Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout20171121_NPCMRCMtgSumNPC MRC 11/21/2017 FINAL Meeting Summary 1 November 21st, 2017 NPC MRC FINAL Meeting Summary The Tuesday, November 21st, 2017 NPC MRC meeting took place at the Hemlock Forest Room, Olympic National Resources Center, at 1455 Forks Avenue, Forks, WA from 4:05 (00:01:00 on the audio counter) to 6:30 PM. Appointed committee members present at the meeting were Jennifer Hagen (Quileute Tribe Rep.), Deborah Kucipeck (Clallam County Rep.), Rich Osborne (Citizen Rep., Clallam County – Science), Aaron Parker (Makah Tribe Rep.) and Tami Pokorny (Jefferson County Rep., Coordinator). Rebekah Brooks (ONRC), Chris Butler-Minor (Frank Hanson (ONRC), Nicole Harris (Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary [OCNMS]), Ericka Hundrup (Makah Technician), Jon Schmidt (Washington CoastSavers), Christine VanDeen and Kathleen McKeegan (AmeriCorps reps) were also present Introductions Public Comments It was noted that a quorum was not present. Additions to and Approval of the Agenda The agenda could not be approved without a quorum. Approval of the October Meeting Summary The October Meeting Summary could not be approved without a quorum. Announcements Tami Pokorny announced that Deb Moriarty’s presentation on the Surfrider Leadership Academy Project was postponed to a later meeting. She thanked those who attended the MRC Summit; comments followed in appreciation of the Summit. Discussion followed on whether or not to hold a December NPC MRC Meeting; without a quorum present the meeting could not be cancelled, so it was decided to hold a meeting in Port Townsend at the Jefferson County Courthouse instead of at ONRC. Old Business 2017 Coast MRC Summit Tami Pokorny and Aaron Parker commented on the Summit during the Announcements. New Business Project Presentations (full proposals in response to RFP requesting NPC MRC funds) Tami Pokorny showed a breakdown of project budget requests; the RFP went out for up to $50,000.  Adrianne Akmajian, Makah Fisheries Management: Assessment and management of invasive European green crab (Carcinus maenus) in the Wa’atch River and Tsoo-Yess River estuaries, Makah Bay, WA NPC MRC 11/21/2017 FINAL Meeting Summary 2 Ericka Hundrup presented for Adrienne Akmajian on the invasive European green crab: it is an efficient invader, considered to be one of the worst in the world, and out-competes juvenile Dungeness and native shore crabs. It is also a predator to native bivalves and has shut down some of the shellfish beds in Canada. The damage caused by the European green crab raises concern for habitat and conservation of native species. The crab was first sighted locally in August near the mouth of the Wa’atch River. The Makah Tribe collaborated with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and borrowed trapping equipment in October. Ericka showed maps of their trapping effort and where the crabs were caught; a total of 34 crabs were caught, some of them large enough to be reproductively viable. The primary objectives for the project funding is to obtain trapping gear so they no longer have to borrow it from WDFW, and to get more training from Washington Sea Grant. They plan to conduct a twice-monthly trapping effort from April to November on the Wa’atch and Tsoo- yess Rivers, with a total of 200 traps set each time. The timing of the trapping effort focuses on when the crabs are easier to catch and before they reproduce. All of the catch data will be shared with Washington Sea Grant and WDFW so they can use the information for further management of the green crab in Washington. The NPC MRC benchmarks met by the project are marine life and sound science. The project will follow protocols developed by Washington Sea Grant and WDFW. Project partners are the Clallam MRC, Washington Sea Grant and WDFW; the grant proposal includes letters of recommendation from each group. Rich Osborne asked what is done to get rid of the green crab once they are caught; Ericka said that what has been at Dungeness is a strong and thorough catching effort in hopes of either maintaining a smaller population or possibly getting rid of them. Tami Pokorny asked if the green crab has been eradicated anywhere; Ericka said that at Dungeness they have managed to keep their numbers low, but that other areas have not started eradication or catch efforts early on; she was not aware of other management efforts other than trapping. Rich asked what other crab species the green crab compete with; Ericka said that the green crab eats the larvae of the red rock and Dungeness crabs. Other west coast locations of the green crab were discussed: they have been found in Willapa Bay, Canada and California; they are waiting on results from a genetics test to hopefully find out where the Makah population came from.  L.J. Fletcher/Chris Butler-Minor, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation: Continuations of Citizen Science Marine Debris Monitoring on the Washington Coast Chris Butler-Minor presented on the project, which would continue marine debris monitoring following the end of a five year study that was started after the Japanese tsunami. She detailed the history of the Sanctuary’s support and involvement in marine debris issues. The Sanctuary represents one of North America’s most productive and undeveloped coastlines, which is now in harm’s way due to currents bringing and depositing debris on its beaches. The NOAA marine debris program utilized by this project was designed to ask: How big is the marine debris problem; how is it changing over time; and which types are most common? The program also offers tools for finding answers, addressing marine debris reduction, making decisions and disseminating information. The project started with monthly surveys over 100 meter segments at 20 sites and was originally designed to be a five year study, running from 2012 to March of 2018. The Sanctuary Foundation is providing administrative and training support for volunteers who are out collecting data, and NOAA Marine Debris is offering funding for another year, but there is a funding gap: funds will not be available until August 2018. The project proposal requests funding of $4848 to run the program during the four months in the interim, from April 2018 to August 2018. Rich Osborne asked about the sampling sites that are outside of the geographic range of the NPC MRC and whether other funding has been pursued for those sites; Chris answered that they have not done so yet, but they do not wish to drop any of the consistently monitored sites. Tami Pokorny asked whether NPC MRC funding could still be used even if it was not permitted to be used for the sites on the Strait of Juan de Fuca; Chris said that they could still use the funding, but that she would pursue other funding sources to continue the Strait sample sites. The value of continuity of data was discussed. Aaron Parker asked whether there are any reports on the data collected so far; Chris could not find the original data set in time to present at this meeting, but she just received a data set this week; she also has all of the data from the project and will be analyzing it. Aaron asked about the practical value of the study of the data; Chris distributed some information she had compiled so far. Jennifer Hagen asked about the monitoring sites that are no longer active; Chris explained that all of the sites were originally selected because they are not typical sites for other beach NPC MRC 11/21/2017 FINAL Meeting Summary 3 cleanups. She surmised that some of the volunteers quit the program out of concern that the program might not be continued, difficulty with access and dissatisfaction over the amount of time they had with the project coordinator. She also offered to share site coordinates with the group and mentioned the importance of local volunteers who are close to their sites.  Kathryn Kurtz/Lauren Rodriguez/Nicole Harris, Pacific Education Institute: Ocean Science Workshop Nicole Harris, who does education and outreach for OCNMS, presented on the Ocean Science Teacher Professional Development Workshop, a partnership between OCNMS and Pacific Education Institute (PEI). She spoke about the reliance humans have on ocean economic outputs like water and food in order to survive, and the current multiple global ocean stressors threatening those outputs, including ocean acidification, invasive species and loss of diversity. This program helps to equip ocean communities with further understanding of ocean stressors while lessening the impact, and has been in place since 2007. It centers on connecting 4th and 5th graders from Neah Bay to West Port with their local beaches through beach cleanups, hands-on study of marine issues and in-classroom curriculum. It has been successful in large part because of the summer in-service workshops for teachers, which offer content on current ocean issues; skills, knowledge, and tools; and an introduction to community resources. This year the program is focused on plankton because it is naturally engaging and gives a glimpse into the base of the marine food web. PEI’s mission is to empower educators to teach real world science outdoors that is connected to the environment, natural resources and the next generation science standards through field STEM. Nicole spoke highly of PEI’s ability to take the outdoor classroom and make it accessible to teachers and students. The workshops build teacher confidence and help solidify relationships that have been built over the 10 years of the program. The program also trains parent chaperones, so it brings families in and makes it a community-wide project. OCNMS recently started a pilot program with four high school science classrooms in Neah Bay, Forks, Taholah and the Quileute Tribal School, in which a highly accurate field pH-monitoring device was developed. Aaron Parker asked whether the pH monitor was continuous; Nicole explained that it was a one-time monitor and that they were in the process of getting the teachers a more accurate salinity reader for field use. The potential of citizen science was discussed, but right now, the monitor is an awesome education tool. Tami Pokorny asked about the partnership transition from Feiro to PEI; Nicole said that Feiro’s ability to participate in student science has been reduced because of other objectives. The focus on coastal communities is also a little outside of Feiro’s reach. PEI works statewide and fits very well with OCNMS’s focus on the coast. Tami asked whether they were still working with the same educators; Nicole said they were and discussed the long-term value of the workshop in establishing relationships and its ability to build on the topics they introduce. Rich Osborne asked for clarification about the budget, including ONRC facilitator time; Nicole was not sure what that cost was for, but explained that in the past they have had to pay for staff to come in on weekends. Aaron asked about the solid schedule and whether teachers have already agreed to put that time in; Nicole said that the program fulfills required teacher continuing education credit hours and that they will do anything to help the teachers get to the workshop. Jennifer Hagen suggested including the information on teacher continuing education credits in the application. She also asked about the expensive equipment required for the study of plankton; Nicole explained that the program would partner the 4th and 5th graders with high school students who already have access to adequate equipment. Jennifer mentioned her concern over the potential damage 4th graders can do to the beaches; Nicole said that they teach the students to respect the beaches and how to be scientists, and that they take the students to their own local beaches.  Ian Miller, WA Sea Grant, Shoreline Dynamics on the Olympic Coast: What Does “Normal” Mean? Ian Miller presented over the phone on his proposal to study shoreline dynamics on Olympic coast beaches. His motivation for the study is largely due to a map from the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS), which shows repeated data collection on beach morphology, and its lack of data on north coast beaches. He is also motivated by the knowledge that beaches provide ecological and physical services and the fact that it is hard to analyze the extent to which beaches provide those services. He discussed studies that were started for the purpose of Marine Spatial Planning by the Department of Ecology that mapped intertidal and subtidal zones from Cape Flattery down to the Columbia River, and his opportunistic re-surveying of some NPC MRC 11/21/2017 FINAL Meeting Summary 4 of those sites over the last three to four years. The data he collected included control data; profiles (most important); grain size (very important); wood elevation, count and size; 2% run-up (or water line); and micro debris samples. The beach profiles follow a transect line with a survey done by a GPS unit that maps the elevation of the beach and plots elevation against distance along the transect by date. The crux of Ian’s proposal revolves around a time series of each of the profiles, which extracts the position of the shoreline over time in order to identify a possible long-term erosional trend. He intends to test the model with the routine surveys and hopes to draw some conclusions on his more sporadic data. His proposal now includes a time lapse component, which can be used to understand long-term data and build a record over time. Another change from the pre- application is that the project budget increased for several reasons: it may be possible to run the grant through Washington Sea Grant, and his director told him to request salary support; funding is also included for a student intern, hopefully from Peninsula College (PC) or Western Washington University’s Huxley program. He said that the budget is very flexible, with travel support being the key element. Tami Pokorny asked whether Ian had followed up with Rod Fleck on the possibility of the West Olympic Betterment Association in Forks sponsoring the project. Ian said he had not heard from Rod, but there was a possibility of running it through PC. Tami also asked how transects are done; Ian said they are mapped through a survey-grade GPS system owned by PC, accurate to plus or minus an inch. Aaron Parker asked whether the height of the surveyor affects the survey; Ian said it could if it is done wrong and that the offset distance between the GPS antenna and the surveyor’s foot must be measured first.  Julia Parrish/Hillary Burgess, UW COASST, Life History and Death History: What can beached birds tell us about seabird populations in Washington? Hillary Burgess and Tim Jones presented over the phone on the citizen science program that is based out of the University of Washington. It has been active since 1999, with 917 participants on 480 beaches from California to Washington. Volunteers monitor for beached bird carcasses, and the collected data is used by the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) to detect unusual mortality events and alert participants, media, the public and agencies. The intent of this project is to analyze the series of unusual mortality events in order to understand what conditions in the environment may have caused the events and what is the larger impact to birds in the region, ultimately finding out how many birds actually died. They have a series of models to apply to the mortality events to identify the overall effect on the breeding population. The Cassin’s Aucklet case is being used as test case. They also hope to identify what governs the spatial distribution of patterns over sections of coastline, whether the patterns can be explained, and whether multiple events were due to a common cause. They also will look at spatial-tempo distribution, to examine situations where birds moved and died at the edge of the coast. In most events, the bird carcasses were in an emaciated state; the project hopes to examine whether this was due to lack of food or to storms that prevented the birds from reaching food. They have several other funding sources to address other events, and hope to address each event in a deep way and link all the analyses together to come to a larger North Pacific understanding of mass seabird die-off and develop a series of research projects. They intend to share their findings over as many different platforms as possible, particularly in coastal communities. Jennifer Hagen asked whether they were using oceanographic monitoring and Parker McCready’s research to help figure out the puzzle; Hillary said yes, and that Parker McCready is their main partner on the project. Jennifer also asked whether they would be matching up the data with live bird distribution data that is observed with offshore surveys. They said they were. Jennifer asked that they please clarify that point in the application.  Jon Schmidt, WA CoastSavers: Support for Three Coast-wide Beach Cleanups Jon Schmidt presented on the CoastSavers Beach Cleanups, which have been taking place on north coast beaches since 2007. He addressed the large funding request of almost $30,000, maintaining that the request is completely reasonable based on CoastSavers’ past performance and how efficiently they have handled their funds over past years. CoastSavers has pulled over 92 tons of debris of off north coast beaches in the last four years, with increasing volunteer rates. The funding is a two-year request for three beach cleanups, specific to the outer coast beaches in Jefferson and Clallam Counties. The project also helps the NPC MRC meet all of its benchmarks by restoring habitat; restoring water quality; developing sound science; contributing education and NPC MRC 11/21/2017 FINAL Meeting Summary 5 outreach; and reaching coastal communities. Jon also discussed the value of clean beaches to human and marine life and how marine businesses rely on clean water and a clean environment in order to operate. He discussed the alliance approach to how CoastSavers works, and the value of partnership with groups like the NPC MRC, the Boy Scouts, Grays Harbor MRC, Pacific County MRC, Washington State Parks, the National Park Service and OCNMS. Included in the application is an extensive in-kind document, detailing all the hours of work that go into the CoastSavers efforts by volunteers, non-profits and public agencies, bringing in $290,000 of match annually. He also clarified that of the $10,000 worth of dumpster costs in the application, $5000 is being requested from the NPC MRC, with the rest covered by other partners on the coast. Jennifer Hagen asked about the possibility of working with Fishing for Energy, a national organization that takes marine fishing debris in particular and turns it into energy. She is working with them on getting rid of crab line and pots, and they cover the cost of the haul to their facility in Tacoma. Jon said he was familiar with the program, but the coast cleanups do not gather enough fishing debris for a haul for Fishing for Energy. CoastSavers has been working with TerraCycle, an organization that specializes in recycling hard-to-recycle materials; they take any plastics. CoastSavers hopes to grow that program until a more local cleanup starts recycling beach plastics. Aaron Parker asked whether there is a coordinator in each coastal area. Jon said that the coordinator funding is to cover his time and that he coordinates the whole coast with help from local partners.  Tami Pokorny, Jefferson County: RainFest/July 4 for 2018 and 19 and West End Natural Resources News 2018 and 2019 Issues Tami Pokorny presented for the RainFest and West End Natural Resources News projects. She was interested to hear whether NPC MRC members would like to reduce the cost or amount of printed copies of the Newsletter. She also asked if anyone would be willing to host Finn the Salmon for the July 4th Forks Parade. Updates Marine Debris (All) The Marine Debris Action Plan is being developed. Washington Coast Marine Advisory Council/Marine Spatial Planning The Marine Spatial Plan has been released; comments are due December 12th. The next meeting is scheduled for December 15th. Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council The next meeting is scheduled for December 8th at the DNR office in Forks and will be combined with the Inter-government Advisory Council for their annual joint meeting. Jennifer Hagen commented that she hopes for a conversation about the budget. West Coast Ocean Partnership Jennifer Hagen discussed the annual West Coast Regional Planning Body Meeting that will be held in December in Long Beach. The agenda is almost final. A mock cable project is also being developed to look at jurisdiction issues. Washington Marine Resources Advisory Council (MRAC) There was nothing new to report. Fossil Fuels Related (All) There was nothing new to report. Administration and Fiscal Agent Update Tami Pokorny announced that she is waiting for administrative contracts from WDFW. After that, the upcoming projects will be selected and project funding requests will be decided. NPC MRC 11/21/2017 FINAL Meeting Summary 6 Next Agenda (December 19th): The next NPC MRC Meeting will be held at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Port Townsend on December 19th. She will send out scoring information and an invitation to call in for the meeting. *Please send in any project comments. Public Comments/General Jennifer Hagen distributed a draft score sheet and commented on her concern over the lack of partnerships with some of the projects. Discussion followed over some project concerns, with the conclusion to hold off on further discussion until the full committee could be present at the January meeting. *Tami Pokorny asked for any agenda items for January. Adjourn at 6:30 PM (02:26:30 on the counter) Draft summary compiled by Rebekah Brooks. *Please send in any project comments. *Tami Pokorny asked for any agenda items for January.