Accepted September 24th, 2013
WALLOWA COUNTY NATURAL RESOURCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
STANDING COMMITTEE MEETING
August 27, 2013
9 AM –OSU Meeting Room
NRAC Standing Committee Members Present
Bruce Dunn, ForesterNils Christoffersen, Wallowa Resources
John Williams, OSU ExtensionCynthia Warnock, SWCD
Jeff Fields, TNC
Kris Stein, Eagle Cap/HCNRA Ranger, USFS
NRAC Members
Susan Roberts, Co. CommissionerRoy Garten, Retired Forester
Jeff Yankee, ODFW
Others
BillAney, USFS, Eastside RestorationJulie Lakes, Wallowa Land Trust
AynShlisky, USFS Eastside RestorationRosemary Furfey, NOAA Fisheries
Aaron Maxwell, The Freshwater TrustRenee Coxon, NOAA Fisheries
Eileen Williams
The meeting was called to order at 9:05 by Chairman Bruce Dunn.
Self-Introductions were made.
Minutes wereapproved as corrected.
New Business
Wallowa County Comprehensive Management Plan
Review, approve at the next month Standing committee meeting than take to Co Commissioner
John summarized the history of the project for the county plan Alternative W
Alternative started with had no riparian section so had to draft a new riparian section.
Jeff has submitted some comments
Wallowa County Comprehensive Management Plan - edits
Introduction
(Page 1) Add State Fill and Removal to list of laws
(page 2) (JF1) Change Access would be managed to – Access should be managed at a
levelGroup agreed to change
(page 2) (JF2) Bruce suggested Co-inside with Wallowa Co Road Management Plan
(page 2) (JF3) change not accepted leave as is
(page 2) (JF4) remove will be minimized from Vegetation Management paragraph
(page 2) (JF5) Note in document were it can be found
Recreation Goals, Objectives, Standards and Guidelines
(page 5) (JF) Change levels to opportunities. Group discussed that the objective is
economic outcome Kris said she would work on the wording.
(page 5) (JF6) look at -Want as much outfitter and guide use as possible as long as
does not affect ecological integrity
(page 5) (JF7) make clearer-Public was seeing opportunities such as mushroom and
boughs not addressed
Access
(page 6) please not that there are two Standard Acc- S1
(page 6) (JF10) Standard Acc-S1 Add : Allow Construction after site specific analysis
(page 6) (JF11) Standard Acc-S2 make clear that we are talking about road maintence
(page 6) need to check numbering of S9???
Vegetation Goals, Objectives, Standards and Guidelines
(page 9-10) (JF12) Whole forest does not have analysis – leave as is
Forest Stand Management
(page 11) JF13) Standard For-S1 will look at
(page 11) (JF Insertion) came out of doc BlueMountain Forest Partners
-Jeff suggested that there were points that could be looked at
-Bruce did not like putting numbers into forest plan management
- Need tolook at what the stand needs
-Franklin/Johnson/ Van pelt - in three years something better might be available
-Suggest use best treatment available
-This Focuses on drier areas dry pine forest
-John suggested send this to the forest group to massage, not leave this in but
consider for ideas
(page 13) (JF) OK with change
(page 15) (JF14) Standard For-S5 Look at massage and put in a statement of acres also
reference and move to better location
Grassland Management
(page 15) (JF15) Gra-O1 end after grazing,remove, by domestic livestock
(page 15) (JF insertion) GuidelineGra- O1:3 (came from TNC )
Need to take back to Rangland people to look at and work on
(page 15) Standard Gra-S1 work on
(page16) (JF17) Standard Gra-S5 Look at
(page17) JF add on) Late Spring standards
Plant vigor based on rest rotation and deferred ?, will look at
(page 18) JF edit) group did not agree with change, asked if could add key reasoning
Cattle and Horse (C&H) Allotments
-Do we write site specific plan for each allotment?
-John suggest not site specific,
-Chris offered to see how the FS is handling it
-We need something
Renee or Ayn???- What I have seen is general.
John –Ok, need to do
Sheep and Goat (S&G) Allotments
Think there is some language on how rancher etc are going to deal with West Side AMP Allotment plan
Water Use and Management/vegetation cultivation
(page 19) (JF18) Look at water management in Salmon plan
Noxious weed
(page 19) Standard Nox-S3 Ordinance changes every couple of years –Susan suggested refer to
current ordinance
(page 19-20) (JF 19) Guideline Nox-G3 may be an over reach - provide evidence
County encourages the grazing of allotments to control weeds
May need to add some language
Riparian Area
(page 23) (JF23) Standards and Guides justification ?
Came from USFS
Research Natural Areas
(page 26) (Rod) Objective RNA O1 Rod wants clarification
Fire Goals, Objectives, Standards and Guidelines
(page 28) Already discussed
-Will review all the change, finalize Sept Meeting and get to Co Commissioners.
-If you don’t like something help us understand your thoughts
-Get comments to group as soon as possible
-Will track changes so can see what is been changed
Eastside Restoration
Tour tomorrow 8:30 am
Goals
- To provide stand characteristics and forum for landowners, agencies, interest groups, tribes, and community members to discuss and share ideas related to recommendations form the Lower Joseph Creek Watershed Assessment.
- To discuss the opportunities, challenges and obstacles to managing federal forest lands such as: warm/dry ponderosa pine, warm/moist Douglas-fir, cool/dry Douglas-fir and grand fir.
- To gain insight into the social and economic contributions of the wood product industry in Wallowa County.
Stop 1 Upper Joseph Creek Stop – Compare past treatment in a warm/dry PP/DF site along a
ridge to a similar stand proposed for treatment by the Collaborative.(weren’t very aggressive as to what we could have done)
Stop 2 A warm/dry Douglas fir stand, with significant mistletoe occurrence, with trees 130
years old that are over 21”. Opportunity to discuss Franklin and Johnson recommendations for restoration in dry eastern forests, as well as Van Pelt’s guidelines for managing and promoting old growth. (as states protecting old growth and stand)
Stop 3 Managing cool/dry stands. This stop will assess the conditions in stand #32 proposed in
the Lower Joseph Creek Watershed Assessment. This site is ABGR/LIBO2 (cool/dry) grand fir/twinflower plant community type.
Stop 4 One of three locations that supports the highest density for lightning fires in the
watershed. The stand also has a road next to riparian and is situated between a fork of two riparian areas. Discussion points would include proximity to campground, restoration and/or protection, riparian treatments. (how to deal with areas above femoral streams)
-Bill Aney Eastside Restoration Coordinator and AynShlisky Eastside Restoration Team Leader
present.
-Wallowa County has been selected for restoration project.
-Challenge to increase pace and scale of restoration
Hire dedicated ID team
Plan large scale projects
Working on projects that will effect landscape
-Took 7 project ideasto collaborative in July. Worked with Forest supervisors, selected 3
projects with different decision times.
1)Dry Forest Restoration – this project is a very large scale project focusing on restoring fire-adapted forests wherever they occur across the four National Forests. Decision Dec 2016.
2)StrategicFuel Treatments – this project implements a system of shaded fuel breaks along strategically located roads that could be used to contain wildfires and manage large-scale prescribed fires across all four National Forests. (identified 4,000 miles of roads) Decision Dec 2015.
3)Lower Joseph Canyon -building on the work of the Wallowa County Natural Resources Advisory Committee (NRAC), this project would work with the NRAC to complete the NEPA for a comprehensive suite of land restoration projects in the 90,000 acre Lower Joseph project area on the north end of the Wallowa-Whitman NR. Decision Dec 2014
-Need to determine;
- How to work with district?
- How to we continue to encage NRAC during NEPA segment?
-Expertise on the team
Breadth of experience
- Neil McCusker – Currently the silviculturist on the 4-Forest Restoration Initiative (4-FRI) project in Arizona, he will be stationed in Pendleton. He will be the primary silviculturist on the team.
- Brian Spradlin – currently the environmental coordinator for the south zone of the Umatilla NF, with extensive background in fire ecology and silviculture. He will be stationed Pendleton and will focus on disturbance ecology (fires, insects, disease) and silviculture.
- Barbara Wales – currently a wildlife biologist for the PNW region, stationed in La Grande. Will stay in La Grande and focus on large scale habitat modeling.
- Paul Boehne – currently a fisheries biologist and T/E species coordinator for the Wallow-Whitman National Forest. Stationed at the NOAA Fisheries Office in La Grande. Focus will be fish habitat and threatened/endangered species consultation.
- Michael E. Brown – currently the acting District Ranger on the ZigZag RD of the Mt Hood NR and holds the position as staff hydrologist on the North Umpqua Ranger District. He will be stationed in Pendleton and will focus on physical sciences, remote sensing and fuels management.
- Jennifer Ferriel – currently an ecologist with the PNW Ecology Program in Baker City, she will be stationed in La Grande. Her focus will be on landscape ecology and botany.
- Amy Gowan – currently the Forest Partnership Coordinator for the Fremont-Winema National Forest in Klamath Falls and will be located in Pendleton. Her focus will be on communications, collaborative engagement, economic/social assessments, archeology and tribal relations.
-Other data collection is needed.
-ODF has funding, interested in helping collecting data.
-Cost share agreement with TNC-Will be doing data analysis.
Susan -What happens in off season when you can’t get in field?
Bill- Work on NEPA,writing, and analysis this winter work with data collected by NRAC.
Nils – What will NRAC’s position be?
Bruce -Anything we can do to help?
John – As representative toThe CountyCommissioners we insist on involvement.
Ayn -Can’t get this done in time frame set without NRAC.
Bill -What can we learn from this to accelerate restoration in other forests?
Ayn - Challenge will be, that this is a great model to start with, all the data collected and an
excellent steel head population compared to other areas.
John – One reason we picked this area was there were no Salmon to deal with and we could get
something done.
Susan - We would have been further along if had not had Forest Service Building Fire
Nils -How to achieve more effective partnerships, this can be a positive model.
John - Good for environment, good for community
Susan - This is a good building situation proves to everyone you can do it.
Bill - Build confidence.
John -We learned a lot on Upper Joseph Creek Assessment.
Ayn -Want to learn what you learned?
Nils –Top priority area has 18,000 mechanical acres out of 28,000.
Question as to whether Can we supplement with Upper Joe?
Nils - Looking at 90,000 acres not all accessible, some private, some grass.
John -Recognize that there will be a series of outcomes, not just one flash.
Bill – A lot of ways to do it.
Nils -Easiest ways to get contract dollars out in the community is to do separate contracts.
John - Stewardship opportunities, is that in the mix?
Bill – We encourage more and more to do stewardship when it makes sense to do it.
Push back is that County does not get the 25% back,
Bill-When rest of team gets here will spend large amount of time in field.
And pull information together.
Jeff –Has funding come through for work here
Nils – Yes Larry is back in the field, Title II money’s came through.
Bill - Who do I work with the whole group or Nils?
Nils - There is an Executive committeeBruce, John and Kris and myself. Contracting work with
me.
OLD Business
NOAA - Rosemary Furfey
-Update status of Draft NE Oregon Snake River
Power Point Presentation
Status of Snake River Recovery Planning
- 4 Species in the Plan
Sockeye
Spring Summer Chinook
Fall Chinook
Steelhead
Status of Recovery Plan Products
- Spring/Summer Chinook and Steelhead Recovery Plan
-SE Washington Management Unit Plan
-Idaho Management Unit Plan
-NE Oregon Management Unit Plan
-Roll-up Plan Synthesis
- Draft Sockeye Recovery Plan
- Draft Fall Chinook Recovery Plan
- Draft Modules: Estuary Hydro and Harvest
Process to Develop Recovery Plans
- Collaborate with co-managers and relevant groups to develop each draft recovery plan
- Coordinate with NMFS-formed Snake River Coordination Group
- Brief and coordinate with Federal Caucus, Northwest Power and Conservation Council, etc.
- Brief and coordinate with US v Oregon Policy Group
- Communicate with NMFS web site
Recovery Plan Schedule
- November 2013 – Draft Recovery Plans
- Early 2014 – Notice of Proposed Recovery Plans
- 2015 – Final Recovery Plans
- 2018 – Update Plans – Integrated All-H Strategies
Next Steps
- How to be involved in development or review of individual draft Plans?
- How to track progress of draft Plans?
- What is the best way to keep you informed of progress?
Below are the web links to the draft NE Oregon Plan so that NRAC members can review the draft as needed. Here are some useful links for the Committee:
- link to NMFS's overall Snake River Recovery Planning page:
- link to the March 2012 draft NE Oregon Management Unit Plan:
-Acknowledges your Wallowa co Salmon recovery plan
-Want to recognize and build on work Wallowa County is doing.
-Plan is voluntary; it does not require anyone to do anything
-If applying for money if reference recovery plan than application goes to the top of pile
-Valuable in funding
-Recovery plan allows tracking and review of recovery. Every 5 years the plan will be
evaluated.
-Also helps with delisting of endangered species.
-Looking at 2015 plan adoption
-The draft is being used as a reference
-After the plan is adopted it will track implementation of actions being implemented, who and
where on public web data base.
-Will go back and include completed projects and acknowledge who has done the work
-Can come to future meeting and give a demo of using the tracking tool
-Recovery is being done in 3 Pacific Northwest states; Washington, Oregon and Idaho
- Web pages available on each state.
John – 1/4 to 1/3 of all improvements are farmer rancher improvements in watershed are not
reported.
John - Seems like all we do is chase money.
Rosemary- Plan acknowledges those things.
John - How do we link all the things that occur that are never reported by private individuals?
Rosemary -Hope that monitoring will start showing those changes.
John -History shows that it take up to 100 years to see the results.
John- If only looking for projects then missing a big chunk of changes.
John-We always see a monitoring project that is 2 – 5 years, but often takes 10 years to see
results.
Bruce -No GPS or Maps of projects listed.
Rosemary - None of it has been mapped, they were a list of approximate places and amounts
of project.
Rosemary –It was general guidance list suggesting actions that could be address in an area.
Local group needs to identify area.
Cynthia - Our confusion was that someone identified specific numbers and areas and we do not
knowwhere those specific areas are.
Rosemary - This has been addressed in the recovery plan, they were just starting places.
Cynthia – So many of the projects have been done already.
Rosemary – Understand and hopefully they will be reported and shown on the
accomplishments.
Jeff – Part of this is continuity and interpretation.
Lower Joseph Creek
Jenny finishing edits for final review, hope soon final document
Travel Management Plan
Nothing new
Forest Plan Revision
Number one with Forest Service
Title II
Money will be taken out of next year’s funding
USFS ChesnimnusElk Burn
Draft decision on Kris’s desk
Updates
Lower Imnaha Range Analysis
-Took Leslie Morris,Historical Ecologist, down to Imnaha on benches along with
McClarans
-Look at historic ecology of benches.
-3rd party look at actions that have occurred.
- She will report on what she learns.
Chris - Even if we can say we have someone looking at the benches, that is a help
Firewood
16th of September will meet with the guys
Salmon Plan Monitoring – Special Meeting
On Nils’ desk
BPA would be a good source
Salmon Plan/SP Implementation
Cynthia is working on
Old/New Photos
Eileen would like to try working on them as soon as Radio Auction is over.
Wolves
More depredation, 1 dead and 2 injuries.
Pulled back in wilderness this week.
Elk Study
Will be written this winter
Will get updated summary
Then the summary
Other
TNC
ODFW – Bruce Johnson has gotten funding on wolf/elk interaction.
Do not have good information and counts on elk numbers.
Jeff is interested in working with him.
Meeting adjourned 12:34 pm.
Respectfully Submitted
Eileen Williams
NRAC Standing Committee Secretary
WC NRAC Standing Committee August 27, 2013 Page 1