SW Idaho Advisory Committee

Minutes

September 21, 2005

 

SW Idaho RAC Members Present: Phil Davis (Chair), Sandra Mitchell, Lois Van Hoover, Joe Hinson, Bob Baker, John McCarthy, Tom Glass, John Cramer, Ed Mansfield, John Gebhards.

Designated Federal Official: Doug Gochnour

Guests: Julie Burkhardt, Mike Paradis, Mark Madrid, Jane Crop, Carol McCoy Brown, Mary Farnsworth, Jeff Canfield, Monte Herd, Shelly Lewis, Forest Bemf, Mike Diem.

 

·        Chair, Phil Davis called the meeting to order at 1010 in the conference room of the Council Ranger Station.  Doug Gochnour indicated that a quorum was present in all three groups and therefore all business could be conducted as usual.

·        Doug Gochnour had two announcements:  That Gem County would be participating for the first time in FY06 and that the Secretary of Agriculture had finally approved the three RAC alternates.  The alternates are: Herb Maleny (group A), Terry Gastron (group B), and Douglas McNickle (group C)

·        Doug Gochnour, reviewed the agenda packet including the current balance of Title II funds remaining for FY 05. Ed Mansfield moved and Tom Glass seconded the motion to accept the minutes from the June 16^th meeting and to pay that meeting expenses.  Motion passed unanimously.

·        Several members asked questions about the status of prior year’s projects and whether some had funds unused. Members asked Doug Gochnour to check with the Boise NF fiscal department to see if a status report could be made available at a future meeting.

·        Phil Davis raised the question whether RAC wanted to participate formally in the Idaho roadless evaluation that is ongoing at the request of the governor.  This topic will be considered at the October RAC meeting.

·        Mike Paradis (Adams County Commissioner) reported that the RAC funded program for providing firewood to low income residents was highly successful. He thanked RAC for their support.

 

Project Review: Part 2, Roaring River Culvert (5036)

 

Mike Diem substituted for project sponsor Michael Kellett who was on a fire on the Sawtooth National Forest. A letter of support had been received from the Elmore County Commission regarding the project.  Deming explained that the objectives for replacing the culvert with a bridge were to: remove a migration barrier which currently blocks bull trout upstream migration and to improve the safety of the culvert that is very narrow.

RAC reviewed the projects under the part 2 criteria:

                                                            Score

Federal Resource Benefit                      5

Community Stability/Jobs                      3.5

Cooperative Relations                           5

Cost/Benefit                                         3

Project Quality/Coordin.                       5

Matching Funds                                    5

Project Urgency                                   5

Tangible Outcome                                5

 

            Total Score: 36.5

 

Further discussion occurred and then Sandra Mitchell moved and Tom Glass seconded to approve the project with three conditions:

            Condition 1: Must be matched with a grant from Bring Back the Natives

            Condition 2: Must use best value contracting

            Condition 3: Michael must report back in a year on the status of the project

 

Motion passed unanimously.

 

The committee then boarded vehicles and proceeded to the Council School complex where Superintendent, Murry Dalgleish, gave an excellent presentation of the Fuels for Schools program and then led a tour of the biomass burner (wood chip) plant that is being constructed to provide heat for the school facilities, including a new green house funded by RAC.  The ribbon cutting ceremony for the plant will be Friday, September 30, 2005.

 

The second stop was the proposed location of the Adams County Weed Building.  Julie Burkhardt, explained the proposal will come before RAC at a future meeting but that she wanted to show the proposed location.

 

RAC then proceeded out of town to the Green Hornet project area and had lunch. 

 

Public Forum: No comments or questions

 

Mary Farnsworth and her staff then lead the group to two stops in the Green Hornet Project.

Stop 1: Is a Wildland Urban Interface area where the private/NFS property boundary is very near several cabins.  The Forest Service has under contract an operation which will remove the grand fir and smaller pines from under the mature trees to open canopy spacing and remove ladder fuels.

Stop 2: Is within a riparian area where a Boy Scout troop had thinned and handpiled the smaller trees for later burning by the Forest Service.  Much discussion occurred about why merchantable trees were not also being thinned.  Mary Farnsworth explained that the Payette Forest Plan does not allow the use of equipment within the riparian area and in order to be able to analyze the project using the new CE authority, she had chosen not to pursue any commercial harvest in the riparian area.

 

RAC then returned to the conference room in Council to consider the Green Hornet proposal (project 5038).  However, because the Adams County Commissioners had not been consulted regarding the project, Mary suggested that the RAC delay part 1 consideration until the October meeting.

 

Phil Davis announced that the next RAC meeting will be scheduled for October 19^th in Boise.

 

The September 21, 2005 RAC meeting adjourned at approximately 3:30 pm.

 

 

Doug Gochnour (your humble note taker)