Agendas and Minutes

Forest Lands Committee (View All)

Regular Minutes

Agenda
Tuesday, January 08, 2008

MINUTES FOR THE MEETING

ASHLAND FOREST LANDS COMMISSION

January 8, 2008 – 5:30 PM

Community Development, 51 Winburn Way

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:            Carolyn Breece, Craig Gorson, Christopher Iverson, Anthony Kerwin (Chair),

                                                Dan Maymar, Ben Rice

Members Absent:                     Jim Lewis

Staff Present:                            Pieter Smeenk, Nancy Slocum, Keith Woodley

Non-Voting Members Present:

Also Present:                             Marty Main

 

I.                CALL TO ORDER: Chair Anthony Kerwin called the meeting to order at 5:31 PM in the Siskiyou Room.

 

II.              APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Breece /Kerwin m/s to approve the minutes of December 11, 2007 as submitted. Motion passed unanimously.  

 

III.            PUBLIC FORUM: None

 

IV.            ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA: Iverson asked to add the BLM Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) and Transfer of AFR Funding to New Business.

 

V.              NEW BUSINESS

A.     BLM Western Oregon Plan Revision

Iverson reported on a couple of emails he received regarding WOPR. This draft environmental impact statement has identified three action alternatives for managing approximately 2.6 million acres of federal land (BLM). The BLM intends to revise six resource management plans with this single draft environmental impact statement. The emails Iverson received stated that there will be increased logging, clearcutting, construction of roads and the removal of riparian buffers as a result of this plan revision. He wondered if the commission had any comment.

 

Main said that there were only 40 acres of BLM land in the Ashland Watershed (around Hitt Road). The BLM land burned in 1959 and has remained unmanaged. The 1997 flood contributed to Forest Service land debris on city owned lands. In addition, the water from the flood initiated a landslide on city land.

 

B.     AFR Funding

Iverson received another email from “Grandmothers and Friends in Green” regarding an October 4, 2007 Tidings article regarding the potential pulling of money from AFR to fund the surveys needed for the continuation of the Mt. Ashland Expansion. The commission had no comment on this issue.

  

VI.            OLD BUSINESS

A.  Winburn Parcel Management

Pieter Smeenk PE, associate Engineer, referenced a soon to be released Bear Creek upper hydrology report that might help with the hydrology/soils section of the Winburn management plan.

 

There was a discussion regarding large tree removal. Rice thought the commission should not be limited in their large tree removal as long as it benefited the health of the parcel. Main agreed and thought documentation and education was of utmost importance when removing large trees.

 

Main will rewrite the Soils and Hydrology section using stream flow data from Kerwin. He will also rework the Riparian/Fisheries section using more up to date studies. Kerwin will list the features of old growth forests under the Large Trees section and decide if woodrats need to be discussed under Wildlife. Carolyn will write some general objectives of broadcast burning and add them to the end of the section. Kerwin will double-check the relevancy of the Insects section to Winburn.

 

Breece thought a map of the entire watershed showing the Winburn parcel in context would be helpful. Gorse added that a unit map at the beginning of each unit prescription would help as well. Commission agreed and asked Slocum to work with the GIS Department.  

 

All revisions were due to Slocum no later than Monday, February 4th in order to have them incorporated into working draft number five to be included in next month’s commission packet.

 

VII.           NEW BUSINESS:

            A. Review 2007 Goals – tabled.   

 

VIII.       COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Gorson, a recently appointed commissioner, wondered if the Commission regularly got through its agenda. He would have liked to talk about goals for 2008. Kerwin noted that Winburn was the priority until the AFR FEIS is published. Slocum normally sets the agenda with her best “guess” as to what the Commission will discuss, but as the Commissions projects and goals are long term, there is no pressure to get through the agenda.

 

The Commission wondered if Linda Duffy had ever responded to their letter and comments on mitigation, monitoring and implementation for AFR. Woodley said no. Commission asked Slocum to email Duffy to get a status report.

 

IX.            ADJOURN: 7:31 PM

 

Anthony Kerwin, Chair

 

Respectfully Submitted, Nancy Slocum, Clerk

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