AMERICAN RIVER WATERSHED GROUP

August 19, 2004


The meeting of the American River Watershed Group (ARWG) meeting was called to order by Bill Templin, American River Watershed Coordinator at 10:18 a.m. at Placer County Water Agency’s American River Room located at 144 Ferguson Road, Auburn.


Present: Bill Templin, American River Watershed Coordinator; Stan MacDonald and Stewart Feldman Placer County Resource Conservation District (RCD) Directors, and Katie Maloney, RCD Sr. Admin. Assistant; Carol Kennedy, US Forest Service (USFS) Watershed Program Manager - Tahoe National Forest; Marilyn Jasper, Clover Valley Foundation and Sierra Club; Liz Mansfield, El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) Watershed Coordinator; Lia McLaughlin, Non-Native Invasive Species Watershed Coordinator; and Pam Wirsch, Maidu High School Teacher.



Approval of Agenda and Minutes:

No changes were made.


Old Business:


Stewart Feldman reported attending the meeting of the Stewardship Council that will be overseeing the disbursement of $100M, $70M for conservation and stewardship activities on watershed lands and $30M for public outreach and education.


Stewart indicated here will be an opportunity for third party solicitations and reviewed the Bear River Meadow Restoration project being developed for PG&E land where past restoration efforts have been implemented by the Granite Bay Flycasters. The project is being developed in partnership with PG&E, CA Dept of Fish & Game, Placer County and Nevada County RCDs, and the Granite Bay Flycasters.


Bill Templin noted he is working to make contact with fishing groups that operate within the watershed and solicited restoration and stewardship project ideas from the group.


Subcommittee Reports:

Bill Templin reported the Placer County Resource Conservation District Board has reviewed pictures of the area impacted by the Stevens Fire.


Stewart Feldman briefly reviewed the Disaster Mitigation Plan efforts being undertaken by Placer County’s Office of Emergency Services.


The next Alliance meeting will be held on August 24th at 10 a.m. in the American River Room.


Public Outreach:

Bill Templin handed out copies of his report that covered his efforts to date. Bill noted the Dry Creek Watershed Council is hosting a free three day Collaborative Decision Making Seminar on September 13th, 14th, and 15th at PCWA’s Maidu Drive facility.


Katie Maloney thanked PCWA for their contribution to the seminar effort.


She noted that everyone she has spoken to that has gone to the seminar in the past has indicated it was very worthwhile and encouraged anyone interested in attending to contact her.

Bill Templin, Stewart Feldman, and Marilyn Jasper all confirmed their plans to attend.


Bill indicated his interest in finding out who is conducting water quality monitoring within the watershed, for what purpose, and solicited information.


Lia McLaughlin introduced herself and gave a brief overview of her mission to assist others in their NIS control and/or eradication efforts.


Stewart requested NIS literature that can be disseminated at the upcoming Gold County Fair.


Liz indicated that she could oblige.


Bill solicited volunteers to help man a joint agency booth for the fair that runs from September 9th – 12th.


Project Updates:

Bill reported the contract should be ready for execution in the next few weeks. He is making himself familiar with the project and will be calling a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting soon. Project candidates have been updated as to the status of the project.


Bill noted the development of a map by Placer County, at Supervisor Robert Weygandt’s request, depicting all known water quality monitoring points will be helpful in the SDS effort.


Sierra College will be administering the SDS grant with PCWA serving as project manager, and the RCD serving as communication coordinator.

New Business:

Bill Templin introduced Liz Mansfield El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) Watershed Coordinator.


Liz will be working to coordinate activities within the American River Basin as it relates to the South Fork American River, Consumnes River, and watershed in Upper Alpine County. She will be working to coordinate with other watershed coordinators within the American River Basin boundaries and as a first step is working to gather support for the development of an internet-based Watershed Portal for the American River System.


Liz gave a PowerPoint presentation regarding the proposed watershed portal as follows:









Liz thanked the group for their time and Bill thanked Liz for her presentation.


Stewart Feldman reported the RCD will be considering funding support for the portal at their September board meeting.


Bill noted that some GIS maps developed in conjunction with the Stewardship Strategy (SS) are available on the ARWG website and could be linked to the proposed portal.


Carol Kennedy informed Bill there are issues with some of the data generated from that effort that still need to be resolved.


Bill noted he will be looking to have these issues reviewed and addressed.

Continued discussion highlighted the desire for an American River Basin map and Bill noted the SS mapping effort included areas outside of the watershed boundaries that could make a contribution towards the development of a map.


Bill noted the mapping and information gathering is a dynamic process and that he is looking forward to obtaining contributions of pertinent information from ARWG members.


Other Stakeholder Reports:

Stewart Feldman reported that a $12.5K HR2389 (Timber Tax) funding proposal has been submitted in collaboration with the American River Watershed Institute (ARWI) for the development of a 2005 Fire & Water publication that serves as a public outreach and education tool regarding both fire prevention and water quality issues. The county has approximately $85K in timber Taxes to distribute between Placer Legacy and various fire prevention efforts.


Roundtable Discussion:




  1. Next Meeting and Adjournment:

The next meeting will take place on September 16th at a venue to be determined as the American River room is booked. The meeting was adjourned at 11:52 a.m.