MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE ASHLAND FOREST LANDS COMMISSION Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 5:30PM to 7:30PM Siskiyou Room, Community Development Building 51 Winburn Way I. CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 PM II. INTRODUCTIONS Present: Tony Kerwin (FLC Chair), Marty Main, John Karns, Tom Marr, Chris Chambers, Chris Iverson, Pieter Smeenk, Gary Pool, John Williams, Greg Lemhouse, Craig Gorson III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: December 8 th, 2009 M/S Williams/Iverson to accept as submitted. All ayes. IV. None. PUBLIC FORUM V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA None VI. BUSINESS A. Council Goals Kerwin outlined his written summary of the comments made at the last meeting regarding the water master plan. Smeenk explained the process to involve a technical advisory committee plus City staff to move forward on the water master plan process of public input and economic planning. Pieter Smeenk will be bringing updates to the FLC. The next Council goal with comments from the FLC addresses changes to the boundaries of the City s Wildfire Lands Zone. For example, some homes evacuated in the Siskiyou Fire are not mapped in the wildfire hazard zone. Chambers commented on the appropriate boundaries of the Wildfire Lands Zone based on potential travel distance of embers from areas of mapped hazardous vegetation. A recent article considered one mile as appropriate distance, which would cover much of the city. For the purposes of regulation a more manageable area might be considered something like ¼ mile from hazardous vegetation and taking into consideration the dominant wind direction. Karns said a vegetation management ordinance will be considered in the future.
Kerwin read a summary of comments on the Council goal of watershed partnerships. Marr saw the justification for a half or full time position to advocate for continued watershed work during and after the AFR project. Smeenk said that PW outlines positions and needs in the master planning process. Kerwin asked if the last sentence regarding a permanent employee should be changed, others suggested listing it as a resource. Smeenk s example is road maintenance required by law that will require future investment of resources, which may or may not be an employee. Kerwin suggested stating that we encourage the City to dedicate adequate resources to watershed projects. All agreed to wording. Lemhouse said that comments on other Council Goals were taken and have already made a difference, such as length of time that liaisons spend with their commissions. Lemhouse will stay with Forest Lands and other Councilors will stay with commissions that are more technical. Gorson motioned that the FLC send on the comments to the Council as modified above. Iverson seconded and approved with all ayes. B. AFR Update and Community Engagement Plan Karns explained the AFR process of getting the partners (City, Forest Service, Lomakatsi Restoration Project, The Nature Conservancy) on board to sign a master Stewardship Agreement (MSA). The MSA only lays out the partnership and goals of the project. The MSA will go to Council on the 19 th for vote. Councilor Lemhouse read a letter submitted by Councilor Navickas stating that he would be filing a complaint in federal court against the AFR project. Karns was hopeful that some of the project will move forward without hold up. Williams asked if the science quoted by Navickas was well founded. Kerwin explained that in the past Navickas has brought up good points, but has not closely read and understood the AFR project guidelines for example the ridgetop treatments are not open fuel breaks as were installed in the past in the watershed. Iverson said that we should be open/transparent as much as possible in the project. Lemhouse agreed. Marr said the project is so important that it needs to go through and doesn t see the prescriptions in AFR looking like some work in the past that has generated mistrust. Lemhouse does not want this to be a personal argument and that all sides be presented to the public. Marr said he feels that KS Wild was on the same page as Navickas and was presented with evidence that led them to not actively oppose the project. Iverson suggested a field trip for the environmental community. Kerwin said that Lomakatsi lends a degree of legitimacy among the environmental community. Chambers gave an update of the Community Engagement Plan. The written plan is still being edited and Chambers is pushing for the plan to include multiple efforts in the Watershed, not just the AFR project, so as to remain vital even after AFR is completed. There are opportunities for education and experience on City of
Ashland forestlands despite the AFR project although that project will present unique opportunities and be very visible. AFR will certainly be a focus. A meeting of the Community Engagement group will take place on Thursday the 14 th of January at the Library. Gorson suggested keeping in mind High School senior projects for this year and kids who will be looking to set up projects for next year. Williams suggested a chronological listing of the goals with a designation of whether it s long term or ongoing. Kerwin asked if we could package some of the opportunities in the watershed for high school senior projects. Gorson said the project only has to be 20 hours of time and not necessarily community service. Gorson will get more criteria out to the group. Boy Scouts are an option as well. C. Public Outreach Plan Watershed Engagement Plan See above discussion. D. Public Outreach Plan Watershed Map Project Iverson made a few changes to the example map by adding the artist s name, the new award, and a new date. Iverson would like approval from the FLC on the project in order to move ahead before next meeting so the map can get produced for the summer season. Gorson supported moving ahead even with minor changes to be made after approval. Kerwin wanted to outline the distribution of the map contest posters. Iverson planned to go to SOU and High School first then the obvious places where announcements are posted in the community. He would then bring copies to the next meeting for FLC members. Lemhouse suggested getting on the next Council agenda for next week and will facilitate that for Iverson. Chambers sent around a GIS map of the watershed for reference and brought up a couple of changes. The first change was the water pipeline from the treatment plant. Discussion came to consensus on showing the treatment plant but not the pipeline. Other Changes (to be show as written below): Ashland Creek Watershed Swimming Hole Streams leading into Reeder Reservoir East and West Forks only Winburn Parcel and Old-Growth Trees Spotted owl plus other wildlife Trailhead Parking and Fire Ecology trail Popular trails Toothpick, BTI, Springs (Lithia and Jackson) Fire Stations Ashland Parks Lithia, N. Mt, Golf Course, Airport, Hald Straw, Garfield, Hunter YMCA, Siskiyou Mt, Garden Way, Community Garden on Hersey, Scenic Park, Oredson Todd Woods Mount Ashland Ski Area
Downtown Plaza Main Street I-5 Corridor Ashland Creek Bear Creek Emigrant Lake SOU Ashland High School TID Canal (connected to Emigrant Lake) Oregon Shakespeare Festival Map should be made in landscape view. Scale and perspective are not expected to be true. Iverson proposed making the changes and re-submitting via email for approval. Map contest packet will be available online at the City s homepage and www.ashlandwatershed.org. Iverson made a motion that the content of the map contest announcement be submitted with changes for one more round of comments and final approval be granted now even if changes are noted via email. Williams seconded the motion to allow Iverson to move ahead. Iverson said the date could be extended in March if needed, but would like to move forward with the current schedule. Gorson suggested having artists register their intent to participate. Vote taken, all ayes. Iverson would like to talk about the community outreach plan. Kerwin would like to review the Commission 3 year goals at the same time during the next meeting. Gorson asked if there was more to discuss about education in the schools and Williams had run into Laurie Hayden at Helman. This discussion will take place at the next meeting along side a discussion of the 3 year goals. E. Ashland Forest Plan Revision Forest Plan revision made it into the City Source newsletter and Chambers will make sure it s on the City website. F. Commission 3-Year Goals VII. VIII. IX. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR / NEXT MEETING A. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting: February 9 th, 2010 ADJOURN: 7:32 PM
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