WRIA 14 PLANNING UNIT MEETING

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

2:30-4:30 p.m.

Shelton Civic Center

Shelton, WA

Meeting Summary

Attendance:

Government Members Present:

Jeanne Kinney, Thurston County

Diane Marcus-Jones, Bob Fink  & Herb Baze, Mason Co.

Theresa Parsons, City of Shelton

John Konovksy, Squaxin Tribe

Phil Wiatrak, Dept. of Ecology

Dick Wilson, Mason County PUD # 1
 

Government Members Absent:

none

  

Other Planning Unit Members Present:

  

Constance Ibsen, LHCWIC

Bob Simmons & Marilyn Brennan, WSU

Others Present:

  

Terra Hegy, WDFW

Susan Gulick, Technical Project Mgr/Facilitator

1.      Instream Flow Grant

q      The PU made two final changes to the NW Land & Water contract amendment.  Susan will ensure that the consultant makes the changes and will forward the contract to Bob F. for signature.

q      Phil is completing the grant amendments to the instream flow grant and the watershed planning grant.

  q      The two grant amendments and the NW Land & Water Contract amendment will be sent to the BOCC as a package for signature, hopefully within the next two weeks.

  2.      Watershed Plan

q      The target date for PU adoption of the Watershed Plan is the end of 2005.

q      The PU agreed that the primary audience for the plan is the stakeholders, which includes members of the public who are affected by the plan as well as decision-makers/policy makers at all levels (tribal, state, local, etc.).  Thus, the plan should be written in language non-technical persons can understand and the content and organization should be useful to decision-makers.

q      The PU identified the following documents they think should be specifically referenced or appended to the plan: o       Technical Assessment (appendix)

o       Water Quality Monitoring Plan (appendix)

o       NW Land & Water Report (appendix)

o       Storage Report (appendix)

o       Goldsborough Creek Temperature Study (appendix)

o       Limiting Factors Analysis (referenced)

o       Ecology TMDL Studies (referenced)

o       Near-shore Studies (referenced)

q      In general, the PU wants to include all the reports prepared with watershed planning money as appendices and simply reference the other reports.

q      The habitat section of the plan should be a summary of what’s been done, but should not be a significant portion of the plan; it should refer to other habitat and recovery plans for the WRIA.

3.      Budget Review

q      The PU reviewed the revised budget projections.

q      Phil mentioned that it may be possible to install permanent stream gauges on some streams with watershed planning money.  As soon as Ecology makes a final determination on this Phil will let us know. 

q      The PU agreed that if this possibility becomes a real option it will need to discuss the trade-offs between stream gauges, optional tasks for the plan writer, and the optional tasks in the NWL&W contract.  There may be money for some of these tasks but not all.

q      The TC would need to have a technical discussion with Ecology on the type of gauges, maintenance, etc. before final decisions are made.

4.      Project Ideas for the Terry Husseman Grant

q Ecology is soliciting proposals for projects to be funded by the Terry Husseman grant.  Projects must be related to environmental restoration and enhancement projects, and grants are limited to $50,000.

q      The applications are very simple and are due to Phil by June 25th.

q      PU members should bring ideas to the next TC meeting on June 9th for discussion.  We will get PU approval of the applications at the June 23rd meeting so Phil can submit the applications on the 25th.

5.      Updates

q      The contract for the Goldsborough Creek Temperature Study has been signed; the Tribe still needs a MOU with the County to transfer the watershed planning money to the Tribe.

q      The storage grant is in process; there do not appear to be any glitches.

6.      Public Involvement

q      The newsletter will be out shortly.

q      Marilyn is working on an article for the Journal on the Hydro-geo project; this will be printed once the contract is signed.

7.      Joint Meeting with WRIAs 15, 16, & 17

q      The joint meeting on Hood Canal with the other Hood Canal WRIAs is scheduled for Thursday, June 10th from 2-5 pm in Port Orchard.  Susan will send out an agenda with the specific meeting location.

8.      Upcoming Meetings

q      The next TC meeting will be on Wednesday, June 9th from 10-12 at the Shelton Civic Center.

q      The next PU meeting will be on Wednesday, June 23rd from 2:30-4:30 at the Shelton Civic Center.