Meeting minutes of the September 1, 2004 MRWC meeting

The meeting began at 7:05pm with introductions. Committee reports followed, with only two committees giving reports because work is ongoing in the other committees:

Fish Passage Committee: The Blakesley Creek culvert replacements have been finished. That will allow fish to pass up the Creek, except for a dam that someone has placed in the creek, To ensure the watershed's restoration, we should encourage the removal of this dam.
The Woods Creek projects are scheduled for September, and the Fitton Green culvert project needs fish population surveys before the grant will be approved. Other news is that Chris Stebbins is taking on the fish passage project for the entire county. Stacy will be on sabbatical.

 Land, Air and Water Use Committee: Ken reported that the Commission has the input from Corvallis, Benton County and the fish passage data, nearly completed in spreadsheet format. It will soon be available on line, at the MRWC's website.

Steering Committee Report:
They met in both July and August and discussed:
a) a potential grant for landowner incentives: This is a request for planning money to get a team together for on the ground projects that may be done in the future. These projects should involve ecologically valuable lands, willing landowners, and resources. There was discussion about MRWC involvement in upland areas, which OWEB, ODF&W and federal farmland monies all encourage.
b) Relationship with the City of Philomath re: water issue: Chuck Lane offered the Philomath City Council an opportunity to have a water workshop to discuss concerns. Philomath City's consultants have already prepared a draft water master plan. Their Public Works Dept is already looking at this "Water Master Plan".
c)Water Workshop: A public workshop will be held on October 6th, 2004 in Philomath City Hall. We hope it will disseminate information and get people to focus on the topic of water. It is critical to have good attendance.

MRWC Co-ordinator's Report: Sandra reported that she is working with Tara Nierenberg to formulate a Prioritization Protocol. She is also working with Tom Murphy to look at the Council's goals, and make it more proactive and geared to landowners. She will be submitting an Annual Report to OWEB; working on an out-reach/education grant to provide a staff person. We continued a discussion about upland relevancy to water quality/quantity.

We thanked Larry Merriam for his invaluable service to the Steering Committee, from which he is stepping down, after many years of contributions.

The meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.