Minutes
September 15, 2004
Members Present: Laura Arnold, David Hoopes, David Loyd, Dennis Willows
Absent: Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, Mike Bertrand, Brian Calvert, Peter Fromm, Terrie Klinger,
Mary Masters, Kevin Ranker, Kit Rawson, DJ Sessner, Jim Slocomb
Guests: Mark Billington, Ryan Drum, Jody Kennedy, Claudia Mills, Chris Ogle, Josie Scruton, Tillie Scruton
Acting Chair, David Loyd, called the non-quorum meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Room at Islanders Bank Annex, Friday Harbor.
Minutes: Review of the minutes of the 9/1/04 meeting was held over to the next meeting for quorum vote.
MRC Retreat:
Jody asked for member input on when and where to hold the Retreat; she suggested that an official facilitator might be a good idea. She noted that the Land Bank’s annual retreat could be viewed as a model, the difference being that the MRC has more responsibility for public outreach. Jody will request additional input on Retreat plans by email from members not present today; she distributed copies of a draft agenda.
Balloon Release Ban Proposal:
There was discussion about potential harm to the environment, particularly to sea life, from released balloons. Josie Scruton mentioned that she finds balloons (with metallic streamers) every week at Cowlitz Bay on Waldron Island. Jodie added that balloon litter is very common on the Islands and is a regular item on the Friends of the San Juans beach clean-up tally. Some cruise ships are also known to release balloons as a regular practice.
Helen said that she recently spoke with Mark O’Neill, a “certified balloon artist” from Orcas Island. Mark said that the industry has its own proactive council that works on public education efforts to reduce environmental and public harm from balloon release. It was agreed that Mark should be invited to address an MRC meeting, inasmuch as he expressed strong interest in helping the committee to develop a local education program. Suggestions were made that a survey could be done to determine how many balloons are sold on all the Islands to focus such education. Chris Ogle suggested that education would be very useful for young school children; an appealing tag with educational information could be affixed to balloons. Helen also read a City of Olympia Resolution to ban balloon releases; the resolution was spurred by an elementary school class that studied the problem.
Jody distributed copies of a draft BOCC resolution supporting a voluntary protocol governing the recreational release of balloons in San Juan County.
Water Quality Issue:
Vicki Heater will present to the October 6th MRC meeting on the San Juan County Watershed Management Action Plan. Water quality (terrestrial, drinking water in particular) is a large focus of the Plan but some marine components are included.
David Hoopes said that there are groups doing stream sampling in the Islands and the SJC Conservation District’s Watershed Stewards Training Program is happening now (contact Lori Larkin). David added that the Samish are doing a flow study here. It was suggested that water could be tested for the presence of hormone residuals, PCBs, vibrio, fecal coliform; an important question is to find the source of such contamination.
Mark said that nutrient monitoring in Hood Canal is problematic; septic systems are not designed to remove nitrates (although some used back east are). Laura said that water sampling as part of the forage fish project is a good idea.
David Hoopes suggested that llama manure may be contributing to the eelgrass decline in Westcott Bay. Mark said that Sandy Wylie-Echevarria, through a grant, is assessing current presence and size of eelgrass beds; Sandy is interested in a re-seeding program but this would not help to identify and address cause of decline. A survey in Cowlitz Bay suggests that reduced size of beds may not be a reason for the decline. The Friends of the San Juans are extending their survey. Jody said that 6 sites at the Port of Friday Harbor are being monitored for water quality by students.
Dennis Willows said that the Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Points program measures salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and other pollutants. David Hoopes said that the Georgia Strait Alliance is gathering regional data. Jody will be collecting water quality project ideas from members.
MSA Project Outreach:
David Loyd suggested that volunteers participating in citizen-based recovery areas here, e.g. Deer Harbor on Orcas and those on Waldron, could do presentations to the MRC on their work; additional geographically-targeted community-based efforts could be happening in the future, he said. He added that the REED project in Deer Harbor is an impressive example of a community-based effort; David will get a copy of a wall display produced by the project. Jody said this kind of information could be part of the MSA PowerPoint presentation that shows the data we have and what we don’t have; local input would be sought to fill data gaps and expand the database.
Ryan Drum said that Waldron and Deer Harbor volunteers are already highly motivated on marine conservation issues. Receptivity from communities in Stuart, Johns, Decatur, Blakely Islands, etc. to MRC outreach meetings is unknown. Laura said the meetings could be more productive and perhaps better received by these Islands if community action project examples from other areas could be shown. The Blakely Island community has reportedly already held their own meeting on marine conservation.
Mark Billington suggested using the beginning of these meetings to present educational materials on marine issues awareness; experts could be brought in on forage fish, eelgrass, septic system management and impacts, and livestock issues, for example. David Loyd noted that partnering can increase the effectiveness of efforts, i.e. including groups knowledgeable about human use impacts on marine resources and watersheds.
Laura suggested that information relayed in public meetings also raises the level of awareness about marine aspects and impacts for agencies involved in related issues. Both existing printed materials and information on historical perspectives should be included, she said (e.g. the map of land cover as it was in the late 1800’s could be compared to new aerial photographs of the county). Dennis said that along with presenting MRC knowledge, listening to communities about their concerns, priorities, and perspectives could add greatly to what is known. Chris Ogle said that information he heard at the MRC public meeting in Roche Harbor last year on not anchoring a boat in eelgrass areas has been very helpful to him, as have the maps that were distributed.
David Loyd said that reports from COAST’s dead sea bird count should be noted as part of public outreach meetings. Dennis suggested including acknowledgment of the excellent survey and monitoring work done by middle school students this year, the underwater video showing whale carcass disintegration, and possible use of the Labs research boat.
Coordinator’s Report:
Jody said that there is money in this year’s DNR budget for a San Juan County proposal to retrieve 5 or more derelict boats; a 25% match agreement is necessary which could include in-kind matching (e.g. volunteer time) with all local jurisdictions signing on. Jody said that about 16 boats have been identified here, mostly in San Juan Channel and Port of Friday Harbor. The Deer Harbor wooden boat retrieval cost about $3000, was relatively small, and involved several volunteers. David suggested that regional dive shops who are actively using derelict vessels here as dive sites should be contacted.
Discussion on the artificial reefs issue was tabled to a future meeting for Kevin’s input.
Jody asked if members were interested in a one-page annual report (printed and mailed?), which could be part of next year’s outreach report. Content could include who the MRC is, what the committee is doing, statistics, member profiles; members could also submit articles, photographs and other artwork. There was discussion about a focused distribution rather than general mailing. The discussion was tabled to the next meeting.
Jody said there is some action grant money available for a contract to partner with other groups that could help organize the MSA public outreach meetings (e.g. the Friends of the San Juans have focused on nearshore and shorelines and have developed contacts throughout the Islands). There was discussion on the possibilities of partnering with such groups as the Friends or Navigating Our Future for assistance, e.g. by using their mailing lists and offering printed information on their related issues at the outreach meetings. The preference seemed to be to hire a facilitator, such as Carol Marble or the part-time Beach Watchers Coordinator that will be hired by the County Extension Office. David Loyd said there was a good Waldron turnout because of good advance publicity so that people conceived the meeting as “the” event to attend.
Jody briefly outlined the format for public outreach meetings...to include the Power Point presentation, maps showing the resource areas that have been identified, known data and data gaps. Targeted meetings suggested for San Juan Island include the False Bay watershed, Westcott Bay, and Roche Harbor areas, she said; for Orcas Island, Deer Harbor, Orcas, and Eastsound; and for Lopez Island, north and south Lopez. She said the number of meetings is still being hashed out and a fall schedule is being developed.
A November 6th or 13th meeting date was suggested for the Waldron meeting. David Loyd suggested including discussion of community voluntary recovery zones, such as that proposed for the south end of Waldron at Cowlitz Bay, which has a rocky coast line, a long sandy beach with a feeder bluff, a huge eelgrass bed, etc.; the national wildlife refuge in the area has had significant fishing pressure over time and is now a bottomfish “desert,” David said. He noted that Ryan Drum has a diatomology degree and has extensive knowledge of human use impacts on eelgrass decline. Ryan suggested a meeting agenda that would include definitions of various agencies’ responsibility; identification of areas under the most pressure (e.g. from commercial crabbing, urchin and sea cucumber harvesting...mostly from off-island entities); and a look at the impacts and success potential of re-introducing species. Ryan said that community record-keeping (logbook) can denote sightings/hearings of short-lived transient phenomena. Cowlitz Bay is the location of the County dock and the Post Office; it also has a long term population of residents and is the most used water access for people from Waldron. The Waldron community, he said, is looking for enthusiastic MRC support for its community-based efforts.
Josie Scruton said that there is research information on eelgrass and seabed impacts of crabbing traps; the effects of bait (such as to feeding juveniles) is also of interest. Dennis said that natural fish predation has been eliminated. Josie also suggested that a discussion of how to encourage conversation with the tribes, particularly with the Lummi
Nation, would be a perfect focus for the Waldron meeting. There are as many as five U&A tribes fishing in the area. In areas where crabs may have recovered to 100%, crab pots are reportedly still doing damage. Jody asked if the Waldron volunteers might be interested in presenting to other communities.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
Submitted by Helen Venada
