Chehalis Basin Partnership

M e e t i n g S u m m a r y - April 25, 2003

GENERAL PARTNERSHIP BUSINESS

Introduction

Chairman Spahr welcomed everyone and opened the meeting. Sixteen of the Partnership's thirty-two member organizations had a representative or alternate in attendance. Twelve additional citizens, alternates, or visitors were at the meeting.

Citizens' Advisory Committee

There was no report.

Steering/Technical Advisory Committee

The STC continues to meet twice a month and work on Issue Papers, two of which are scheduled to be presented today. The next meetings of the STC will be on May 8th and 22nd.

Water Quality Committee

A meeting summary for the April 10th Water Quality Committee meeting was distributed. The Humptulips Temperature TMDL, Chehalis Fecal Coliform TMDL, Briggs Nursery and local prioritization of water quality grants and Loans were topics of the meeting. The committee reviewed projects from both the Lower Chehalis (WRIA 22) and the Upper Chehalis (WRIA 23) and prepared one priority list for each area for the Partnership to approve today. The next meeting of the committee will be May 8th at the Forestry Building in Montesano.

The Partnership reviewed the priority lists prepared by the Water Quality Committee and approved having the Chair and Lead Agency sign them so they can be submitted to Ecology by the April 30 deadline. Kahle Jennings will notify the parties identified in Ecology's procedures for local prioritization by letter and include a copy of the statement of agreed priorities.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Watershed Planning under RCW 90.82

Update on Watershed Planning - Members of the Steering/Technical Committee continue to meet with less active or new Partnership member-groups to bring them up to date on the planning process. Meetings are scheduled in May with the Chehalis Tribe Business Committee and Grays Harbor Water District #2. If there are members that would like this type of meeting they should contact Bob Wheeler at (206) 583-0655 or Lee Napier at (360) 249-4222.

Due to Memorial Day weekend the May Partnership meeting date has been changed to the last Friday of the Month -- May 30th. The May 30 meeting will be longer than normal and will be in the format of a workshop focusing on the following topics:

The Watershed Plan - what it will look like;

Reports on the technical studies that must be completed by June 30, 2003;

Review of several issue papers (which are structured to provide information on the areas the plan must address).

An example of how the plan will be packaged was passed around and an updated table describing the issue papers was reviewed. One Partnership member raised the issue of large woody debris and why that topic hasn't been addressed in one of the issue papers. It should be discussed in both the Stream Function/Management and Habitat issue papers.

The TMDL Issue Paper was presented to the Partnership and many comments were noted. The authors of the TMDL Issue Paper will review all these comments and revise the paper to incorporate them. The authors will work with the Steering/Technical Committee to resolve conflicts between comments.

Salmon Recovery

Brian Peck (USFWS) presented the results of that agency's effort to identify and prioritize projects that are eligible for federal habitat restoration funds. Brian anticipates that the USFWS will receive enough funding to fund approximately nine of the projects.

The Partnership concurred with the priority list of projects.

C. SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Due to the length of the meeting no special presentation was scheduled.

The next meeting of the Chehalis Basin Partnership will be at 9:00 a.m. on May 30, 2003 at the Lucky Eagle Casino. This meeting will be a workshop format with a break for lunch.

Decisions

Approved the Water Quality Committees priority list for water quality grant/loan projects submitted to the Department of Ecology for funding in state fiscal year 2004.

Concurred with the list of project priorities presented by USFWS.

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