Friday, August 24, 2001

Lucky Eagle Casino, Oakville WA

9:00am - 12 noon

Welcome/Introductions and Committee Reports

Bob Spahr (Mayor, City of Chehalis) welcomed participants to the workshop and asked each person to give name and affiliation. After reports from the Citizens Advisory Committee and Steering/Technical Committee, there was a discussion of grant money available for instream flows. Kahle Jennings (Department of Ecology) will explore whether or not the money can be used for flow gauges, regardless of whether the group makes recommendations to Ecology on adjustments to instream flows. Lee Napier (Grays Harbor County) presented information on salmon recovery projects and handed out a table listing the various projects and how they have been prioritized to date.

Watershed Planning

Bob Wheeler (Triangle Associates) then gave the group an overview of the watershed planning process under Washington State ESHB 2514 before reviewing the agenda for the discussion. The focus of the meeting is on the outline of the Watershed Management Plan, which is being created in order to answer the following questions:

"Where are we going?" and "What do we want out of this Plan?"

Mission Statement for Chehalis Basin Watershed Management Plan

Bob Wheeler referred the group to the draft mission statement that emerged from the interviews conducted by Triangle Associates, and asked for thoughts from the group. Representatives of the cities in the Basin raised concerns about fiscal issues. They wished to see cost-effectiveness included in the mission statement. It was also decided to shift the emphasis in the statement by including "communities" before "fish.".

The group then discussed what the statement meant to them from each of their perspectives. This included discussion of definitions for several of the specific words. This discussion included most representatives that were present and included a free flow of thoughts and ideas, as well as differences that can be expected in the future. The session was substantive and led all to a better understanding of where they are headed in watershed planning and of the difficult decisions that will be necessary in developing an effective plan. The group reached consensus on the following statement as the mission for the Chehalis Basin Watershed Plan.

[Note: "economical" is the correct adjective, not "economic" as suggested in the discussion. See definitions at end of this document.]

Goals for the Plan

BW then turned the group's attention to the list of goals that had been compiled from interviews with Partnership members and discussion at the July 13 workshop. The discussion began with a consideration of the four general goals for the Plan, and proceeded into consideration of public involvement and participating government agencies. One comment suggested that the numerous listed goals be combined into a more manageable number of goals for water quantity and quality and habitat elements, and into a single goal for both public involvement and participating agencies. This has been done in draft form.

Review & Discuss Draft Outline & Sub-Region Divisions

The group then considered the draft Watershed Plan outline, which makes the assumption that planning for such a large river basin will be more feasible if the Basin is divided up into sub-regions for some components of the planning process. While the Partnership embraced the idea of dividing the Chehalis River Basin (WRIAs 22/23) into sub-regions, the following concerns were expressed:

since it took so long to get all the parties in the Chehalis Basin to come together, the group should not be divided; and

the logistics and administrative expenses associated with sending representatives to multiple sub-region meetings would present problems.

The proposal was made to have the CBP handle the work for each sub-region instead of establishing separate workgroups for each. The Partnership would hold meetings in each of the sub-regions in turn.

One or two individuals would be responsible for directing the work in each sub-region, including

organizing the CBP meeting(s) in that area;

contacting key people to bring into the effort of developing the Plan for that area;

identifying issues;

handling public involvement; and, eventually,

developing solutions and recommendations suitable for that sub-region.

Please refer to the attached document for further explanation of how these meetings might be set up and in what might occur at these sub-basin meetings

Time allowed for only a brief discussion of the various ways of sub-dividing the Basin. BW took a "straw poll" vote between the following options for division:

by County (which would ease implementation and administration of the Plan) or

by sub-region according to sub-basins that drain into different areas (a sub-region for those watersheds that drain into Grays Harbor (sub-basins 21-30 as defined in the Level One Assessment), one for those watersheds that drain into the lower Chehalis (sub-basins 14-20), one for those that drain into the middle Chehalis (sub-basins 11-13) and one for those that drain into the lower Chehalis (sub-basins 1-10).

This preliminary vote showed strong preference for the second of the two options. A second straw poll also indicated that there was a preference for the entire CBP to go out to these sub-basins for these workshops and not to delegate these workshops out to some other individual or group.

Wrap-up + Next Steps

The Steering/Technical Committee will meet on September 6, where they will discuss the specifics of the Plan outline, including sub-region division and key issues to include. During September, some contact with Partnership members may be necessary to gain additional input for the outline and to ensure that it meets the needs of every organization involved. Then at the September 28 regular meeting of the Partnership, it is expected that the group will make a decision on the mission, goals, and outline components of this process.

Meeting Attendance: Eighteen of the Partnership's thirty-two member organizations had a representative at the meeting. Fifteen additional citizens, alternates or visitors attended.

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