Contra Costa County Fish and Wildlife Committee (FWC) Date: April 19, 2017 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: County Public Works Department Road Maintenance Division lunch room (squad room) 2475 Waterbird Way, Martinez CA 94553 (Map is attached.) AGENDA 3:00 p.m. Convene meeting. 1) Introductions. 2) Review/Approve minutes from the February 15, 2017 meeting. 3) Public comment. Includes public comment on topics on the agenda and items not listed on the agenda. The FWC shall also accept public comment on agenda items at the time they are discussed. 4) Elect FWC officers (Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary) 5) Updates and announcements from staff and FWC members. Includes discussion on implementation of actions authorized previously, on correspondence received, and on upcoming meetings of interest to the FWC. 6) Presentation on the Pinole Creek Fish Passage Enhancement Project. (Elissa Robinson, Contra Costa Resource Conservation District) 7) Review and accept the final report from Regional Parks Foundation on their “Kids Healthy Outdoor Challenge – Field Trips” project. 8) Review and consider updating the Fish and Wildlife Committee web page. 9) Discuss the Fall Forum. Consider recommending that the Board of Supervisors authorize the FWC to spend Fish and Wildlife Propagation funds to host the 2017 Fall Forum. 10) Determine the agenda for the next meeting. The next regular meeting date is May 17, 2017. Possible agenda items for upcoming meetings include: Field trip to McNabney Marsh - May Chelsea Wetlands Project update California WaterFix update Review Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund Grant RFP Adjourn The Committee Chair may alter the order of agenda items at the meeting. Please contact Maureen Parkes at 925-674-7831 / [email protected] (or Abigail Fateman at 925-674-7820 / [email protected]) at the CCC Department of Conservation and Development if you have questions about the Fish & Wildlife Committee or desire materials related to this agenda. The FWC will provide reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities planning to participate in this meeting who contact staff at least 72 hours before the meeting. County Public Works Department Road Maintenance Division lunchroom (squad room) From Hwy 680: 1. Merge onto CA-4W 2. Continue with the directions from Hwy 4. From Hwy 4: 1. Take the Pacheco Blvd exit. 2. Merge onto Pacheco Blvd. 3. Turn onto Blum Road (North past Police Department). 4. Turn right onto Imhoff Drive (a cemetery is at the corner of Blum and Imhoff). 5. Turn left onto Waterbird. (There is a Top Soil / Clean Dirt sign at the corner). 6. Turn left onto the Public Works Maintenance building after you pass County’s gas pumping station. Once you are in the parking lot, passs the building on your right. Park your car near the side entrance (not the front entrance). Enter through the side entrance. Our meeting room is on your left once you enter the building. Please ask the receptionist to direct you if you have trouble finding the meeting room. Draft Meeting Minutes of the Contra Costa County Fish and Wildlife Committee on February 15, 2017 1) Introductions. Judy Bendix, Clark Dawson, Roni Gehlke, Susan Heckly, Brett Morris, Daniel Pellegrini, Heather Rosmarin and Jeff Skinner attended the meeting. Kathleen Jennings and Dawn Manley provided advance notice that they would not be attending the meeting. Helen Fitanides (The Watershed Project), Raj Hajela (East Bay Regional Parks Foundation) and Jill Wiseman attended the meeting. Maureen Parkes (CCC Department of Conservation and Development) attended as staff. 2) Review/Approve minutes from the January 18, 2017 meeting. The meeting minutes were approved as written. Vote: 8 - 0 AYES: Bendix, Dawson, Gehlke, Heckly, Morris, Pellegrini, Rosmarin and Skinner NOES: None ABSENT: Jennings and Manley ABSTAIN: None 3) Public comment. Includes public comment on topics on the agenda and items not listed on the agenda. The FWC shall also accept public comment on agenda items at the time they are discussed. There were no public comments. 4) Updates and announcements from staff and FWC members. Includes discussion on implementation of actions authorized previously, on correspondence received, and on upcoming meetings of interest to the FWC. Maureen Parkes informed the FWC of the following: • Dawn Manley provided advance notice that she would not be attending the meeting today due to the continuing review and discussion of the Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund grants, which she had recused herself from the entire grant review process at the January 18th meeting because she is an employee of the Lindsay Wildlife Experience, an organization that had applied for a grant. • Kathleen Jennings provided advance notice that she would not be attending the meeting due to mandatory training. 5) Continue to consider the 19 Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund applications submitted by January 11, 2017. Consider making a recommendation to the Internal Operations Committee of the Board of Supervisors on this matter. • Maureen Parkes stated that the total grant amount requested by Kids for the Bay should be changed to $5,079. The correct total amount of all grant funds requested should be changed to $145,557.92. • Raj Hajela (East Bay Regional Parks Foundation) was in attendance and responded to the FWC’s questions related to RPF’s grant application. The FWC requested documentation providing more detail on how this project will meet the criteria of California Fish and Game Code Section 13103. Upon receipt of the documentation, staff will determine if the project is eligible to receive Fish and Wildlife Propagation Funds. If the project is eligible, the FWC recommends funding for the full requested grant amount. • Helen Fitanides (The Watershed Project) was in attendance and contributed additional verbal information in response to the Committee’s questions. The FWC approved the following 17 recommendations on the 2017 grants and authorized staff to provide a report to the Internal Operations Committee on this matter. A copy of the memo is attached. 1) Appropriate $980.00 to Friends of Alhambra Creek to add additional native plants and garden enhancements for their existing and future gardens and the printing cost of the Alhambra Native Plant Trail brochure. 2) Purchase seven Swarovski spotting scopes for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for the estimated cost of $21,019.53. The spotting scopes will be used by the Department's Enforcement Branch throughout Contra Costa County to aid in the surveillance of violators, locating evidence, and observing behaviors and actions that may result in violations. 3) Appropriate $1,000.00 to Worth a Dam to fund a wildlife educational activity at the 10th Annual Beaver Festival in Martinez. Children will earn badges while learning the importance of beavers in the ecosystem. 4) Appropriate $1,320.00 to Berkeley Partners for Parks (the fiscal sponsor of Greens-at- Work) to expand and maintain an existing habitat restoration project (including weed removal, native plant re-vegetation, public outreach, and trash pickup) along 2,000 feet of the Bay Trail at Point Isabel marsh in Contra Costa County. 5) Appropriate $5,079.00 to KIDS for the BAY to deliver the Watershed Action Program to five classes in low-income Richmond elementary schools. The Program will teach students about the scientific principles of fish and wildlife conservation, as well as help to improve the health of the fish and wildlife habitats in Contra Costa County through Environmental Action Projects. 6) Appropriate $3,803.50 to Golden Gate Audubon Society for partial funding to support the materials associated with their Eco-Richmond/Bird-Friendly Schools Program, a year-long program that serves 3rd - 5th grade children and their families in four Title I (federally-assisted) schools within the communities adjacent to the North Richmond Shoreline. Each class will receive a progression of at least three in-class/schoolyard lessons and field trips to North Richmond Shoreline and Wildcat Creek Canyon. 7) Appropriate $20,478.00 to The Watershed Project, working with SPAWNERS, to expand their water quality monitoring program in four additional Contra Costa County watersheds: Wildcat Creek, Walnut Creek, Grayson Creek and Marsh Creek Watersheds. The funds will go toward annual stipends for trained monitoring interns as well as purchasing monitoring equipment and supplies. Results will be shared with the community through outreach events, newsletters, and websites, including behavioral changes people can make to improve the creeks' water quality. 8) Appropriate $6884.50 to Lindsay Wildlife Museum (dba Lindsay Wildlife Experience) for the purchase and installation of two commercial grade stack-unit dryers. 9) Appropriate $10,000.00 to Regional Parks Foundation for the purchase of a horse that will help to expand East Bay Regional Park District’s horse mounted patrol which focuses on outreach, education and resource protection. 10) Appropriate $953.64 to Pleasant Hill Instructional Garden to provide water quality monitoring, journaling and observation for initial assessment of Grayson Creek, involving Mt. Diablo Unified School District Horizons Independent High School students and home schooled students with their families in accordance with Watershed Forum guidelines and protocols. 11) Appropriate $10,000.00 to Save Mount Diablo to improve habitat for wildlife, including threatened species, along a sensitive riparian corridor of Curry Creek by removing debris and re-establishing native plantings, which will provide food and shelter for both migrating and resident populations. 12) Appropriate $800.00 to Mt. View Sanitary District and The River Otter Ecology Project to study the ecological niche of river otters in MVSD's wetlands throughout Moorhen Marsh, McNabney Marsh, and Peyton Slough. Partial funding is recommended and may only be used for the purchase of the sampling equipment. Staff costs and not benefiting Contra Cost County students were the factors for not recommending the funding of the remainder of the grant request.