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Meeting Minutes |
Trinity Lutheran Church, Freeland
4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Rev. I by Gary Wood 1/17/01
Rev. 2 by Tom Roehl 1/17/01
Present: MRC Members--Chair Tom Campbell, Vice-Chair Tom
Roehl, new member Martin Behr,
Jeff Tate, Don Meehan, Roger Sherman, Matt Klope, Mike Gallion, Gary Wood,
Hi Bronson, new
member Sayed El-Sayed; Secretary Kate Poss; technical advisors Julie Buktenica
and Mike Sato, Skagit
MRC/People for Puget Sound. Visitors: Carl & Fran Richart, Peter Moore;
Carol Ryan; Keith Wolf, biologist,
Golder Assoc., Redmond. Absent: Dick Toft and Tom Shaughnessy
A quorum was established—Chair Tom Campbell called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.
Approval of 1/3/01 meeting minutes and 1/17/01 agenda @ 4:10 p.m.
Approval of the minutes and agenda was unanimous
Roger Sherman’s Maritime History presentation @ 4:10 p.m.
· Roger gave an interesting talk and showed slides
of Whidbey Island’s life on the seas dating back
150 years ago. He will give a similar presentation at the 1/27/01 Soundwaters
Conference.
Gary Wood talks on grants we’ve won and grants to come @ 5:10 p.m.
· Marine Ecology Grant from UC Davis--$17,000 awarded
for forage fish program. Our MRC was one
of 10 selected from 54 applicants
· NWSC (Northwest Straits Conservation Initiative)—Action
Grant Round Three Preapproved for
$25,720 for forage fish—we should know by the end of the month. Additionally
NWSC is starting a
501C3 non-profit foundation soon. This will allow NWSC to pursue grants
from private foundations.
NWSC hopes to attract private finds to benefit its MRCs.
· SRFB (Salmon Recovery Funding Board)—Staff recommends
approval of MRC $130,843 grant to
map forage fish, complete eelgrass survey; complete shoreline hardening
mapping. SRFB decides
1/26.
· Gary reports that we thus have +/- $250,000 for
projects for this calendar year, when the next
NWSC round of $50K is added.
· Discussion--MRC wants to meet with the Island
County Board of Commissioners to set up a
structure which oversees and administers these funds. There is a need to
rent office space and have
a project manager. Gary expressed interest in the P.M. job. $12,000 of the
grant funds is earmarked
to pay a P.M. MRC plans to meet with the BOC at its Feb. 7 MRC meeting to
discuss possibilities.
The meeting is planned for Coupeville. Stay tuned for details.
Puget Sound Research 2001 Conference Feb. 2-14, 2001 in
Bellevue—reimbursement for registration and
mileage costs.
· Action—Tom Roehl moved to authorize the spending
of $375 to reimburse the $75 registration fee
of 5 MRC members who will attend. Hi Bronson seconded the motion. It was
carried by all.
· Discussion--Gary Wood, Marty Behr, Roger Sherman,
Mike Gallion and Sayed El-Sayed said they
would like to attend. Tom Roehl asked how much of our $10,000 operating
fee is left if the MRC
approves this funding. Don Meehan said there is enough to cover the costs.
Don said to write a
check and submit a travel voucher to him for reimbursement.
· Action—Tom Roehl moved that attending conference
members be reimbursed for mileage to attend
the conference. Hi Bronson seconded the motion. It carried.
Unfinished/new business @ 6 p.m.
· Don Meehan said the eelgrass survey is getting
wrapped up. Look for the update on the MRCs new
website at islandcountymrc.org. Mike Gallion asked how close we were to
achieving the ideal of
mapping Island County’s eelgrass. Don said 15 miles were mapped by citizens;
more data to come
from Beach Watchers reports. Tom Roehl noted, for the record, that back
when we were working on
the design of the community eelgrass census, the committee appointed him
as “Project Manager”
and once that was resolved and Dr. Norris’ contract established, the management
for the most part
had been don by Don, who deserves credit for a well-done job. The next MRC
meeting is planned for
Feb. 7 at 4:30 p.m. at the Board of Commissioners hearing room in Coupeville.
Stay tuned to your
email for more information.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:08 p.m.
{Minutes Text Here}
