Final Minutes
Technical Committee Meeting
August 6, 2003
Eagle View Center
Ogallala NE
Agenda and Minutes
No changes to the agenda were made. The April 2003 minutes were approved as written.
Status Reports
Finance Committee/Governance Committee - Dale Strickland reported that the Finance Committee (FC) and Governance Committee (GC) approved pursuit of a joint project with the FWS and others to conduct digital aerial photography late this summer/early fall. The total cost for the Program is $10,000. The product will be CIR digital photography with 1 m resolution and 5-10 m horizontal accuracy.
IMRP - Dale reported that the DOI had included the Integrated Monitoring and Research Plan (IMRP) on a list of issues needing resolution by November 1, 2003. Previously the FWS had indicated that the exiting IMRP was sufficient for NEPA and ESA analysis and that a completed IMRP was not needed until the Program begins. Dale received clarification on the matter from Mark Butler, FWS, in that further clarification is needed in the IMRP regarding sediment research and restoration methods but that it was not needed by November 1.
Baseline - The TC set a comment period for the Landscape Section and Other Species Section of the Baseline for September 2, 2003. These sections were distributed in April, but a comment period had not been established. The Executive Director's office will work on incorporating comments on all sections and formatting the entire document for distribution.
Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund Proposal
Paul Tebbel circulated an email prior to the TC meeting requesting input on using the Executive Director's office for assistance in writing a proposal to the Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund (NETF). The proposal would be for conducting island leveling/sediment research at Rowe Sanctuary and the Whooping Crane Trust would be the applicant. Paul indicated that 4-8 acres of islands would be lowered to a height that would be topped by a flow of approximately 6000 cfs. The study would be done to investigate how the islands respond after the flows recede (e.g., are the potential plover and tern nesting substrate?) and how the sediment moves within the channel downstream. The research would utilize the intensive transect grid that has been measured by the USGS for the past several years downstream of the area to me managed. Other transects may be needed upstream and within the managed area. This design is similar to the sediment research being conducted at Cottonwood Ranch. The total cost estimate for the management, research transects, sediment collection, etc. has not been completed, but could be as much as $200,000 based on the work at Cottonwood Ranch. It is not known how much of the budget will be requested from the NETF and how much will come from cooperating agencies. Paul stated that the Cooperative Agreement will not be requested to become a cooperator for this project and a letter of support is not needed. The only request is for time from the Executive Director's office to assist in writing the application (Bob Henszey from the Trust will be writing most of the technical portion of the proposal). This request will be made to the FC and GC.
Whooping Crane Protocol
Clayton Derby provided an update on the protocol and comments/concerns beginning with the peer review conducted in 2002 and the input received from various TC members. A memo was distributed prior to the meeting outlining the concerns from a group consisting of FWS personnel, Environmental group representatives, and others from the TC. The major points raised in the memo related to 1) the need to identify various detection methods through research, 2) flight altitude, 3) flight direction, 4) activity monitoring, 5) general editing and 6) implementation of the current protocol methods this fall along with one research topic, likely testing afternoon/evening flights to detect whooping cranes. The same corresponding number as above identifies discussion of each item below:
Several potential methods to detect whooping cranes have been proposed and include radar, ground surveys, afternoon/evening morning surveys, telemetry, and video cameras. Felipe Chavez-Ramirez suggested that the IMRP be modified to include a research item to investigate different methods of detecting whooping cranes and not include the information in the monitoring protocol. The TC agreed with this approach. Felipe also advocated the idea of conducting the research of detection methods before selecting a methods that will be used in the long term for monitoring.
Several comments have been received regarding the issue of flight altitude and the concern that the current altitude of 750 feet AGL is too high. There has been significant discussion of this topic at past TC meetings and the TC discussed at length again. There was not consensus to modify the current altitude due to risks associated with waterfowl/plane collisions, particularly in the spring. The TC discussed the possibility of conducting a research project to determine what the differences in detecting whooping crane decoys are at 500 feet compared to 750 feet.
The TC discussed the issue of flight direction during the aerial surveys. Currently the protocol has flight direction varying on a daily basis (flying east to west one day and then west to east the next day). Concern has been raised that flying west to east during the morning survey compromises visibility too greatly to justify the intended purpose of surveying the western portion of each river section early some mornings. To address the issue of not surveying the eastern portions first every morning and the western portions last every morning, the TC decided to split each section (west section is Minden to Lexington and east section is Chapman to Minden) into two halves. This would effectively give four starting points instead of two. Using the eastern section as an example: day one the morning the flight will begin at Chapman, fly the river west to Minden, fly a return transect (upland) back to Chapman. Day two the morning the flight will begin at the Wood River bridge (or other near the middle of the eastern section), fly the river west to Minden, fly a return transect (upland) back to Chapman, and then fly the river from Chapman to Wood River. With this scenario the river will always be flown with the sun at the surveyors backs. The flight directions will be reversed if evening flights are flown, but the setting sun will still remain at the surveyors' backs while flying the river.
The TC decided to modify the current qualitative method of collecting activity information on whooping cranes to a more quantitative method along with including videoing of whooping cranes. Activities will be recorded at 15-minute intervals (instantaneous recordings) instead of just recording each activity conducted by the crane group. A digital video camera (if one can be obtained free of charge or very cheap) will be used to record the entire time that a crane groups is being observed. Felipe agreed that the Trust will store the video and that he will analyze the videos. A comparison between the two methods will be made to determine which will be continued into the future. Videos may also be used for training technicians for future monitoring efforts.
The TC agreed that the current protocol does not need a great deal of editing to remove Program information and the repetitive nature of the document, but that a detailed SOP discussing just the methods is needed.
The TC agreed that the current protocol methods, as modified above for flight direction and activity monitoring, should be implemented this fall. A proposal will be developed for FC and GC consideration. The TC also agreed that the proposal for FC and GC consideration should be developed to investigate the effectiveness of afternoon/evening flights. These flights would be conducted on the eastern section only and during a two week time period. The morning flights would continue concurrently with the afternoon/ evening flights.
Felipe suggested that it would be beneficial if the Cooperative Agreement and others sent letters to the Whooping Crane Recovery Team supporting future telemetry studies. The TC agreed that this should be recommended to the GC.
Adjourn - 1:45 p.m.
Future Meetings
Because a large portion of the TC could not attend the meeting, two possible dates were selected: September 10 (preferred) or September 8, 2003.
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