Summary Meeting Notes

Transcription

1 San Francisco Bay Joint Venture Conservation Delivery Committee Meeting Thursday, June 12, :30am - 1:30pm California State Coastal Conservancy 11 th Floor meeting room 1330 Broadway, Oakland, CA Summary Meeting Notes In attendance: Marc Holmes (Chair, The Bay Institute), Joy Albertson (US Fish and Wildlife Service), Donna Ball (Save the Bay), Chris Barton (East Bay Regional Park District), Betsy Bikle (Mill Valley StreamKeepers), Cecille Caterson (California State Parks Foundation), Wendy Dalia (Audubon California), Tom Gandesbery (State Coastal Conservancy), Craig Garner (Ducks Unlimited), Matt Gerhart (State Coastal Conservancy), Elizabeth Hubert via phone (Wildlife Conservation Board), Marilyn Latta (State Coastal Conservancy), Nadav Nur (Point Blue Conservation Science), Austin Perez (Bay Planning Coalition), Orien Richmond (US Fish and Wildlife Service), Leo Salas - via phone (Point Blue Conservation Science), Barbara Salzman (Marin Audubon Society), Crystal Simons (Bay Area Open Space Council), Renee Spenst (Ducks Unlimited), Cheryl Strong (US Fish and Wildlife Service), Susan Wainwright De la Cruz (US Geological Survey), Bruce Wolfe (San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board), Julian Wood (Point Blue Conservation Science), Hayley Zemel (Save the Bay) SF Bay Joint Venture Staff: Beth Huning (Coordinator), Sandra Scoggin (Assistant Coordinator), Caroline Warner-via phone (Outreach Coordinator), Katie McLean (Intern) 1. Welcome and Introductions 2. Announcements and Project Updates Renee Spenst: Sears Point Restoration- 1,000 acres of tidal restoration began on June 6 th. More information is available at: South Bay Salt Pond Project- Restoration of ponds E12 and E13 is moving forward at Eden Landing. Craig Garner: Cullinan Ranch Restoration- Caltrans is close to approving an encroachment permit. Bids are due July 2 nd, construction on the egress lane should begin in early August, and the site is expected to be breached in January Marilyn Latta: Another successful Spartina planting season has concluded, and replanting continues. The final count is expected to be 75,000 native plants planted and construction of 20 high tide refuge islands. Treatment is still limited to 11 sites, and has been effective at those sites. The 2013 treatment report will be out soon. Living Shorelines: Oysters are growing and reproducing on the reefs at the pilot sites. About 80 members of the public attended a recent talk at the Exploratorium about Living Shorelines and now the Exploratorium is considering a permanent exhibit on the concept. High Country News re- published an article from the UC Davis journal, Science, that argues that because clapper rails are nesting in invasive Spartina, perhaps invasive Spartina should be left alone in the Bay. Although the paper in Science supports the invasive Spartina project, the message picked up by the press (including High Country News) has been that invasive plants that benefit native species should be left alone. In reality, the UC Davis authors identify two goals: removing invasive Spartina and protecting clapper rails. There must be a balance of restoration and Spartina treatment in order to accomplish both goals. The best solution is not to leave invasive Spartina in the Bay, as some press has argued, but instead to gradually remove the invasive while simultaneously restoring natives to serve as clapper rail habitat. Chris Barton: Breuner Marsh Restoration bid came in $1.4M under the engineer s estimate. Albany Shoreline Restoration - A $750,000 strategic growth grant was awarded to the project, and the Corps permit is imminent. Patterson Ranch- The Patterson family recently donated nearly 300 acres adjacent to Coyote Hills Regional Park to the EBRPD. Restoration is not yet planned for the site, but it will likely be restored to tidal wetlands, with additional opportunities for sustainable agriculture and farming. 1

2 Barbara Salzman: Marin Audubon is hoping to buy a 5-acre property to add to the Corte Madera Ecological Reserve and to restore to tidal marsh. Funding ideas are welcome. Tom Gandesbery- Tom announced that this is his last CD Committee meeting, as he will be changing from managing Marin projects to the Conservancy s Central Coast region projects as of this summer. 3. Coordinator s Updates Beth Huning, SFBJV Coordinator National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Business Plan: The SF Bay initiative, including SFBJV s plan on clapper rails and tidal marshes, was considered by the NFWF board in March The initiative plan was approved in concept, but the board asked that the business plan be refined to better define NFWF s contribution to its four target species and habitats. The refined business plan will be considered for adoption by the NFWF board in August In the meantime NFWF is beginning the process of raising money to implement the Business Plan. US Fish and Wildlife Region 8: All Region 8 migratory bird staff members have been instructed to work only on the backlog of alternative energy and eagle take permits through the end of While USFWS says this is temporary, partners are concerned that this could start a trend or could send the message that other migratory birds are unimportant. This decision will not immediately impact SFBJV programs, but the JV wants to make sure that this doesn t set a precedent for turning attention away from Joint Ventures and other migratory bird species and programs. SF Bay Restoration Authority (SFBRA) Ballot Measure: There will be a meeting next week to decide whether to put the SFBRA s ballot measure on the November ballot. The latest round of polling shows voter approval just below 66% with a significant number of undecided voters. Polling shows that the undecided voters will vote yes after positive messaging, but any negative messaging could prevent the measure from passing. 4. Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Update (BEHGU) for Climate Change - Matt Gerhart The BEHGU science chapter revisions were completed this spring, taking longer than expected due to the volume of comments and because most chapter editors are volunteers. A parallel effort developed Baywide, sub-regional, and fine-scale segment recommendations to accompany each chapter. The steering committee and the science review panel will review these recommendations over the next month. There will be three products: a 1-page executive summary, a roughly 100-page science and recommendation synthesis, and the full report containing the science summary chapters and recommendations. Letitia Grenier, project lead for BEHGU, is currently working on the synthesis. The final draft of all report chapters is expected within the next 6 weeks and will be reviewed by each of the committees in August and September in an open review by those directly involved in the project. The steering committee has also identified stakeholders who have not yet been a part of the core team to invite to preview relevant sections of the BEHBU. The purpose of this review will be both to identify any major issues and address them prior to the final publication at the end of Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey Workshop- Summary Outcomes - Julian Wood The Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey (PFSS) is an annual survey of wintering shorebirds conducted by a network of organizations, biologists, and citizen scientists. Point Blue hosted a PFSS workshop with the SFBJV in May to: review the survey methods and data; determine how participants use the data; make recommendations for improving survey design, data tools, and products to make the data more useful; increase awareness about the survey and available data; and identify future collaborations with other shorebird monitoring efforts. The data from the PFSS are stored in the California node of the Avian Knowledge Network (AKN) - the California Avian Data Center (CADC), which also has a suite of tools to help summarize and visualize the data. The CADC is open to the public and can be found at PointBlue.org/PFSS. 2

3 Workshop participants agreed that the data collected during the survey are useful and summary tools on CADC are good. Suggested improvements/additional uses from participants included: Ability to summarize data by region Abundance data for all survey species Downloadable data from different regions in a raw form Collection and availability of better land cover and pond management data Use data to put site-specific habitat changes into perspective (e.g. to identify whether changes in bird numbers at the South Bay Salt Ponds are due to site-specific habitat restoration or due to flyway-wide changes) Use data when creating abundance goals for the South Bay Salt Pond adaptive management plan, JV implementation plan and other similar efforts. Full workshop notes will be distributed soon. Point Blue plans to host another workshop with the Conservation Delivery Committee. Comments from CD committee members included the idea to conduct monthly surveys and finding ways to capitalize on other survey efforts in the region. 6. Climate Adaptation Decision Support (CADS) Workshop - Beth Huning 30 participants recently completed a series of webinars and a 2-1/2 day workshop using Structured Decision Making (SDM) to answer the decision question, How should limited resources be allocated across time toward potential actions within subregions to conserve SF Bay estuarine ecosystems while accounting for uncertainties and constraints regarding climate change and other factors such as management effectiveness, regulations, recreation, and sediment dynamics? The goal is to develop a model to guide management decisions, enabling participants to test variables and to determine optimal allocations. This project is sponsored by the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative and the US Fish and Wildlife Refuge System Inventory and Monitoring program. To complete the work, teams focusing on the 4 subregions of the Bay will revisit their influence diagrams, rankings, and allocations. They will then determine priorities, at which point the SDM modelers will build models for each subregion. Each team will also invite several people who weren t involved in the webinars but who have knowledge that is important for decision making to provide feedback. A final modeling tool will be created by combining all subregions and should be finished by the end of July US Integrated Bird Conservation - Beth Huning The Joint Ventures have been asked to provide feedback by July 1 st on a proposal to advance bird conservation through specific working relationships among the non-waterfowl Bird Conservation Plan Initiative Partnerships, Joint Ventures and the US North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) and restructuring of certain staff positions within the USFWS and the initiatives. The SFBJV is looking for partners who have experience and knowledge of how these programs have worked in the past, but welcomes anyone to participate and learn about these programs. Volunteers to assist include Marc Holmes, Joy Albertson (or another CDC member from the Refuge), Geoff Geupel (to be invited), and a representative from SFBBO (to be invited). Action: Anyone interested in participating in providing comments call should contact Sandra. 8. Ongoing JV and Partner Program Updates Habitat Project Tracking - Katie McLean The Habitat Project Tracking (HPT) team, consisting of representatives from the SFBJV, the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI), the CVJV, and other partners, met four times in April to discuss each partner s needs for the EcoAtlas database. The new database should have a query tool that allows queries to be saved and shared, intuitive data entry tools, multiple front doors that present users with information relevant to their specific organization, version control, and multiple levels of user access including public access. The group discussed the need for common terminology for project activities, contacts, and funding sources. SFEI is incorporating changes into EcoAtlas s data dictionary and SFBJV 3

4 has provided SFEI with a copy of its database. SFBJV s Project Tracking System will remain active in the mean time as SFEI continues to modify and improve EcoAtlas. The Database Task Group, a group of SFBJV partners working on identifying the future needs of SFBJV s database, will meet on July 9 th to review the HPT team discussions and to refine the project activity types. Science Program Sandra Scoggin The Science Task Group (STG) formed in late 2013 and convened in early January 2014 to make a recommendation on how the SFBJV should maintain its science program. In late January, the JV Management Board approved the STG s recommendation to form a Science Steering Committee (SSC). The purpose of the SSC will be to facilitate and coordinate science that informs SFBJV habitat priorities and management decisions by SFBJV resource management partners as per the SFBJV Implementation Plan, the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, the Subtidal Goals Report, and the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Update. The STG met again on April 1 st to identify potential SSC members, to draft a charter for the committee and begin planning the kick off meeting. Potential members of the SSC were invited, and all who have replied have accepted. 9. The Future of the Midwinter Waterfowl Survey - Orien Richmond and Cheryl Strong Orien Richmond presented a summary of the history, methods, and results of the Midwinter Waterfowl Survey (MWS), a January count of waterfowl concentration areas in the continental United States that began in Methods vary between regions, using various combinations of fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, boats, and ground counts. Annual variations in coverage occur due to weather, staffing, funding, and other factors. A 2012 National MWS survey of stakeholders found that respondents were mostly in favor of continuing the MWS and ranked it as a medium-high priority compared to other waterfowl monitoring efforts. Respondents recommended that there be an increased emphasis on statistical design and standardization of methods, improved observer training, increased availability of qualified observers, pilots, and aircraft, updated hazard maps covering aerial survey areas, and improved understanding of agency flight safety requirements. The survey data for the SF Estuary show species abundance in specific areas of the Estuary over time and the composition of species across the Estuary. Data can be used for restoration monitoring, planning, setting waterfowl population objectives, assessing disturbance impacts, informing harvest regulations, and evaluating the effects of climate change and other environmental impacts. Some of the drawbacks to current MWS survey methods are that the counts are not converted into density or abundance estimates, and the counts are not corrected for varying effort across years, for imperfect detection, or for variation in observer experience. The accuracy of real-time visual counts varies depending on the species being counted, bird density, viewing conditions, land cover, and observer experience. The USFWS Regional 8 Office has historically funded the plane and pilot while the San Francisco Bay Refuge Complex has provided staff and other support. The total cost of the SF Estuary portion of the MWS is between $17,000-21,000 per year, with funding for the pilot and plane running $8,000-$12,000 per year. Over the last two years, Region 8 has not funded the San Francisco Estuary portion of the MWS. The Refuge, USGS, and the SFBJV have contributed funding to fly some of the transects. The group discussion addressed the following goals: identify the priority level of the survey for JV partners, discuss how partners can and do use the survey data, recommend improvements to survey methods, and make a recommendation to the Management Board about whether to provide funding for the survey. The CD committee members agreed that it was important for the survey to be continued and gave numerous examples of how it is and could be used. The committee also agreed that the survey should be assessed and revised to increase its value to the groups using the data. They agreed to recommend that the 4

5 survey be continued and that a plan be created for how to improve the survey design and data management. They also recommended that alternative funding sources be explored. Arguments supporting the importance of the MWS: The survey has been done for many years allowing trends to be analyzed over a long period of time. Diving ducks aren t properly surveyed in other surveys. The data are extremely useful to analyze how populations shift over time and as habitats change. MWS has value that regional-based surveys don t have because it shows trends over a large scale. Recommendations for improvements to survey design, implementation and data management: Improve survey design to increase efficiency and usefulness; Redesign the survey with a statistical sampling framework o E.g., correct for differences in ground versus air counts ; Explore expanding the MWS to include more seasons and to capture data at a finer scale; Develop data models to manage the data and share geospatial data management responsibilities with other survey regions and data management entities; Document the full protocol; Improve reporting; Investigate use of Unmanned Aircraft (UA) to improve safety, which will likely be feasible in 5 years; Conduct survey every year (annual surveys keep observers trained, which improves quality of data and allows better detection of data trends); and Consider partnering with the Sea Duck Joint Venture their winter coastal survey from Washington to California. Recommendation from the CD Committee to the Management Board The Science Steering Committee should be asked to assemble a team to address the survey design and implementation recommendations, and determine how much or whether to recommend funding from the Management Board for survey expenses. Explore other funding options for the MWS. Action: The proposal to the board will be presented at the July 29 Management board meeting by Orien Richmond. Cheryl Strong, Nadav Nur, and Wendy Dalia will assist with the presentation. The crux of this proposal is that the Science Steering Committee will be tasked to put together a working group to redesign the MWS. Action: Wendy will write language for a proposal for the collaboration between the Sea Duck Joint Venture winter coastal survey and the SF Estuary portion of the MWS. Action: If CDC members think of other arguments for the importance of this survey, Beth or Sandra. 10. The Conservation Delivery Committee meeting of June 12 th, 2014 was adjourned. 5