SRM Watershed/Riparian Committee Meeting Notes

Fort Worth, TX – February 6, 2005

1. Meeting was called to order by Tamzen Stringham, 2005 Committee Chair. Jimmy Eisner isthe 2006 Chair and serves as Co-chair for current year. Carol Engle, 2004 Chair, also assisted with the meeting. The new Board representative for the W/R Committee is Joel Brown. The committee directory was passed around for updating, and attendees signed in as well. Everyone encouraged the chair to keepup the e-mail list. After introductions, the group started on the agenda items.

2. Deen Boe, SRM Washington D.C. Representative - SRM is actively working on strengthening relationships with and between other professional societies (AFS, SAF, TWS, ESA and others) to work on joint activities. SRM has been instrumental in connecting these entities and he is encouraging committees to come up with ways to continue doing that. To date, there has been good relationships and receptivity for increased integration with TWS and AFS. There will also be joint congressional briefings this spring. He mentioned that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is interested in a working partnership with SRM. This can be in the form of an MOA or Cooperative Agreements but these are not as meaningful as working on specific projects such as; 1) publishing joint papers, 2) doing joint symposia, 3) holding joint Director meetings, etc. There is also opportunity for SRM to dove-tail into the newly evolving Fish Habitat Initiative as well as the FWS Habitat Partners Program. He told us that the FWS information center is extensive and that they have offered use of their training facilities in Shepardstown, WV.

Deen planned to meet with several other society and agency representatives during this meeting and was looking to the committees for ideas relative to SRM. Suggestions included; 1) SRM members need to research and learn FWS program goals and objectives, 2) areas for assistance could be overall watershed and riparian-wetland function, meeting habitat objectives relative to vegetation, managing herbivory for specific objectives, 3) function in a integrated way, i.e., SRM committees do joint activities with each other and with corresponding committees of other societies, 4) develop and deliver joint training, i.e., habitat improvement and livestock grazing. This would help SRM address the stereotype of a ‘cows only’ organization.

Action Item: The committee needs to provide Deen with feedback on who we are interested in working with and any potential projects. (Who is going to follow-up on this?)

Action Item:Sandy Wyman will ask the RAM committee to co-sponsor a monitoring symposium with the W/R committee in 2006.

2. 2004 Committee Report - Carol gave highlightsfrom the 2004 committee report she submitted to Marty Vavra, outgoing Board representative, and also a reminder that this will need to be done for 2005 prior to the 2006 meeting. The 2004 report is attached to these notes.

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3. Strategic Planning Session - Carol and Tamzen attended the strategic planning session. Committee members need to look at the strategic plan document on the website. The W/R Committee is addressed in sections 3.4 and 4.4. The need for more presence in WashingtonD.C. surfaced including a suggestion that the main SRM office be located there. Another topic was the perception of a lack of respect for SRM and range professionals in general, and the need to address this as a society.

Our committee discussed this further suggesting that members be aware of themselves and talk and function in a more integrated way, i.e., livestock grazing is just one component of the larger field of range ecology and management. Another idea was for a one-page description that Deen Boe and others could use, of what rangeland managers and scientists do. It needs to include why SRM works with grazing as well as other things such as partnering for education, university accreditation, and the range consultant certification program. The WY Range Service Team is putting together a reference list of literature about successful grazing. It was also pointed out that in the Forest Service Manual only 1 of 5 objectives is about livestock grazing and that this is not marketed well enough to address the stereotype issue.

This also brought out the topic of how SRM portrays grazing and stems from previous discussions about the way the response to the NRC Riparian Report was written. Wayne Elmore and others advocate the use of the phrase ‘grazing systems that are compatible with’…whatever condition or value being managed for, such as riparian function, water quality, habitat attributes, etc.

Rangelands would like a write up on the committee and what we have planned. The W/R Committee could write an article in Rangelands on a number of topics as well as shorter submissions for Member News.

Action Items: None assigned.

4. BOD and Committee Chairs Meeting–This is held yearly, right after the first all day meeting of the BOD and right before the committee meetings. Topics and reminders included; 1) the strategic plan, 2) only going to BOD for matters of money and policy, 3) committees are open except for Finance and Nominating, 4) if committees are not active the Board may eliminate, 5) encouraging committee websites, possibly members list – probably only chair would be most appropriate and easier to maintain. We talked about the need to send out a notice that the W/R Committee is open to anyone and that we should target younger SRM members and that this could be done by sending an invitation to the state leaders of the student organizations. Another suggestion is to use the new member list for outreach.

Action Items: None assigned.

5. 2005 High School Youth Forum - The W/R Committee activity for 2005 is a 2 hour session for the high school youth on riparian areas and how function is the basis for producing values and also provides an effective focus for helping people understand and deal with conflict regarding this important resource. The presenters are Wayne Elmore (Riparian Specialist), Janice Staats (Hydrologist), and Jimmy Eisner (Fisheries Biologist).

Action Item: Carol Engle will attend and then write and submit an article for Member News

6. W/R Committee Handbook – This document needs to be updated to incorporate any changes in membership and chairs. If appropriate, the update will tier to the most recent drafts of the SRM strategic and communication plans.

Action Item: Susan Holtzman will update the committee handbook.

7. Website – Ann Tanakatalked to the committee about our web page. She said we need an opening page and that there is no page limit and that we can choose to link to others. She is willing to help as needed and can be reached at . The discussion covered several ideas about what to put on the website such as a paper on compatible and beneficial affects from grazing, a link to Rangeland West, selected references, maybe links to other websites, and favorite publications. We mentioned, but did not discuss, the eventual need of a plan for determining content and doing updates.

Action Item: Sandy Wyman will send the committee a draft structure for review and comment, and will coordinate with Ann Tanaka on getting the committee web page created.

Action Item: Wayne Elmore said he would write and article on ‘compatible’ grazing.

8. SRM 2006 Vancouver Meeting - Dave Wheeler commented that government workers need to get a government passport to go to Vancouver, B.C. He suggested an announcement be put in the Members News.

Action Item: None assigned

9. E-coli Issues – Ron Stellingwerf and Dave Wheeler briefed the committee on a situation in Wyoming on the North Tongue River relative to litigation regarding livestock grazing and elevated e-coli. This is a complicated issue and this particular case can have an effect on a much larger scale. This led into a discussion on water quality and stream function.

Action Item: None assigned

10. 2006 W/R Committee Activities–The committee decided on 2 half day symposia. The first one is titled Riparian Monitoring: Quantitative Methods Symposium. Sherm Swanson will chair this session and the group brainstormed a possible draft agenda:

  • Why Monitor (Sherm Swanson or Ron Wiley)
  • Management Need (Sandy Wyman)
  • Monitoring the Vegetation in Riparian Areas (Alma Winward)
  • PIBO Riparian Vegetation Monitoring (Marc Coles-Ritchie,Rick Henderson)
  • Monitoring Streambanks and Riparian Vegetation (Erv Cowley and Tim Burton)
  • Riparian Classification and Ecological Status (Dave Weixelman)
  • Stubble Height - Connecting Short and Long Term Indicators (Ron Wiley)
  • E-coli Monitoring (Cindy Meays or Bill Krueger)

The second one will follow and focus on water quality. Dave Wheeler will chair and Paul Mieman will co-chair. They will seek out representation from Canada through Cindy Meays.

Watershed/Riparian SRM National Committee 2004

Sumitted to BOD Rep. Marty Vavra

The Watershed/Riparian committee description is to focus attention, knowledge and work on issues involving rangeland watershed and riparian areas to enhance the understanding of the membership and the public about watershed and riparian-wetland areas, their functions and their management. This is accomplished by symposium presentations, communication during the year with members sharing knowledge and requests for input and working on action items discussed during the annual meeting.

The Watershed/Riparian Committee has an open membership policy and does not limit members to three years of service. A number of members stay attached to the committee for many years because of their close interest and knowledge in this area. In 2004 I contacted over 50 listed members. 43 members requested to remain on the active list.

Action items are designated at our committee meetings and the co-chair follows through by contacting individuals to see where they are at on their responsibilities. A couple items were discussed and dropped during 2004. We are currently working on compiling a website page for the SRM Watershed/Riparian Committee. Possible funding has been located to fund the page once it is developed.

Circulating e-mail communications to the members from other committee heads, board members and mailing from associated groups was completed as needed. This included scholarship applications, requests for symposium input, information delivery, the proposed SRM name change, and opportunities for attending other conventions or trainings. The Watershed/Riparian Committee Handbook was updated in 1999 and that version was circulated to the updated membership as requested at the 2004 committee meeting. At the Ft. Worth meeting we will discuss other needed changes. The rotation of members will need to be changed due to the open membership policy.

The Watershed/Riparian Committee usually coordinates a symposium at the SRM meetings. For 2004 they elected to put on a two hour symposium/interaction with the high school youth attending the Ft. Worth SRM meeting. This activity was coordinated with Barron Rector, the head of the SRM High School Youth Program.

The co-chair for 2005 has a symposium topic for 2006 which would be of interest to agency personnel. As the 2006 meeting is located in Vancouver, B.C., we were concerned that it may be difficult for agency people to attend. Regional Forest Service people were contacted regarding policy affecting FS attendance in Vancouver. The SRM W/R Committee works with a two person co-chair so we nominate our co-chairs ahead of time and currently have them elected through 2006. Tamzen Stringham is co-chair for 2005 and Jim Eisner for 2006.

Carol Engle

2004 Co-Chair Watershed/Riparian Committee

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