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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources February 24 20041 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Natural Resources Committee February 24, 2004 Committee Chair Sharon Roy called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: Absent: Seth Fleetwood None Laurie Caskey- Schreiber Also Present: L. Ward Nelson SPECIAL PRESENTATION 1. PRESENTATION ON SALMON RECOVERY AND SHARED STRATEGY (AB2004 -118) This item was addressed at the Water Resources work session on February 17, 2004. COMMITTEE DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL 1. RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE LAKE WHATCOM WATERSHED FORESTRY ADVISORY FORUM AS THE INTERJURISDICTIONAL COMMITTEE UNDER THE LAKE WHATCOM MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (AB2004 -086) Caskey- Schreiber moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Fleetwood stated he is not comfortable working on this without the input of councilmembers McShane and Nelson, who were supposed to work on a compromise. Tom Pratum, Audubon Society, stated he talked to Councilmember Nelson last week, who indicated that the resolution would probably not be amended. There needs to be one entity that looks at all the forest practices in the watershed. The number of proposed Department of Natural Resources (DNR) forest practices is less than what is being conducted on private lands right now. Now, the Forestry Forum is the only thing that exists to do that. The Forestry Forum isn't very functional right now, but it exists. People could look into changing it and using it rather than create another entity. Natural Resources Committee, 2/24/2004, Page 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Roy stated she doesn't have a problem with that suggestion. She has a problem with this resolution as proposed. It doesn't mention public lands at all. It doesn't mention the two main thrusts of the Landscape Plan, which is public safety and clean water. That is why she has a problem. She doesn't have a problem with the concept, but how this resolution is worded. Caskey- Schreiber stated she also is concerned about the resolution. The main focus of the Inter - Jurisdictional Committee (IJC) is to provide technical assessment and review of the DNR's proposed practices. The Forestry Forum doesn't have the technical expertise to know the impact of DNR's proposals of logging around that sensitive area. The Forestry Forum now is slanted toward private loggers, who don't always have the public's interest at heart. They have a financial investment in getting logging contracts. Bruce Roll, Water Resources Division Manager, stated that a couple years ago, there was a joint resolution by the City, County, and Water District 10 that formally established the Forestry Forum and it's purpose. That resolution specifies the work the Forestry Forum is to perform. The councils would need to change that resolution to change or add to the Forestry Forum's work. There are concerns about making sure that the IJC has the technical staff it needs. They will also need to discuss the impact to County and City staff. Once there's the policy discussion on where that group should go, talk about staffing. Fleetwood stated he doesn't support this resolution for the reasons already stated. While listening to Councilmembers McShane and Nelson two weeks ago, he understood that the opinions could be reconciled. The work hasn't been done to do that. His motivation is to have the IJC be the Forestry Forum if the Forestry Forum is changed to include the technical people needed. Roy stated the objective of the IJC is to manage DNR lands. The role of the IJC is to advise the DNR on public lands. A private forester could be useful on a committee that does that. The way this resolution is written, the Forestry Forum sounds like a committee to manage private lands. The Forestry Forum can be the basis for the IJC if they change the membership. Caskey- Schreiber read from the resolution establishing the Forestry Advisory Forum. The technical component isn't weighed as heavily for public lands. Motion failed unanimously. Pratum stated the DNR people told the Forestry Forum that one way to make the Forestry Forum work as the IJC would be to have technical people there just when considering State lands forest practices. The Forestry Forum needs to be reconfigured. There are too many private foresters. It hasn't been effective. It was officially established in that joint resolution, but existed for many years before that. When it was started in 1989, there were four environmental people instead of just one on the Forestry Forum. At some point, look at the Forestry Forum and Natural Resources Committee, 2/24/2004, Page 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. reconfigure it to consider how they might be able to put all forest practices under one advisory committee. Caskey- Schreiber stated the membership of the Forestry Forum includes seven of 15 members that have a private financial gain from forestry practices. Two citizen positions could have a financial gain from forestry. Roy stated they could change the membership. She asked if that would mean removing current members or add new members. Pratum stated the Forestry Forum voted unanimously to change its membership and format to assume this role. The private foresters want so much to stay involved that some would voluntarily drop off the Forestry Forum. The foresters feel they've been cut out of the process completely. A problem with the Forestry Forum now is that not everyone attends. He thinks the foresters would be willing to cut some of their members from the Forestry Forum so they can continue to be involved in the process. Caskey- Schreiber stated there was quite a bit of public comment taken on this Landscape Plan. The County Council wasn't that involved in it either. Pratum stated the foresters feel like they were cut out of the Landscape Plan process. Now they feel like they are being cut out of another committee. They think any regulations put forward for DNR lands will spread to their private lands. There isn't a problem with them having some kind of voice. Fleetwood stated the committee is saying that it will not reject the Forestry Forum as the IJC if its membership is amended. That is contrary to the message sent by not approving this resolution. (Clerk's Note: Councilmember Nelson arrived at 9:50 a.m.) Nelson stated the Forestry Forum has played a large role in trying to preserve forestry in Lake Whatcom. The Forestry Forum has worked with many groups. The current Forestry Forum was set up by a resolution between the three jurisdictions, the City of Bellingham, County, and Water District 10. All three jurisdictions approved the makeup of the Forestry Forum. Any change the County Council would require would have to go through the three jurisdictions. He recommended that the new purpose of the Forestry Forum be to serve in a public forum. The Forestry Forum could resolve the issues and concerns of the public. He's not as inclined as others to believe that the Forestry Forum membership couldn't do that. He recognizes the concerns raised by the councilmembers and the Lake Whatcom Advisory Committee. Don't forget the actions the Forestry Forum has taken so far. Don't alienate the foresters. The letter from Clare Fogelsong didn't go well with the forestry forum members. He's concerned they're not having a joint discussion on this issue. Some people have a concern about saving agriculture. He wants to save forestry in the watershed. Natural Resources Committee, 2/24/2004, Page 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Roy stated this resolution doesn't fit with the charge of the IJC. That doesn't mean they're against having the Forestry Forum involved in some way. Nelson stated they could continue to have a process that includes the Forestry Forum. Don't do duplicate work. The IJC idea is valid in the technical aspect, but it doesn't have the public involvement that the Forestry Forum has. The IJC is advisory to the DNR, which doesn't help them much. If they throw out the Forestry Forum, they will lose the connection between citizens of the watershed and the foresters, including the DNR. Caskey- Schreiber stated they need to talk to Executive Kremen to see where he stands. It will be very important to have someone on the IJC who can represent the County and who understands the environmental implications of forest practices. Nelson stated that even if they have a technical IJC, they will still need a group like the Forestry Forum that can review the advice of the technical team. Otherwise, detrimental decisions can be made either way. Caskey- Schreiber stated they need to discuss this first with Executive Kremen to see how much power they have. Nelson stated the County Council has not responded to the letter from Mayor Asmundson regarding the formation of the IJC. The comments of Clare Fogelsong was that they don't need the Forestry Forum anymore. Roy stated she will talk to the County Executive and Mayor of Bellingham about their recommendations on the issue. She prefers to not approve this resolution, but to keep the topic in committee and keep working on it. They need to start over with a new resolution. Fleetwood stated people are going to say that the committee has rejected this idea, but in fact they can change the Forestry Forum without rejecting it. Roy stated she tried to come up with amendments to this resolution to make it consistent with the Landscape Plan, but couldn't because Forestry Forum doesn't relate to public lands. The content doesn't match the task in front of them. Caskey- Schreiber stated she doesn't want to name any one group as the IJC until she finds out the Council's charge. She wants to know where Executive Kremen and Mayor Asmundson stand. Fleetwood stated they should make it clear in Council that they're not rejecting the effort, and that they're still going to work on it. Roy agreed. They're not rejecting the idea that private foresters should be involved in the IJC. The committee feels that it must first do more homework because the Commissioner of Public Lands already has a process he's working on. Natural Resources Committee, 2/24/2004, Page 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. The councilmembers needs to find out where the Council fits in the process. That's the message of the committee. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) Pratum stated the County Council has a big say in the IJC. Whatcom County and the City of Bellingham are the two biggest jurisdictions here. Work on this concept and come up with something. Roy stated the committee's intention is to make sure everyone has a voice in the IJC. Caskey- Schreiber stated this issue is not over. They will address all parties who have an interest in the IJC. Nelson stated the administration and the Lake Whatcom Management Committee have left the councilmembers behind. Water District 10 and the Bellingham City Council, not the County Council, have already made decisions about the IJC. The City provided a response to Commissioner Sutherland several months ago about what the IJC should look like. The DNR has tried to find out what the County wants for the IJC. He assumed the Lake Whatcom Management Committee was trying to put a response together until he saw the letter from Mr. Fogelsong that alienated the Forestry Forum. He's not confident the councilmembers will get a lot of good advice from the Management Committee or agencies. The DNR is thinking that it can regain control if they continue to wait on this. The Forestry Forum, which has served in the capacity of technical review of forestry plans, has also served the community in regards to pest management and other water quality issues. Caskey- Schreiber stated it's not the Council's doing that the Forestry Forum is frustrated because it wasn't included in the Landscape Plan process. Mayor Asmundson doesn't see the problem with Commissioner Sutherland's proposal. She wants to talk to Executive Kremen. The Council needs to be on the same page as the Executive. Roy stated she will talk to the parties involved. OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 10:26 a.m. Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription Natural Resources Committee, 2/24/2004, Page 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. ATTEST: Dana Brown - Davis, Council Clerk WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Sharon Roy, Committee Chair Natural Resources Committee, 2/24/2004, Page 6