Chehalis Basin Partnership

 

 

 


Meeting Summary – August 26, 2005

 

A.      GENERAL PARTNERSHIP BUSINESS

 

Introduction

Chair Bob Spahr welcomed everyone and opened the meeting.  Fifteen of the Partnership's twenty-eight member organizations had a representative or alternate at the meeting.  Seven additional citizens, alternates, or visitors were at the meeting. (See attendance list on the last page of this summary). 

 

Chairman Spahr asked everyone to introduce themselves. 

 

Napier announced new representative to the Partnership. John Blacklaw from the Department of Health and Kirk Willis would now be the interim representative for Department of Natural Resources 

 

Monthly River Flow Report

Jennings distributed flow charts he created by downloading data from the USGS monitoring sites with real time data.  The graphs describe data from the USGS gage sites at the Newaukum, Skookumchuck at Bucoda, Chehalis at Grand Mound, Chehalis at Porter, Satsop, Wynoochee and Humptulips Rivers. The graphs show the regulatory flow, the actual flow, and the median flows for the 15th day of the month and measure the flow in cubic feet.  This month the flows appear to be closer together.   The basin appears to be just above the minimum instream flow(s). 

 

Chehalis Basin Watershed Festival

Chanele Holbrook-Shaw reported that there was interest in organizing an annual Chehalis Basin Watershed Festival, similar to the Nisqually annual event.  She is working with Kahle and the City of Centralia.  She hopes that this single event can serve as an outreach tool for Chehalis Basin Watershed issues and projects.  Due to the limited amount of resources (primarily man power), the STC suggested that she focus heavily on one event rather than limited participation in several events scattered throughout the year and the watershed. 

 

A suggestion was made to consider including FFA groups. 

 

Anyone who is interested should contact either Chanele or Kahle.  She will continue to provide progress reports during the monthly meetings.

 

B.     Special Projects

 

Coordinated Water Quality Monitoring Plan

Kahle distributed a revised document to the group and explained the revisions since last month.  Kahle explained that this report was different than the December 2003 report produced by Tetra Tech.  This document expands on the earlier report.   Some of the additions include the subbasin maps produced by Department of Agriculture, it focuses more on monitoring, and it provides guidance for groups interested in monitoring.  Following today’s meeting, Kahle will take the document and group comments back to the Water Quality Committee.  They in turn will send it back to the CBP for final consideration during the September meeting.   If the CBP accepts this document, project sponsors can include this as part of their application details for the Department of Ecology’s water quality grant cycles. 

 

Kahle projected the subbasin maps on the wall.  The maps show the waters that currently meet the state water quality standards, those that are impaired, and the sites currently monitored and/or suggested through the TMDL DIP as monitoring sites.  The following comments were made: 

·         Change the colors for the active sites.

·         The colors are hard to read when projected. 

·         Why are some segments of the Black River shown as impaired?  The maps are described on page 10.

·         Surface water systems require monitoring.  This data is available and should be part of the maps.  Add the waste water treatment plant data from the NPDES permits. 

·         Why is an unnamed tributary to Scatter Creek shown as impaired?

 

Kahle reviewed revisions to the document since the July meeting.

·         Pages 2 and 3 describe the different types of monitoring.

·         Revised the level descriptions.

·         Added a citation for the EPA manual to the reference section.

·         New text for basin coordination, page 7.  

 

The group thanked Kahle for his work on this project. 

 

Proposal to Develop a Water Quality Coordinator Position

Napier introduced the proposal to the group.  Originally she had started to develop a scope of work for a water quality coordinator position.  She began to realize that this was not a proposal Grays Harbor County could pursue without building in some capacity.  Since conservation districts commonly work on water quality projects, it seemed more appropriate to encourage a conservation district to become involved with the development of this proposal. 

 

Bob Amrine, Lewis Conservation District Manager, presented his proposal to implement several actions contained in the Plan.  Specifically page 24 describes a recommendation for a basin-wide water quality monitoring program.  As part of the proposal, he would hire a coordinator.  Task for this person would include:

·         Working with the CBP and the Water Quality Committee.

·         Coordinate water quality monitoring activities in the Basin.

·         Ensure the entry of new data into a common repository.

·         Build upon the GIS maps created by the Department of Agriculture for the CBP.

·         Assist in development of QAPPs

·         Organize and facilitate educational workshops regarding the importance of water quality monitoring and current data.

Bob intends to submit a grant application to the Department of Ecology in October to fund this proposal.  He asked the CBP to consider a letter of support.  The group asked Lee to draft a letter of support for consideration during the September meeting.

 

Phase IV /Plan 2 Fund

Mark Swartout reviewed for the group the discussion from the August STC meeting.  The STC discussed the possible approaches to tackle completing the Detailed Implementation Plan for the Phase IV contract.  After some discussion, the STC concluded that the suggested approaches from last month, would be too dependent upon recruiting new volunteers.  Instead they discussed using the CBP standing committees (STC, WQ, and TAG) to lead the work plan development.  The committees would then present the work plan details to the CBP during the monthly meetings. 

 

The group agreed that creating new work groups would be difficult.  A suggestion was made that during the committee meetings, those entities that might incur obligations should be present to participate in the committee discussions.

 

The next meeting is October 6 at the City of Centralia’s light building.

 

Caucus Legislative

Napier presented the background.  Since its inception, members, and advocates, of the Chehalis Basin Partnership have discussed the need to form a legislative caucus as a means to communicate watershed issues to legislators and garner their support.  As we initiate implementation of our watershed plan, several members suggested we increase our communication with our legislators regarding our issues and implementation needs.  The STC briefly discussed meeting with Chehalis Basin Legislators before the next session and suggested hosting a meeting, a kind of send off before the session begins.  The CBP, as a group, needs to consider if they want to pursue this suggestion.

 

The group had the following comments: 

 

C.  Open Comment

 

None

 

The next meeting of the Chehalis Basin Partnership will be held on September 23, 2005 from 9:30 AM to 12:00 m at the Lucky Eagle Casino near Oakville.

 

Decisions

 

§         The CBP directed Lee Napier to draft a letter of support for the Water Quality Coordinator proposal by Lewis County Conservation District.

 

Chehalis Basin Partnership Attendance Record

Commissioner Beerbower & Lee Napier

Grays Harbor County

Commissioner Macleod & Mark Swartout

Thurston County

Commissioner Graham

Lewis County

Lisa Scott

City of Aberdeen

Kahle Jennings

City of Centralia

Councilman Bob Spahr and Patrick Wiltzius

City of Chehalis

Ron Schillinger

City of Montesano

David Weiser

City of Ocean Shores

Terry Willis

Grays Harbor County CAC member

Lyle Hojem

Lewis County CAC member

Jim Hill

Lewis  County CAC member

Chanele Holbrook Shaw

Thurston County CAC member

Chad Stussy

Department of Fish and Wildlife

Ann Wick

Department of Agriculture

John Blacklaw

Department of Health

Steve Craig

Department of Ecology

Lonnie Crumley

CBFTF

Bruce Jones

Quinault Indian Nation

Vicki Cummings

Grays Harbor County Council of Government

Bob Amrine

Lewis Conservation District