Minutes
September 21, 2005
Members Present: Laura Arnold, Mike Bertrand, Michael Durland, David Loyd, Mary Masters,
Victoria Parker, Joy Sevier, Terrie Klinger, Jonathan White, Tina Whitman
Staff: Jody Kennedy, Barbara Rosenkotter, Helen Venada
Absent: Brian Calvert, (Alan) Skeet Lowe, Kit Rawson, Jim Slocomb, Dennis Willows
Guests: Joel Breems, Shannon Davis, Phil Green, Kari Koski, Rowann Tollman
Vice Chair Mary Masters called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Room at Islanders Bank Annex, Friday Harbor.
David Loyd, who took the ferry to be at today’s meeting, expressed his appreciation for people from islands other than San Juan who made the effort to come to MRC meetings.
Minutes:
Minutes of the 9/7/05 meeting were approved with Mary’s emailed revisions.
Action items:
MRC position opening:
Motion: Victoria moved, and Laura seconded, that the MRC send a request to the BOCC that they invite the new Director of the Friday Harbor Labs, Ken Stiebens, to apply for MRC membership. The motion passed unanimously.
Comments on the Rosario Resort Master Plan DEIS:
Mary said that Orcas Island residents have emailed her that they are not happy with the direction the Rosario Resort Master Plan is taking, noting that the proposed development will impact the shoreline. She distributed copies of a draft memo to Matt Zybas, CD&PD Interim Director, from the MRC with comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). There was discussion on the draft and the revision was made that the MRC chair, Kit Rawson, should be the primary MRC contact.
Motion: David moved, and Tina seconded, that the memo be sent, with the above revision. The motion passed unanimously.
Ranking Proposals for the Salmon Recovery Funding Board:
Mary asked if any members in attendance had conflicts of interest in this ranking process; Tina declared a conflict and recused herself. Both Jonathan and Victoria noted their respective potential conflicts and asked if anyone objected to their participation; after committee consideration, it was agreed that there was no conflict for either of them.
Terrie requested a brief recap of both STAG and MRC concerns and comments on the proposals. Barbara obliged with a summary of comments on each proposed project. She also explained that there had been prior MRC agreement that the projects most important for funding in San Juan County should be the ones put forth. Barbara indicated that there is a set amount of SRFB funding for each watershed and the estimated funds for San Juan County will be able to fund approximately $200,000 worth of projects; another competitive SRFB funding process will be used to fund other proposals. Barbara said that SRFB is interested in how well a project fits a particular watershed’s strategy priorities.
The scoring criteria for MRC’s ranking of socio-economic impacts, today’s action, are as follows: community support; effective use of matching funds, least cost alternative, secondary community benefit, and community education and outreach potential. Each member then commented and scored each proposal based on the above scoring criteria. Out of a possible score of 10, the total weighted scores for the proposals were as follows:
Thatcher Bay Nearshore Restoration and Assessment Design 5.14
Assessment and Protection of Kelp in San Juan County 8.31
San Juan County Salmon Habitat Protection Blueprint 6,81
Freshwater Quality: Status and Protection Requirements 4.50
Genetic Stock Identification of San Juan Juvenile Salmon 7.01
Committee discussion followed. It was noted that the MRC’s top two matched STAG’s top two. David said there is a simple, but not easy, question to consider: What benefits salmon (particularly juveniles) most? He said that salmon are caught in the San Juan Islands, there is a small overwintering, and they feed here all summer. Therefore, David added, there is a huge impact here on Fraser River juveniles, a more major impact on that run than in any other county. Laura said that the top three rated proposals do benefit juvenile salmon. Victoria noted that both the technical and socio-economic scoring brought forth similar concerns. Terrie said that the top two proposals both represent research and are not action-based. Laura said that SJC strategy clearly says that, before we get very far along in protection or restoration, filling in data gaps has high value here. Barbara said that the top three proposals are likely to be funded. Laura added that the bottom line is how the projects fit into the SRFB template; she reiterated that SJC’s mantra is “nearshore.”
Motion: David moved, and Jonathan seconded, that the MRC endorse the five projects and adopt today’s ranking. The motion passed unanimously.
Barbara’s work was applauded, particularly her streamlining of the process.
There was discussion about whether San Juan County should submit all five proposals. Barbara said that she will know in November whether the water quality proposal would be identified as a project of concern at the state level. David pointed out that over the entire history of the SJC MRC water quality has not been grasped as the important issue it is. Barbara said that Hilary Culverwell has said that PSAT will likely help look for funding for a water quality project here. Overall, the MRC agreed that Russel’s water quality project is important work but it appears to not be a good it for SRFB funding. The MRC will support helping Russel pursue other funding for the water quality project. Barbara will write up a narrative for the November presentation explaining San Juan County’s position on the water quality proposal.
Motion: Terrie moved, and Jonathan seconded, that the MRC put the top four proposals forward to SRFB. The motion passed unanimously.
David said that, in terms of water quality, there is a concern over mercury residual from canning operations. Terrie suggested that interested parties work with Russel Barsh on this. Jody said that the MRC could write a letter of support for Russel’s project.
Barbara said that the strategy project team will begin their updating in October. She asked if any MRC members wanted to participate. David and Joel expressed interest and it was suggested that Kit also participate.
Members’ reports:
Terrie reported on a recent meeting in Washington, D.C. that she and 1200 others participated in, along with four Secretaries of State, representatives from the Park Service, NOAA, EPA Region 10, coastal and inland
tribes, other terrestrial and marine agencies; Washington state was well represented, she noted. The “cooperative conservation,” a concept promoted by the Council of Environmental Quality. Terrie said there was a lot of good exchange and products at the meeting. The concern among some skeptical people is that cooperative conservation may be a way of vacating existing protection regulation, under the ESA, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, etc. The point was made, Terrie said, that local action that takes place often comes in response to regulation (i.e. as regulations are imposed some people will take proactive measures); in the absence of such regulation people would likely not volunteer to do that. Regulation, she said, often exhorts action. Terrie suggested that the MRC keep a heads up on this issue and that the NWSC could probably keep better track of it. She added that people here should look for local signs of the erosion of environmental regulation.
Citizen Comments:
Kari announced that there will be a bird lecture sponsored by the Audubon Society and The Whale Museum this weekend. She added that the Watchable Wildlife Conference will be held in Friday Harbor on Sept. 28th and 29th, one topic being the ferry as a viewing corridor.
Shannon said that Fred Felleman will do a presentation on the status of Cherry Point herring at the Friday Harbor Grange on Wednesday September 28th and at the Orcas Senior Center on the 29th. This will be the first free public lecture in this year’s series on local species and habitats whose survival is currently threatened,; the series, sponsored by the Friends of the San Juans, will include slides and presentations by expert speakers.
MSA Anniversary Celebration:
Victoria said that there have been 25 inquiries to the MSA Anniversary Event Project Manager position announcement in the paper.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 am.
Submitted by Helen Venada
