Russian River Watershed Council	Full Council Meeting
Minutes of March 12, 2005	Cloverdale Veterans Hall Cloverdale, California
A total of 9 members were needed to make a quorum and 19 were in attendance. Quorum equals 40% of attendance at the last three meetings + 1. Approve Agenda of March 12, 2005 - ACTION ITEM Agenda approval – 9 ayes, 0 nays, 0 abstentions Approve Minutes of January 22, 2005 - ACTION ITEM Minutes approval – 12 ayes, 0 nays, 0 abstentions Agency Announcements - DISCUSSION Karen Rippey, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) presented information on consultant hired by the Army Corps to start on the baseline watershed assessment component of the Watershed Management Plan. Contractor will begin work on June 1st, 2005. Karen will invite them to present to the council at the June meeting. Derek Acomb, California Department Fish and Game (DFG). At the hatchery, almost all Coho brood stock have hatched out of eggs and totaling approx 20,000 – 30,000. May have enough fish for spring outplanting in addition to the fall. Fisheries Restorations Grants Program approved list of projects from last year and notices should be in the mail. Requests for proposals (RFP) for 2005-2006 funding cycle came out last week. More information can be found at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/nafwb/fishgrant.html. There is a public input meeting for the new exhibits at Warm Springs Fish Hatchery and Visitor Center from 7:00pm – 9:00pm at the Healdsburg Senior Center, 133 Matheson Street. Workgroup Announcements – DISCUSSION Fred Euphrat – teaching class on water balances during the Sonoma County Watershed Festival on Saturday, May 21st at the Salmon Creek School. Zeno Swijtink - CHAH Workgroup has not been meeting regularly on it's own, but has been very involved in the panning of the RRIIS Rollout Event. Next CHAH workgroup will be scheduled for next month. Other Announcements – DISCUSSION Colleen Fernald - Envisioning Change: Understanding Water Issues to Develop a Viable Strategy for Future of Water in Sonoma County being organized by the Leadership Institute. Workshop is Saturday, April 9th, 9:00am – 5:00pm at the Newman Auditorium at the Santa Rosa Junior College. Form more information and to RSVP contact Mary Munat at (707) 548-7582 by April 1. Also mentioned GE-Free Sonoma Proponent Release Report on Economic Costs of Bio-Contamination. For more information visit http://www.gefreesonoma.org. Joan Kelley – Russian River Clean Ups in Mendocino County are scheduled for June 11th from Redwood Valley to Ukiah, on July 23rd from Ukiah to Hopland, and September 17th from Hopland to Cloverdale. Contact Rebecca Kress of Russian River Unlimited (707) 462-4649 russianriverunlimited@hotmail.com for more information. Jody Hymes - Atascadero Creek and Green Valley Creek Watershed Council strongly endorsed the RRWC Watershed Organizer project idea sent out for comment and the council sees this type of program enhancing the effectiveness of their local watershed efforts. Also, funding for a restoration project in Forestville has been put on hold due to lack of leadership. This may be an opportunity for our RRWC Coordinator to co-coordinate this project along with a local contact. Brian Hines – Workshop to consider a petition submitted by Trout Unlimited and the Peregrine Chapter of the National Audubon Society to the State Water Quality Control Board. Petition is asking for a process to be undertaken to assure that adequate water is left in streams for steelhead and coho salmon, as required by state law and the public trust doctrine. Workshop is Thursday, March 17th at 11:00am at the Cal EPA building in Sacramento. For more information visit http://www.tucalifornia.org. Tara Athan – Update on the Mendocino Coast Weed Management Area initiating a project on Best Management Practices (BMP’s) for invasive plant management. Proposal was submitted for Proposition 50 funding. The weed management area predominately covers the coastal area of Mendocino County. Russian River Watershed currently does not contain any weed management areas. Zeno Swijtink – First Flush program is starting to organize a Last Flush program. Also the Friends of the Russian River are organizing an Urban Pesticide Monitoring Program. The Russian River Celebration is soliciting events or programs to participate in the Celebration, which runs September 10th – 18th. Colleen Fernald - Ecopaloza will be in Ukiah on September 24-25. For more information contact Colleen. Coordinator’s Report - DISCUSSION The Prop 50 team organized at the last council meeting met several times and did a lot of research and weighing our options in order to produce the strongest proposal within the confines of very strict guidelines. We submitted under the Coastal Integrated Watershed Management Plan category of Prop 50 and the proposal scope of work includes Section 2 Task A – D of the WMP Scope of Work Document, which is the development of a Draft Watershed Management Plan. Karen Rippey with the Army Corps will be taking on the baseline watershed assessment, which is Section 1 of the scope of work this year and the Draft WMP will work off of that assessment. Even though we’ve submitted our proposal to be included in the North Coast Planning effort, it is looking like the state will require Coastal Planning Grants to also be submitted independently into their online application system. The deadline for those submissions is expected to be late April or early May and will be finalized in Mid March when the proposal guidelines are finalized. There is also another public workshop focused on the proposal guidelines that I will be attending in Sacramento on March 22nd. Participation on the Prop 50 team for the next phase of this, proposal process is still open. RRIIS Rollout Event - Chuck Vaughn - DISCUSSION Mark your calendars! The Russian River Interactive Information System (RRIIS) Rollout Event is scheduled for Saturday, April 23rd, from 10:00am – 2:00pm at the Cooperage Room on the Sonoma State University Campus. Please plan on joining us for the unveiling of RRIIS and a chance to explore the plethora of information housed on RRIIS. Complimentary lunch and informational materials will be provided. Visit RRIIS at http://www.russianriverwatershed.net for a closer look at the website. Roles of Officers and Steering Committee – Jody Hymes – DISCUSSION Review of existing RRWC Rules of Operation and responsibilities of the full RRWC verses the Steering Committee. Rules of Operation may not have been regularly amended with motions made in past meetings and reflect the most current procedures for operation. Jody will outline areas of which the Steering Committee will have authority appointed by the full RRWC to make decisions such as emergencies and other time sensitive areas such as grant submissions for review and approval at the following RRWC meeting. Motion by Jim Nosera to amend the agenda and hold New Officer Elections after the breakout meeting for caucuses. 19 ayes, 0 nays, and 0 abstentions RRWC Reorganization – Zeno Swijtink – DISCUSSION Problem: 1) We have difficulty getting non-members attend presentations at the bimonthly RRWC meetings, even though we provide rich information there and many people could profit from our working relations with agencies and our general ability to pull people together for presentations: 2) Our work groups have difficulty meeting, people are overextended, and projects and issues are not moving forwards. Proposal: Change the mix of RRWC bimonthly meetings and workgroup meetings into monthly meetings with alternating goals and at alternating locations. In even months (February, April, June, August, October, December) we have a meeting, in the two larger population centers, alternating Ukiah and Santa Rosa, with just have presentations, lectures, or tours, with a broad public appeal. The other months we have our regular Cloverdale business meeting, with break out sessions for caucus meeting and workgroup meetings, without the interesting but time consuming informative presentations. Workgroups in need of a more intensive meeting schedule can opt to meet monthly, with a separate workgroup meeting in the even months. Breakout Meetings for Caucuses - ACTION ITEM Election of Steering Committee primary & alternative delegates Environmental Caucus: Primary Delegates: Jody Hymes, Zeno Swijtink, & Colleen Fernald Alternate Delegate: Chuck Vaughn Public Caucus: Primary Delegates: Jerome Dix, Scot Stegman, & Eric Sunswheat Alternate Delegates: Jim Nosera, Richard Miller, & Bob Rawson Economic Caucus: Undetermined New Officer Election for President – ACTION ITEM RRWC President: Jerome Dix 18 ayes, 0 nays, and 1 abstention Next Steps & May Agenda items - DISCUSSION Motion made by Zeno Swijtink to change the May meeting from May 21st back to May 14th, so RRWC meeting does not conflict with the Sonoma County Watershed Festival. 19 ayes, 0 nays, and 0 abstention Potential agenda Items for May 14th meeting 1) Address lack of participation In the Economic Caucus 2) Vote on Reorganization Proposal presented by Zeno Swijtink 3) Present list of areas of authority for Steering Committee to exercise outside of the full RRWC 4) Potential education by David Keller of the Friends of the Eel River. Adjourned. Draft minutes produced by Michelle LeBeau 3/14/05 Final minutes produced by Michelle LeBeau 5/18/05