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Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership
Steering Committee Meeting
June 21, 2005
Attendees:
Paul Cereghino, Hayden Street, Dick Ecker, Debbie Rick, Michael
Rylko, Tim Smith, Doug Myers, and Robert Koeppen
Estuary and Salmon Restoration Projects –
Curtis Tanner (presentation attached)
The recommendations that came from Fort Worden were to fund
the first eight projects in order as ranked by Review Team,
to seek cost savings sufficient to fund projects #9 &
#10, set aside 5-10% of ESRP funds to advance learning opportunities,
and “Curtis and his Elves” to evaluate Top 10
projects for learning opportunities, report back to Steering
Committee.
1. Qwuloolt Marsh Restoration project proposal will restore
tidal processes to 360 acres of the Snohomish River delta
by removing 2000-4000 linear feet of levee and remove fish
barriers to 16 miles of streams in two stream channels.
2. Wiley Slough Dike Removal project proposal will restore
tidal processes to 160 acres of the Skagit River delta by
removing 6500 linear feet of levees.
3. South Smith Island – Union Slough Dike Breach project
proposal will restore tidal and riverine floodplain processes
to 93 acres and 11,300 linear feet of channels in the Snohomish
River delta by breaching an outer dike and constructing a
new flood control dike at a higher elevation.
4. Olympic Sculpture/Myrtle Edwards Park project proposal
will create a 0.64 acre tidal embayment and 0.70 acre shallow
water bench and kelp forest in Elliott Bay adjoining the southern
end of Myrtle Edwards Park
5. Belfair State Park Estuary Restoration project proposal
will remove 68,000 cubic yards of fill and riprap to restore
channel meander into intertidal zone at mouth of Little Mission
and Big Mission Creeks in Southern Hood Canal.
6. Smuggler’s Slough Restoration Design project proposal
develops permitted designs to remediate six blockages using
self-regulating tide gates (SRTG’s) to provide fish
access to 6-7 miles of tidally influenced slough habitat and
adjacent floodplain wetlands between the Nooksack and Lummi
river deltas totaling 1080 acres.
7. Leque Island Dike Breach Feasibility project proposal
conducts a hydraulic, hydrodynamic and sediment transport
model in the Stillagumanish River delta to verify the feasibility
of preferred project design in relation to offsite impacts
to private in-holdings.
8. Skokomish West Bank Dike Removal project proposal will
restore tidal influence to 108 acres in the Skokomish River
delta by removing 3650 linear feet of dike, filling borrow
ditches and building an access boardwalk for powerline maintenance.
9. Normandy Park Acquisition project proposal will acquire
a conservation easement on 3.03 acres of vacant, unmodified,
forested bluff and 300 feet of unarmored Puget Sound shoreline
in King County.
10. Snohomish Estuary Restoration Feasibility project proposal
will conduct a hydrologic survey and modeling to predict cumulative
effects on the delta ecosystem and human infra-structure from
multiple dike breaching/removal projects in the Snohomish
River Delta
Curtis and “His Elves” reviewed the Projects
again for status of the project since proposal submission,
evaluation of each project proposal for learning opportunities,
and developed a set of follow-up questions for each. They
further identified additional information required of all
sponsors to be:
- Acknowledgement of project schedule
– Contracting July 17 to October 15
– Money available on or before October 15
– Interim progress reports
- March 31, 2007
- September 30, 2007
– Funds expended by December 31, 2007
- AND IF project phase is part of larger project
– Scope
– Schedule
– Budget
Preliminary Recommendations to the Steering Committee:
Executive Committee Meeting
The Steering Committee worked on developing and finalizing
the draft agenda (attached).
- Schedule meeting with Doug Myers, Curtis Tanner, and Tim
Smith to finalize presentation
- Communication Team – schedule time with Margaret
Ainscough, WDFW, and Linda Farmer, PSAT, to develop media
plan for the event.
- Meet with Peggy Ushakoff and Julie Howard, WDFW, to design
signs for the projects.
Communication Team
The Steering Committee recognizes the need to revitalize
the Communication Committee with some dedicated staffing.
The suggestion was made to create some boilerplate language
to email around to the Partners to add language for a News
Release for the funding of projects through the Estuary and
Salmon Restoration Program. Rob Koeppen suggested USGS Communications
Chief, John Clemens, may have an interest in providing some
support. The SC identified the needs of the communication
director to be 1) a creative person, 2) a day-to-day person,
and 3) use strategic thinking.
Action needed: Need to update the Communication Plan and
revitalize the team.
Data Management
After a couple of meetings with Dick Ecker and Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory and Battelle staff, there has been some
discussion regarding developing a data management framework
for restoration of the Puget Sound. Much of the material and
the actions undertaken are excellent contributions to the
recovery, protection and management of the Sound and all of
the pieces are part of the larger picture.
Secondly there are many monitoring programs and data at various
scales, conceptual models, physical and biological modes,
synoptic indicators, or lists of potential restoration projects,
yet what do these efforts and data tell us as they relate
to the health and restoration of the Puget Sound?
The Steering Committee agreed that they should revitalize
the Data Management Workgroup and it should consist of Terry
Wright, Dick Ecker, Rob Koeppen, Phil Bloch, and Debby Hyde
volunteered one of Pierce County’s Technical Staff.
This workgroup should look at King County’s Water and
Land database (Osterman/Shuman).
FY07 Work Plan
Bernie passed out the cumulative response of input to the
paper he distributed at the Nearshore Team Retreat. The Steering
Committee added to #1 The typology report should be finished,
peer reviewed, and published. The fifth bullet under #1 it
was added that the Corps should contract out to start putting
a report together. It was suggested that the Strategic Needs
and Assessment Report was a placeholder abstract for the Feasibility
Report and built for “plug-in” language. Added
to #3: Develop a communication plan and implement.
Actions: Invite Hugh Shipman to a Project Management Team
meeting to layout schedule for completion of the Typology
Report. Provide additional comments, suggestions, and/or
additions to Bernie by July 5.
Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound: A Research
Plan in Support of the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration
Program (PSNERP)
At the Team Retreat, Rob Koeppen passed out the final draft
of the above named document for review and comment. Members
of the Nearshore Science Team and the USGS developed the Research
Plan collaboratively. During the fall of 2005, this document
was scientifically peer-reviewed by four colleague researchers.
The authors have just completed the difficult process of responding
to and incorporating the peer reviewer’s comments into
the manuscript. The current document has also benefited from
a technical edit and will bear the same “brand”
that the other technical documents have. The plan is to publish
the manuscript during July.
Action: Reply to Rob Koeppen by June 19, 2006 with your
comments, questions, concerns.
NOAA Community Restoration Program – Puget
Sound Programmatic Proposal
The NOAA Community Restoration Program sends out Requests
for Proposals every three years. Projects with Restore America’s
Estuaries, and The Nature Conservancy have been on-going with
three-year funding.
If WDFW were to Partner with NOAA using state cash and the
Nearshore Partnership’s credentials using the Community
Restoration program small projects doing ecosystem restoration
could be funded (landowner). Small pots of cash and flexibility
allow for some funding by October.
Using NWFWF or other third party for money handling there
is a money handling fee. There are also restrictions with
the Department’s 29% overhead.
Action: Tim to check on the 29% overhead from WDFW. Paul
recommends letters of support and determine what the Nearshore
Partnership would like to see come out of this.
Future Meeting Topics
- “Future Without Project” Workshop
- ’07 Work Plan
- Debrief of Executive Committee
July 19, 2006 Steering Committee Canceled |
