Approved Herring River Restoration Committee Mtg Mins
Minutes
Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)
Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters
Wellfleet, MA
February 3, 2016
9:00 am-3:30 pm
Stakeholder Kick-off Meeting: Expanding Blue Carbon Implementation
The HRRC met in a workshop session with participants in the Bringing Wetlands to Market (BWM) project including the following:
Steve Crooks of ESA Associates
Steve Emmett-Mattox of Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE)
Tonna-Marie Rogers and Jim Rassman of the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WBNERR)
Jamie Eaton of TerraCarbon
Meagan Gonneea of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
Omar Abdul Aziz of West Virginia University (WVU)
Katelyn Szurra of the University of Rhode Island (URI)
Faming Wang of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL)
Sheila Colwell, Holly Bayley, Kelly Medeiros and Amanda Babson of the National Park Service (NPS)
Tim Purinton, of the MA Division of Ecological Restoration (DER)
Craig Wood of ESS
Don Palladino, Chris Rein, Martha Rheinhardt and Margo Fenn of Friends of Herring River (FHR)
Helen Miranda Wilson of the Town of Wellfleet
Tim Smith, Eric Derleth, Hunt Durey, Steve Block, Peter Herridge, Gary Joseph, Hillary Greenberg and Steve Spear of the Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)
The purpose of the meeting was to:
1. Share background and vision for the BWM Project with stakeholders associated with the Herring River Project and facilitate communication between the project team and potential end users.
2. Review the purpose of a carbon market feasibility assessment and potential benefits to the Herring River Restoration Project and others, and discuss the various elements involved.
3. Identify and capture stakeholder questions and interests regarding blue carbon, the feasibility assessment, and the larger project.
4. Gather information about the Herring River Restoration Project – partners, structure and implementation plan - to inform the feasibility assessment and broader project activities.
5. Discuss stakeholder engagement plan and the collaborative model for BWM and preferred ways to coordinate with the HRRC and FHR going forward.
Tonna-Marie Rogers and Jim Rassman provided an overview of the Bringing Wetlands to Market (BWM) project and provided the Committee with fact sheets on work completed to date in the first phase of the study. Steve Emmett-Mattox provided an overview of carbon markets and the purpose of the carbon market feasibility study for the Herring River. Jamie Eaton and Steve Emmett-Mattox reviewed the issues in the feasibility assessment including:
-Market feasibility
-Technical feasibility
-Financial feasibility
-Legal feasibility
-Organizational feasibility
The group discussed how the information and analysis might help to support the Herring River Restoration Project and reviewed next steps in completing the feasibility assessment. The group also brainstormed ideas for how to communicate with the public and elected officials about the BWM project and how it applies to the Herring River. For a full summary of the presentations and discussion, please see WBNERR meeting summary.
After the Blue Carbon Workshop was completed, the HRRC convened in regular session to cover its monthly business.
Approval of Minutes: The Committee voted to approve the minutes of the January 7, 2016 HRRC meeting.
Schedule of Meetings: The Committee approved the following schedule for upcoming meetings:
February 25, 2016 HRRC regular meeting
March 24, 2016 HRRC regular meeting
The group was not able to agree yet on an April meeting date.
FEIS/EIR Schedule and Next Steps: The Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report (FEIS/EIR) is close to completion. It is expected to be released for public review in the spring of 2016. The Committee discussed the process and schedule for completing the remaining sections of the document.
Documents Referred to in the Meeting:
-Minutes of the January 7, 2016 HRRC Meeting