Snohomish County Marine Resources Advisory Committee (MRC) Draft Meeting Summary Wednesday, January 17, 2007, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Snohomish County East Administration Building Public Hearing Room, East 3000 Rockefeller Ave, Everett, WA 98201 MRC Members Present Staff, Presenters and Others Dawn Lawrence, Chair Stef Frenzl, MRC Lead Staff Mary Cunningham Wendy Fisher, Snohomish County SWM, MRC Intern Heather McCartney John Houghton, Pentec Environmental Sally van Niel Chris Betchley, Citizen, WSU Beach Watcher, SnoCo. Charles LaNasa Keeley O’Connell, People For Puget Sound Chrys Bertolotto Chuck Beck, Snohomish County Council Staff Alan Mearns Robert Warren, The Nature Conservancy, Port Susan Jen Sevigny Bay Project Linda Lyshall, Puget Sound Action Team MRC Members Absent Daryl Williams – Excused Chet Motekaitis - Excused Kirby Johnson– Excused Summary of Decisions • November meeting minutes were approved. • Mary Cunningham will serve as the new chairperson; Dawn Lawrence will serve as vice- chair. • MRC Bylaw revisions were accepted. Follow-Up Items • All subcommittees will prioritize projects for NWSC 2007-2009 Grant • Staff will email MRC to request participants for Beach Expos. • The MRC will send flowers and a card to Tony Reece via Mary Cunningham. • Staff will gather SWM Project Database details as they become available. Upcoming Events • Next MRC meeting: February 21, 6:30-8:30pm • Water Quality Subcommittee meeting: January 23, 8:30am @ City of Everett Bldg • Nearshore Subcommittee meeting: February 9, 2007, 9:00-11:00am, SnoCo Campus, Admin W, 3rd Floor, Solid Waste Conference Room • Dungeness Crab Subcommittee- Date and Location To Be Determined • Edmonds Beach Walk: January 28, 6:30-8:00pm • Dungeness Crab Subcommittee meeting: within next couple of weeks • Everett Boat Show: March 8-11 @ Everett Events Center • Puget Sound / Georgia Basin Research Conference: March 26-29 @ Vancouver BC Draft MRC Meeting Summary January 17, 2007 Page 1 of 9 Snohomish County Marine Resources Advisory Committee (MRC) January 17, 2007 Introductions, Agenda and Meeting Summaries Dawn Lawrence convened the meeting at 6:30 p.m. Announcements • Chrys Bertolotto announced that WSU Beach Watchers will have a staffing change- she will begin working full time in Snohomish County in April. WSU Beach Watchers-Skagit County will hire a ¾ time position. A Hat Island Shoreline Landowner Workshops will occur on May 5th, 2007. We’ve scheduled a Beach Expo at Hat Island on July 28th. (Per Chrys Bertolotto on Jan 22, 2007) • Staff announced dates and locations of this year’s Beach expo series: January 28 (Sunday) Edmonds Beach walk 6:30pm – 8pm May (TBD) Mission Beach TBD June 3 (Sunday) Howarth Park*, Kayak Point, Mukilteo Beach 11am – 4 pm July 14 (Saturday) Howarth Park, Kayak Park*, Mukilteo Beach 11am – 4pm July 28 (Saturday) Hat Island Expo TBD August 25 (Saturday) Howarth Park, Kayak Point, Mukilteo Beach* 11am – 4pm WSU Beach Watcher Naturalists will be present at each beach on listed days. Beach Expos (*) include partner displays, touch tank, face painting, etc and occur at one beach per event day. Partners are WSU Beach Watchers, Snohomish County and Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force. Staff will email MRC to request participants for expos. • OLYMPIA - Climate change is already affecting Washington's economy, according to a study requested by the departments of Ecology and Community Trade and Economic Development (CTED) that was released last week. Staff distributed a DOE news release. • Staff developed comments on the Southern Resident Killer Whale recovery plan per MRC’s direction. Wendy accomplished the majority of the legwork on the comments. The letter will go as an attachment to the County’s cover letter. • The Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act was established to support a program within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Coast Guard to help identify, determine sources of, assess, reduce, and prevent marine debris and its adverse impacts on the marine environment and navigation safety, in coordination with non-Federal entities, and for other purposes. • Sound Waters will be on Saturday, Feb 3rd in Coupeville. Main topics include derelict fishing gear, low impact development, oiled wildlife response, ala spit restoration, creosote debris removal, salmon and the nearshore. The event is cosponsored by WSU Beach Watchers Island County and PSAT. Contact Linda Lyshall for more information. • Staff announced that Lew Moore will be presenting to the House Select Committee on Puget Sound this Friday to request funds from the state budget to support the MRCs. If granted, his proposal would give Snohomish County enough funding to support an additional full time employee for the MRC. • Jen Sevigny announced that Washington is proposing legislation to become the first state in the nation to ban PBDE (a fire retardant in mattresses, computers and furniture). Jen noted that scientists are currently working on PBDE substitutes that would be more environmentally friendly. Draft MRC Meeting Summary January 17, 2007 Page 2 of 9 • Staff announced that the Nearshore Cooperative Meeting will be held this Friday from 1:00- 3:00pm at the county campus. MRC member participation is encouraged. The meeting will include discussion of potential collaborative events such as a Jetty Island cleanup, United Way Day of Caring Event, the Nearshore Action Plan Grant with the Forum and potential soft shore armoring project. Public Comment • Linda Lyshall passed around the Puget Sound Partnership Recommendations and Puget Sound Action Team’s Conservation and Recovery Plan. She will bring PSAT’s “State of the Sound” next meeting; she noted that this year’s is the best ever, with great pictures and solid data. Mary Cunningham requested a copy of the Conservation and Recovery Plan. • Keeley O’Connell distributed literature about People For Puget Sound, including an urban waterfront brochure and flyers for the Anacortes Starlight Beach Walk on Friday January 19 from 8-10 pm at Washington Park. Keeley informed the MRC about People For Puget Sound’s Sound Stewardship Program, which involves citizens in site monitoring in restoration (with a one year commitment) bringing together habitat and people for long term solutions. She is partnering with Tom Murphy, EdCC and Jon Houghton to work on Jetty Island. She noted that she has begun conversations with Staff regarding Sound Stewardship work at Kayak Point and Picnic Point parks, along with Union Slough (not Ebey Slough…per Keeley 1-22-07). Dawn Lawrence inquired about the role of students in Sound Stewardship. Keeley mentioned that she has had students work on one time restoration projects for sites. Heather McCartney suggested looking at past restoration sign-ups as a place to start looking for volunteers for Kayak and Picnic Point. She also suggested getting sophomores and juniors involved in the effort so they could participate for over a year before graduation. Chrys Bertolotto suggested working with a teacher who could continue the effort year after year; Keeley noted that she is going to talk with Cindy McIntyre who takes students out to Jetty Island. Jon Houghton commented that the Sound Stewardship program is a great way to continue the 5 year monitoring program on Jetty Island because data will be collected in a way that saves the Port money. Alan Mearns inquired as to what type of data will be collected on Jetty Island. Jon replied that it will be primarily data on natural and transplanted vegetation. • Mary Cunningham commented that Tony Reese, who has been a helicopter pilot for the MRC’s creosote removal efforts, was involved in a crash and was hospitalized. He is now at home and recovering, but is talking about retirement. Mary suggested the MRC send flowers and a card; all agreed. Staff will coordinate with Mary. • Jon Houghton noted that the restoration work on the south end of Jetty Island will begin within the month. The South end will be enlarged as well as material dropped on Scotch’s Broom. Dawn Lawrence inquired about the Rail-barge facility. Jon noted that the crane has been ordered and should arrive in late 2007 or early 2008. Heather McCartney mentioned that there is currently no public access to the area due to archeological finds and that she would like to set up a tour of the facility in March. Action Items MRC Elections & Terms Mary Cunningham was elected to serve as the next Snohomish County MRC chair. Dawn Lawrence was elected to serve as the vice-chair. It is noted that the bylaws state that both Chairperson and Vice Chairperson (when requested by the Chairperson) have the authority to sign documents on behalf of the MRC. Note: The election for the NWSC Representative was not held. The MRC will hold elections for Draft MRC Meeting Summary January 17, 2007 Page 3 of 9 this position at the MRC meeting on February 21st. MRC members should contact Mary Cunningham, MRC Chair, to nominate MRC members. MRC Bylaws Revisions Staff recommended revising the bylaws as follows: 2. MRC Membership 2.1 General Previous text: “MRC membership is determined according to the provisions of Chapter 2.03 of the Snohomish County Code and Ordinance 99-080.” Amended Text: “MRC membership is determined according to the provisions of Chapter 2.03 and Chapter 2.800 of the Snohomish County Code.” Members approved the amendment by concensus. Project Updates 2006 NWSC Supplemental Funds and Grant Amendments The grant amendment is in process but won’t likely be completed for up to another month. Staff will start the process of selecting contractors. Mussel Watch Program Alan Mearns announced that, due to unforeseen events, we will be able to identify Mussel Watch sites this spring but will not start collection and monitoring until late August or September. Some endocrine disruptors are always relatively high in Puget Sound and we need to find out if this is due partly to run off in the wet season as samples are only collect in winter.