Minutes
Minutes
Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)
Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters
Wellfleet, MA
May 10, 2018
Members Present: Tim Smith, Hunt Durey, Steve Spear, Steve Block, Gary Joseph, Eric Derleth, Hillary Greenberg
Others Present: Margo Fenn, Martha Craig, Carole Ridley, Christine Odiaga, Helen Miranda Wilson, John Portnoy
Strategic Planning: The Committee had a discussion about staffing and organization with representatives of the Friends of Herring River Board. The group agreed that the HRRC subcommittees should be reorganized in order to provide a better structure for decision-making. Weekly calls with the Friends of Herring River Project management team will continue with HRRC members invited to participate as needed. The current management team also presented some recommendations for redistribution of responsibilities, outlining where additional staff capacity is needed.
The Committee reviewed a list of key activities and responsibilities for the upcoming phases of work including: Permitting and fundraising, bidding and construction, and tidal restoration and adaptive management. The group also discussed the overall time Project timeline.
Administration/Coordination:
Approval of Minutes: The Committee voted to approve the minutes of April 10, 2018 meeting.
Schedule of Meetings: The Committee approved the following schedule for upcoming meetings:
Wednesday, May 16, 2018: Herring River Executive Council meeting
Wednesday, June 13, 2018 HRRC regular meeting
Thursday, July 12, 2018 HRRC regular meeting
The Herring River Executive Council will meet jointly with the newly appointed Stakeholder Group on May 16th at 1:00 pm in the Truro Community Center.
Herring River Stakeholder Group (HRSG) Start-up: Margo Fenn reported that Pat Field of the Consensus Building Institute (CBI) conducted interviews with the HRSG members in April. CBI is preparing some draft operating protocols and proposed agendas for the group and will attend the HREC meeting on May 16, 2018 to discuss these. The Committee discussed how to coordinate with the HRSG. One suggestion was to create a new subcommittee for this. HREC has an ex-officio seat on the HRSG- but the Committee agreed that the individuals attending might need to vary depending upon the topics being discussed. Friends of Herring River will also assist with meeting logistics.
Permitting: The Committee reviewed various elements needed for completion of the Development of Regional Impact (DRI) application to the Cape Cod Commission. Tim Smith has provided graphics for the Phase 1 area of restoration (mean high water spring tide levels) and the storm of record tidal forcing area. ESS will prepare an updated abutters list using a map showing the full Project restoration area, plus a 300 buffer. The results of recent Woods Hole Group (WHG) modeling simulations and SLAMM modeling will also be incorporated. The sediment transport narrative from Chapter 4 of the FEIS also will be added.
Preconstruction Monitoring: The Committee discussed a draft groundwater analysis prepared by hydrologist Larry Martin. Steve Spear and John Portnoy suggested sampling some existing National Park Service (NPS) observation wells as an adjunct to this study.
USGS Groundwater Monitoring: John Mullaney and Jeff Barbaro of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) New England Water Science Center joined the meeting by phone conference. They provided the Committee with an overview of the groundwater monitoring work that they have been conducting on the Chequessett Yacht and Country Club (CYCC) golf course over the last year. They have been tracking groundwater levels in 18 wells from July 2017 to the present and analyzing what factors affect changes in groundwater levels. Factors evaluated include tide heights in Wellfleet Harbor and Herring River, precipitation, recharge, evapotranspiration, lunar tidal cycles, and wind speed/direction. Mullaney and Barbaro will meet with CYCC and HRRC representatives next week to discuss the monitoring results.
CYCC Golf Course Design Work: Steve Spear reported on some questions regarding topographic mapping for the CYCC golf course design. ESS is preparing the permit-ready plans for the golf course and wants to do some additional survey work to confirm contour data in a couple of key locations. This could clarify the amount of fill material that is available for raising the lower fairways and doing other needed roadwork.
Documents Referred to in the Meeting:
-Minutes of the April 10, 2018 HRRC meeting