CONSERVATION DISTRICTS
Tribal Outreach Task Force Conference Call Meeting Notes
February 28, 2014
11:00 a.m.
Present:
Tanna Engdahl, Chair, Clark CD
Lynn Engdahl, Clark CD
Jim Peters, Chair, WSCC
Larry Davis, Member, WSCC
Roylene Rides at the Door, State Conservationist, NRCS
Robin Slate, NRCS
Monte Marti, District Manager, Snohomish CD
Michael Crowder, WACD National Director
Kathy Whalen, District Administrator, Thurston CD and WADE President
Dave Vogel, WACD Executive Director
Deb Gregory, WACD Administrative Coordinator
Chair Tanna Engdahl opened the meeting at 11:05 a.m.
Tanna introduced and welcomed Michael Crowder as the newest member of the Task Force. Michael committed to report on the TOTF’s activities at each NACD meeting he attends.
Dave Vogel recapped the status of the letters that were mailed to NW Indian Tribes extending an invitation to each to join our tribal outreach and partnership-building initiative. Dave worked with Robin Slate to ensure we had the right list of Tribes to send the letters to. At the same time, Dave Vogel sent a copy of the letter to each of the respective conservation districts asking that the supervisors and/or managers hand-deliver the letter to their area Tribe to help reinforce (1) they received the letter and (2) to assist them in their own outreach efforts with the Tribe(s) or to begin an outreach locally.
Dave V. met with the Puget Sound District Caucus on Monday, February 24 and received positive feedback from the attending districts. Delivery is working well and districts are doing this as their schedule allows and as they have occasion to. So far, we’ve not received any written response back. Tanna indicated we probably would not but that she and Lynn are making field tours of the Tribes to reinforce what WACD is doing. She also noted that NRCS is doing something similar with their Tribal Advisory Committee. Tanna thanked everyone on the task force who participated in helping prepare the letters.
Jim Peters asked if the letters were copied to the Natural Resources Directors. They were not, and Jim suggested that the local conservation district give consideration to making sure that a copy is given to those directors which can sometimes help speed the process. Tanna agreed and believes this is a very good suggestion. She noted this is the start of a continuing process.
Following distribution of the letters, Craig Nelson had suggested that letters be sent to all 29 Tribes in the state, not just in the NW area. Dave V. asked the task force to consider how we can get this done with the remaining Tribes in the state and whether we should use the same letter or develop something slightly different. Larry Davis agreed that we should send the same letter to the remaining Tribes. Tanna agreed so that we are delivering the same message to all.
Action: Letters will be prepared and mailed to the remaining Tribes under Alan Stromberger’s and Tanna’s signatures.
Tanna and Dave V. have discussed creating a new award category for CD/Tribal Partnerships for presentation at WACD’s annual meetings beginning with 2014. If the task force agrees to move forward with this, a small core group of task force members could be appointed to work on developing nomination and selection criteria for the award and make a recommendation to WACD leadership to do such an award on an annual basis.
Tanna appointed a core group to work on establishing criteria for the task force’s review and approval. Once approved, a recommendation will be made to WACD’s leadership to include this new award and criteria in the Awards Program Guidelines.
Dave V. believes that WACD leadership would be very pleased to add such an award and further, that the TOTF be the selection body for each year’s award.
Tanna appointed a core group as follows:
- Larry Davis, Lead
- Lynn Engdahl
- Mike Stamon
- Craig Nelson
Larry will call the group together to begin the task utilizing conference calls to complete the task.
Roylene joined the call and provided an update on a meeting she attended with the Treaty Rights at Risk group on 2/19/14. Roylene noted that this task force’s efforts are extremely important. The more we can build relationships from the bottom up, not the top down, the better. There are some great efforts going on in Snohomish with the Tulalips and in Yakima with the Yakama Nation. Roylene noted that there will always be those few, and she emphasized few, Tribes that may not want to fully engage, but it is very important to continue to show what’s going on in conservation districts. A number of the Tribes stepped up to defend what NRCS is doing. Roylene believes this task force has a critical role to play in helping to keep things moving and the collaboration going.
Roylene also attended the BIA Superintendents meeting. Tanna and Robin Slate attended with her. It was a good meeting with Superintendents responding positively to efforts underway in Washington State. There was discussion about how the CDs could do some of the conservation planning for them to ensure the plans are up-to-date. Roylene said we’ll be seeing more efforts to get a tour together for USDA Undersecretary Ann Mills, NRCS Chief Jason Weller and Astor Boozer so they can see what we’re doing in this state.
Tanna noted that if any task force member has questions not covered in a call, to address those questions to Dave Vogel, David Guenther or Alan Stromberger.
Kathy Whalen thanked Tanna for helping to bring the two WADE tribal issues sessions together so quickly. Both sessions will occur under the Riparian Restoration track on Tuesday, June 17. This will include a project presentation by a representative from the Tulalip Tribe and Heidi Bohan from the Snoqualmie Tribe will discuss making connections to restoration work through native plants. Kathy is hopeful these types of sessions will continue to grow next year.
Action: Tanna requested that Kathy remind the presenters to bring plenty of contact information to share with attendees. Kathy will do that and ask them to try to stay around after their presentation to network with attendees.
Dave V. has talked with Jay Gordon of the Dairy Federation about what WACD is doing to outreach to tribes. Jay indicated that the Dairy Federation and producers are also doing some projects with the tribes that would be good to showcase.
Action: Dave V. will follow up with Jay and invite him to join a future TOTF conference call to discuss those projects.
Dave V. shared that he, Michael and Alan Stromberger will be attending NACD’s annual spring fly-in and meeting with our state’s congressional delegation March 25-26 in Washington, D. C. In addition, they will be scheduling time to meet with Ann Mills at USDA.
Action: Dave V. to work with Tanna in preparing a brief report to share with members and others on what the TOTF is doing.
For the good of the order:
Kathy Whalen encouraged everyone to register for the WADE conference. Preliminary materials have been sent out and a broader distribution to all employees will be sent soon. Kathy will send a copy of the registration packet to task force members.
Tanna has been invited to sit on the Commission’s Communication Task Force. Stu Trefry of WSCC is sending Tanna materials so she can catch-up and participate.
There being no further business to discuss, the call adjourned at 11:55 a.m.
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Respectfully submitted,
Deb Gregory
WACD Administrative Coordinator
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