Approved Meeting Minutes
Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)
Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters
Wellfleet, MA
April 4, 2013
9:30 am-5:00 pm
Members Present: Tim Smith, Hunt Durey, Eric Derleth, Steve Spear, Steve Block, Charleen Greenhalgh
Others Present: Margo Fenn, Don Palladino, John Portnoy
Administration/Coordination:
Communications/Coordination with Friends of Herring River (FHR): Don Palladino gave the group an update on the status of several FHR grant applications. The Massachusetts Bays Program grant ($20,000) for hydrodynamic modeling was approved but the contract has not yet been signed. Don Palladino sent the scope of work to Kirk Bosma of the Woods Hole Group (WHG). There has been no word yet about the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET) grant ($50,000). Steve Block reported that the NOAA grant announcements could be made in May.
Don Palladino noted that FHR has developed several fact sheets about the Restoration Project, which will be posted on their website. Some of the topics that will be addressed are mosquitoes, shellfish, aquatic and terrestrial wildlife, odors and related issues.
Approval of Minutes: The Committee voted to approve the minutes of the March 6, 2013 HRRC meeting.
Schedule of Meetings: The Committee agreed upon the following schedule for upcoming meetings:
April 11, 2013 MOU III Working Group meeting
May 9, 2013: Regular HRRC meeting
May 23, 2013 MOU III Working Group meeting
June 13, 2013 Regular HRRC meeting
June 20, 2013 MOU III Working Group meeting
The group decided to postpone scheduling a meeting of the Technical Working Group (TWG) until July.
Informational Updates:
Consultation with State Agencies: HRRC representatives have met with three Massachusetts agencies to review and discuss their DEIS/EIR comments. The following is a short summary of those sessions:
MA Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP): HRRC members met with NHESP officials on March 21, 2013. HRRC and NHESP staff agreed to work together to describe and quantify existing habitat and estimated future habitats of state-listed species within the Herring River estuarine environment in order to better estimate impacts. Estimated habitat impacts to state listed species would be described in a formal habitat management plan as part of the NHESP permitting process. The DEIS/DEIR would need to be modified (especially sections of Chapter 4) to incorporate changes in the impacts to state-listed species habitats. (See 3/12/13 NHESP meeting notes for details)
MA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP): HRRC representatives met with Lealdon Langley, Jim Sprague and Patti Kellogg of DEP on April 3, 2013. DEP officials requested more specific information in the FEIS/EIR about changes in vegetation. In particular, they want to know what areas (and acreage) can be expected to convert from freshwater marsh to high and low salt marsh and brackish marsh.
The group discussed several issues related to DEP’s comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report (DEIS/EIR) for the Herring River Restoration Project, including the following topics:
-Private landowner impact mitigation
-Prediction and quantification of wetland alterations/changes
-Restoration Project permitting strategy.
(See 4/3/13 DEP meeting notes for details)
MA Historical Commission (MHC)/State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe: HRRC representatives and National Park Service staff met with Jonathan Patton of MHC and Ramona Peters of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe on March 27, 2013. Holly Herbster of the Public Archaeology Lab (PAL) also participated in the meeting and site visit. The HRRC provided an overview presentation on the Restoration Project and then the group took a field trip to the Chequessett Neck Road dike, the Chequessett Yacht and Country Club (CYCC) golf course, High Toss Road and Bound Brook Road. After the site visit, the group reviewed the draft Programmatic Agreement (PA) and discussed how to address several issues of concern. (See 3/27/13 MHC meeting notes for details)
Bill Burke and Holly Herbster agreed to review MHC’s written comments and prepare a revised draft PA for the HRRC and NPS officials to review. The HRRC agreed to prepare meeting summaries for each of the state agency meetings, and to circulate them to the meeting participants for review and comment.
Response to State Agency Requests for FEIS/EIR: Tim Smith presented some draft maps to illustrate how to quantify changes in habitat by acreage and location, using available salinity data. He presented a sample analysis for the mid-Herring River basin and Duck Harbor. The Committee discussed this approach and agreed that mean high water spring tides would drive vegetation changes. Salinity levels of less than 6 ppt would likely produce tidal fresh marsh, salinity levels of 6 to 18 ppt would create brackish conditions, and salinities above 18 ppt would be salt marsh. The HRRC will use these assumptions to prepare a similar analysis for each sub-basin of the estuary.
Woods Hole Group (WHG) Final Modeling Report: Steve Spear reported that he had contacted modeling experts at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) about the possibility of providing peer review of the WHG final report but had not yet had a response. Spear agreed to follow up with NRCS officials about the possibility of a technical review of the WHG final report.
FEMA Update: The Preliminary Draft FEMA maps are due to be released in late April. The Committee briefly discussed whether it makes sense to seek FEMA compliance for the Chequessett Neck Road dike. Constructing a flood-certified structure at CNR may have limited value because the current FEMA modeling also predicts overwash at Duck Harbor during their modeled 100-yr event, meaning the Herring River flood plain would remain exposed to the FEMA mapped 100-yr flood plain whether the CNR dike was certified or not.
FEMA uses a “540 rule” to calculate whether dunes will serve as effective barriers to storm surges. The Committee discussed whether it would be useful to conduct this analysis for the Duck Harbor area. The group noted that there could be benefits to property owners of having FEMA certified flood-control structures, either at Chequessett Neck Road, Mill Creek and/or Pole Dike Creek. Tim Smith offered to consult the WHG and Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies regarding the analysis needed to evaluate the Duck Harbor dune.
Blue Carbon: Tim Smith reported that he had attended a workshop at the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WBNERR) regarding a new project aimed at quantifying carbon storage capacity and greenhouse gas (GHG) movement in coastal wetlands. Coastal wetlands store carbon faster than any other ecosystem, however, the climate benefit of coastal wetlands may depend on local conditions including nitrogen inputs to the system. Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) is exploring the idea of creating market credits from tidal restoration projects for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. He noted that this is a very complicated idea but could conceivably provide a long-term funding stream for large restoration projects. It would require monitoring and measuring GHG sequestration and emissions before and after the restoration
process is undertaken. The Committee discussed the idea briefly and noted that it would be important to determine the monitoring costs and revenue potential of undertaking such an effort.
Update of MOU III Development: Margo Fenn gave the Committee an update on the activities of the MOU III Working Group. At its March meeting, the Working Group discussed low-lying property impacts, the updated FEMA mapping, and partnership models. After that meeting, Margo Fenn prepared a first rough draft of MOU III that the Working Group will review on April 11, 2013. This includes material from the two previous MOUs to outline the background and assumptions of MOU III, and a series of recommendations about governance, roles and responsibilities and ownership/management of project infrastructure. At its April meeting, the Working Group will review these recommendations, and determine areas of consensus and differences.
The HRRC members discussed the idea of contracting with an outside consultant for some assistance in developing options for the Restoration Project management structure. The group generally agreed that it would be helpful to have an outside expert to explore models for public/private partnerships, in particular what types of organizations would be best suited to manage the restoration process, given the Project’s unique circumstances.
Hunt Durey suggested that the scope of work for a consultant should be to educate the Working Group about organizational models that could be applicable (such as non-profits, public authorities, etc.), to make a systematic evaluation of their advantages and disadvantages for the functions that they would need to perform in the restoration process, and to outline of what would be the steps to create the preferred type of organization. Funding for this would come from the MA Division of Ecological Restoration through an amendment to an existing Project Coordination contract with the Friends of Herring River. Margo Fenn, Don Palladino and Hunt Durey agreed to work with a qualified consultant to prepare a scope of work and Project Coordination grant amendment.
Discussion:
DEIS/EIR Response to Comments and MEPA Scope: At its March meeting the Committee reviewed a summary of the comments received on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report (DEIS/EIR). The summary provides several different categories for response, including:
1. Can be addressed with a written response/change in the EIS/EIR (no further analysis needed)
2. Requires a change to the EIS/EIR needing further study or analysis
3. Requires further consultation with other agencies to determine appropriate response
4. Issue is not substantive/legitimate-can be dismissed
5. Issue will be addressed in the permitting process
At that meeting, the Committee reviewed the list, going item by item and making suggestions about how to respond to each comment or set of comments. Since that time, Mark Husbands reviewed and edited the list to make the language internally consistent and to check the summary comments against the original comment letters. The Committee discussed how to prepare responses to the comments and agreed that it would be helpful to have them sorted by the categories of response.
Charleen Greenhalgh offered to sort the list into the response categories and create a revised document for the Committee to consider. Margo Fenn, Tim Smith and Mark Husbands will annotate the list to outline a response strategy.
Draft Public Outreach and Landowner Engagement Plan: The Committee reviewed a proposed addition to the draft Public Outreach and Landowner Engagement Plan prepared by Don Palladino. The matrix provides a breakdown of specific activities for different milestone events and assigns responsibilities for carrying out those activities. Don Palladino stressed that it is critical to synchronize the Restoration Project activities with the outreach efforts. The Friends of Herring River will take the lead on public outreach activities and the HRRC will be responsible for landowner engagement.
The Committee discussed some of the major public concerns such as the timetable for the Restoration Project, low-lying property impacts, and funding issues. Don Palladino suggested that the HRRC and FHR should provide a briefing for state and federal elected officials in the near future. Eric Derleth suggested adding a column to the outreach matrix to track actual activities and Hunt Durey suggested prioritizing the most important items. Margo Fenn noted that public outreach opportunities should be a regular agenda item for HRRC meetings. Margo Fenn agreed to send the matrix to HRRC members for detailed comments and suggestions and will propose a ranking for what should be the priority activities.
The Committee had a brief discussion about the timeline for permitting, design and construction, and the idea of phasing the Restoration Project. The group noted that manpower is limited as HRRC members have other commitments and responsibilities. The Committee may need to schedule two-day meetings, as needed to cover upcoming work items.
LLP Outreach: The Committee discussed next steps in outreach to landowners. If approved, the NOAA grant would provide funding for survey and engineering work for the structurally affected properties. The Committee agreed that it would be good to prepare some conceptual mitigation options for these properties before meeting again with property owners. Charleen Greenhalgh noted that it would be helpful to have the Preliminary Draft FEMA maps for landowner meetings as well. Tim Smith agreed to prepare some suggested mitigation options for key properties for the Committee to review at its May meeting.
Adaptive Management Plan: The Committee discussed next steps in developing the Adaptive Management (AM) Plan. The planned modeling workshop might have to be postponed until the AM objectives and relationships are better defined. The AM Plan is a critical component of the management approach in the FEIS/EIR. Tim Smith will outline the framework of the AM Plan for the FEIS/EIR.
Other Business:
The Committee discussed a draft contract with Fuss & O’Neill for design options for the Mill Creek Dike and tide gates and agreed to a slightly reduced scope of work. The Committee also reviewed the scope of work for the Massachusetts Bays Program grant for hydrodynamic modeling of the Chequessett Neck Road tide gate openings. The group agreed that it is important to have meetings with the consultants both at the beginning and the conclusion of the engineering and modeling work. The group considered having the initial scoping meeting on May 8, 2013, the day before the regular HRRC monthly meeting. Tim Smith will work with Fuss & O’Neill and WHG to finalize the scopes of work and schedule the first meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 pm.
Documents referred to in the meeting:
-Minutes of the March 6, 2013 Meeting
-1st draft rough MOU III, April 3, 2013
Respectfully submitted,
Hillary Greenberg-Lemos
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