Minutes of the Bi-Monthly Steering Committee Meeting
November 16, 2005, 10 a.m., CDF Mendocino Unit Headquarters, 802 N. Main St. Ft. Bragg
Attending:
Documents forwarded by Tara by e-mail on November 11 and 14, 2005 in preparation for this meeting:
ACTION ITEM: Agenda approved.
ACTION ITEM: Minutes of September 28, 2005 reviewed, approved.
ACTION ITEM: Final version of the Memorandum of Agreement was reviewed and approved unanimously.
ACTION ITEM: Tara will proceed with distribution of the MOA to those partners that have agreed to sign, including
Discussion Item: Report on Caspar Public Meeting
Peter reported that the Caspar meeting had a small but enthusiastic attendance. The weed mapping exercise did not go smoothly, but the brainstorming of issues and solutions was very successful, with 2 active teams arising. Modification of the format for the Mendocino meeting was discussed in the Planning Committee meeting, and is summarized in the minutes for that meeting.
ACTION ITEM: Follow up with these groups is handed over to the Projects Workgroup. It was agreed to invite any interested parties from the Caspar project teams to the next Projects Workgroup meeting.
ACTION ITEM: Help in setting up for the Mendocino meeting is requested, as there is also a broom pull at Big River prior to the public meeting.. Peter will check on tables. The address of the Mendocino Community Center is 998 School St., near the ball field.
Discussion Item: Report from Information Management Workgroup
Lynn summarized the Experts Mapping Meeting. It was attended mainly from current participants in the WMA.
ACTION ITEM: Tara will start digitizing maps from the Experts Meeting.
ACTION ITEM: Tara will contact those who were invited to the Experts Mapping Meeting, but were unable to attend.
ACTION ITEM: Ray has additional weed distribution data to add.
Discussion Item: Report from Education and Outreach Workgroup
Peter reported on the Education and Outreach Workgroup meeting of October 14, as in the minutes.
ACTION ITEM: the Gualala meeting will be held, tentatively on Friday, Dec. 9 from 3-6.
ACTION ITEM: Peter is setting up a meeting with the Board of Supervisors to brief them on the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Pulling Together Initiative project.
Discussion Item: Report from Projects Workgroup
No workgroup meetings were held since the last meeting. There has been no progress on entering weed control projects into the State database. The lack of value, or perhaps negative value due to reaction to herbicide use, to private firms of using the database was mentioned as an impediment. Local project teams formed during the Caspar public meeting, one emphasizing broom, the other Eucalyptus. On November 9, Tara paid a visit to the Caspar headlands to view the broom that is of concern to the residents. The need for funds to hire a volunteer coordinator was reiterated.
Discussion Item: Report from Funding & Financial Committee
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Pulling Together Initiative contract was approved through the consent calendar of the Board of Supervisors.
Other funding sources were discussed, such as the Coastal Conservancy. There is no specific deadline for proposals, WMA members who have a working relationship with the organization will explore the opportunities for project-oriented funding.
The extension of the MCWMA to include the Upper Mattole Watershed was discussed.
The importance of finishing the planned Public meetings to gather public input before prioritization of weed control projects was emphasized. Suggestions for pilot projects can be generated before the collection of public input is complete.
ACTION ITEM: Tara will contact the Mattole Restoration Association to determine their need for services from a larger Weed Management Area.
Discussion Item: Report from Planning Committee
Peter summarized the Planning Committee meeting, held on November 9, 2005, as reported in the minutes.
ACTION ITEM: Peter will prepare by January 1, 2006 the Strategic Plan template that will be used for each Element of the Plan. The template will be based on the following outline
ACTION ITEM: Dates for Workgroup meetings were tentatively set to January 11, Education and Outreach in the morning (10AM) in Point Arena, Information Management in the afternoon (2PM) in Fort Bragg. Date for the Project Workgroup meeting will be set after discussion with Clare (Walt will not be able to attend). Primary agenda item for the workgroup meetings is to draft their subsections for the Strategic Plan. Financial & Funding committee will meet following the RCD meeting in Ukiah in December.
ACTION ITEM: By request, Tara will distribute a spreadsheet containing contact information for active workgroup and committee participants to foster communication outside of regular meetings.
Discussion Item: Website update and ftp training.
There has been no new information uploaded to the website since the last meeting. However, the ftp site has been created and is being used to exchange GIS data layers and invasive plant photos. Screen shots of ftp clients were distributed and the procedure for accessing the ftp site reviewed.
ACTION ITEM: Tara was authorized to register the domain name www.mcwma.org for a fee of $10/year to BlueHost.
Discussion Item: The Coordinator’s Report was presented by Tara Athan.
ACTION ITEM: Reporting forms [DOC] (?) [PDF] (?) [RTF] (?) for in-kind matching contributions were distributed. Reports are requested for the period of October 1-November 30, and may be submitted in writing or electronically.
Discussion Item: Changing the scheduling and role of the WMA meetings was discussed. The Steering Committee has been replaced by the Planning Committee, which meets monthly and has representatives from each Workgroup and Committee.
ACTION ITEM: It was approved that General WMA meetings be held quarterly, and that these meetings should focus on information exchange. Next meeting: Wednesday, February 8, time TBD, tentative location: field trip to weed treatment or infestation sites at Big River State Park, MacKerricher State Park or Jughandle State Reserve, and Jackson Demonstration State Forest. Future general meetings may:
Meeting adjourned at 12:15 p.m.
Minutes recorded by Tara Athan.