Agenda and Minutes

Ralph Morgenweck, Governance Committee (GC) Chair, called the meeting to order. No changes to the agenda were suggested. The January Governance Committee (GC) minutes were approved as modified. The GC agreed to leave the notes prepared by CDR after the February 28, 2003 facilitated workshop as written and to not adopt them as GC notes or minutes. The notes will be a resource if needed in the future.

Open Comment Period – No comments were expressed.

Land Action Plan Update

Mary Jane Graham provided the update for the Drafting Committee. The group is working on assembling the entire Land Action Plan package, which will include the LAP and Tabs, for distribution to the Land Committee. The main documents that they have been working on for distribution with the LAP are the Structures Document and Land Advisory Committee Charter. The GC asked that comments on the revised Structures Document be provided to Dale Strickland by May 10. The entire LAP and Tabs will be distributed to the GC on approximately May 15 for discussion at the June 12-13 GC workshop and meeting.

Cooperative Agreement Extension and Interim Measures

Dale Strickland reminded the group that the current Cooperative Agreement (CA) ends on June 30, 2003 and that the current contract with the Nebraska Community Foundation expires on September 30, 2003. The GC should decide soon if they are going to extend the CA and to what date so that all parties can begin work on extending their contracts with the Nebraska Community Foundation. Colorado has stated that they may need up to six months to extend their contract. Wendy Weiss indicated that Colorado would start the contract extension process without a formal extension decision if they can get some direction for the GC on timing.

David Little reported that Denver Water is going forward with implementation of their water reuse project in January or February 2004. Other groups also need to move forward with their water projects in early 2004. David noted that they have two options for their biological opinion: 1) some sort of bridge measures until there is a Program or 2) individual consultation with the FWS. It was noted that if Denver Water undergoes individual consultation they would likely need to begin buying farms in the lower end of the river to replace any depletions and that this would severely damage Colorado’s involvement in the CA. Margot Zallen stated that the CA currently limits the FWS because the CA states that if there are new depletions during the CA period they will be replaced acre-foot for acre-foot. A possible solution is to include revised language in the CA Extension Document that would allow the FWS some discretion in determining mitigation options. Mitigation options could include lands/habitat in Nebraska, monitoring and research, other funding, implementation of Colorado’s Tamarack wells for mitigation water, etc. This could be set up similar to the current FERC licenses for the Districts in Nebraska. Denver Water would receive credit if there is a Program or the work done would go towards Denver Water’s RPA if there is not a Program.

Roger Patterson stated that he believes bridge measures could be worked out but indicated that regime of the river issues should be addressed first. Concern was raised that if Denver Water was working with the FWS on “fall back options”, that is what Denver Water would have to do if they get out of the Cooperative Agreement, it would be counter productive. It was clarified that Denver Water should be working on bridge measures, that is action to be done between now and when there is a Program, at the same time that regime of the river issues are being worked out. Several individuals stated that regime of the river should be worked out by June 30, 2003.

Subcommittee Reports and Recommendations

Water Management Committee
John Lawson, WMC Chair, reported that WMC subgroups have been meeting. The areas of activity include the following: discussions with Jon Altenhofen about the information he reported on at the April 14 GC workshop on work being done regarding Tamarack operations; Don Anderson and the Daily Operations Task Force has been working on how to define the type of water year (dry, normal, wet, etc) on a real time basis and the definition of how daily flow targets relates to annual targets. John reported that the WMC does not have anything to report regarding the Federal Depletions Plan or the Colorado North Platte Depletions Plan.

Land Committee – Dale Strickland reported that no meetings have been held recently. The LC Chairs are working with Dale on how to best distribute information related to the NAS review to the LC mailing list. Dale will work with Larry Schulz to develop a letter describing the process and include the details when they are available regarding speakers, times, etc. for the May 6 public meeting. The LC would like to hold a meeting sometime after planting but before harvest to discuss the LAP.

Mark Butler updated the GC regarding the NAS public meeting. Currently the NAS is planning to have approximately 20 public speakers for two minutes each after the invited speakers are done. The NAS has selected the speakers and will run the meeting according to their plan.

Technical Committee – Dale reported that the TC met on April 9-10. The TC received a presentation on digital vs. conventional aerial photography. The presentation indicated that currently they have similar quality and price but that digital can be available in an ortho-rectified manner quicker and cheaper. This will make the product more useable for the TC and others. The TC asked the Executive Director’s office to confirm the cost for digital and if the cost is similar to conventional photography, develop a proposal on conducting digital aerial photography this summer. The TC also discussed the phragmites control issue discussed at the April 14 GC workshop; incorporation of Whooping Crane Protocol peer review comments; and the pilot RSF analysis conducted by the Executive Director’s office on whooping crane data. The TC will be working with the Executive Director’s office on identifying parameters for inclusions in the RSF analysis at an upcoming workshop.

Ralph Morgenweck stated that the FWS continues to work with the USGS office in Ft. Collins in revising the Whooping Crane Roosting Model. The revised windows based model will be available this fall.

Finance Committee– Mike Besson, FC chair, reported that GC approval was needed for several expenditures, including: $7,500 for the pilot RSF analysis conducted by the Executive Director’s, $9,913 for past facilitation by CDR, $100,000 for geomorphology monitoring and research at Cottonwood Ranch for the period October 2003-September 2004, and $13,115 for future facilitation by CDR. The GC approved all items. Mike reported that the FC discussed the budget needed for the CA Extension and decided that before the budget is defined the GC needs to provide guidance on how long the extension period will be.

Drafting Committee – Items worked on by the Drafting Committee are discussed above.

Extension Committee – The GC established a committee to work on the CA Extension. The subgroup includes: Margot Zallen, Mike Purcell, Mike Hill, Jim Cook, Deb Freeman, Bob McCue, Don Kraus, John Lawson, and an Environmental Representative TBD. [Note: Duane Havorka, Wendy Weiss and Rick Brown were added to this subgroup after the meeting]. The committee will meet via conference call on April 22.

Open Comment – No comments were expressed.

Adjourn – 11:20 a.m.

Future Meetings
May 7 – GC workshop, Crystal Inn, Denver
May 27-28 – GC workshop, Crystal Inn, Denver
June 12-13 – GC workshop and meeting, Kearney
July 14-15 – GC workshop, Crystal Inn, Denver
August 18-19 – GC workshop and meeting, Cheyenne

 

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