To: Coos Watershed Association Board of Directors From Jim Young, President Date July 14, 2006 Subject: Board Meeting Notice WEDNESDAY, June 14, 2006 7:00 A.M. BLM OFFICE, NORTH BEND AGENDA Introductions Jim Young, President Approval of May minutes Jim Young Executive Committee Report Jim Young Executive Director s Report Jon Souder Report on Grant Awards Update on the Hire-the-Fishermen Program Remote Sensing in South Slough: Using High Tech Tools to Address Natural Resource Management Dr. Ayesha Gray and Craig Cornu, South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve Strategic Planning Committee Report Jim Clarke Other Business as Needed Jim Young Remember your Proxy if you are unable to attend; appointments should be made to another board member and faxed to the office no later than the day before the meeting.
Coos Watershed Association P.O. Box 5860 Charleston, Oregon 97420 Phone: (541) 888-5922 Fax: (541) 888-6111 Email: cooswa@cooswatershed.org May 10, 2006 Executive Council Present Others Present Jim Young, President ODF Jon Souder CoosWA JR Herbst, Vice-President CTCLUSI Maggie Kirby CoosWA Don Yost, Treasurer Port of Coos Bay Alan Ritchey ODFW Marty Giles, Secretary Member-at-large John Griffith Coos County Tom Hoesly Menasha Forest Products Elaine Raper BLM Joan Mahaffy Agriculture Jim Clarke Member-at-large Mark Nauman Weyerhaeuser Co. Greg Stone Small Woodlands Paul Merz Fisheries & Aquaculture Reese Bender Northwest Steelheaders Approval of April Minutes The minutes were approved as submitted. Executive Committee Jim Young discussed the content of the Executive Committee meeting the week prior. He said that the April financial statements look good and that they have for the last several months. He said that during the meeting, they reviewed the ShoreBank line of credit and were going to check with Umpqua on their rates, but that they may not be able to offer more favorable rates. The Committee was convinced that we still needed to have this line of credit for the next several years. Jon Souder said that we would wait another week or two and that if we do not hear from Umpqua we will renew our line of credit with ShoreBank. Executive Director s Report Update on Hire the Fishermen Jon discussed the continued possibility of the re-initiation of the Hire-the-Fishermen program in response to the reduction/closure of the commercial salmon fishing season. Jon said that the last update that he heard was that there would be some state money available for a work program. It does not currently appear as though federal money will available for a direct payment at this time. Jon discussed his meetings with Jessica Hamilton at the Governor s Office and with Tom Byler, Director of OWEB. Tom said that OWEB would be meeting in May and that this issue would be an agenda item at that meeting. Jon said that Tom indicated that OWEB would have some funds for this program and that we, the Association, would likely play a significant role in administering this program. Tom Shafer, the North Coast regional representative said that he would also provide his assistance, as he managed the program for the state in the mid-90s. Because there are significant differences in the north and south coast fleets, different approaches will be necessary. It appear that fishermen in the north are going to attempt to fish, whereas those south of Florence, will not likely attempt to travel north to fish due to the additional costs they would incur. Tom Shafer said that he is looking for a buyin from the fleet, but that he is not seeing the same level of support in the north coast as has been reported in the south. In response, Jon said that he would be working with Paul Merz and Paul Heikkila in order to reach consensus from the south coast fishermen on whether they would be
interested in participating in this program. Jon said that he could envision getting fishermen to work in June, (or within 2 weeks of funds dispersal). However, Jon does not know whether the money will be made available immediately after the OWEB Board meeting. Greg Stone asked for clarification on the source of the funds and for which activities it would be used. Jon said that OWEB has some additional restoration/capital funds that they would make available to this program for fishermen to do work on the ground. Jon said that he envisioned that if the Association were asked, we would administer the program. Jon said that we could use existing staff to manage this program with Jon being a director on it for a third of his time and that it would pay for Maggie and Aimee s time for financial oversight and bookkeeping. Jon said that he spoke to the staff at Cardinal Services and that they may be interested in playing a role in employee hiring and payroll processing. He explained that most of the funds would be placed in restoration work, but that we would receive funds for administration of the program. If we were hiring/processing payroll, we will likely need to hire an additional bookkeeper, but if we are more involved in the coordination of work for the other watershed councils and SWCDs, we would likely be able to accomplish this with our current staff. He explained that we would need to ensure that we were protected for risk before confirming that we would play a significant role in the administration of this program. Jon said that we do not currently know what our role would be, but upon receiving more information, we will determine together how we are to proceed. Greg asked if there was actually a need for the work Jon has proposed. Jon explained that he has discussed the possible re-initiation of this program with other watershed councils and that he had identified a need of more than 200 man months from approximately 5 councils. Paul Merz explained that there are already fishermen families that are losing their homes because they are unable to pay their bills. He said that there may be emergency funds available for those in dire situations on a case-by-case basis. $5 million is currently being sought for relief/direct payment funds for the fishermen who are unable to work. He reported that the Salmon Commission might have some additional funds for this purpose. In addition, he said that the Port of Coos Bay has discussed providing assistance (e.g. for moorage, etc.) He stressed, however, that the last time there was a disaster it took a long time for funds to be made available for the fishermen. Commissioner John Griffith said that Jennifer Hampel is currently layed off because the Coquille Watershed Association is lacking the funding to keep her employed full-time. Commissioner Griffith also said that it is important for the Association to consider workers compensation liability and that Cardinal Services is very good at protecting itself against that risk. Commissioner Griffith said that if there was a regional perspective of the current need it would be helpful for making the case to funders. Jon Souder said that he had been discussing these needs with approximately 5 watershed councils and that their needs are for approximately 200-250 man months that would supplement the work currently being done by these groups. These are councils in the South Coast and Umpqua that are very supportive, which is especially significant as these councils participated in the original program in the mid-1990s. Jon said that once the program is designed and funds confirmed, there would likely be additional councils and fishermen that would be interested in participating in this program. Joan Mahaffy asked whether fishermen would be employed where they live. Paul said that they may be able to be employed by local councils and conservation districts, but that the last time fishermen were willing to and did travel where there were jobs available. Paul said that state representatives have requested funds for both work and direct payment programs as riders on other pieces of legislation. The federal government is requesting that agencies attempt to make available whatever funds are available. Jim Young explained that Jon had requested in the Executive Committee meeting that the Board empower him to receive funds for and administer the program if this becomes an option. The Board indicated their support. Presentation at the OWEB/IMST Monitoring Jon discussed his presentation at the OWEB/IMST Monitoring Conference in Corvallis during April. He said that he made some good connections to improve the science of our monitoring program and to
sustain program funding. Jon explained that one of the reasons he gave his presentation at the conference was that he knew that Todd Reeves from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) would be present. He explained that they have provided other councils and other watershed stewardship organizations with 10 years of secured funding for monitoring at $50,000/year. Meeting with Bonneville Environmental Foundation After the monitoring conference, Jon said that he had a meeting with Todd Reeves and Angus Duncan, BEF President, to pitch the Association as a good candidate to receive ten years of secured funding for our monitoring program. He said that there may be funding available for our program in 2007, but that they need to secure more funding for the Foundation before this can occur. Board Development & Training Jon explained the need to discuss sustainable funding for continued council development. He said that we started to have this conversation in the Strategic Planning Committee and at the Annual Meeting with Tom Gallagher s presentation. He explained that we are seeing non-capital funding through OWEB becoming less available, and that there is more demand for it every year. He said that Council Support had been reduced over the past couple of cycles and that we need to look to see how we can supplement and/or replace it if necessary. He explained that we are in a better position than most councils in the state, but that we have still seen reductions in our funding. Jon explained that the state legislature has told OWEB to set up a performance based system in order to rank councils and award funds accordingly. Many council coordinators are working half-time because there are not enough funds to sustain them for the full year. Our Council Support funds are being spent more quickly than can sustain us for the biennium. We believe that we will work through our current shortage in council support when Jon is able to work on other projects during the summer, but this issue will continue to be a real concern. Joan Mahaffy said that this idea that Council Support may go away flies against what OWEB has indicated that they value as they spoke to coordinator support as being integral to sustaining the councils. Mark Nauman said that we should have always assumed we would come to this stage that there was always going to be a sunset for salmon restoration dollars. Jon explained that Measure 66 funds are made available through 2014, but these dollars fund restoration projects. He said that the non-capital funding, specifically Council Support, comes from National Marine Fisheries Service and other federal organizations. Commissioner Griffith said that if its federal money that is providing funds for council support, councils might be looking at a shorter timeline than the Measure 66 sunset for non-capital projects and council support. Jon said that if we are not able to sustain council support funds, we are going to need to seek funds elsewhere. He explained that part of the Board s responsibility is to ensure financial support for the council. Jon explained that Tom Gallagher has expressed an interest in our being a pilot watershed project for them, but that they need significant buy-in from the Board. Joan asked what Jon was asking from the Board. Jon explained that we would need the Board to supply approximately $5,000 as match/buy-in for the Ford Family Foundation grant proposal. Ford Family would provide up to $10,000 for a membership campaign, fundraising plan, board training/retreat and the council could provide support for Jon and Maggie s time. Jim Young asked whether this is something on which the Strategic Planning Committee should continue to work. Greg said that the Committee has not worked on this specifically designing a fundraising plan but that it is something that we discussed. Jim Clarke said that we may want to use this exercise as a pilot but that we should continue to look down the line toward the future. The Strategic Planning Committee may choose to start a new committee for this purpose. The three members present from this committee agreed that their working on this area was a good idea. Jon said that the Association needs to figure out how to be more sustainable. He said that we have been very good at receiving funding for restoration projects, but that we need to increase the dollars available for administration/organizational operation. He said that when completing fee-for-service
work, we have been asking for 20% overhead, which is more realistic in terms of what it actually costs to administer the contract and keep a little for our reserve. Jon said he would like to see the Strategic Planning Committee identify some of our major goals for the next 5-10 years. Some of this is housed in the strategic plan, but other ideas may have come up since that document was written. Joan asked about examples of some of our fee-for-service activities. Jon said that we are currently doing work for ODF doing fish presence surveys and for the Coos Bay-North Bend Water Board monitoring stream flow. Jim said that after this meeting the three members of the Strategic Planning Committee should meet to discuss a meeting time. The members present agreed to this. Other Business as Needed Greg Stone asked about where we were with the Network of Oregon Watershed Councils. Jon said that subsequent to our sending our letter of support to the Development Team, he has had some conversations with John Moriarty, but that Jon is still personally ambivalent about the organization. He is still concerned that they are very Willamette Valley based John Moriarty recently made the decision to become a Board member for the Willamette Partnership, a decision that Jon thinks indicates a Willamette bias. Jon said that conceptually the Network is a very good idea, but what actual benefits it can provide to the councils is still unclear. Paul Merz said that he received an email from Betsy MacDonald asking whether they should consider looking for disaster funds. Paul asked that if anyone has time to keep reminding our representatives and letting the press know that we are still feeling the effects of this disaster. He said that he is concerned that if we do not keep talking about it that they may forget that we are still hurting in the south coast and coastal Oregon. Some aid is finally being provided for the fishermen influenced by Katrina, which may provide hope for the Klamath disaster. Joan Mahaffy asked if the fishermen could cross-over to another type of fishing while the salmon fisheries are closed. Paul explained that he only has a salmon fishing license. He may be able to participate in open fishing, but that is very limited. He explained that if a person does not have a history with another type of fishing, it is not possible to apply for a permit and that your only option is to buy someone else out of their permit. There would be additional gear to purchase for another type of fishing (e.g. shrimping, crabbing, etc.) Next Meeting The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 14 at 7:00 AM at BLM. The next Executive Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 7 at 7:00 AM at Menasha.
Coos Watershed Association PROXY FORM I,, am unable to attend the (Printed Name) (Date) meeting of the Coos Watershed Association Executive Council, and I am providing my proxy to. (Representative) Signed: Date: Please mail or fax to: Maggie Kirby P.O. Box 5860 Charleston, OR 97420 Fax: 888-6111 In order to conduct business at future meetings, please be sure to appoint a proxy that will be attending the meeting in order to ensure that your vote will be represented and counted towards a quorum to conduct business. Remember your proxy appointment should be a member of the Board Thank you!