Agenda and Minutes

Finance Committee/Governance Committee
Dale Strickland reported that the Governance Committee (GC) has been working on resolution of several issues through the use of a facilitator and a GC Negotiating Team. Major topics included regime of the river, impacts to pallid sturgeon from peak flow development, bridge measures for water development projects in Colorado during any extension of the Cooperative Agreement (CA), and CA extension. Dale noted that the GC has extended the CA through December 31, 2003 and the GC is recommending to the Governors and Secretary of the Interior that the CA be further extended through June 30, 2005 with a possible 6-month extension beyond that. Dale explained that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has indicated that the Integrated Monitoring and Research Plan (IMRP) is generally sufficient for Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Biological Opinion (BO) analysis but that the GC wants further detail added, as agreed, as soon as possible. The GC reviewed the draft Land Action Plan and suggested edits at the last meeting and asked Brian Barels to work with the Executive Director’s office in preparing the document for distribution with the DEIS. Concern was raised that the IMRP may not accurately reflect the agreed to monitoring and research package for pallid sturgeon given the current possibility of mitigating impacts to peak flows through possible in-channel management. Once the GC finalizes the plan and method for mitigating the impacts the IMRP will be reviewed to ensure the monitoring and research is consistent with the GC direction.

Dale reported that the Finance Committee (FC) has been working on the CA extension budget. The signatories have identified approximately $237,000 in additional funding for the extension period. The current extension budget funds most activities identified by the subcommittees and retains a reserve amount of approximately $281,000. The reserve account can be used during the possible six-month extension during which the Program is “kicked-off” or it could be used to fund additional activities during the extended CA period, due to changing priorities. For the Technical Committee (TC), the budgeted items include: writing protocols ($15,000), 2003 and 2004 tern and plover reports ($7,500 each year), 2004 spring whooping crane survey ($90,000), 2004 fall whooping crane survey ($77,000), 2005 spring whooping crane survey ($90,000), 2004 BW aerial photos ($15,000), Cottonwood Ranch monitoring and research for federal FY 2003 ($100,000), Cottonwood Ranch monitoring and research for federal fiscal year (FY) 2004 ($40,000), and peer review in 2004 and 2005 ($7,500 each year).

Whooping Crane Monitoring
Clayton Derby reported that Greystone Environmental Consulting has been implementing the Whooping Crane Monitoring in fall 2003. Greystone had distributed two updates during the survey period and these were forwarded on to the TC. Clayton reported that since the last update no whooping cranes had been observed in the central Platte valley. Greystone located one whooping crane in October during the aerial survey and this was the only whooping crane confirmed in the central Platte valley as of November 11.

IMRP
Clayton reported that a revised IMRP would be distributed by mid-December. The revised document will include language developed by the GC on addressing channel capacity issues in the North Platte River near North Platte. The new version will be available for distribution when the DEIS is being reviewed.

Baseline
Clayton reported that a revised Baseline Document would be distributed in mid-December. The draft will contain comments submitted on the previous drafts and will be compiled into one file. The TC reaffirmed that the scope for the Baseline Document is to identify what and where data and databases are available for future analysis during the Program. The Baseline Document should not analyze the data.

Least Tern and Piping Plover Report
The Executive Director's office reported that they are currently entering the data from the 2003 field season and will distribute a draft report in December or January.

Cottonwood Ranch

Monitoring and Research
Paul Kinzel, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), provided an update on the activities the USGS has been conducting at Cottonwood Ranch as part of the TC's Monitoring and Research Protocol. Paul distributed copies of year 1 and year 2 reports on cd and stated that a report from year 3 would be available soon.
Paul reviewed what information is being collected and why, specifically channel geometry, bed elevation, and sediment grains size both pre- and post-management. The information being collected will be used to estimate the effects of the combined management activities on the channel geomorphology and sediment. The original TC proposal had one year of pre-management data collection and two years of post-management collection. However, management was delayed such that there has been two years of pre-management data collected and one year of during or post-management. All data collection has been during low flow years. The data collected to date will allow the USGS to calculate mean/median grain size, channel geometry, etc., and provide error bars around the estimates under low flow conditions. If there is a high flow event, a post-flow measurement would allow investigators to see if the measured parameters are outside of the error bars.

Paul noted that the current funding of $40,000 for federal FY 2004 does not include operation of the gage at Cottonwood Ranch. The TC discussed the benefits of maintaining the gage. USGS staff also present at the meeting indicated that they have purchased equipment to allow gage readings at higher flow levels at Cottonwood Ranch and that funding to maintain the gage, conduct the readings, and publish the readings is approximately $17,000/year. The TC discussed options to reduce this cost (e.g., crest-stage gage, stage only, seasonal, etc.) but generally agreed that contemporary stage gage data is important for the monitoring and research project. The TC asked that the Executive Director's office develop a proposal for FC and GC consideration to fund this gage under its current operation. Funding would come out of the current $40,000 set budgeted for Cottonwood Ranch Monitoring and Research. The TC also asked the Executive Director's office to work with the USGS to develop a proposal/protocol on when future research measurements would be conducted at Cottonwood Ranch. The protocol should include the triggers for when re-measurements would be done (e.g., flow and time), what measurements would be taken, and a cost estimate. This would be presented to the FC and GC. If the re-measurements and gage operation exceeds the $40,000 budgeted for Cottonwood Ranch Monitoring and Research options for funding include the TC reprioritizing their current budget, funding from the reserve account, or no funding from the GC.

Sediment Augmentation/Island Shaving Proposal for Rowe and Trust Properties

The TC expressed concerns that the proposed research is conducting activities envisioned as part of the Parsons/EIS Team proposed monitoring and research, but before all steps leading up to this type of research are completed (e.g., conducting a pulse flow event to track stage to ensure that flows are within the safe channel capacity, sediment distribution process research, etc.) Concern was also raised that some of the planned activities may occur during whooping crane migration season and that the research as identified may not be robust enough. Generally, however, strong opposition was not expressed to this research. No request for CA funds was made.

Adjourn

Future Meetings

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