DRAFT Minutes
Technical Committee Meeting
August 22-23, 2001
FWS Building
Lakewood, Colorado
NOTE: This document is a DRAFT, based on one person's notes of the meeting. The official meeting minutes may be different if corrections are made by the committee before approval. Final Minutes will be posted after approval at the next Technical Committee Meeting.
Agenda and Minutes
Dale Strickland, Executive Director, called the meeting to order 1:10 p.m. and announced that Paul Tebbel, Technical Committee (TC) Chair, would not be attending the meeting. No changes to the agenda were suggested. Minutes were accepted as written by consensus.
Status Reports
Governance Committee and Finance Committee
Dale explained that there were no Governance Committee (GC) meetings since the last TC meeting. The Finance Committee will have an August 28 conference call during which a TC pre-proposal for a fall whooping crane survey will be discussed.
Aerial Photos
Clayton Derby reported that he and Sharon Whitmore are investigating options for storing aerial photographs in a fire resistant cabinet at the FWS Office, Grand Island. Clayton also explained that he had drafted a short report detailing the river conditions and photo requirements under which the 2001 aerial photography was taken. The report will be distributed for discussion at the September meeting.
Cottonwood Ranch Property Monitoring and Research
Clayton read a report provided by Paul Kinzel on the USGS's work at Cottonwood Ranch:
"USGS personnel visited Cottonwood Ranch study reaches July 23-25, 2001. Temporal intensive monitoring sections were resurveyed and bed material was resampled. The next round of data collection is planned for October, which will include resurvey of spatial intensive monitoring sections and additional sediment sampling.
Data from the monitoring program is not yet available on the USGS web site but requests for these data can be directed to Paul Kinzel (pjkinzel@usgs.gov). Data have been provided to the Executive Director's Office and Parson's Engineering.
USGS Nebraska District personnel have completed three discharge measurements to date at the stream gage in Cottonwood Ranch (USGS 06768035 -- PLATTE R MID CH,COTTONWOOD RANCH, NR ELM CR, NE). Real-time stage information can be accessed through the web at:
http://www-ne.cr.usgs.gov/rt-cgi/gen_stn_pg?station=06768035
USGS personnel had their routine meeting with the Platte River EIS office August 9, 2001 to update the EIS Team on USGS research related to the Platte River including ongoing data collection at Cottonwood Ranch."
Tern and Plover Monitoring
Most data have been received by the Executive Director's office for incorporation into the final report. The Tern and Plover subgroup is planning an August 30 meeting to discuss the 2001 field season and any suggestions for protocol modification.
General Monitoring
Beth Lack and Karyn Sernka, WEST, Inc., have completed the Program level vegetation surveys on Jeffrey Island and Cottonwood Ranch. The management specific monitoring at the Phase I site on Cottonwood Ranch is not yet completed. The level of effort will need to be re-evaluated and modified by specific vegetation community characteristics.
Whooping Cranes
Dale reported that Duane Hovorka has provided the data sheets from the 2001 Whooping Watch ground survey efforts. These data will be included in the final analysis report being prepared by the Executive Director's office. Clayton noted that Gary Lingle provided a revised spring 2001 aerial survey report. This information will also be used in preparing the final analysis report. An August 31 Whooping Crane subgroup meeting is scheduled to discuss the reports and any protocol modifications.
Parsons Study
Ann Bleed provided a progress report for the Parson channel stability review study. Parsons presented their assessment of the basic principles or building blocks they are reviewing and their appropriateness in describing the channel stability issue (e.g., cross-section data, effective discharge, climate). Another workshop is planned for September 13 in Cheyenne.
Baseline Document (R1-1) Purpose and Use
Dale read the R1-1 milestone and associated footnote, and asked the FWS for their view on the purpose/use of the current draft Baseline Document. Mark Butler explained that the draft attempts to document current conditions and the FWS's interpretation of the R1-1 milestone. There was discussion regarding how the states and other parties interpret R1-1. There was agreement that the wording of R1-1 should not be revised, except to remove reference to the FWS, to clarify the purpose of the milestone. This will help clarify that the document is a Program document and not a FWS document. There was discussion on what method or product should be used to satisfy the milestone. It was suggested that possibly two documents were appropriate: 1) document of just the data, methods, and references for all historic information in the area, 2) document with the opinions and conclusions. It was suggested that some documentation of what the FWS position is on the various issues is needed, but that the R1-1 Baseline Document should be a TC document and not include opinions and conclusions. The Technical Committee agreed that the means to complete milestone R1-1 should be: "Identify existing habitat and species parameters, the quantifiable data, and the methods/protocols used to collect the data. Identify habitat and species parameters needed by the Program that do not have adequate data and the protocols that will be used to collect these data during the Program."
August 23, 2001
Baseline Review
The TC was tasked with reviewing the whooping crane and tern/plover sections for this meeting. Dave Carlson reviewed his summary of the comments submitted. Dave noted that a large proportion of the comments were on the biology/natural history sections. The TC discussed the need for some sort of introduction/background for each section given the agreement on how the R1-1 milestone will be completed (i.e., just the data, methods, etc.) Mark Butler noted that if anyone wants to see the FWS view on the species they can be referred to the individual recovery plans. The TC agreed that some sort of short, general background section should be included. The basic outline for each background section will be: distribution map(s), plot of historical confirmed sightings, timing of use by the species, population status (plot of estimate), definitions, reference of any studies that look at habitat use in other areas, description of study area and its place in context with other potential areas of interest - critical habitat, associated habitat, protocol study area.
Topics discussed as they related to the whooping section included; need to agree on time frame for consideration, review of how multiple habitat measurements from the same bird impact the historic data set, review of how a single habitat measurement from the same bird group that stayed multiple days impact the historic data set, and the need to use consistent groupings in the summary (e.g., always confirmed sightings or always confirmed and probable) or the need to clearly identify what data are being discussed. A suggestion was made to have the Whooping Crane subgroup identify what parameters should be summarized and by what grouping. The baseline will need to present the data that are available without making a value judgment, outside of indicating how/if it is appropriate for some sort of before/after analysis by the Program. The Baseline Document should identify if the same data are collected using different methods, this should be done in the description of the methods/protocols.
The group discussed what topics/parameters would be included in the Baseline Document. There was general agreement that all parameters included in the R3-1 Charts and protocols should be addressed in the Baseline Document. Also, the Baseline should include items that are in the literature and not in the R3-1 and protocols. These items should be clearly identified and it should be indicated that the Program would not be collecting information on these parameters and why. The TC agreed that there would be no attempt to combine the R3-1, Baseline, and protocols in the IMRP. However, there should be some table/text that tracks the various parameters included in these components (e.g., a comparison table).
Dale reviewed what each section of the baseline would contain: 1) Background, 2) Data/Methods, 3) Historic data not being collected during the Program, and 4) Data gaps/protocols.
It was agreed that the Executive Director's office will revise the Baseline Document based on TC comments and the direction received today. The Executive Director's office will enlist the assistance of Dave Carlson and others as needed.
The TC spent some time discussing how reproductive data (e.g., fledge data) for terns and plovers could be included in the Baseline Document. Concern was raised that the current document does not include all data from managed islands and sandpits. Dave Carlson noted that this information was not included in the current version because he could not be certain of the various parameters and management in the NGPC database. Dave also noted that in this draft he did not include information from various cause/effect research projects of short duration and site specific. There was general agreement that all data should be included in the Baseline Document and proper caveats and descriptions of management, methods, and protocols used need to be included.
The TC agreed that the Landscape section would be discussed at the next meeting.
Future Meetings
1-5 p.m. September 11 and 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. September 12, Herschler Building, Cheyenne
1-5 p.m. October 16 and 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. October 17, Ogallala, Nebraska
Adjourn - 11:40 a.m.
For further information, contact any Governance
Committee member,
Technical
Committee chair, or the
Platte River EIS
Office
For further information about the Partnership,
contact any Governance Committee member.For comments and questions about this website, please email Buck Feist or call 406-247-7607