Final Minutes
Governance Committee Meeting

Agenda and Minutes

Roger Patterson, Governance Committee (GC) Chair, called the meeting to order and introductions were made. No changes to the agenda were suggested. No changes to the September 14, October 26, or December 19, 2001 minutes were suggested and the minutes were accepted by consensus. No changes were suggested to the May RPA Sufficiency Meeting Notes and they were accepted by consensus.

Open Comment Period

Carl Roberts, real-estate professional,with Lyman-Richey Corporation, provided comments on the Hazen-Sawyer Third Party Impacts Study report. Mr. Roberts expressed concern that the sand and gravel industry was not represented properly in the report and noted that a response was provided to the Land Committee after the final report was distributed by Hazen-Sawyer. Copies of this response were distributed to the GC (see attached). Mr. Roberts noted that the lower Platte region is currently being mined out of sand and gravel and that to meet the future needs of Nebraska the industry will need to focus more on the central Platte area. The industry has said several times that they can work with the Program in pumping pits in the configuration desired by the Program to provide least tern and piping plover nesting habitat. Mr. Roberts indicated that if the Program avoided lands near bridge crossings the industries concerns would be reduced.

Nebraska Congressional Hearing

Roger Patterson explained that the House Resources Committee is planning a field hearing on February 15, 2002 in Grand Island regarding the Cooperative Agreement and piping plover critical habitat designation. The witness list is currently being developed.

Basin-wide Habitat Restoration Programs

Mary Doyle, University of Miami, explained that she is involved in a process in the Everglades similar to the Cooperative Agreement. The South Florida Ecosystem Task Force is similar to the Governance Committee. They are looking to bring together five groups working on water issues at the ecosystem level for a meeting in Miami to talk about common and different experiences this fall. CALFED, Chesapeake Bay, and Everglades have agreed to participate. Mary asked if the Cooperative Agreement would be the fourth member. The GC agreed. The GC indicated that the Executive Director's office could work with Mary and the delegates to the meeting will be selected when more information is provided.

Sed/Veg Principles from the Parsons/EIS Team Effort

Four principles relating to resolution of the sediment-vegetation issue were agreed upon at the December GC workshop in Denver. One other principle related to updating models during the Program was suggested after the meeting. Concern was raised that if these were to be truly "principles" significant work was needed in wording. It was agreed to refer to them as "action items". It was noted that the worksheets provided by Parsons/EIS Team should be viewed as a resource for use by the GC and Program and not as a Program attachment. There was some discussion regarding development and enhancement planned at Cottonwood Ranch and how insurance paid for by the Program needs to cover all Program participants. Concern was raised that if there activities being conducted on Cottonwood Ranch that are not related it would be difficult for the Cooperative Agreement to justify paying for insurance to cover them. Brian noted that once more investigation into the insurance policy has been completed he would bring it to the GC. It was agreed that the "actions items" as amended along with the concept sheet distributed by the FWS in Denver would be attached to these minutes as a means of documenting the workshop decisions.

Draft EIS Review Process

Roger noted that this issue was discussed at length at the January 16 GC workshop and that there was agreement in principle for review of the preliminary EIS, BO and FWCA report by the GC before release of the draft documents. A future GC workshop will be used to discuss the schedule and appropriate time steps for review of each document.

Glossary

A list of terms suggested for definition was distributed prior to the meeting. Dale suggested that the Executive Director's office work with appropriate parties to develop preliminary definitions for each term. These will then go to the Drafting Committee for incorporation in to the Program. The GC agreed with this process.

Milestones and Subtasks

R1a-EXT - Pallid Sturgeon Hydrology Plan

Don Anderson, FWS, reviewed the work that he has been doing in developing the Pallid Sturgeon Hydrology Plan. The Plan is in two steps: 1) review historic data and quantify losses from the central to the lower Platte and 2) see how pulse flows move through the system using a daily time step. The FWS has a spreadsheet developed for assisting with the analysis. The FWS estimates that once GC approval is given, four to five weeks will be needed before information can be distributed to the WMC and others for interpretation. Both the Technical Committee and Water Management Committee have reviewed the draft Plan, however, the final Plan has not been reviewed and accepted by the committees. The GC asked that the current Plan be sent to them two weeks prior to the February workshop.

The February workshop will be used to discuss the Hydrology Plan and what is needed for the pallid sturgeon during the Program. Concern was raised that requesting additional items beyond filling knowledge gaps through monitoring and research (e.g., more water) would make selling the Program in the states difficult.

P3-1 - First Increment Milestones

Mark Butler explained that the First Increment Milestone Subgroup developed a list of milestones for compliance during the Program. They have also documented background/ foundational materials used in developing the milestones. It is anticipated that the Drafting Committee will "reconcile" any language in the document with the Program document. The subgroup is not able to resolve the issue of interim milestones. Other issues include describing when the NEPA process will begin when transitioning into a second increment. The task before the GC is resolution of the interim milestone issue and other significant issues, if they exist, so that the document can be transmitted to the EIS Team and FWS for review. Concern was raised that the water milestones identify the lower range of the 130-150 kaf objective. The GC agreed that comments should be sent to Dale Strickland prior to the February workshop so that the document can be completed for transmittal to the EIS Team in March.

L1-Ext - Habitat Protection Plan

The Habitat Protection Plan was addressed during the GC workshop on January 16, 2002, and has been referred to a small working group for further editing.

W6-Ext - Yield/Benefit of Tamarack Phase I

John Lawson explained that Jon Altenhofen is working on and presented to the Water Management Committee (WMC) a document discussing Tamarack yield and benefit. The intent is to have Jon and a subgroup complete a draft of the document by February 11 so that it meets the needs of the EIS and BO. A February 15 WMC conference call is planned to discuss the issue. Information will be forwarded to the GC for their March meeting.

W9,10-Ext - Forest Service and Federal Depletion Plan Subtasks

Mark Butler explained that the FWS has contacted all possible federal entities that may have depletions in the basin and held a workshop with them. The entities provided a description of possible activities and the FWS is reviewing them to see what possible projects may be of "national" interest and what projects may be of local/state interest.

Skip Underwood, US Forest Service, provided an update on W9-EXT. Other than vegetation management, all Forest Service depletions will be covered as part of W10-EXT. The Forest Service does not view vegetation management as a depletion issue but will consider potential depletions through forest plans and individual consultation. The Forest Service is working on a document explaining the process of how vegetation management will be handled. Analysis will show impacts on water resources. Concern was raised that the Forest Service should identify what activities existed in 1997, like state plans, and also document that future activities will not result in further depletions. Mark Butler noted that the federal agencies are hoping to work within each state's depletion plan for the anticipated small amounts of federal depletions. Regardless, each agency will need to consult and any depletion will be replaced.

Good Neighbor Policy

Dale explained that the Good Neighbor Policy was presented to Land Committee (LC) and they supported it by consensus. The GC accepted the policy by consensus. The Drafting Committee will need to evaluate where it should be placed within the Program.

Subcommittee Reports

Water Management Committee

John Lawson reported that Wyoming is requesting that Mike Purcell be added as a member of the WMC. GC approved Mike as a WMC member.

Finance Committee

Rick Brown explained that the FC had received and approved a proposal from the Technical Committee to conduct a spring 2002 whooping crane monitoring survey for approximately $89,000. The GC approved the proposal by consensus. Concern was raised that previous surveys were not successful, but Dale noted that cranes were located during each survey that other wise would have gone undetected. Rick also noted that the FC is considering how to address the Finance Document as referenced in the Program document and is working on updating the estimated Program budget with the Executive Director.

Open comment - Lynn Holt is investigating options for others to host the Platte River web site since the Bureau of Reclamations web site continues to be shut down.

Future Meetings

February 5-6, 2002 - GC workshop, Denver

March 4, 2002 - GC meeting, Cheyenne

April 18-19, 2002 - GC workshop, Denver

May 21-22, 2002 - GC meeting, Denver

June 10-11, 2002 - GC workshop, Denver

July 18-19, 2002 - GC meeting, Nebraska