Skipanon Watershed Council Meeting Minutes

November 6, 2012

Warrenton High School Library

6-8 pm

Present: Jesse Jones - North Coast Watershed Association, Steve Porter - Warrenton High School, Pat Jensen - Smith Lake, Jim Scheller - Skipanon Watershed Council chair, Troy Laws – ODFW, Peggy Hines – Cullaby Lake, Jon Wickersham – NCLC, Michele Long – ODFW, M. Apple - Neighbor

1)Announcements:

a)November’s Nature Matters on the 15th at Fort George….Doug Deur will be talking about the ethics of reciprocity…”Fish for Thanksgiving” is the topic.

b)Jim and Jesse shared that they walked Cullaby Creek and spotted two dead and one life coho. The dead ones were hatchery fish. Jesse took photos and will be sharing this information at her presentation to the city of Warrenton on November 13th.

c)Peggy and Jim shared that they saw coho jumping up the ladder at Cullaby Lake.

2)The October council minutes were approved with a correction.

3)Council business:

a)Jesse submitted a technical assistance grant to OWEB titled “Skipanon
Comprehensive View”. Pat moved the council commit $10,000 to match this grant, should it be awarded. The council voted unanimously to fund.

b)Jesse shared correspondence between herself and CREST director Denise Lofman. The drainage map project will be finished by Haley Dillon at PC Trask.

c)Coordinator computer purchase…this is still in the planning phase but Jesse is leaning toward a Windows Lenovo.

d)The SWC has been actively reaching out to the Warrenton community about tree planting this winter. Jesse has put announcements in the paper and Pat has created a flyer. Steve said that he has students that want to plant this winter and to keep him informed of opportunities. Jesse will be getting trees from the Northwest Oregon Restoration Partnership (NORP) this year in addition to other nurseries. The trees at NORP come at a low cost and thus will stretch the DEQ dollars for more materials like fencing. Trees to plant will be Sitka spruce, hemlock, western red cedar, willow, dogwood, ninebark, willow, vinemaple. Jesse would like to get wildings and will talk to ODF.

e)Beavers: Wayne Hoffman will be speaking to the council at the December meeting about “Engineering healthy watersheds for beavers”. The council asked Troy about permitting. Troy said that if it’s a fish habitat structure, in a stream, it doesn’t need a permit. He’ll get us more information.

f)The culvert at 9th street is abutted by county property, not NCLC property. The council asks, has the city of Warrenton contacted ODFW? What are their plans for 9th street?

g)Alder Creek scope of work prelim talk: Fish presence needs to be monitored, DOGAMI and DEQ have partnered with watershed councils to create maps, according to Michele, the city has 25K in their budget for some kind of upgrade and OWEB and NOAA can help with assessment and detail of design for fish benefit, Michele said.

For the good of the order:

  1. Steve shared that 20,000 Chinook will be collected by WarHF this week.
  2. Jesse announced that WQ monitoring will begin in Alder Creek soon.
  3. Grant for NP source monitoring – project orientation (clarify this note at December’s meeting)
  4. Question from council about Warrenton lands. Which are in National Wetland Inventory.
  5. The time is soon for carcass placement in Youngs Bay and Nicolai-Wickiup watersheds. Jesse will be calling ODFW the week prior to December’s meeting about this.
  6. Jim shared an article about Frasier River.

Meeting adjourned just before 8 pm.