Minutes of Dec. 7, 2005 meeting:

MINUTES: The meeting began with introductions of those present at 7:10.

Annoucements: There will be a Discovery Series on Sustainable Living taking place at OSU, Thursdays 10-noon.

Committee Reports:
1) Water Quality: Did not formally meet, but will be focusing on water quantity next.
2) Land, Air, Water: Janine will be offering training for spatial exploration, day and time to be announced soon.
3)Fish Passage: meeting on an as-needed basis. There is a grant application being considered by OWEB for Woods Creek culvert replacement.
4)Board of Directors: Looking for new members. Please volunteer! Deborah Johnson, with expertise in forestry for a quarter-century, volunteered and was unanimously voted to be a new committee member. Curt Seeliger and Liz Dent are also considering joining. The committee met and decided on a re-organizational strategy, going from a planning stage to more on-the-ground work stage. Board of Directors members will take an active role in individual committees. Their Dec.13th (6:30pm) meeting is open to everyone to review the overall goals of the council and determine objectives for the next year.
5)Outreach and Education: Lots of activities were reported by Karen Fleck Harding. Prime among them were a)Healthy Waters Initiative - providing Philomath schools with ways to enhance watershed education - Alsea Hatchery Research Facility would like to be more involved with schools - EPA grant proposal for Newton Creek outdoor classroom will focus on Western Pond Turtles; b) Cardwell Hills Project has many landowners interested, with 40 people attending the Nov.16 meeting. A landowner questionnaire was distributed; c) An invasive plants workshop is being planned for early summer on invasive identification and control; d) Our biennial solstice fundraiser will be held at Tyee Winery. We hope to obtain a grant from the Benton County Cultural Coalition for participation by mini-workshops by area artists. Discussion followed.
e) Discussion about the timing for our fund-raising letter. It was suggested the letters be sent out in the first quarter of 2006.
6) Coordinator's Report: Sandra Coveny provided us with a detailed 2-page summary of her activities during the month. These activities include, but were not limited to grant writing applications (OWEB, BPA, NOAA, BC Cultural Coalition, National Fish and Wildlife Federation), attending umpteen meetings, and giving presentations, in addition to all her usual activities.

Speaker for the evening: Douglas Fitting, Willamette Representative for OWEB, explained the sources of OWEB's primary funding (lottery receipts). Although the legislature cannot control these funds, they do have discretion over the remaining portion of OWEB's budget (from NOAA/NMFS for salmon recovery-restoration projects) sometimes using those funds to augment other state departments' budgets and thus, reducing OWEB's. He explained the concept of "merit-based" funding, explaining that we have one of the best assessments and action plans. We rank in the middle, comparing all watershed councils in the state, because we have not accomplished as many on-the-ground projects. There is money for on-the-ground restoration projects. Oak restoration (considering how much oak savanna has been depleted) is high on their list of priorities for our region. He emphasized that OWEB recognizes the importance of uplands, not just of streams and their adjacent riparian areas, because activities across the landscape affect water quality. We learned that OWEB does try to have regional equitability, and that our neighboring council, the Long Tom, is the second most successful council in the state. Having priorities in our watershed, and determining limiting factors which need to be identified and augmented, are important activities. We also need to determine what is most important to stakeholders in the watershed.

After this informative presentation we adjourned at 9pm. Informal chatting and holiday treats followed.