Introduction

Ralph Morgenweck opened the meeting and welcomed members and guests.

Minutes

The draft minutes of the January 6 Governance Committee meeting were reviewed and some changes were suggested. Later in the meeting, Dale Strickland read changes to the minutes and they were approved as amended. Dale requested that participants read the draft minutes when they are distributed and to suggest changes that may be needed at that time rather than waiting until the next Governance Committee meeting. He also said that in the future he would provide the Governance Committee members with a full set of draft minutes and attachments. He asked that committee members distribute copies of attachments to others in their organizations. The minutes will be mailed to individuals on Dale's mailing list. The minutes and attachments in electronic form will also be posted on the web site.

Avoiding Shifting Tax Burdens to Adjacent Landowners or Communities

George Omak, senior economist with HDR Engineering, made a presentation regarding this issue to help frame the problem for the Governance Committee. Copies of his overheads are attached to these minutes.

The Governance Committee members discussed their interpretation of the language in the Cooperative Agreement that "the Program is to avoid shifting tax burdens to adjacent landowners or communities" and what they believed was the intent of the language. Nebraska and Wyoming believed that during the MOA negotiations, the intent was that the Program should pay taxes or the equivalent of taxes. Colorado believes that is a narrow interpretation and it doesn't necessarily mean "paying taxes". Some members of the Colorado legislature have concerns about appropriating Colorado funds to mitigate for third party impacts in Nebraska.

Language was drafted at the meeting that would allow the Program to pay property taxes or pay in lieu of taxes (PILT) to counties in which land is acquired in fee title. Colorado will consider this issue and report on their position to the Governance Committee at the March meeting.

Executive Director's Report

Dale Strickland reported that the reimbursement policy is near the end of its 6-month or $6000 pilot period. Total disbursements during the 6-month period were $3230.94. The Finance Committee will make recommendations on how to deal with reimbursements in the future. There have been no requests for other disbursements related to contracts or agreements.

Dale reported he met with the outgoing and incoming Directors of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Game and Parks mentioned the potential of them acquiring some property adjacent to Ft. Kearny State Park. They wondered if the property would qualify for funding under the Program, since it has whooping crane and sandhill crane habitat. Dale briefed them on the Cooperative Agreement and explained the process for land acquisition. They requested that the property be run through the habitat criteria being developed by the Land Committee. The Habitat Criteria Subcommittee has agreed to this request. Dale has more information regarding this property.

Doug Robotham raised the potential for the Program, or states, to get benefits from the potential increase in Land and Water Conservation Fund. Patty Beneke provided some background on the Administration's Land Legacy proposal for 2000 and confirmed that there may be some potential to tap into this program if it is implemented.

Water Management Subcommittee Report

Dale Strickland gave the report in Chairman John Lawson's absence. Future meeting dates for the Water Committee will be: March 15 at the Ramada Inn in Kearney, Nebraska, from 9 am until 5 pm, and April 20 at the Barrett Building in Cheyenne, Wyoming, from 9 am until 5 pm.

Dale discussed the status of the subgroup chaired by Duane Woodward on the flooding issue. The subgroup has developed a draft approach to the analysis of the issue. The Water Committee requested the subgroup determine the time, cost, and resources needed for an analysis of the problem, identify the questions the analysis should address, and report back to the Water Committee.

In regard to peer review of Boyle Engineering's draft report, the committee is considering a draft review process. The approach being considered will be an administrative review by the Governance Committee representatives, a review by the Water Committee, and a peer review by an independent source. The reviews will be conducted concurrently. The results of these reviews and the draft report will be used by the Governance Committee to form the Action Plan. Boyle will have a revised shortlist by about February 15. Boyle tested the water budget spreadsheet and it appears to be adequate for comparing alternatives. The water budget spreadsheets will be on Central's FTP site. The Water Committee agreed that the spreadsheet was the appropriate tool for this reconnaissance level study.

The Water Committee plans to conduct a workshop, probably this spring, with administrators in all three states to discuss and understand the current administration of water in order to develop tracking and accounting procedures.

The Water Committee adopted cover letters for W14-1 work products (1) using the SDF method for analyzing hydrologically connected groundwater (although caution was raised on the use of "percent to divert" factors); (2) monthly loss factors; and (3) summary of flow conditions. These cover letters along with the reports will go to the Governance Committee by mail.

Outreach efforts for the water conservation and supply study need to be consistent in message and methods in all three states. Jon Altenhofen, Mike Purcell and a Nebraska representative will draft an outline for outreach efforts.

Land Committee Report

Co-chair Vernon Nelson handed out a schedule for the Land Interest Entity Subcommittee. Vernon also mentioned a meeting being held February 10 in Grand Island regarding groundwater flooding. The Land Committee or the Governance Committee did not sanction the meeting. It was decided that the Chairman of the Governance Committee on behalf of the Governance Committee would send a letter to the Land Committee co-chairs to reaffirm that only one group is needed to look into this problem. That group was formed under the Water Management Committee at the January 6 Governance Committee meeting, and Land Committee representative Ned Meier was placed on the Water Management Committee group.

Rhodell Jameson reported that Mark Czaplewski, on behalf of Don Beatie (Chairman of the Habitat Criteria Subcommittee) prepared a proposal for the Finance Committee to contract for information on habitat management approaches. The Land Committee will try to decide on the approach to be taken by February 22.

Technical Committee Report

Chairman Jay Maher reported that the Committee has a draft charter and that a final charter will be ready for Governance Committee consideration at the March meeting.

Jay handed out a preliminary Peer Review Work Plan. There was considerable discussion about the pros and cons of peer reviewing aspects of the Fish and Wildlife Service's flow recommendations. There was also discussion of the FWS's proposal to review and potentially update the whooping crane model. As a result of this discussion, the FWS will make a presentation at the March Governance Committee meeting on the process for reviewing the whooping crane model. Ralph Morgenweck suggested that the Technical Committee note in the peer review work plan that the dates for these peer reviews are uncertain at this time.

Jay reported that the committee is progressing on monitoring and research protocols. Ralph stressed the need to tie what is needed to measure with how decisions will be made in the future. Jay said they have a draft definition of a protocol and that any comments should be given to him or Dale very soon.

The next Technical Committee meetings are March 2-3 at the FWS office in Denver and April 13-14 in Cheyenne.

Outreach Committee Report

Chairman Jim Cook handed out the Outreach Committee's accomplishments and plans. He also handed out six separate question and answer papers that the committee had developed. These will be handed out at the Land Committee meeting on February 15. Jim also described the committee's plans for providing outreach materials in the various brochures and newsletters of other organizations, plans for TV and radio broadcasts, and the potential for developing a video on the Platte River Cooperative Agreement.

Finance Committee Report

Chairman Mike Besson reported that the Finance Committee met last night and had four topics for consideration: the Executive Director's contract, a foundation agreement, facilitation services, and a Land Entity Subcommittee proposal.

Dayle Williamson reported on the Finance Committee's recommendation to adjust the budget for the Executive Director. The recommendation was unanimously approved. This will require modifying the contracts from the three states and DOI. The new contracts will reflect the new percentages for contributions from the states and DOI. The Governance Committee reached consensus on the recommendation

Doug Robotham reported that the three states have made contact with foundations in each state as well as the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The Finance Committee will have a recommendation on which foundation should be selected at the March Governance Committee meeting.

Dale Strickland reported that the Finance Committee recommends that a pool of available contractors with a range of facilitation expertise from the three states should be made available. When a facilitation need is identified, then selection could be made from the pool. Some representatives from the Governance Committee and Finance Committee would decide which firms would be in the pool. There was consensus from the Governance Committee on approval.

Brian Barels reported on the proposal from the Land Committee regarding the process and workshop for the land interest entity. A legal and land entity expert will work up front to prepare a white paper for the workshop and help conduct the workshop. The goal of the workshop is to identify entity options, their strengths and weaknesses, and reach consensus on a preferred option. This would then be presented to the Land Committee, then to the Governance Committee. The Governance Committee reached consensus to proceed with the selection of a contractor.

Reports on Milestones

Nebraska

Dayle Williamson reported that the Water Committee discussed Milestones W4-1 and W4-2 on new depletions, at their meeting on February 9. Nebraska has been very open about sharing potential water saving ideas although they might want to reserve them for future mitigation purposes.

Regarding Milestones W16-1 and W12-1 on institutional constraints, water-leasing bills were recently introduced in the legislature. Also related is another bill, LB 338, called the Water Conservation Banking Act. It would allow public bodies, individually or collectively, to bank water savings, etc., so that new uses could take advantage of the savings banked as an offset or mitigation.

Regarding Milestones A3-1 and A2-1 on state contributions, Governor Johanns recommended a budget for the Natural Resources Commission that includes the last $250,000 of Nebraska's cash contribution for the Cooperative Agreement. The legislature will not act on the budget until late May.

Dayle reported that Governor Johanns is also supportive of NRC adding a full-time person for outreach in central Nebraska. As soon as the money is assured in the budget, Nebraska will work to make this happen.

Wyoming and Colorado had no additional report beyond their written report last month.

Department of the Interior

Jim Lutey reported that on Milestone R1-1 (existing habitat and species conditions), a preliminary report had been received from the contractor; however, there are some problems with the report and the contractor will likely be asked to revise the report before it is distributed for broader review. The FWS has developed a draft process for addressing R3-1 (procedure for ascertaining biological responses). This effort is being coordinated with the Technical Committee.

Curt Brown provided an update of EIS activities. He demonstrated the first GIS map for part of the Platte River Valley based on August 1998 photos. The EIS Team and Land Committee have received proposals for analyzing third party impacts. The EIS Team is nearing completion on the screening report and is coordinating with the Water Committee on the short list for the water conservation/supply study. The EIS Team is also progressing on describing the "No Action" alternative, and it will be a couple more months to complete that effort. The EIS Team is also cooperating with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department on analyzing fishery impacts on the North Platte River.

Future Governance Committee Meetings

March 16 - Kearney, Nebraska, at the Ramada Inn (special discussion topic will be the groundwater flooding problem)

April 21 - Cheyenne, Wyoming, in room 1699 of the Herschler Building

June 2 - Lakewood, Colorado, at FWS office.

Meeting was adjourned.