Full Council Meeting

Cloverdale Veterans Memorial 9-2PM

Thanks to Daniel Iacofano of Moore, Iacofano, Goltsman, Inc. for acting as the facilitator for the entire meeting!

AGENDA/MINUTES APPROVAL-- Daniel called the meeting to order after a quorum of 28 voting members was assembled. The published agenda was approved without modification 28 ayes, no dissent or abstentions. The minutes for September 14, 2002 were approved after corrections (Pg. 4 should be 17,000 AF and Pg. 7 remove Saltzman reference to Marin Community Foundation)

AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENTS-Tom Schott of National Resource Conservation Service announced the availability of a Russian River resource directory through the Mendocino County RCD. The directory is available in a binder or CDROM. Another project with CDF has produced a Forest Ranch Roads video with work from Doug Simmons and Danny Hagan showing the link between water quality and constructing and maintaining roads. BioEngineering Associates has installed sediment baffles as a demonstration project near the Solar Living Center in Hopland on Dooley Creek near Hwy 175. Contact Tom at (707)463-9223x3 for more information on these projects.

ANNOUNCEMENTS-Bob Clemens apologized to the Council for his remarks at the July meeting and commended RRWC member Tom Meldau for working out a portage solution around the Healdsburg dam with Syar and Phil Trowbridge. This year's Russian River Cleanup on 9/28 had over 500 people working to cleanup the river between Cloverdale and Monte Rio. They collected 161 tires, 56 pounds of aluminum, 1340 pounds of glass, 109 pounds of plastic, 2226 pounds of various metals, 8700 pounds of refuse, 4 batteries, 6 computer monitors, 3 gallons of oil, a coffin and a formal gown.

Zeno Swijtink reviewed the success of the first flush monitoring event. At least 120 people in Mendocino and Sonoma counties collected 90 samples from Ukiah to Jenner. Plans for a party on 4th Saturday of January 2003 to celebrate and report all the data while making future plans are pending.

Zeno also reported on his Sacramento trip 11/7 to discuss the California Water Plan update scheduled for 2003. He expressed his concerns at the lack of representation for Northern California water interests. He is interested in the plan as it relates to global climate change projections and was fascinated by the public trust discussions that are being expanded to address groundwater and uplands in more of an ecosystem approach.

Rue Furch reported that the Sonoma County General Plan update continues with the Water Resources Element final report due to the main committee in January 2003. Folks are encouraged to review the materials and offer their comments. View at http://www.sonoma-county.org/prmd/gp2020/index.html.

Richard Miller announced that the coho recovery work group met at the Bodega Marine Lab 11/6 to review the genetics research and relationship between chinook program and coho broodstock program. Funding to improve fish passage in Willow Creek watershed is important for success of coho program, as stream habitat is not accessible to the fish. Important efforts to upgrade the hatchery at Warm Springs Dam are also in need of funding.

Keith Kaulum announced a Sierra Club Forum on proposed water exports by Ric Davidge of Gualala and Albion waters will take place on November 18 at 7PM at the Environmental Center, 404A Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.

PLAN OF ACTION-Daniel assured the Council that nothing would be lost as we move forward from the Plan of Action work to the Russian River Management Plan. Determining technical studies needed for the management plan and prioritization of the issues in the Plan of Action are tasks for the Council. He cautioned that all policy issues identified in the POA might not be resolvable. For instance, stream setbacks are a high leverage protection strategy that are fraught with different interpretations of how much room a particular creek or river needs.

The Council has made a significant investment in this document with 8 full Council meetings, 11 Steering Committee meetings, 6 economic caucus meetings, 3 public caucus meetings, 3 environmental caucus meetings, and 2 agency caucus meetings. Today's panel of Steering Committee representatives will address their caucus' interests in the document and process.

Jerome Dix, Public Caucus
The Council has invested several hundred hours in this document. There have been compromises made. No one is getting everything they want. This document represents the issues for the watershed management plan.

Kathy Hayes, Economic Caucus
The economic caucus has had serious concerns associated with particular language of the drafts as it has moved forward to this point. Side by side comparisons of the various revisions are difficult as the format and language has changed over time. More emphasis on prioritizing the actions outlined in the existing plan is needed before we move forward to the management plan. Their caucus would like to discuss wording before documents are finalized.

Chuck Vaughn, Environmental Caucus
Concerns about remarks being taken out of context is just a fact of life. This document is not all things to all people. It does represent a lot of work by many volunteers over many hours. The language does address the concerns and interests of each caucus. We need to proceed.

Karen Rippey, Agency Caucus
MIG has spent more time than the contract was originally scoped for to develop this document. The current POA addresses issues from the original Project Study Plan. The Council will need to develop the scope of work for the management plan after the POA is approved.

Discussion continued with clarifications about which document the group was considering for approval. The final draft dated November 2002 will be used as the document of record after any typos or factual corrections are amended by MIG based on comments submitted at today's meeting. Additional language or resolutions to support river protection and restoration strategies is future work for the Council to affect local land use policy, although most of the existing language can probably be incorporated into the watershed management plan as it is developed.

Members expressed a desire for local fish (e.g., Dutch Bill coho) for front page and adaptive management approaches that allow the Council to continually identify gaps in knowledge or activity. The living document developed by the patience and perseverance of the Council is a testament to the democratic process. Identify particular projects outlined in the Plan of Action as projects that can move forward while the management plan is prepared. An incremental approach that leverages the learnings from previous projects and clusters projects for synergy in habitat restoration is highly desirable.

Members acknowledged the efforts of many different interest groups to build trust and have meaningful discussions as the POA has been developed. Particularly Bob Anderson's page-by-page comparisons of each draft were very valuable to the Steering Committee and economic caucus. By adjusting the work group structure to reflect the strategy areas of the POA, we can develop more participation within the Council and larger community as meetings are held to address these issues and work out viable solutions.

While particular language has been edited, the scientific concepts remain intact with the document. Any watershed is by nature a dynamic equilibrium that ebbs and flows in response to rainfall and stream morphology. Recognize that each stream's capacity to handle its flow is related to the interplay of local land uses and the extent to which storm runoff is managed for infiltration and storage.

The Council should not take more time to doctor document language. Rather, it is important to find and support projects that conform to the Basin Restoration Plan and our Plan of Action. If the Council can develop resolution language to support protection and restoration work while the management plan is under development, then the Council can be a recognized forum for addressing river issues and develop local advocacy for river resources and solutions that address the needs of all our members.

Having clear expectations about the POA as we release it to the public so the broader, controversial issues such as dam operations and riparian corridors are considered without any preconceived solutions inherent. A review process for the document every two years provides a mechanism for the Council to submit new concepts after discussion and approval for the Plan of Action as it is revised.

Supervisor Shoemaker congratulated the Council on achieving this milestone and recommended a 2-3 year review cycle with a six-month review built in for the next document revision and an ongoing timeline with a means of capturing ideas between review cycles. Al Giordano noted that it took over 2 years to develop the six pages of rules for the organization and in less than 18 months we have developed the Plan of Action which is over 100 pages. Members agreed to separate the issue of how the plan would be maintained from the plan itself and referred maintenance to the Steering Committee for plan proposal. Motion to adopt the Final Plan of Action November 2002 was passed with 28 ayes, 0 no, 2 abstain at 10:55.

FOUNDATION PARTNERSHIP-Zeno Swijtink reviewed the draft agreement language with the Community Foundation Sonoma County. Correct document was version dated October 29, 2002. The RRWC would propose projects for funding while final approval and funding would be managed through the Community Foundation. Proposals would include whatever contractor management was needed for the particular project.

Members expressed concern that funding charge by Community Foundation should not exceed 5% of the grant amount while others recognized that funding support for each project will be as simple or complex as the project demands. The calendar for the agreement should be adjusted to reflect the one-year from November 2002 to October 2003. Current language is interpreted to state nonprofit status will be achieved and only with Community Foundation. Work demands on coordinator need more definition, as that is a limited resource already stretched thin.

Motion to approve the agreement with language for "mutually agreed upon fee", change in dates and to incorporate or not as nonprofit. (28 ayes, 0 no, 0 abstain.)

RUSSIAN RIVER INTERACTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEM UPDATE-Karen Gaffney and Cheryl Dean from Circuit Rider Productions gave an update on progress with the development of the RRIIS. Thanks to support from the Army Corps of Engineers, the first six tasks are completed with tasks through task 25 funded in new contracts. In March 2003, a publicly accessible system should be ready for launch. CRP is developing templates for data uploads from the public and coordinating with the agencies and other system contractors so that there is accuracy with relevant data and as little duplication of efforts as possible.

The system will have information resources such as links and a bibliography of pdf files for download, communication tools for discussion and posting meetings, and a spatial data element that will access ARCIMS mapping from UC Hopland and GIS data from NOAA. A user will be greeted at a universal homepage that can be customized by each user for their own login. The sidebar provides navigation to various tools and resources of the systems while the center frame remains the static display field for the requested data. Approximately 500 documents have been selected for the bibliography that will be searchable by document or searchable for keyword throughout the site. The communication tool enables any user with any kind of browser or hardware to participate in community discussions and meetings. Anyone can post anything while there will be some qualification of peer reviewed scientific data to distinguish from opinion or hearsay. If the information is in a digital form, it can be posted. Coordination with the KRIS and NOAA GIS projects has reduced duplication of efforts and provides links among the sites for the most complete data inventory.

The Dutch Bill watershed has been used to demonstrate the capability for watershed information. Tool bars allow the user to manipulate maps and see the data sets related to particular geographic points. While people with advanced hardware and connection tools can use the RRIIS system more easily, you don't need DSL or a T1 line to access the site and view information. All the Russian River GIS data developed for NOAA will be included with the system. Karen will send the coordinator a copy of the latest CD when the GIS is rolled out in the near future. There will be 300 copies available.

Using the GIS maps to identify stream sections with temperatures above 75F and little canopy would be one technique to identify potential restoration sites. While using the canopy map layers to identify potential salmonid habitat is possible, more advanced techniques such as overlaying proposed development over groundwater layers are not available now. The WIAM work group and contract for the initial site development will determine which links are provided, such as State Water Resources groundwater contamination maps, and other data of interest. Other information can be loaded as funding and capacity is available. The WIAM work group still needs to work out the system maintenance strategy.

The Russian River Interactive Information System represents a significant accomplishment of the Russian River Watershed Council and has great potential benefits for the community as the system is utilized.

PUBLIC CAUCUS MOTIONS-Eric Sunswheat provided the exact language for proposed changes to the rules of operation from the public caucus to allow motions to proceed with approval of 2 rather than 3 caucuses and add language that allows caucuses to bring motions forward.

Members expressed concerns that the proposed motions were Band-Aid approaches to work group dysfunction and lack of economic participation. More outreach to the community at large to participate in the Council and our work groups, especially the economic interests, is needed. Others questioned whether the tyranny of a minority would become a tyranny of the majority through these changes and lower the overall quality of our efforts by eliminating the need for economic outreach. Others expressed frustration that too much effort and time for too little benefit with current work group structure.

Rue Furch moved and Scott Barrow seconded a motion to table the discussion until January when more economic caucus members could participate in the discussion. The Council agreed to vote the motions as presented. Motion A was narrowly defeated with 13 ayes, 6 no and 2 abstain. Motion B was passed with 18 ayes, 4 no and 1 abstain to change the rules of operation language to read "All proposals which are to be action items must be submitted in writing to the Steering Committee and shall be sponsored by at least one member of all three caucuses, or are brought forward by one of the four caucuses under its caucus rules."

JANUARY 18 AGENDA--Linda Curry announced a handout with proposed membership for 2003 and asked members to verify their information in preparation for the January meeting. Extra copies are available through the coordinator. Other suggested agenda items include scope of work for management plan, restructuring the work groups to dovetail with the POA strategy areas, upcoming conferences by the Public Outreach and Education work group on POA strategy areas, developments with the Community Foundation and identifying a project for the RRWC to work on while the management plan is being developed.

Dates for 2003 RRWC meetings are: January 18, March 8, May 10, July 12, September 13, and November 15.

POA RECOGNITION-As a consideration for the many hours invested by the Steering Committee in the POA, thank you notes with a $20. for gas reimbursements were distributed to 3 members from each caucus. Thank you Bob Anderson, Barney Fernandez, Kathy Hayes, Chuck Vaughn, Scott Barrow, Zeno Swijtink, Jerome Dix, Richard Miller, Eric Sunswheat, Karen Rippey, Bob Coey and Tim Walls. Agency reps redistributed their gas money to other Council members.

Meeting adjourned at 1:10PM.