Herring River Restoration Committee Meeting Minutes

Meeting date: 
Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Approved

Meeting Minutes

Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)

Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters

Wellfleet, MA

August 19, 2014

9:30 am-3:00 pm

Members Present: Tim Smith, Steve Spear, Gary Joseph, Steve Block, Eric Derleth, Charleen Greenhalgh, Hunt Durey

Others Present:  Margo Fenn, Martha Rheinhardt, Don Palladino, Nils Wiberg

Administration/Coordination:

Communications/Coordination with the Friends of Herring River (FHR):

Don Palladino provided an update of FHR activities.  He noted a recent editorial in the Cape Cod Times supporting the Restoration Project. He reported that FHR had submitted the 25% design plans for the Chequessett Neck Road (CNR) bridge to the MA Department of Transportation (DOT) and to the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET). This completes the deliverables for the MET grant. Work is ongoing for the Upper Pole Dike Creek hydrodynamic modeling under a grant from the Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership (CWRP).

Stantec has submitted a draft report for replacement of culverts at Old Kings Highway and Patience Brook, funded by a Massachusetts Bays Program (MBP) grant.

The 2014 Project Coordination Grant from the MA Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) has been closed out and a new grant awarded for FY2015.

Review of FHR Annual Meeting Agenda: The Committee reviewed the draft presentations for the FHR Annual Meeting and made a number of suggestions for clarifications and improvements. At the Annual Meeting, Don Palladino will provide an update on the Restoration Project activities; Nils Wiberg will present an overview of the Chequessett Neck Road bridge and tide gate design; Tim Smith will discuss the incremental restoration process and adaptive management. Barbara Brennessel, a FHR board member, will also make a presentation about the ecology of river herring.

Low-lying Properties:  The Committee reviewed the status of survey and engineering work for numerous low-lying properties, and discussed next steps in the outreach process.  The group agreed that it would make sense to complete the initial survey work for all of the structurally affected properties in Mill Creek, the main Herring River flood plain, and Bound Brook this year. Using an iterative approach, the following steps need to be completed:

  1. Complete survey work for structurally affected properties;
  2. Review survey plans to evaluate key issues and needed mitigation work;
  3. Establish a master file for survey plans;
  4. Review other properties with impacts to cultivated vegetation;
  5. Develop criteria for mitigation;
  6. Meet with property owners to review survey information;
  7. Develop engineering plans for structural solutions;
  8. Develop non-binding agreements with affected property owners.

Update on MOU Development: Margo Fenn reported that the MOU III Working Group is seeking to set up a joint meeting with town and federal legal counsels to discuss the Restoration Project and the management structure proposed in the draft MOU III.

FEIS/EIR:  Tim Smith reported that the Concern/Response report for the Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report is nearing completion.  He has prepared a revised vegetation and habitat change analysis, which he will review with staff from the MA Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program.  He is also working with the USGS Adaptive Management team to prepare an updated section on Adaptive Management for the FEIS/EIR.  The FEIS/EIR will also include some updated information on sediment sampling.

 

The meeting adjourned at 3:00 pm so that members of the HRRC could attend the Annual Meeting of the Friends of Herring River.

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Hillary Greenberg-Lemos