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Meeting Attendees
Name / Organization / Email / Phone
Barb Osmundson / US Fish & Wildlife Service / / 243-2778 ext. 21
Bill Cooper / Tamarisk Coalition / / 256-7400
Bruce Smith / Western Water and Land, Inc. / / 242-0170
Clark Bouton / Western CO Conservation Corps / / 241-1027
David Barnett / Interested individual/GIS consultant / / 250-4688
Derek Lovoi / Colorado Parks & Wildlife / / 210-7048
Frank Watt / Town of Palisade / / 464-1116
Hannah Holm / Water Center at CMU / / 248-1968
John Heideman / Interested individual / / 250-5206
Kathy Portner / City of Grand Junction / / 244-1420
Melissa Werkmeister / Mesa County / / 255.7121
Pete Firmin / Colorado Parks & Wildlife / / 434-3388
Shannon Hatch / Tamarisk Coalition / / 256-7400
Stacy Beaugh / Tamarisk Coalition / / 256-7400
Stan Young / Landowner/contractor / / 216-8112
Ture Nycum / City of Fruita / / 858-0360 ext. 10

Action items are noted with an * and are bolded.

Mission/Goals/Focus Area Discussion

  • Group checked in on mission, goals, and name
  • No major changes were recommended at this time (except possibly name – see below)
  • Website put up for review; please send Shannon Hatch any changes you’d like to see
  • Website address:
  • Grant information can be found on the website as well
  • Will be updated regularly
  • The subject of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was brought up again
  • Group in consensus that a MOU may be beneficial
  • MOU could be beneficial for acquiring additional funding
  • Would also help to define roles and responsibilities
  • MOU can also help outline priorities of different entities as well

*Tamarisk Coalition to draft MOU will distribute to group for input on roles as well as content review

  • Question posed whether or not group should focus on Gunnison River as well
  • Gunnison River a USFWS priority for salinity control; also critical habitat for endangered fish species
  • BLM has expressed interest as well for tamarisk and Russian olive removal
  • Need to involve Mesa County more in this effort (possibly Delta County too)
  • Colorado Canyons Association would be a good one to involve as well
  • Other partnerships bookend the area that the Grand Valley Collaborative is looking a focusing on
  • Middle Colorado River Watershed Partnership
  • Southeast Utah Riparian Partnership
  • Group said that it would be good to include Gunnison as part of Collaborative focus; however, a name change may be in order

*TC will send some potential name changes around; Confluence Collaborative/The Confluence was one suggestion

Field Trip

  • Briefly reviewed salient points
  • Irrigation or access to water table important for revegetation
  • Ability to access and maintain sites is key; often it pays off to work more slowly

Site Prioritization/GIS Analysis

  • TC to undertake GIS analysis; received funding from Bacon Family Foundation
  • Would like to prioritize areas for work based on a number of factors
  • Visually represent priorities
  • Need to consider abilities/capacity of land managers as well
  • Accuracy of data layers a concern; haven’t yet looked too closely at data though
  • Hydro layers difficult to come by
  • Would be good to connect with SE Utah Riparian Partnership person doing similar work

*Shannon Hatch to follow up with Bill Cooper about this connection

  • Frank Watt suggested that it would be helpful to look at all of the information/GIS datasets currently existing; a workshop with different GIS analysts from various organizations might be useful

Upcoming Grant Opportunities

  • There are number of upcoming grant opportunities (see website for links to all grants)
  • Invasive Phreatophyte Control Program through CWCB
  • Application due December 14th
  • TC is on the review panel
  • TC unable to provide help drafting document (other than providing information on monitoring techniques)
  • Applicants are encouraged to capitalize on the work of the Collaborative
  • Central Utah Project Completion Act Grant
  • Colorado River District Grant

Training Opportunities

  • TC has funds to help out with training opportunities; would like to know what group needs most; there is also an opportunity to have some contractors demo their equipment
  • Group expressed interest in learning more about:
  • General tamarisk and Russian olive removal
  • Revegetation
  • Dry land seeding
  • Secondary weed treatment
  • Certified Applications training (TC could potentially help cover costs)
  • Monitoring
  • Plant ID
  • GIS (learning more what’s out there before doing more work)
  • GPS
  • River Crossings Conference in March(TC could potentially help with costs)

*TC will work on drafting training plan/dates

Monitoring

  • Requirement under Water Supply Reserve Account Grant(WSRA) (as well as other upcoming grant opportunities)
  • TC to work with grant recipients to help out with photo-point monitoring
  • TC would like to implement system-wide monitoring effort
  • Other entities interested in doing more systematic monitoring
  • Bruce Smith potentially interested in doing paired watershed studies
  • Ground water monitoring/water quality monitoring
  • TC currently looking at compiling existing monitoring well data

*TC to update website with monitoring information; will be in touch with WSRA project leads

Grand Valley Education Opportunities

  • TC been working with several other entities, including Math and Science Center, CMU Water Center, Rocky Mountain PBS, Colorado Canyons Association, Riverfront Commission, on uniting outreach and education efforts
  • Will present at next Intergovernmental Agency meeting
  • Continuing to recruit more people
  • TC drafting a paper on how this initiative may evolve

Other Updates

  • City of Grand Junction moving forward with Los Colonias plans
  • 2013 budget for planning and development to be submitted soon
  • Lion’s Club may potentially be involved in multi-year effort
  • Potential creation of backwater area
  • Concerned about ground water contamination
  • Proceeding with water testing next week
  • TC reassessing role on Watson Island
  • Work may now occur on mid-channel islands and south island
  • Potential to apply funds to other areas; may be partnership opportunity with NRCS
  • Bill Cooper provided an update on the Middle Colorado River Watershed Partnership
  • Update on River Crossings Conference – March 11-15, 2013 at CMU
  • Hannah Holm summarized the recent Upper Colorado River Basin Conference
  • Presentations will be available online soon

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