MINUTES FOR THE MEETING

ASHLAND FOREST LANDS COMMISSION

April 8, 2008 – 5:30 PM

Community Development, 51 Winburn Way

MEMBERS PRESENT:            Craig Gorson, Anthony Kerwin (Chair), Christopher Iverson, Ben Rice

Members Absent:                     Carolyn Breece, Jim Lewis, Dan Maymar

Staff Present:                           Pieter Smeenk, Nancy Slocum, Keith Woodley

Non-Voting Members Present: Marty Main

Guests:                                     Frank Betlejewski, AFRCAT Member

I.                CALL TO ORDER: Chair Anthony Kerwin called the meeting to order at 5:40 PM in the Siskiyou Room. Woodley announced an open house and reception for all commissions and committees on Monday, April 28, 2008 from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM in Pioneer Hall (73 Winburn Way). Staff would compile information for the Forest Commission display. Carolyn Breece resigned from the Commission.

II.              APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Iverson /Rice m/s to approve the minutes of March 11, 2008 as submitted. Motion passed unanimously.  

III.            PUBLIC FORUM: None

IV.            ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA: None.

V.              OLD BUSINESS

A.     2008 Earth Day Update

Slocum could not get two commissioners to volunteer to work a booth, so the Commission would not participate in Earth Day. The Commission was hoping to participate next year.

B.     Administrative Process for Reviewing Ashland Fire Resiliency FEIS

Woodley provided a handout describing the public review process in a Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) project. He noted that the 30 day “governmental review” granted to the City by Linda Duffy and the US Forest Service was not part of the official process.  Commission asked Woodley to find out if the City could continue to comment during the official “objection period.” Review of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) would take approximately seven to ten days. Slocum would schedule a Commission meeting after that time so the Commission and/or Ashland Forest Resiliency Community Alternative Team (AFRCAT) could craft a response letter.

Slocum contacted former AFRCAT members. Chris Chambers, Betlejewski and Darren Borgias were willing to continue as members. George Badura volunteered to provide soils information.

Currently Woodley, Borgias and Main are meeting to review the letter from Linda Duffy dated March 6, 2008. There were some points of disagreement in the letter and Woodley recommended responding to the letter before the FEIS is released. He noted that no response might be construed as agreement. The Commission agreed that a response letter was needed. Some questions the Commission had for the Forest Service: What happened to the City’s monitoring, mitigation and implementation comments? Were they incorporated into the FEIS? Was the Forest Service willing to renew collaboration efforts?

Staff recommended the Commissioners review Chapter 8 in the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) and the letters included in the packet. The initial FEIS review would be done by Darren Borgias, Betlejewski, Main and Kerwin. The Commissioners would also receive a copy.

C.     Winburn Parcel Management Plan

The final wordsmithing has been on hold for the last couple of months. Rice would send Slocum the final draft.

Main rewrote the Riparian/Fisheries section to include information from the “West Fork Ashland Creek: 2001 Level II Steam Survey” by the Siskiyou Research Group and the newly released “Ashland Watershed Assessment and Action Plan” by the Bear Creek Watershed Council. Generally, Main found this portion of the creek was functional and recommended little active management within 70 to 100 feet of the riparian area.

Main and Woodley recommended, although expensive, setting up temperature and sediment monitoring in Ashland Creek both above and below the Winburn Parcel to scrutinize future management efforts .

Kerwin would update the soils section and send it to Rice. Rice would then forward the completed draft to Kerwin, Kerwin would edit it for technical revisions and then forward it to Slocum for final grammatical editing.

VI.            OLD BUSINESS

A.   Community Outreach Goal Definition

Gorson and Iverson met. The goal of community outreach was: community outreach, involvement and interaction; the flow of information back and forth; and documentation for both. They agreed that the first event should reach a broad range of people and age groups. They recommended an easy hike with the theme of “Explore Your Watershed.” This would also allow them to survey people on future activities.

Main said future hikes could be focused on topics such as birds, Ashland Creek, geology, fire, wildflowers, butterflies, etc. He knew of many experts that could lead hikes. He also recommended engaging the art community.

A lot of fire prevention educational information was available from Oregon Department of Forestry. Gorson suggested a middle school presentation and educating property owners living within the forest interface.

Commission asked Slocum to place “Outreach Plan Update” as an agenda item each month.

B.  Schedule Public Education Hike

May 31^st was set for the hike. Slocum would draft a flyer to distribute at Earth Day. Because of the lack of parking at the swimming hole, the hike would be limited to 25 people. Iverson said the goal was to eventually have people register for hikes online.

VII.          COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: None

VIII.       ADJOURN: 7:15 PM

Anthony Kerwin, Chair

Respectfully Submitted, Nancy Slocum, Accounting Clerk