September 6, 2000
Monroe Landing Fire Hall-Oak Harbor, WA
4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

(revised - 9-20-00)

Present: Mike Gallion (chair), Jeff Tate, Dick Toft, Tom Campbell, Gary Wood, Jan Holmes, Hi Bronson, Tech. Members: Julie Buktenica, Bill White. Excused from tonight's meeting are Don Meehan, Linda Sue Schoenharl, Matt Klope, Tom Roehl and Tom Shaughnessy.

A quorum having been established by the Chair, the meeting was called to order at 4 p.m.

Introductions:
· Kate Poss, new MRC secretary. Tom Campbell motioned approval of Poss as the MRC secretary. Dick Toft seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
· Hi Bronson, a former Snohomish County land use planner, was appointed to replace outgoing MRC member George Lundgren. Bronson is from Camano Island. He will serve the rest of Lundgren's term, which runs until Dec. 31, 2001

Approval of minutes:
· Since Dick Toft typed the minutes from the Aug. meeting, the rest of the MRC members present agreed they must be all right. Moved by Mike Gallion to approve; seconded by Tom Campbell; unanimously approved.

Announcements @ 4:20 pm
· Julie Buktenia discussed the Oct. 24-27 "Northwest Salmonid Recovery Workshop" conference to be held in Seattle. Cost is $540 for all 4 days. Mike Gallion said he would like to go. The conference will discuss status and future of salmon regulations, habitat assessment and monitoring, habitat restoration and mitigation, and field trips to learn about habitat restoration methods.

Power Point Presentation by Northwest Straits Commission/Marine Resouces Committee @ 4:25 pm
· Gary Wood said the 15-minute presentation about NWSC/MRC's was a dry run. The WSU Beach Watchers will see it Sept. 7 and Gary and Jan Holmes say they would be glad to present the program to local groups and agencies. MRC members made many helpful suggestions, such as adding that the grant for NWSC ends in five years.

Reports @ 4:45 pm
· Northwest Straits Commission meeting from 8/25/00- Gary Wood and Mike Gallion attended. A new "Straits Initiative" brochure is now available for the public. Both were impressed by a visit to the Tullalip Reservation and its state-of-the-art salmon hatchery.
· Members received NWSC's first annual progress report 4/1/99 -3/31/2000
· Gary Wood said the NWSC's fall training session will be held in Oak Harbor Oct. 27 and Oct.28. The topic will be "Marine Protected Area Design" or MPAs

Eel Grass Project Status Report @ 5:05 pm
· Moved by Dick Toft to accept Dr. Norris' proposal in the amount of $23,280 for the UV Eelgrass project. Seconded by Gary Wood. Unanimously approved.
· Discussion-Mike Gallion said there was an additional $2,280 costs for videography above the $21,000 estimate. Tabled was Dr. Norris' $5,000 proposal to chemically analyze eelgrass to determine if it is improving or declining
· Gary mentioned that Tom Roehl-absent tonight-requested Dr. Norris' eelgrass mapping results in electronic form. Norris agrees.

Beach Watcher $2,000 cost overrun
· Tabled by Mike Gallion
· Discussion-Jan Holmes said while the WSU Beach Watchers entered the majority of data for the eelgrass mapping survey, there were additional costs of $400 for printing, postage and mailing, plus $1,600 to Don Meehan's office for staff time. Jan said she understood the volunteers would be doing all of data entry and asked for a breakdown of costs from Don.

Status Reports-Grants @5:20 pm
· Gary Wood is encouraged about getting grants for the forage fish mapping proposal, which involves locating spawn areas for three species of fish that spawn on Whidbey's shores. He is applying for $20,000 for each year (2) from UC Davis, and $200,000+ from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. He is hopeful of getting in the range of $300,000 in total. He will submit proposals in October and will hear the results in January. The MRC also has $25,000 from the grant provided by the Northwest Strait Marine Conservation Initiative for the coming year.
· Jan Holmes suggested using grad students and outreaching to Island schools to help in the forage fish mapping project.
· Dick Toft praised Gary's can-do attitude at going after grants; Gary said what the Island MRC-and the other MRC's within the Northwest Straits commission-are an experiment being watched by the whole country. Mike Gallion added that what the MRCs are doing are on the cutting edge of citizen-based marine recovery programs.

New/Old Business @ 5:45 pm
· Mike Gallion discussed the Salmon Recovery Conference he recently attended in Juneau, Alaska and learning of new ways of managing salmon stock.
· Jan Holmes said the eelgrass survey, mailed out to 4,500 homes, had a net return of 13% or 580 and more returned. Anything more than 10% is impressive.

· Reimburse costs of toner cartridge to Gary Wood
o Moved by Dick Toft and Seconded by Jan Holmes. Unanimous approval
o Discussion: Mike Gallion said Gary cranks out paper by the cubic mile and is deserving of reimbursement.

· Jan Holmes suggested having the Coastal Geologist Company come to an October meeting to discuss alternatives to using concrete and boulders for jetties, which erode beaches. Coastal wants to use giant tree root balls instead, which could provide havens for salmon and shade for fish. While Tom Campbell said he doesn't want MRC to be promoting one company, it was decided to invite the firm to give a 30-minute presentation at the Oct. 18 MRC meeting in Freeland.
· Tom Campbell announced, on behalf of the Whidbey Audubon Society, that Julia Parrish, a marine conservation biologist from the University of Washington, will discuss forage fishing and other topics Sept. 14, 7 pm at the Coupeville Recreation Hall.

Adjourn @ 6 pm