PressRelease:
Powder Basin Watershed Council
Regular Meeting Minutes
for September 3, 2014
Baker School District 5J Building, 2090 4th Street
Voting Members = Seven Per Charter: Quorum for decision-making is five
Facilitator: Suzanne Fouty

Call to order Suzanne called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

Guests: Karen Leiendecker, OWEB

Welcome of New Staff Member: Suzanne introduced Meghan Rorick, the Council’s new Outreach Coordinator. Meghan began working with the Council on September 2nd. She recently graduated from the University of Montana with a graduate degree in Environmental Studies, focusing on Environmental Education.

Approval of Minutes No corrections to the June 4th or August 6th meeting minutes were requested.

Comments from the Commissioners: No comments were reported.

Update on Baker County Drought Declaration: The District Eight Watermaster, Rick Lusk, reported that Governor Kitzhaber had signed the Baker County drought declaration on September 3rd. Over the county as a whole, snowpack was average, providing enough stream flow for irrigation needs, and many of the reservoirs are holding out better than last year. Thief Valley will probably be completely drained, but will allow irrigation through the month of September. However, some parts of the county have gone dry. Rick noted that the droughts of 2005, 2006, and 2007 were all declared early on in the irrigation season, while this declaration is coming closer to the end. He added that the state climatologist has indicated that we appear to be in a dry cycle. Irrigators who have an existing primary right can take advantage of an expedited ground water permitting process. Discussion followed about the Governor’s Integrated Water Resource Strategy, the changes to Pine Creek’s hydrology identified in the Brownlee Assessment, and ways that the Council could be involved in identifying the basin’s storage potential in preparation for long-term drought.

Fall Tour: The Council members established October 3rd as the date for the Fall Tour, with an abbreviated October meeting to be held during lunch or dinner as part of the tour. Discussion followed about itinerary items, including visits to the Clear Creek site of project development and the Idaho Power Company bull trout weir. Jim offered to help Meghan coordinate the logistics.

OWEB Fall Grant Cycle: Council members resumed the discussion of the Curry Ditch users’ goal of identifying ditch inefficiencies. Suzanne asked Karen Leiendecker about the eligibility of flow monitoring equipment; Karen recommended tying the equipment need to specific monitoring sites and including adequate staff time to conduct the measurements. Suzanne thought that Wallowa-Whitman might be able to match both the equipment needs and the staff time.

Suzanne asked Karen for guidance on the Clear Creek technical assistance grant. Karen noted that few technical assistance projects were funded, and those that were funded focused on sites smaller in scale. She recommended strengthening the budget in this round to improve the application, as well as stressing the need for a plan for the entire site.

Update on Current Projects
McMullen Slough Restoration: Johanna reported that the punch list items were complete. The contractor is now focusing on the cleanup and de-mobilization of the site, including spreading seed over disturbed areas and removing the temporary culvert that was installed. The landowner will be fencing the site along both sides of the stream.

Basin-wide Water Quality Monitoring: Aaron reported that all 78 sites are currently being monitored. The Huntington students will not be able to participate this year as the class size has grown too large to allow the teacher to shuttle the students to the site. ODEQ is no longer maintaining the LASAR database and instead intends to submit all data to an EPA database. Aaron anticipates this change being an issue for at least seven of the sites in the program, as landowners have been willing to work with ODEQ but have expressed distrust of the EPA.

Suzanne noted that Wallowa-Whitman has purchased a new turbidimeter as a result of the staff participation in the volunteer water quality monitoring program, which helped them identify the need for the equipment.

Nutrient Monitoring: Johanna read from a report Denine had sent in. The overall goal for the project is to monitor stream nutrients and bacteria at 20 locations during the 2014 and 2015 field seasons. Three of the four rounds of sampling have been completed for 2014. Five sites went dry in June but may resume flow by the September sampling date. Because of the funding identified by the Bureau of Reclamation, three parameters have been added to the list of those being monitored, along with five additional sites sampled by Wallowa-Whitman in August and September. A seasonal hydrologic technician was hired in mid-August to assist with the project. He is currently being trained and will be part of the September sampling event, the last for the 2014 season.

Powder Basin Headwaters Habitat Survey: Shannon reported that a bull trout was found on Fruit Creek, where bull trout have not been found before. Bull trout were also found three kilometers below the last siting on Silver Creek. Large bull trout—10 ½ inches—were found in upper Silver Creek. The project has surveyed streams where data has not been collected in 20 years. Johanna added that the habitat surveys have not yet been completed on two streams, Pole and Wind Creeks.

Powder Basin Outreach Initiative: Meghan reported that the Council will be hosting a litter cleanup along the Powder River in Baker City from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 13th. She will also be working on planning the fall tour and identifying additional funding for the outreach program. Shannon suggested checking in with the Wallowa-Whitman ranger district to encourage additional volunteers at the cleanup.

North Fork Burnt River Headwaters: Suzanne reported that Whitman Semester in the West students were collecting aspen and cross section data at the site of the restoration project, which will help her complete this year’s project monitoring report. The students will also be laying out the last of the aspen fences, which will be built by forest service staff.

Other Business: Jim noted that the former Wallowa-Whitman hydrologist had given an excellent presentation on road/stream interactions. He suggested inviting the district to give a similar presentation, including information about how the travel management plan would address these interactions. The presentation would not be a debate about the travel management plan, but would instead present the science of road/stream interactions to the public. Suzanne suggested making a formal invitation to the district and including information about road/groundwater interactions as well.

Karen Leiendecker reported that OWEB fiscal staff would be coming to the region on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of October to provide training on the new OWEB budget categories. Kathy Leopold will also be available to discuss the OWEB small grant program guidelines.

PBWC Board of Directors Report:
Council Facilitator: Nancy will act as the facilitator and host of the fall tour.

Treasurer’s Report: Nancy reported that the new fiscal procedures continue to work well.

Board Update: Nancy reported that the Board had discussed Johanna’s subpoena to appear during the hearing of the person cited for vandalism at the Kirkway Restoration, revisions to the bylaws, and which grants to prioritize for the fall.

There was no further business.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 pm

Council Attendance: 3 voting members [Quorum = 5]
Shannon Archuleta
Suzanne Fouty
Rick Lusk
Nancy Rorick, Co-Chair
Paul Wares, Director at Large
Jim Young, Vice Chair

Staff Attendance
Aaron Bliesner, Monitoring Coordinator
Meghan Rorick, Outreach Coordinator
Johanna Sedell, Executive Director

Guests
Karen Leiendecker, OWEB


Next Meeting – October 3, 2014