MEMORANDUM

DATE:May 9, 2019

TO:Benton County VSP Work Group

FROM:Lisa Grueter, AICP, Principal, BERK Consulting

RE:Draft Work Plan and Adaptive Management Matrix

Work Plan and Appendices

With this memo, we are transmitting the latest Work Plan draft. Changes are shown in strikeout and underline, representing edits between April and June 2017 (the last version showed changes from fall 2016 to early June). Primary changes address Work Group direction on goals and benchmarks and new agricultural data from WSDA for the year 2016.

We are also providing the Appendices. Since last April, we compiled maps in poster format rather than the ~200 pages of individual maps (those would be available to the Work Group but wouldn’t need to go to the Tech Panel). We have also compiled habitat map definitions together with the mapping definitions. We put outreach goals above tables/techniques that implement them. Last, we prepared more extensive edits to the goals and benchmarks. We have had conference calls to go over the goals and benchmarks June 16, 20, and 21 and the results are reflected in Appendix I.

For the meeting on Monday, please focus on the Work Plan and Appendix I.

Stewardship Checklist

Ron Harle suggested we consider how to better link critical areas and conservation practices. There was a suggestion to consider the format of Grant County. Grant County’s checklist does not link critical areas and practices, but in expressing their goals and objectives, there is a link to practices. We have provided example pages from the Grant County Work Plan and checklist.

Ron’s input is that as a landowner, I want to know:

  • What critical areas intersect with my farm?
  • Why is it important to protect this particular intersect and how high of a priority is it?
  • What are the most important conservation practices that will materially benefit the critical area and not waste my resources.

Having 3 to 5 practices that are important means he would remember them and take opportunities to implement them. Our Short Form Checklist in Appendix G takes some steps to be more concise, and could be amended to better describe the most important practices for a particular critical area. This can be discussed at our Monday meeting.

DRAFT DATE HERE Client | Project Name / 1