HERRING RIVER RESTORATION PROJECT
Herring River Technical Committee Approved Meeting Minutes
Wellfleet Council on Aging, Wellfleet, MA, March 19, 2007
Members Present: Robert Hubby, Stephen Spear, Joel Fox, Diane Murphy, John Riehl, Tim Smith, John Portnoy, Jack Whalen, Carl Breivogel, Eric Derleth, Gordon Peabody
Absent: Hillary Greenberg, Steve Block, Andy Koch, and Gary Palmer
In attendance: Ira Wood (Wellfleet Board of Selectmen), Carrie Phillips (CCNS), Susan Redlich (MA Corporate Wetlands Restoration Program)
10:10 AM, Chair called meeting to order.
Chair asks for corrections to previous meeting’s minutes.
Carl Breivogel stated correction that at that time Jeff Hughes spoke at the meeting, he was not yet the newly appointed herring warden. Chair asked committee to strike that reference from the minutes.
10:12 AM. Chair entertains motion to approve meeting minutes.
So moved by John Portnoy; Robert Hubby 2nd . Motion passed unanimously.
Chair asks for any comments from the Public, there were no comments made
Announcements: Carl Breivogel informed the committee that he will be stepping down as the acting herring warden, but will remain on the HRTC to provide continuity. He has submitted resignation letter to the Board of Selectmen. He suggested that he would like to stay on an assistant warden. Chair acknowledged Carl Breivogel’s statement, and supported his desire to continue HRTC participation.
Chair thanked John Portnoy for his participation in HRTC presentation given to CCNS Advisory Board.
Revised Mosquito Control Report
John Portnoy said that this is the third draft. It covers the protocol for mosquito control in NPS owned property. Revisions include:
The last sentence on page 1, how mosquito management fits in to the whole restoration project
· On the last page, #3 to include the possibility that digging/ditching may be required
· To include alternatives to mosquito control; that use of pesticides would be a last resort.
Stephen Spear mentioned mosquito control permits (both federal & state) that allows maintenance ditching; any new ditching would require a new permit. Gabrielle Salkowsky is the lead person to apply for additional permitting as needed.
Joel Fox commented that the use of the word pesticide is a bit scary to the shellfish community.
John Portnoy stated that there are current pesticides in use that are very specific to mosquito larvae.
Joel Fox recommended that it should be rewritten to emphasize that it’s a last resort to use of pesticide.
Stephen Spear stated that we should have a discussion that would be open to the public about pesticide and specificity of the pesticide to ease concerns.
John Portnoy suggested using the word larvicides instead of pesticide.
Jack Whalen also added that 80% of the property is owned by NPS and the other 20% would fall under jurisdiction of the mosquito control committee.
John Portnoy said that the revised mosquito control report would be a great guideline for others to follow regardless of jurisdiction.
John Riehl commented that after attending presentation by Gabrielle Salkowsky, that triple E was found in Dennis this past summer. The perception of a public health emergency could be elevated due to that find. John Portnoy stated that the issue of public health emergency was a very formal process and that case in Dennis wouldn’t really apply.
Carl Breivogel stated that proposing risks then monitoring the outcome would help ease tensions.
Stephen Spear repeated the initial thought of having a public forum.
Chair suggested getting a contingency plan for the use of pesticide.
John Riehl suggested changing the wording to soften the language of pesticide use.
Stephen Spear stated that changing the word interim to emergency wouldn’t really help.
Tim Smith stated that an over-sight of the guidelines – (that this is going to be a very long- term issue); that the people making the decisions aren’t the ones making the decisions further down the road. Making an amended tenet (adding an tenet as #10) to include over-sight of mosquito control would be a good idea.
Chair asks Tim Smith to draft tenet #10.
Carl Breivogel asked if we couldn’t amend paragraph 8 on the last page to include coverage during the study “for ecological effects & targeted for measures...”
Chair asked for the meaning behind the language and wording.
Stephen Spears commented that is was his idea for the wording and offered an explanation.
Carl Breivogel stated that studying the effect while there is a mosquito problem wouldn’t be wise but rather studying after the application.
John Portnoy pointed out that adding a sentence would be possible.
Chair asks John Portnoy to correct language concerning the use of the word pesticide, make corrections to paragraph 8, and work with Tim Smith to add a 10th tenet
Chair asked for corrected draft to be available for the Committee to vote on before the end of the meeting.
Chair paused meeting to introduce and acknowledge Susan Redlich from Massachusetts Corporate Wetlands Restoration Program (CWRP), presenting her with a letter of appreciation from the HRTC, for CWRP contributing financial support of the HRTC Brochure. Chair read the letter aloud to committee & gave history behind organization’s importance to the Herring River restoration project.
Tim Smith added that everything that CRWP does financially could be matched from the federal grants. The reason that the HRTC is getting so much federal support is because there is a lot of private sector support as well. Tim Smith also added that if anyone has connections to various corporations that may be willing to donate to get in touch with Susan Redlich so that the finer details can be worked out.
Chair opened up discussion about Herring River social and ecological benefits from tidal restoration, referring to the diagram by John Portnoy.
Stephen Spear praised handout and efforts made by John Portnoy.
Chair thanked John Portnoy for his contributions as well.
Chair opened up discussion about HRTC flow sheet diagram for restoration planning process created by Carrie Phillips.& digitized by Megan Eckhardt.
Chair thanked both for their contributions.
Carrie Phillips described specifics of the various elements of the flow chart.
Stephen Spear made a short announcement concerning the Cape Cod Watershed Project. Congressman Delahunt, Senators Kerry & Kennedy have shown a great deal of support already. The Town of Wellfleet was the first to send a letter of support & commitment for the Cape Cod Watershed Project to Washington Headquarters of Natural Resource Conservation Service. Permission to implement and additional funding is pending. Stephen Spear will keep committee updated.
Chair called for a short break at 11:23 am. Meeting reconvened at 11:40 am.
Discussion of HRTC Flow chart resumed.
Chair turned discussion towards the topic of funding.
Tim Smith discussed grant money from NOAA and their guidelines.
Eric Derleth commented about acquiring the other 25 acres at Mill Creek to make sure the grant process is successful.
Carrie Phillips asked if the CRP would be far enough along to submit to MEPA/NEPA.
Eric Derleth stated that with the no action option stated in the CRP, that it wouldn’t be wise to go forth now.
Chair asked about the Congressional delegation.
Tim Smith stated that the Congressional delegation for MA needed to sell it to the rest of Congress in order to achieve further funding. Tim Smith said the rerouting of the golf course during the restoration of the Herring River is important. That those going for individual permits will fall under the restoration of the river.
Jack Whalen informed the committee that the golf course/country club has already met informally with the Cape Cod Commission. He informed the committee that currently the land is getting a yellow book appraisal. The chair discussed the option of idea of continuing the topic at the next meeting. Tim Smith stated that it would be wise to invite representatives from The Nature Conservancy to the next meeting.
John Riehl expressed concerns about leaving this topic open-ended.
Stephen Spear thought that we could put the allotted money in to an escrow account so that the money is initially “spent” but will be available for DRP.
Eric Derleth stated that the money wouldn’t be granted because there are other projects ready go forth with the funding that could be made available; the HRTC application would go into a not ready to proceed grouping.
John Riehl started discussion on the main goal of the CRP. John Riehl (with input from Eric Derleth) discussed an option of having ENSR produce a summary of document, such as a power point presentation to present to the citizens, B.O.S., etc. that presents the highlights of the summary document to build support from the community.
Chair suggested getting in touch with ENSR to see if they can make it to the next meeting to discuss the option of the executive summary.
Chair discussed filing a notice to proceed with ENSR. Chair discussed contacting ENSR to deliver low-lying roadway material, communicating the date for the June meeting, as well as providing a summary of the report provided by ENSR. ENSR will provide hard copies of report to 10 members: the following members will receive hard copies from ENSR: John Riehl, Diane Murphy, Joel Fox, Bob Hubby, Gordon Peabody, Jack Whalen, Carl Breivogel. Diane Murphy would like both forms.
Chair initiated selection of possible dates for next meeting. April 12th, 2007 at 12:30 pm at the Wellfleet Council on Aging.
The following meeting date will be June 5th, 2007 at 12:30 pm.
Chair asked John Riehl to confirm dates with Senior Center.
John Riehl stated that a few people from the Wellfleet DPW should be included in the meeting when there is discussion about low-lying roads, etc. Joel Fox supported that opinion due to funding for the DPW needing to be budgeted ahead of time.
Robert Hubby discussed the research about obtaining a free water tank for use by the fire department if the By Pass road system were used during construction. There is a possibility that there could be a fiberglass tank built with the committee’s specifics.
Chair asked Tim Smith about possibilities of obtaining funding for this tank.
Tim Smith said that as long as the committee could show that the project is cost efficient, that funding could be made available.
The Chair asked Robert Hubby, John Riehl, Joel Fox, and John Portnoy to form a working group to further research on this topic.
John Riehl introduced Mark Vincent & Kevin Cahoon from Wellfleet DPW. Mark Vincent thanked the committee for the invitation and for making them part of the process. A concern of DPW would be what preliminary work could be done to prevent problems down the road.
John Riehl expanded on the subject: having High Toss Road and the sand road as one way systems to prevent two lane roadway needing to be installed
Joel Fox suggested brushing out the road by the river a little further.
Carl Breivogel stated that work on existing culverts may be necessary, to have them removed &/or replaced.
Kevin Cahoon stated that certain roads that have been mapped by the committee are currently being watched and may be further areas of concern. Stephen Spear stated that all of the maintenance that is provided to the roads that are within the resource area, that the costs could be beneficial to helping the committee to attain more funding (matching funding).
Joel Fox asked about using NPS land resources to raise the road rather than just paying to haul it in.
Chair asked John Portnoy & Carrie Phillips to look into that possibility. Mark Vincent & Kevin Cahoon were thanked by the Chair before departing.
The topic of the abutters list will be put off until the next meeting. The newsletter topic was also moved to the next meeting.
Chair thanked John Riehl for getting in touch with the Wellfleet DPW. Chair to ask Gary Palmer to get in touch with the Truro DPW. John Portnoy offered to contact the head of the Truro DPW on behalf of Gary Palmer.
Chair opened discussion on the MOU II working group.
Chair discussed the possibility of getting involvement from town representatives from Wellfleet at the MOU II working group meetings (i.e. representative from B.O.S.).
Chair opened discussion of the next group to replace the HRTC
Carrie Phillips discussed who the key players in the revised committee could be. Carrie Phillips discussed the differences between the two committees and how the next HRTC would be better suited to be represented by each entity rather than belonging to one.
John Riehl was in agreement and also suggested they (revised group) will be able to make the final decision as to what the final project looks like. Therefore, it should be more citizen-oriented rather than just MEPA/NEPA. Carrie Phillips agreed but also suggested that having smaller working groups made up of town representatives could be made so that MEPA/NEPA, etc. wouldn’t be the overall controlling factor.
Chair suggested defining roles of committee members representing entities, so that if there is a disagreement, there is a protocol for the veto power, etc.
Chair discussed brochure distribution.
Megan Eckhardt contacted various organization and committee members to determine who is distributing brochures and where.
Motion to adjourn meeting made by 2:24 by Joel Fox. Seconded by Jack Whalen. Meeting adjourned at 2:24 pm.
Respectfully, submitted, Megan Eckhardt. HRTC Secretary
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