HomeMy WebLinkAboutClimate Action Nat Res May 10 2022Whatcom County
Council Climate Action and Natural Resources Committee
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105
Bellingham, WA 98225-4038
(360)778-5010
Committee Minutes - Final
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
10:30 AM
Hybrid Meeting
HYBRID MEETING - ADJOURNS BY 10:55 A.M. (PARTICIPATE IN -PERSON OR
SEE REMOTE JOIN INSTRUCTIONS AT www.whatcomcounty.us/joinvirtualcouncil
OR CALL 360.778.5010)
COUNCILMEMBERS
Todd Donovan
Ben Elenbaas
Kaylee Galloway
CLERK OF THE COUNCIL
Dana Brown -Davis, C.M.C.
Council Climate Action and Natural Committee Minutes - Final May 10, 2022
Resources Committee
Call To Order
Roll Call
Committee Chair Kaylee Galloway called the meeting to order at 10:30
a.m. in a hybrid meeting.
Present: 3 - Todd Donovan, Ben Elenbaas, and Kaylee Galloway
Absent: None
Also Present: Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Carol Frazey, and Kathy Kershner
Announcements
Committee Discussion
1. AB2022 271. Discussion of Stewart Mountain Community Forest Phase I
Chris Elder, Public Works Department, presented.
He answered whether the 5,500 acres represents the whole acquisition or
just phase one, whether the Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
-owned lands represented in green (on the presentation slide) are the plots
that were included in the Commissioner's recent pilot program, who would
be doing the active management of the merchantable timber in the long run,
how the application was presented to the State Funding Board and whether it
includes both the Stewart Mountain Community Forest phase one and the
Acme Floodplain, whether money from the $3.7 million could be used to
pay back the Conservation Futures Fund, whether the Stewart Mountain
topography is such that it could be a location in which we could store water
for salmon in the summer, why Whatcom County would apply for the grant
and use Conservation Futures Funds to allow the Whatcom Land Trust to
purchase and own the property, whether this proposal has been through the
forest and flood advisory boards and whether they have gotten feedback
from community members, whether the Council can get another look at the
grant proposal when it comes through as far as what is happening with that
money, whether how the forest is managed would potentially increase
stream flows, and the relationship between stream flows and the maturity of
trees.
Alex Jeffers, Whatcom Land Trust Conservation Manager, also answered
the question about stream flow and the age of trees.
This agenda item was DISCUSSED.
Whatcom County page I
Council Climate Action and Natural Committee Minutes - Final May 10, 2022
Resources Committee
Items Added by Revision
Other Business
Adiournment
There were no agenda items added by revision.
There was no other business.
The meeting adjourned at 10:56 a.m.
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WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WA
Kaylee Galloway -via email 5/11/2022
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FilbinrptionKristi Felbinger, Minutes Trans
Kaylee Galloway, Committee Chair
Whatcont County Page 2