Chehalis Basin Partnership

 

 

 


Meeting Summary – December 16, 2005

 

A.     GENERAL PARTNERSHIP BUSINESS

 

Introductions

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

 

Report from the Nomination Committee

Jim Hill reported that Bonnie Canaday was selected by the committee to be the nomination for chair.  Bonnie was originally approached to be the vice chair to replace Jim Haslett who resigned in October.  The committee recommended Commissioner Beerbower. 

 

The floor was opened for nominations.

 

The recommendations of the committee were accepted.

 

Bob Spahr congratulated the new officers.  He wished them well and hoped that they enjoy the work as much as he did.

 

Monthly River Flow Report

Jennings reviewed the flow charts he created for this month’s report.  The graphs describe real time 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.  Jennings commented that this month the flows were below the median flows.  He noted that in 1996 January reported a flooding situation.  Art asked if the Centralia released water from the reservoir for the Coal plant.  They also are able to withdraw from the Newaukum under one of their operation permits.  Swartout noted that it appears as though the aquifer is not being recharged.  The group wondered if that was due to reduced rainfall combined with cold temperatures. 

 

Chehalis Basin Watershed Festival

Chanele Holbrook reported that she contacted festival vendors and activity participants.  Kahle checked with the Parks Department.  They do have a procedure to reserve the site.  Currently the schedule is open for late summer and early fall.  Napier spoke with Kathy Jacobson.  There appears to be interest in attending our festival, provided the dates are open.  We need to settle on a date.  The group commented that September would be a good time.  Notice could be sent out through the schools.  The drawback would be low flows in the river. 

 

B.     Special Projects

 

Legislative Committee Assembly Meetings

Napier shared her thoughts. 

·         Both the House and the Senate members were knowledgeable about watershed/natural resource work. 

·         The members of the House were very interested in our membership composition.

·         Representative Kessler asked about our public outreach during the plan development and adoption phases. 

·         Representative DeBolt asked if our plan discussed or addressed transferring or water rights.  He explained his experience with the Cities of Centralia and Morton and their attempts to acquire additional water rights through transfers.

·         Representative DeBolt encouraged the group to work with the Transportation, Permitting, Accountability and Efficiency Committee (TPEAC) to develop innovative solutions to implement the watershed plan.

·         Senator Swecker told the group he planned to introduce legislation promoting bottoms up approaches to land use management.  This might be at the county or watershed planning unit level.  He described the Walla Walla Initiative as a good example.  This type of approach would allow programmatic approaches to emerge that are unique to the various areas around the state.  He would like to use the group as a sounding board for this proposal.

·         Senator Hargrove asked if the group had any recommendation regarding agreement and getting from point A to point B with the science currently available.

·         Senator Doumitt mentioned the Timber, Fish and Wildlife (TFW) work as a process that seemed successful.  They started with a definite goal and stuck to it through their work.  He hears that storage is a big issue, which leads him to ask the question about how you make new water available. 

 

Swartout echoed Napier’s comments and added that they seemed to accept us as a resource.  He was really impressed with Senator Swecker’s knowledge of watershed planning.  He also seemed interested in determining a way to link land use/GMA with the watershed planning process.  He felt this was a good forum to discuss issues with the legislators.

 

Spahr commented that they seemed to appreciate that we wanted to share information and did not come in to complain.

 

Holbrook share that they seemed impressed that we still had the numbers of meeting participating. 

 

Napier asked the members to comment on the thank you letter.  The group agreed with the draft letter and asked that she send informational packets to the members who could not attend. 

 

Local Prioritization of the Water Quality Grants

Napier reviewed the Comprehensive Water Quality Coordinator proposal.  Jennings reviewed the WWTP Improvement project.  The group agreed to rank the water quality coordinator proposal first and the WWTP project second.  Napier will submit the letter of agreed priority to Ecology.

 

Watershed Planning-Phase IV

Napier updated the group regarding the Phase IV contract.  The first task in that contract, with an upcoming deliverable due date, was the letter to the group A Water Systems.  Grays Harbor County mailed just under 300 letters to the Group A Water System owners and/or operators in the Chehalis Basin.  The systems were asked to contact Napier by November 30th.  There are approximately 177 systems in the watershed.  To date, fifteen water system owners/operators contacted her.

 

Swartout asked the group to consider working with John Kliem.  He facilitated meetings for the group and could help us to advance our Phase IV contract work.  If the group took this approach it would help Napier with the work load because she is currently serving as staff to all the CBP committees which include preparing the meeting materials, developing the meeting summaries, and trying to facilitate the development the Phase IV DIP.  Napier commented that the contract budget did include allow for up to $25,900 in professional services.  The CBP authorized the STC to negotiate a contract for services within the grant budget for professional services. 

 

Salmon Recovery

Napier reported that she received the draft staff report from the SRFB Review Panel.  Regarding projects, the comments were positive.  Three out of twelve projects were listed as projects of concern (POC).  The POC’s were at the end of the list and were not likely to receive funding since the cumulative list requested over $3 million.  Because the projects were located at the bottom of the list, she did not dispute the comments.  She hopes the SRFB will consider funding the top eight projects. 

 

Regarding the evaluation of the strategy, she felt the comments were mixed with positive and less than positive comments.  This concerns her because the SRFB may allocate the second increment of funding based on the Fit of the Project List to the strategy.  While she believes the list fits the strategy, the SRFB has criteria that may compromise the funding.  The SRFB criterion requires lead entities to only submit their highest priority projects in order to review an excellent ranking.  In the Chehalis, the list includes high, high-medium, and medium priority projects.  The SRFB will make their final decision on January 6th. 

 

Napier also reported that the habitat strategy is still undergoing an update.  The Habitat Work Group will meet the second Friday of each month at the Lewis Conservation District Office.  She encouraged anyone who is interested in projects to become involved in the update.  The group will be updated the subbasin profiles.  The final document will be presented to the CBP. 

 

Annual Plan of Work

Napier distributed and reviewed the draft plan of work.  The group added the watershed festival to public involvement and the GIS Summit to Special Projects.  They changed the timeline for the legislative briefings to include work in September-December.  Additional details related to the annual plan of work milestones will be added to the work plan as the Committee develop their respective work plans. 

 

C.     Open Comment

 

None

 

The next meeting of the Chehalis Basin Partnership will be held a week earlier on January 27, 2006 from 9:30 AM to 12:00 m at the Lucky Eagle Casino near Oakville.

 

Decisions

 

§         The CBP elected Mayor ProTem Bonnie Canaday as chair and Commissioner Bob Beerbower as the vice chair.

§          The CBP accepted the list of prioritized projects for the local ranking of water quality proposals.

§         The CBP authorized the STC to negotiate a scope of work for services with John Kliem related to facilitation of the Phase IV DIP

 

Chehalis Basin Partnership Attendance Record

Bob Beerbower

Grays Harbor County

Lee Napier

Grays Harbor County

Bob Macleod

Thurston County

Mark Swartout

Thurston County

Kernen Lien

Lewis County

Mark White

Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis

Chuck Caldwell

Port of Grays Harbor

Art Lehman

Port of Centralia

Bonnie Canaday

City of Centralia

Kahle Jennings

City of Centralia

Bob Spahr

City of Chehalis

Patrick Wiltzius

City of Chehalis

Ron Schillinger

City of Montesano

Terry Willis

Grays Harbor County CAC member

Lyles Hojum

Lewis County CAC member

Jim Hill

Lewis  County CAC member

Chanele Holbrook Shaw

Thurston County CAC member

Chad Stussy

Department of Fish and Wildlife

Ronn Shuttie

Department of Natural Resources

Steve Craig

Department of Ecology

Dave Rountry

Department of Ecology

Bruce Jones

Quinault Indian Nation