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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20250401 CFFCOC Special Meeting Summary_20250401_FINALP a g e 1 | 5 Members Present: Tom Backman, District 3 (virtual); Carol Bernthal, District 1; Laurie de Koch, District 3 (virtual); Tom Ehrlichman, District 2; Richard Jahnke, Interest – Coastal Areas; Cheryl Lowe, Interest – Habitat Values; E. Ryan McMackin, Interest – Wetlands (virtual); Joanne Pontrello, Chair, District 2; Ron Rempel, Vice Chair, Interest – Wildlife Conservation Biology; Robert Simmons, Interest – Watersheds; Dave Wilkinson, District 1 Members Absent: Rob Harbour, Interest – Working Lands County Staff Present: Tami Pokorny, Natural Resources Program Coordinator; Tressa Linquist, Clerk, Environmental Public Health Others Present: Sarah Spaeth and Blaise Sullivan of Jefferson Land Trust; Peter Bahls of Northwest Watershed Institute I. Call to Order, Roll Call, Determination of Quorum Chair Joanne Pontrello called the meeting to order at 2:08 PM. Roll call was performed, with one Committee member absent. With 12 current CFFCOC members, a quorum of 6 is required. There are 11 members present. Peter Bahls of NWI requested a change to the order of today’s agenda (through staff) – he asked to present Toandos Forest first and Upper Yarr Creek second. The Committee approved this change via consensus. II. Public Comments Sarah Spaeth of Jefferson Land Trust (JLT) expressed gratitude for the CFF program and the value it brings to leveraging additional funding for local conservation projects. III. Summary of previous meeting It was noted that the summary provided in the draft February 19 minutes regarding discussion of the 2023 Lower Chimacum Creek Mainstem project is insufficient – The minutes should additionally reflect what was stated regarding the current status of JLT’s change request for this project, as presented to the CFFCOC in November of 2024. Will acquisition of the fourth parcel require additional funding or any other change approval from CFFCOC? JLT clarified that they will be coming to the CFFCOC at a future date with an additional change request but will not be asking for more funding. Approval of the minutes was tabled until the next meeting. In the meantime, Tom E will work with Tressa to amend the draft minutes of the February 19 meeting to clarify the discussion. IV. Old Business None. Jefferson County Conservation Futures Fund (JCCFF) Special Meeting: Hybrid between JCPH and Zoom Connection April 01, 2025 from 2:00 to 4:30 PM P a g e 2 | 5 V. Sub-Committee Reports Storymap: Cheryl, Rob, and Tami met recently to review and discuss the first draft of the Storymap webpage. It was decided that the current format (chronological and geography- based) does not properly illustrate the important impacts the CFF program provides. The purpose of the Storymap is to showcase the program’s history and communicate the various ways it benefits our local community. The site will be revised to better highlight these benefits. Materials: The Sub-Committee has not met since our last meeting and had no updates. Blaise of JLT explained that the blue italic comments in their 2025 application for Deerfoot Forest are their responses/comments to changes made to the Project Application last year. She asked that the Materials Sub-Committee consider these comments in their review of materials for next year. VI. New Business Deerfoot Forest – Sponsored by Jefferson Land Trust A slideshow was presented. JLT is asking for $110,000 from CFF to permanently protect a 2- parcel, 37-acre property in Quilcene -- $12,000 for O&M activities and $98,000 for acquisition of a conservation easement (CE). They also hope to protect the property with a restrictive REPI easement. If they are unable to obtain the REPI funds, the landowners are prepared to do a bargain sale. The proposed CFF match is 51%. The conservation easement would protect the property’s forest and forested wetlands from clear-cut forestry activities and further development, and would combine two now-separate parcels into one to protect ownership from being divided and allow the whole forested area to regenerate toward old growth characteristics. It has been 100 years since this forested area was last harvested. The property is adjacent to many thousands of acres of lands that are already protected by various entities (DNR, WDFW, REPI, JLT, NWI, USFW) in the Dabob Bay Natural Area and around Quilcene Bay. A stewardship plan will be developed in partnership with the landowners to protect and enhance the conservation values outlined in the CE. The current landowners have taken forest management classes through DNR and have developed a forest management plan. JLT has been in existence for 36 years, protecting over 4,500 acres in Jefferson County with CEs. The Deerfoot Forest property is located in the Tarboo and Donovan Creek watersheds, where JLT already protects over 1,360 acres of land. The conservation values that will be protected are open space (forestland, forested wetlands) and water quality in the whole of the watershed (by protecting the creek headwaters). Western Toad (WDFW state candidate species) can be found in abundance. JLT has partnered with the Olympic Cougar Project which has provided data supporting cougar presence on the land and in the surrounding area. Protecting the headwaters here impacts salmon-bearing streams and smelt, geoduck, clams, oysters, etc. that reside in the bays. The CE will not focus on silviculture. JLT has developed a climate resilience assessment in partnership with the North Olympic Land Trust – in it, Deerfoot Forest was identified as a “Terrestrial Biodiversity Conservation Opportunity Area.” Climate resiliency can be increased through incremental land protection. The current landowners desire to have visitors to the property and provide educational opportunities, though the CE will not require it. Funds requested for O&M will be used for annual monitoring, relationship building, signage, enforcement of the CE, and development of the stewardship plan. P a g e 3 | 5 [The Zoom meeting was interrupted at this point. The recording of the meeting has been redacted to remove content displayed during this interruption] JLT then opened the discussion up for questions. The concept of “wildlife corridors” was discussed. A Committee member described a 2023 study which identified proximity to rural areas and roads as being serious threats to mountain lion and human safety, and they expressed concern with designating Deerfoot Forest as a “wildlife corridor.” Will this create undue liability or safety concerns for the landowners or future landowners? Other Committee members disagreed. What does it mean for an area to be a “corridor” for wildlife? JLT noted that the information source links provided in the CFF Project Application were not active, and requested that if specific sources are to be required then the correct information should be provided by CFF. They noted that the Washington Connectivity Group is actively updating their data, that JLT is involved in that update, and that riparian areas are not currently included in this data set. Toandos Forest Acquisition and Restoration – Sponsored by Northwest Watershed Institute A slideshow was presented. NWI seeks $94,500 from CFF to acquire, protect, and restore this 6.3-acre forested parcel near Dabob Bay -- $76,000 for the fee simple acquisition and $18,500 for O&M activities. There is time pressure on this project, as the property must sell by the end of June. NWI hopes to also protect the property with a restrictive REPI easement. The proposed CFF match is 50%. This property is part of the landscape scale Tarboo-Dabob Bay Watershed project, which aims to protect the forested lands and waters of the Dabob Bay Natural Area “from the headwaters to the bay.” Work already performed in the surrounding area includes culvert removal, stream meandering, removal and restoration of roads, removal of houses and bulkheads, plantings, etc. This Natural Area spans 11,000 acres, over 3000 of which are already protected. The property is surrounded on three sides by land already protected by DNR. NWI will provide long term stewardship and forest management, with potential transfer to DNR at a later date. The existing cabin and trailer will be removed, as well as other debris. The open areas will be replanted over a two-year period. NWI has a professional crew capable of this work. The property is part of multiple larger conservation plans – the Dabob Bay Natural Area plan has been reviewed several times in public hearings with a high level of support from the community. The property is also identified as important within the Tarboo-Dabob Subarea Plan of the JLT Conservation Plan. The main threat to the property is residential development (including predation by household pets). The property includes a globally rare rhododendron forest, an imperiled forest type. Pileated woodpecker and Western Toad are likely to occur, as well as animals that benefit from older forest habitats. Data showing density of fawns and cougar was displayed showing their use of the surrounding area. The property is a “plantation” style forest – additional species will be planted to increase diversity. Managing the forest will benefit habitat, water quality, and larger forest connectivity. Restoration of the forest will contribute to climate resiliency by increasing carbon sequestration (up to 3.1 million pounds of coal equivalent), and increasing the buffer between wildlife and urban areas. There are no previous CFF projects in this Toandos area, making it valuable to the geographic equity of the program. NWI may bring community onto the land for educational opportunities and restoration efforts. The area is valuable to local Tribes for traditional foraging. P a g e 4 | 5 NWI opened up the discussion for questions. Are there roads, a well, power, etc. for residential development to occur? There is a road, a well would need to be installed. What educational groups does NWI work with? Quilcene, Chimacum, Port Townsend, Swan School, and others. Could REPI funds be used to acquire the property before the end of June? Those funds won’t be available until after June (as with CFF). One option is to have an interim buyer purchase the property, then sell it NWI so the CFF restrictive deed language can be incorporated into the SWD. A second option would be for NWI to buy it in June, then “rerecord” the deed when CFF funds are available and incorporate the restrictive language at that time. NWI prefers this second option. Peter noted that the required restrictive CFF language could be bolstered to better protect the lands for conservation. Upper Yarr Creek Protection – Sponsored by Northwest Watershed Institute A slideshow was presented. NWI seeks $26,000 from CFF for the reimbursement of fee simple acquisition and protection of this ~1-acre forested parcel, also located near Dabob Bay. No funds are requested for O&M. The proposed CFF match is 50%. NWI already owns the parcel, purchasing it in 2023. NWI proposes to use CFF funds for reimbursement of this purchase, and to “rerecord” the deed with the required CFF restrictive language after grant funding. Another option is to sell the property to a private buyer, who could then sell it back to NWI to obtain a suitable deed. This property is also part of the Tarboo-Dabob “headwaters to bay project,” as well as the TNC Ecoregional Plan and the JLT Conservation Plan. The parcel is adjacent to other protected lands. Yarr Creek runs through the property, and the goal is protection and restoration of the riparian area, an important ecosystem type used by more than ¾ of wild animals in Washington State. The primary threat to the property is encroachment by storage containers and dumping. Data from the Olympic Cougar Project shows active presence of cougar in the surrounding area. Yarr Creek is WDFW “fish habitat” and flows into salmon- bearing streams. Commercial logging will not be allowed, but some silviculture will be practiced as well as replanting. The road will be decommissioned and restored. Restoration of the forest contributes to climate resiliency in the form of carbon sequestration, and stabilization of the riparian area to prevent erosion into the stream. The property has value to local Tribes for traditional foraging. A Committee member pointed out that CFF should be reactive/responsive to the quick pace at which these land deals need to be made, and asked if the strategies NWI proposes have been followed before? No, this has not come up yet. This is an opportunity to evaluate what strategies might be acceptable and revise the Program Manual. The strategies proposed by NWI above have not yet been approved by the County attorney. 2025 Funding Summary • Deerfoot Forest: $110K • Toandos Forest Acquisition and Restoration: $94.5K • Upper Yarr Creek Protection: $26K • Total available is $252K + $68K = $320K • 2024 CFF revenue, plus funds returned from North Barry/Snow Creek project • Total ask is $230.5K P a g e 5 | 5 Conflict of Interest Review Tressa displayed a series of slides reviewing the County and CFF conflict of interest policies. Relevant policies can be found in the CFFCOC Bylaws, Section 13, and the Jefferson County Personnel Administration Manual, Appendix B. Members of the CFFCOC are expected to act in an ethical manner within the law, both in letter and spirit. No CFFCOC member may deliberate or vote on a project from which they stand to gain financially. Should such a conflict of interest arise, the Member shall recuse themselves from participation on that project. The following questions were created by former County attorney David Alvarez and were posed to the group for consideration: • Do you, as a member of the CFFCOC, stand to gain or lose any financial benefit as a result of the outcome of this hearing? • Are you, as a CFFCOC member, unable to hear and consider this application in a fair and objective manner, i.e., without bias and without a predisposition to any particular result regarding this application? • Have you, as a CFFCOC member, engaged in any communication outside this hearing with either a proponent or opponent of this particular application? Scoring and Ranking Review Score Sheets are available in Word (as a PDF) or Excel format, and both are acceptable. The maximum composite score a project can receive in 2025 is 254 points. Per the Program Manual (section 3), any project meeting 70% of this maximum is “automatically eligible for funding.” That value is 177 points. Projects scoring fewer than 177 points may still be considered for funding if compelling reasons arise during the evaluation. Scoring and Ranking Schedule: 04/08 – Any additional questions for applicants due to staff 04/15 – Applicant responses due to staff 04/18 – CFFCOC provide completed Score Sheets to staff 04/22 – Project Application ranking meeting (Chimacum) VII. Next meeting date The next CFFCOC meeting will be project application ranking on 04/22/2025 VIII. Announcements None. IX. Public Comment None. X. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned. Meeting summary prepared by Tressa Linquist.