Chehalis Basin Partnership
Meeting Summary - May 21, 2002
NOTE: The May 21st Partnership meeting was held in conjunction with one of the four study-area meetings planned for the Chehalis Basin. As a result, the actual Partnership meeting was shorter than usual. This meeting summary does not include the study-area portion of the meeting.
Introduction
The Chair opened the Chehalis Basin Partnership portion of the meeting. Twelve of the Partnership's thirty-two member organizations had a representative or alternate that signed the Partnership meeting attendance record. Seven additional citizens, alternates, or visitors signed the Partnership meeting attendance record, which is different from the sign in sheet for the study area meeting.
Sub-Basin Priorities Recommended by the Steering/Technical Committee
The Steering/Technical Committee (STC) has been working with the Triangle Associates/TetraTech/KCM consulting team to establish priority activities for the Level 2 Assessment of new information. The. Chehalis Basin represents a huge area to gather detailed new information on in the limited amount of time, and with the limited amount of funding, available. For this reason the Chehalis Basin has been sub-divided into 31 sub-basins. The STC developed a matrix to prioritize the 31 sub-basins based on where the greatest need for water quantity evaluation lies. A copy of the matrix was handed out and reviewed (an updated version is included with this summary). A few comments about the matrix: 1) a low score equals a high risk; 2) columns 14 and 15 were not used in the actual ranking; 3) column 15 assumes that land in public ownership is protected. The matrix was completed and reviewed by the STC and two different approaches were tried. First was looking at the sub-basins in strictly ranked order by score. The second approach lumped sub-basins geographically (for example all of the Satsop sub-basins were grouped) and the average score was used
The final result was the identification of three highest priority areas within the Chehalis Basin. First in priority is an area that combines the Newaukum River and its tributaries, Salzer Creek, the Skookumchuck River and its tributaries, and main stem portions of the Chehalis River between the Newaukum River and the Skookumchuck River. The second priority area is defined by the Wishkah and Hoquiam Rivers, and the third priority area is defined by the Black River, Cedar Creek and main stem portions of the Chehalis River between Grand Mound and Porter.
In answer to a question about whether any of the Level 2 money would go toward solving the
problems associated with water rights, Jim Haslett (City of Napavine) stated that Napavine
needs to acquire water rights to meet its population projections, and the information gathered in the Level 2 studies will save the City of Napavine money.
The sub-basin approach and three highest priority areas for beginning the Level 2 Assessment were approved by consensus.
Public Involvement Plan Approval
Members of the Citizens' Advisory Committee presented the Public Involvement Plan for Partnership discussion, comment and approval. The Citizens' Advisory Committee has been working on the plan, with assistance from Triangle Associates, for several months now. A copy of the plan was mailed out with the meeting announcement for the May 2, 2002 meeting.
This public involvement plan is meant to serve the Partnership for the next couple of years and should be looked at as a working document that can be modified as needed. It isn't really possible to know what kind of long-term public involvement will be necessary until the watershed plan has been completed and adopted.
Partnership members expressed their appreciation for the work the Citizens' Advisory Committee has done. It is obvious that the plan is the results of a lot of hard work. It was pointed out that there is the perception on the part of some that the Partnership is some kind of legislative body. It is not. The Partnership is not making new law and this public involvement plan should help communicate what the Partnership is actually doing.
The Public Involvement Plan presented by the Citizens' Advisory Committee was approved by
consensus.
Report on the Contract for Flow Monitoring Work in the Chehalis Basin
Regulatory in-stream flows were set for the Chehalis Basin in 1976, but flow data is not available for all of the 31 regulatory control points established in the regulation. Due to this lack of data it is not currently possible to tell if flows set in the regulation are being met at all of the control points. The Partnership previously agreed to seek funding to monitor flows in the Chehalis Basin where flow data is not available for the purposes of 1) determining if current regulatory flows are being met and 2) recommending "natural resource base flows" that would be used as planning targets for the watershed plan being developed under RCW90.82. Work on the details of the contract to monitor flows was delegated by the Partnership to the Steering/Technical Committee (STC). The STC determined that all of the necessary flow monitoring could not be completed for the $100,000 originally proposed. However, the Partnership is eligible for up to $200,000 to monitor flows because it is planning for two Water Resource Inventory Areas. A flow monitoring contract has been developed based on that larger amount and work on designing the flow monitoring plan has started. The STC has expressed its desire that actual flow monitoring begins as soon as possible in June and run through October.
The next meeting of the Chehalis Basin Partnership will be at 9:00 a.m. on June 28th at
the Guesthouse Inn & Suites, 1600 7th Avenue SW, Tumwater, WA.
Decisions
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