MINUTES FOR THE MEETING

ASHLAND FOREST LANDS COMMISSION

April 10, 2007 – 5:30 PM

Community Development, 51 Winburn Way

MEMBERS PRESENT:         Richard Brock (Chair), Anthony Kerwin, Jim Lewis, Dan Maymar,

                                                                                    Joseph Vaile, Zach Williams      

Members Absent:                              Diane White

Staff Present:                                                  Marty Main, Nancy Slocum, Keith Woodley

Non-Voting Members Present:         Eric Navickas

Also Present:                                                  Chris Donaldson, SOU Student

I.                   CALL TO ORDER: Chair Richard Brock called the meeting to order at 5:35 PM in the Siskiyou Room. He noted that this was his, Diane White’s and Joseph Vaile’s last meeting. Zach Williams noted his many time constraints and he wanted to resign from the commission as vacancies are filled.

II.                APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Vaile/Lewis m/s to approve the minutes of March 13, 2007 as submitted. Motion passed unanimously.  

III.             PUBLIC FORUM: None

IV.              ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA: Election of commission chair was added to the agenda and New Business was moved to the top of the agenda. Commission agreed.   

V.                 NEW BUSINESS

A.     Election of New Commission Chair – Lewis/Vaile m/s to nominate Tony Kerwin as Chair. Motion passed unanimously. Kerwin/Williams m/s to nominate Dan Maymar as Vice-Chair. Motion passed unanimously.

B.     AFR Implementation, Mitigation and Monitoring Comments

Vaile, Maymar, Brock, Main and Darren Borgias met as the subcommittee directly before the commission meeting. Linda Duffy had proposed a 30 day advance governmental review of the Ashland Forest Resiliency (ARF) FEIS whereby the City would review the completed FEIS and offer collaborative feedback to the Forest Service in advance of the formal public 30-day objection period. The subcommittee planned on meeting once per month to draft recommendations to present to the commission for review and a vote.

Borgias had previously worked out a monitoring framework for AFRCA and would email the commission his work. The subcommittee discussed the importance of an implementation plan to decrease the need for future mitigation. The subcommittee recommended financing monitoring work before and after implementation with City money or grants for a contractor.

There is still a question as to how the commission (City of Ashland) will interact with the Forest Service. Navickas perceived threatening comments from Duffy at the last meeting when she said they (the Forest Service) would take their money elsewhere if the City did not cooperate fully. He would like to emphasis that the goal is a collaborative relationship. Kerwin thought Duffy’s comments came from an institutional reality. Brock thought the comments came from her own personal frustrations with past and present projects involving Ashland citizens.

Brock gave an example of a potential recommendation regarding mitigation as the need to provide detailed planned corrections on all the roads for mitigation of sediment. Navickas could not understand why there had been no maintenance on existing fuel breaks. He wanted a maintenance plan and budget added to the commission’s comments to the Forest Service.

VI.               OLD BUSINESS  

A.     Winburn Management Plan – The commission reviewed the section on Large Woody Material. The commission agreed that the general goal for LWM was to retain existing snags and recruit new snags up to the level that the fire risk increases. In addition they agreed to retain trees for snags that will fall or die within the next five years. Main volunteered to rewrite the general notes on down log distributions.

The commission also reviewed the section on Wildlife with the goal being to maximize biodiversity. Commission agreed that the section needed to be expanded to include wildlife other than the spotted owl. Kerwin will rewrite the section and bring it back to the commission for review.

            B.  Maintenance Needs for Lower Parcel – No further discussion was needed.

VII.      COMMISSIONER COMMENTS

                  Commission extended their appreciation to Joseph Vaile, Diane White and Richard Brock for their work on behalf of the commission and the City of Ashland.

VII.           ADJOURN: 7:25 PM

Richard Brock, Chair

Respectfully Submitted, Nancy Slocum, Clerk