Tina pointed out that the prioritization list is in the salmon recovery queue. Barbara added that this project is timely since the Shared Strategy partners have been asked to put together lists of potential projects for a funding request to be submitted to the Governor in early November. Russel Barsh suggested that additional weighting for biological impacts to salmon could be done in future ranking of beaches. He added that structures can act as magnets for contaminants, such as organochlorines and creosote breakdown components impounded by shoreline structures; Russel said that chemical assessments are an important component of future studies. There was discussion about scheduling pre- and post-project monitoring. The pdf reports are available at http://www.sanjuans.org.
New Community Salmon Fund Grant:
Autumn Salamack distributed information on the new community funding opportunity from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. She explained that the grants program is for small scale restoration projects up to $50,000 with a 50% required match; the projects must be on private properties that impact salmon habitat and that will serve as demonstration projects. The goal of the Fund is to increase habitat benefits in the watershed and to stimulate more ongoing community engagement. Autumn said it is up to the local Lead Entity to adapt the Request for Proposals to local needs. Barbara added that some of the technical advisory group (TAG) members have volunteered to evaluate proposals. There was discussion on whether to then submit the proposals to MRC for review or to have the TAG and the Lead Entity Coordinator make the final decision. The consensus was to follow the Klickitat model in which the TAG and then the citizens group did the review since both the science and community components are important. Proposals are due in February.
Northwest Straits Commission representative:
Jonathan White was appointed as the new NWSC representative. Kit will act as alternate unless the to-be-hired MRC Coordinator is so appointed. The educational value of members’ attending NWSC meetings was noted.
NWSC Report:
Jonathan attended the meeting on Whidbey Island. The Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference in March was a topic of discussion. An update to the creosote project at Dungeness Spit received good local press coverage; the next areas for removal are Blake Island, American Camp and Jetty Island. The derelict fishing gear removal project concept has been exported across the country and internationally, Jonathan said, and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary is being included. There has been research on the life cycle of derelict nets.
Transborder Agreement:
Laura said the County Council met recently with the Islands Trust Council with some talk of updating the transborder marine protection action plan of 2002. The Council has requested MRC comments and suggestions for an update. Laura said the MRC is on the Council’s November14th agenda to promote re-engagement as a means to foster the MSA concept.
Executive Subcommittee report:
Laura said the RFP for the MSA contractor position is ready to go. She reported that Nancy Larsen is continuing with her “local knowledge” interviews and has developed a release form; she will have a product in November. Today’s meeting of the subcommittee following this meeting will discuss the agenda and other details of the annual retreat. Jody suggested the topic of how to get the outreach subcommittee active again. Laura asked if the new MRC resolution and by-laws have been presented to the County Council; Shireene will research. Barbara suggested that there be strong MRC presence at the Council budget discussion meeting on Tuesday, October 31st at 2:45 pm.
Policy Subcommittee report:
Tina said that Shireene facilitated the scheduing of a meeting with county planning staff; a fact-finding discussion on marine protection within the Critical Areas Ordinance update will be held tomorrow morning at CDPD. Tina commented on last year’s mooring buoy assessment and the experimental docks policy being used in San Juan County; she said the permit issued a year ago doesn’t meet County code. Tina said that it is hard to assess the impacts of permanent structures on private property. She and Tina Wyllie-Echeverria are looking at the potential of using modeling with different types of grate structure and lights.
Tina said the County Council wants the MRC to weigh in on the issue and she will email to members
the letter she has drafted, which will be reviewed at the next MRC meeting. Tina Wyllie-Echeverria said that there was no input into the design of the first project. Laura suggested that the focus of the letter be on the practice of permitting experimental dock design rather than on the policy, noting that there are alternative ways to get actual research information, not mitigation. She recommended that the Council be asked to submit a letter to WDFW stating that this is a problem in San Juan County and the practice should not be permitted here (eventually put into the Code as the CAO is updated).
MRC Coordinator’s report:
Jody said that the MSA all-day work session to finalize the draft list of strategies will be held on October 24th in Friday Harbor, 9:30 am in Key Bank. The Nature Conservancy will facilitate and MRC attendance is required.
The MRC annual retreat is scheduled for the evening of November16th and the day of the17th at the Deer Harbor Inn.
Barbara said that the salmon core group and other interested parties will meet Monday from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm at the Labs Commons to progress from planning of salmon recovery to implementation.
There has been a request from Eric Beamer for the MRC to provide a letter of support for the Origin of Juvenile Salmon in North Puget Sound research. There was consensus that since the MRC approved last year’s research, the draft support letter should be approved for Kit’s signature.
Barbara said that project proponents for Round 7 will be presenting their updates today.
Citizens comments:
Kari Koski said she’ll be scheduling an update presentation to the MRC on the orca recovery plan. NOAA is working on a critical habitat plan and the recovery plan and proposed rulemaking changes will be addressed later. Kari reported that a potentially precedent-setting case involving intentional reckless boating behavior (by a private boat) and federal harassment of whales has been filed in San Juan County courts.
Russel said that the Navy has issued an RFP for a $16 million acoustic study in Puget Sound to look at vessel traffic/noise. There was discussion on potential noise impacts from tidal energy projects.
Kit said that Daryl Williams of the Tulalip Tribes has put up a webpage (www.pstidalenergy.org) which contains lots of information on the tidal energy projects proposed in Puget Sound as well as some good general research information on tidal energy projects in other places.
Kat Fennel said that the state Department of Ecology is considering the possibility of not requiring water rights permits for San Juan County shoreline property owners who want to collect rainwater. A permit is required for projects with over 10,000 gallons of storage, approved for household use, not irrigation. A decision will be made early next year. It was suggested that Vicki Heater be invited to do a presentation on the issue of rainwater catchment, possibly in a joint meeting with the Water Resources Committee.
Next meeting: The next regularly-scheduled MRC meeting will be Wednesday, November 1st, from 8:30–10:30 AM at the Islanders Bank Community Room in Friday Harbor.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 a.m.
Submitted by Helen Venada
