Minutes of the meeting for the

South Fork John Day River Watershed Council

The South Fork John Day River Watershed Council met on the 13th day of February, 2017.

The meeting was called to order at 1:10 pm, by Joanne Keerins at the Izee Schoolhouse in Izee, Oregon.

In attendance for regular session:

Joanne Keerins, Chair / Phil St. Clair, Vice Chair / M.T. Anderson, Treasurer / Kirk Ausland, ODF / Amy Stiner, SFJDWC
Elise Delgado, SFJDWC

Quorum wasnot present because there are currently 7 directors on the board and 3 wererepresented at this meeting. The phone line was non-functioning at this meeting, so electronic consent will be requested.

  1. Action Items
  2. Director & Officer Elections
  3. Scott Hess and 2 vacant Positions: M.T. moves to appoint Scott Hess as Director to the SFJDWC Board, Phil 2nd, all 3 present voted in favor.
  4. Officers: Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary/Treasurer: Phil motioned to maintain Joanne Keerins as Chair, Phil St. Clair as Vice Chare, and M.T. Anderson as Secretary/Treasurer, all 3 present voted in favor.
  5. December Meeting Minutes: M.T. was not present so abstained from motioning. Phil moved to approve the Minutes as presented, Joanne 2nd, all 3 present voted in favor.
  6. January 2017 timesheets: M.T. moved to accept as presented, Phil 2nds, all 3 present voted in favor.
  7. Landowner Agreements: M.T. moved to accept and sign the landowner agreements between the SFJDWC and the IZ Ranch, and St. Clair Ranch, Joanne 2nd with all 3 present voting in favor of the IZ Ranch Agreement and M.T. and Joanne voting in favor of the St. Clair Agreement with Phil abstaining from the vote.
  8. Kendra Smith Consulting Contract for Riparian Revegetation Project: M.T. moved to approve the awarding of the Contract, Joanne 2nd, all 3 present voted in favor.
  9. Katie Boula Cultural Survey Contract for Riparian Revegetation Project: Phil moved to approve the awarding of the Contract, M.T. 2nd, and all 3 present voted in favor.
  10. Council Capacity Application: Phil moved to accept the application as presented, M.T. 2nd, and all 3 present voted in favor.
  1. Agency Reports
  2. Kirk Ausland, Oregon Department of Forestry: For the coming fire season, ODF plans to have 2 engines staged at the Bear Valley Work Center. They will be working to make the work center livable again, and partnering with the USFS. They also have a new unit forester, Ryan Miller.
  1. Staff Report
  2. Overview of River Restoration Northwest Symposium

Well organized, large conference. Some topics of discussion included Climate Change, the effects of Dam Removal, Urban River Restoration, Landscape Architecture, and the Columbia River Treaty.

  1. Ongoing Projects
  2. Aspen Inventory: we are working on getting all of the data input, organized, and into GIS
  3. Riparian Reveg: permitting, agreements, and contracts
  4. Fish Passage Barrier Inventory for Deer Creek: Jeff has finished up his report for Deer Creek and it is now available on our website:
  5. New applications for funding
  6. Bella Vista Foundation: LiDAR Acquisition
  7. RMEF & Burning Foundation: Rosebud Spring Protection
  8. National Historic Publication’s and Records Commission for Historical Monitoring
  9. Collins Foundation: LSF Watershed Assessment
  10. Brainerd Foundation LOIs for Biochar and Natural Resource Camp
  11. Chamber of Commerce for John Day biochar workshop
  12. Lazar LOI for lower SF Aspen Inventory
  13. Reser Family Foundation: Biochar Outreach
  14. Umpqua Bank: Natural Resource Camp
  15. OWRD Water Project Grant: Flat Creek Restoration
  16. Future Project Proposals
  17. Woodward’s South Fork Fire Rehabilitation: Assist in Re-forestation and water developments
  18. Johnson Creek Juniper: Phillip W. Schneider Wildlife Area Juniper Removal
  19. Izee Allotment: Since we will likely not receive funding for the Latigo Ridge fence, I would like to re-apply including the remainder of the scheduled projects.
  20. Latigo Ridge Fence
  21. Latigo Meadows Fence
  22. Alder Spring Water System
  23. Jack Spring Water System
  24. Murderers Creek Allotment Springs
  25. Russ Powell with ODFW has scheduled to fence the critical habitat in Murderer’s Creek, and we would apply to assist in developing upland water sources.
  26. NRCS RCPP: Proposal ideas include;
  27. Juniper removal + biochar
  28. Replacing Culverts and improving road crossings on private lands, with an emphasis on improving the water quality.
  29. Caribou Pasture Enhancements
  30. Develop 2-3 spring sites with two tanks per site in Caribou.
  31. Remove juniper and thick stands of ponderosa pine to enhance water flow.
  32. This watershed drains into Big Flat, which then flows into the South Fork.
  33. This project would develop water for livestock and wildlife, clean up and increase hydrology in a watershed that produces large volumes of water that directly affect the South Fork and on downstream.
  1. Results of Fall OWEB Applications

Application # / Application Name / RRT Recommendation / RRT Ranking / App Type
217-6062 / SFJD Coordinated Resource Mgmt Planning / Fund / 3 of 5 / TA
217-6036 / Flat Creek Juniper Removal / Fund / 12 of 22 / Restoration
217-6055 / Kee Property Restoration / Fund / 14 of 22 / Restoration
217-6035 / Izee Allotment Improvements 2017 / Fund / 20 of 22 / Restoration

According to Sue Greer, funding will be extremely challenging, and the funding probably won’t make it too far down the line.

  1. Discussion
  2. Council Self Evaluation
  3. 501 c3 designation: The Directors present would like to delay this discussion until the March meeting, when more Directors have had a chance to comment and be present for discussion.
  4. OWEB Capacity Funding, 2017-2019: OWEB anticipates increased capacity funding for the 2017-2019 biennium
  5. NRCS Forestry Priority for the Izee area in 2019. Kirk Ausland and Amy are working with Lorraine at NRCS to try to secure funding to provide assistance to landowners for Forestry practices such as; pre-commercial thinning, Slash treatment, Fuel break, tree pruning, removal of juniper from forested areas, removal of conifer from Aspen. The intent of the funding is to create a defensible buffer between the public/private interface.
  6. Executive Session
  1. Employee Reviews
  1. Coming Up
  2. February 22nd, 4:00 pm, John Day Airport: Public hearing for DIV 93 rules governing the development of a new general permit for certain activities promoting waterway-floodplain connectivity 2/22 @ 4pm
  3. February 23rd, John Day Basin Partnership Full Partnership Meeting
  4. March 1st, 9:15 am, Annual Report to County Court
  5. March 7th, JDU and SR BasinLivestock Water Suite of Practices JAA One-Day Training, Pendleton
  6. Joanne Keerins Adjourned the meeting at 3:20 pm, Next meeting date: March 13th, 2017.