May 19, 2005
The meeting of the American River Watershed Group (ARWG) meeting was called to order by Bill Templin, American River Watershed Coordinator at 10:08 a.m. at the Auburn Recreation District Canyon View Community Center located at 471 Maidu Drive, Auburn.
Present: Bill Templin, American River Watershed Coordinator; Rich Gresham, Manager and Katie Maloney, Sr. Administrative Assistant, Placer County Resource Conservation District (RCD); Marie Davis, Consultant, Placer County Water Agency (PCWA); Marilyn Jasper, Clover Valley Foundation and Sierra Club; Eric Nichol, CA Dept. of Water Resources (DWR) Engineer; Liz Mansfield, El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) Watershed Coordinator; Bill Christner, Jr., ECORP Consulting, Inc. Fluvial Geomorphologist; Carol Kennedy, US Forest Service (USFS) Tahoe Nat’l Forest (NF) Watershed Program Manager; Tim Dabney, USFS Eldorado NF District Ranger; Mark Egbert, El Dorado and Georgetown RCDs; Alain Grenier, Auburn Recreation District (ARD) Manager; and Kevin Roberts, Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) Biologist.
Check-In:
Bill Templin led the “Check-In” procedure that entails telling who you are and how you are, if you have any time constraints, bring forth emergent issues, and express individual expectations.
Review & Approval of Minutes:
Marie Davis requested changes to the Placer County Water Agency stakeholders report. Katie acknowledged the request and the changes will be made.
Additions to the Agenda:
No additions were made to the agenda.
Pilot Application of LiDAR Technology in the Otter Creek Watershed:
Mark Egbert gave an overview of the USFS pilot project that will use LiDAR technology to discover and map old mine shafts in the Otter Creek Watershed.
Mark gave a PowerPoint presentation that covered LiDAR technology and the potential applications for the technique that bounces rapid pulses of laser light from aircraft to ground to generate a complex computer image. Measurements of distance are calculated using the velocity of light and boast an accuracy of less than five centimeters.
A LiDAR complex image can identify landforms, provide fluvial and geomorphological information, and display structural geology and weathering patterns.
LiDAR can also be used to locate watercourses, roadways, cat trails, skid trails, and property boundaries.
USFS will evaluate the pilot project on the South Fork of the American River before moving forward with further use of the LiDAR technology.
The group wondered if heavy vegetation and tree cover would compromise LiDAR results.
Members were also curious about the level of detail LIDAR reveals and how much ground truthing would be conducted during the evaluation of the pilot project.
Bill and the group thanked Mark for the presentation.
Activity Updates:
Public Outreach Team:
American River Watershed Conference: Bill reviewed the conference and his activities related to the event including introduction of the Sediment Dynamics Study.
Carol Kennedy added the conference segment on climate change was very good and reported she presented the USFS Road Analysis at the event.
Liz Mansfield added comments regarding Upper American River Watershed coordination efforts had been positive in nature.
Marie Davis noted the benefit of having the opportunity to network with others at the conference.
It was reported a North Fork Precipitation Study is being planned for the near future.
Tour of Fuel Load Reduction Projects: Bill reviewed the tour and maps of USFS Threat and Defense Zones for the Georgetown Ranger District of the Eldorado NF.
Future tour possibilities were discussed including a tour of the Rubicon Trial and PCWA activities on the Middle Fork.
Marie Davis noted the tour was very informative and indicated further interest in private industry efforts in terms of fire suppression and fuel reduction efforts.
Rich Gresham solicited Eldorado NF SPLAT information for inclusion in the Alliance mapping effort.
Tim Dabney noted the unpredictability of fire and its impacts and stressed the need for private landowners to take a proactive stance in terms of fuel load reduction efforts.
Rich Gresham promoted the effectiveness of demonstration sites and ongoing education and outreach efforts.
Discussion revolved around the desire for some kind of post fire evaluation of conditions.
Carol Kennedy suggested putting together a tour of the recent fire impact zones in terms of the good, the bad, and the ugly; of opportunities presented, taken, not taken; management vs. non-management and subsequent impacts.
The group liked the idea of doing some form of informal evaluation in order to learn from this time for next time and the group encouraged the exploration of developing a tour. Carol and Marie Davis will get together and explore options for a tour.
Sediment Dynamics Study: Bill reported Tetra Tech (TT) has begun to send out requests for information. Marie Davis noted the TAC requested TT to develop a matrix to track requests sent and information received.
The Workplan has been established and still maintains a degree of flexibility.
There has been discussion of conducting high and/or low elevation video flyovers.
TAC members took a moment to re-schedule the next TAC meeting to take place before the next regular ARWG meeting due to a conflict with the Annual Ag Tour event taking place on the normal TAC meeting date.
The role of the TAC was clarified as being the body of experts charged with evaluating the technical quality of the product being developed and not meant to serve as project administrator, which is PCWA’s role.
Watershed Coordinator: Bill reported submission of his annual report, reviewed his activities over the past month, and handed out copies of his activity report dated May 17th for review.
Bill also handed out flyers for current events including the WET event that he will be participating in with the Regional Watershed Coordination Team. Bill solicited prizes and hand-outs for the event.
Stakeholder Reports:
Placer County Fire Safe Alliance Mapping and Grant Progress: Rich Gresham reported the mapping effort, of interest to two supervisors, is still progressing with the gathering of information. USFS has passed their data on to BLM for map compilation and other agencies are working to get their information submitted.
Rich reported Supervisor Holmes is working to acquire funding for a half time coordinator for the Alliance.
The Alliance will not meet this month.
Recreation Subcommittee Plans for New Map: Alain Grenier reported looking to complete the inventory of facilities for a conjunctive mapping effort that will include all jurisdictions. USFS has completed a map and ARD will be adding to that effort and will identify trail heads, public facilities, etc.
Marie Davis noted PCWA has facilities that can be included in the mapping effort.
Liz Mansfield suggested the South Fork be added to the mapping effort.
Tim Dabney reported USFS is going through a system of route designations and will have all known routes identified in the future. He noted the current map is out of date and cautioned that some trails outlined on the map cross private lands without a right of way. An OHV lawsuit is expected to result in closing user created trails.
Katie Maloney reported the CA Visitors’ Center has been working on a comprehensive recreation map and suggested that effort be explored before embarking on a whole new mapping effort.
Regional Watershed Coordination Update: Liz Mansfield reported a $500K Cosumnes, American, Bear, and Yuba rivers (CABY) Integrated Regional Water Management Plan funding proposal was submitted as developed by the El Dorado Irrigation District, Georgetown Divide Water Agency, El Dorado County Water Agency, Placer County Water Agency, Sierra Nevada Alliance, Nevada Irrigation District, South Yuba River Citizen’s League, the National Heritage Institute, and others.
Liz reported $12M in funding is available and 52 applications totaling $22M were received.
Liz solicited the group’s review and comment on the proposal. The proposal will be posted on the American River Watershed Portal.
South Fork American River Update: Mark Egbert noted the Prop 40 fuels project is progressing in a positive manner. Landowners are receiving assistance with water quality; three workshops are coming up with the potential for additional public workshops.
Next Meeting:
Open Discussion:
Bill Templin referred to the State of the Lower American River Study brochure and expressed a desire to develop a report for the upper watershed using the same format. He estimated it would take about 1 year and $100K to accomplish a report that would include the north, middle, and south forks. Bill is looking to gather interested parties to discuss the idea and solicited participation and support from the group.
Bill also noted it has been suggested that it might be mutually beneficial to get sportsmens’ organizations involved in watershed efforts and could pose a potential to form a foundation.
Bill reported he has moved into ARD office space and is looking for historic photographs to post on the walls of Canyon View meeting rooms in an effort to begin developing a watershed center at the facility.
Group discussion revolved around the potential to hold an open house with exhibits as a way of promoting ARWG accomplishments.
Adjournment:
The next regular meeting will take place on June 16th at the Canyon View Community Center. The meeting was adjourned at 12:10 p.m.