Approved Herring River Restoration Committee Mtg Mins
Minutes
Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)
Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters
Wellfleet, MA
December 21, 2016
9:30 am-5:00 pm
Members Present: Tim Smith, Steve Spear, Eric Derleth, Steve Block, Hunt Durey, Gary Joseph, Hillary Greenberg
Others Present: Margo Fenn, Martha Craig, Helen Miranda Wilson, Carole Ridley, David Crary, Leslie Reynolds, Craig Wood (by phone)
Administration/Coordination:
Communications/Coordination with Friends of Herring River: Carole Ridley provided the HRRC with an update on recent outreach activities. FHR and members of the HRRC met with a group of Upper Pole Dike Creek property owners in early December and FHR staff continues to meet with individual property owners. The Outreach Committee has been updating the FHR fact sheets, developing a new brochure, and has sent letters to the Boards of Selectmen and other community groups and organizations. This work will continue in the New Year.
CACO Fire Management Plan: David Crary, Cape Cod National Seashore Fire Management Officer provided the Committee with an overview of the Seashore’s vegetation management program. He noted that the Cape Cod National Seashore Fire Management Plan was approved in 2007, and it provides authorization for the National Park Service (NPS) to manage up to 500 acres of land a year over a 30-year period. He described the mechanical treatment and burn methods that are used for different habitat areas of the Seashore. The Plan provides 22 criteria that govern how, when and where vegetation management is implemented.
The Committee discussed how to coordinate with the Fire Management Program to develop the vegetation management plan for the Restoration Project. Tim Smith noted that NPS is refining existing vegetation mapping of the estuary, which will help define where and what kind of work is needed. Vegetation clearing needs to closely coordinated with the incremental increases in tide gate openings, and will likely be done in stages, as tidal restoration progresses. NPS can conduct the needed work on federal land; agreements would be needed with property owners to allow work on private land.
The consulting firm of ESS will be preparing the Project permit applications. Craig Wood of ESS requested a copy of the CCNS Fire Management Plan. The Committee agreed that a subcommittee is needed to develop a vegetation management plan for the Project permits. Tim Smith, Eric Derleth and Steve Spear agreed to participate.
Approval of Minutes: The Committee voted to approve the minutes of the 11/17/16 HRRC meeting.
Schedule of Meetings: The Committee approved the following schedule for upcoming meetings:
January 9, 2017 Herring River Executive Council Meeting
January 12, 2017 HRRC regular meeting
January 18, 2017 Regulatory Oversight Group meeting
February 9, 2017 HRRC regular meeting
Discussion and Updates:
CBI Facilitation: The Consensus Building Institute (CBI) is continuing to facilitate discussions between HRRC and the Chequessett Yacht and Country Club (CYCC). HRRC discussed a response to CYCC officials regarding a proposed contingency plan for raising the CYCC golf course. Another meeting with the Club is scheduled for early January.
Budget/Contract Review and Planning: Martha Craig reported on the status of ongoing consulting contracts. There is approximately $2.2 million available to cover Project engineering and related activities through September of 2017. The Committee discussed how to allocate funds among several different tasks, including continued development of the adaptive management plan, baseline water quality monitoring in the river, groundwater monitoring in Mill Creek and several hydrodynamic modeling tasks. Martha Craig will check with each of the task leads to refine the cost proposals for those tasks. Contract amendments may be needed in January to refine scopes of work and contracts, and to determine the cost allocations between the NOAA and DER grants.
Documents Referred to in the Meeting:
-Minutes of the 11/17/16 HRRC Meeting