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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-02-15 KRSMA Board Packet~-~ 1 lid Special Management Area "Working Together.../or the river" *** Meeting Agenda*** Thursday, February 15, 2001 7:00 p.m. Kenai River Center I. CALL TO ORDER A. Roll Call B. Approval of 1118/01 minutes C. Agenda Changes and Approval II. PUBLIC coMMENT r1I. NEw BUSINESs QDd~~OG°31v1 ~ OO QG°3D ~~ ~~ gym„ ~ a " ~.,,. ;' ~ 2®pr ~~ :-~,ry A. Evaluation of the Effectiveness of LighC Penetrating Walkways, Mary Price, USFWS (EPA funded grant) B. Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Project, Robert Ruffner, Kenai Watershed Forum IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Recreation Impact Study Committee Report, Ted Wellman B. Update -River Terrace Laundromat Contamination and Cleanup, Rich Sundet, ADEC C. General Updates -Commercial Operators, Pending Permits, Suzanne Fisler V. PUBLIC COMMENT VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Board Comments B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting ~ Kenai Area Office, Box 1247, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 2625581 Kenai Peninsula Borough, Box 850, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 262-4441 p Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, Department of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Kenai Peninsula Borough. KENAI RIVER SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AREA ADVISORY Thursday, January 18, 2001 Kenai River Center I. II. III. CALL 'IO ORDER A. Roll Call Jim H. Richardson called the meeting to order at 7:OSpm ,~y$r ,~ <° ~'n_ Members present: Jeff King, Jim H. Richardson, Paul Shadura, Robin West, GIenda Landau for Lance Trasky, Rick Wood, Chris Degernes, Charles Quarre, Janette Cadieux, Bill Shuster, Deric Marcorelle, Tim Navarre, Brett Haber. Members Absent: Ted W'eliman, Jim Golden, Rick Ross, and Ann Whitmore- Painter. B. Approval of 11/16/00 minutes. The minutes were approved as written. C. Agenda Changes and Approval. No changes were made. Due to weather conditions Ted Wellman was not able to make the meeting. Tim Richardson opened the meeting. PUBLIC COMMENT -None NEW BUSINESS A. Kenai River Prehistory, Dr. Doug Reger (EPA Funded grant) Dr. Reger said he recently retired from the State Office of Histor,~ and Archaeology, where he worked as an archaeologist for 25 years. In those many years of service he has done much research along the Kenai River examining the prehistoric culttiiral use from Kenai Lake to the mouth. He said it has been a fragmented research because of the availability of funding, time, and people to do the work. He was funded through the Kenai River Center's EPA grants to help defray The cost of compiling all of the research that has been going on for the past 25 years. Dr. Reger said Alan Boraas from the Kenai Peninsula College has been doing research as well for many years, and collectively, there has been a fair amount of information gathered about the archaeology of the Kenai River. d{enai 12iver Special Management Area Advisory Board Page 1 Minutes -January 18, 2001 This grant will give him an opportunity to start pulling together some ideas of what it all means and putting it all in one place that could. serve a number of different uses. It could assist regulatory agencies and permit processes such as with Corps permits and different Fish & Game permits, etc. Federal permits require consideration of the impacts on the cultural resource. If that information was in a compendium or compilation it would be very useful for the wildlife and forestry managers, or anyone working in regulatory along the river. Another usage that has not been addressed is coming up with an understandable story of what has gone on in history that could be rsed for tourism. Additionally, the native community has a strong interest. Some of the areas where a large amount of data has been accumulated are in the confluence of the Russian River and the Kenai River. This is an area that has some of the longest record of human occupation. Dr. Reger said there are sites there that may have been established 8,000 - 10,000 years ago. At the outlet of Sldlak Lake there is a tremendous concentration of archaeological sites. The Kachemalc Riverine culture is probably responsible for much of the more recent use and occupation, starting about 2000 years ago. Dr. Reger said he anticipates finishing a monograph in about a year with a summary chapter That could be useful for general public use. The more detailed work will only be available for official use due to laws in place that protect sensitive cultural sites. Robin asked what the earliest occupation might be. Dr. Reger said an estimated age is 8,000 - 10,000 years. There are 4 sites with tools (microblade) that have been found to support this. He said that there is a site at Hidden Lake that has to have been established after the ice left which would have been 14,000 years ago. Jeff asked how many sites have been found? Dr. Reger said he was unsure but he estimated 150 to 200 sites are known. He said in the Kachemak period there was probably a good sized population because there are some big sites documented. Jim asked if he has studied the trails or routes of travel on the land as compared to the river itself Dr. Reger said he has not but he realizes there must have been extensive travel along both sides of the river. Chris asked Dr. Reger whether this work will identify areas where more research will be needed. He said most of the work done to this point has been in relation to the highway re-routing in the Cooper Landing area or as part native claims, so clearly, much more work remains to be done. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Page 2 Minutes -January 18, 2001 Phil North asked if the completed document will be scientific or will anyone be able to read and understand it. Dr. Reger said the summary should be useful to anyone. Tim asked what the target date. for completion would be. Dr. Reger said January/February 2002. Janette asked if any of the Native groups have become involved as far as finding and what will be published. Dr. Reger said the Kenai Native Association has to a certain degree. The Kenaitze have been active working with Fish and Wildlife Service in the Russian River area. They have an interpretive site near Russian and youth camps. He said CIRI has shown some interest in coming up with a research facility in the Russian River area. As far as putting up money to fund professional archaeology there has been none. B. Election of Officers MOTION: SHADURA MADE THE MOTION TO REAPPOINT TED WELLMAN AS PRESIDENT. GLENDA LANDAU SECONDED. VOTE ON MOTION TO RE-APPOINT TED WELLMAN AS PRESIDENT. MOTION PASSED: UNANIMOUS WITHOUT OBJECTION. MOTION: SHADURA MADE THE MOTION TO NOMIiv'ATE JEFF KING FOR VICE-RESIDENT. Jeff stated he did not want the appointment and suggested Brett Huber. MOTION: NAVARRE MADE THE MOTION TO NOMINATE BRETT HUBER AS VICE-PRESIDENT. MARCORELLE SECONDED. VOTE ON MOTION TO APPOINT BRETT HUBER. MOTION PASSED: YES: NAVARRE, WOOD, SHUSTER, LANDAU, DEGERNES, MARCORELLE, KING, RICHARDSON, CADIEUX, QUARRE, WEST NO: SHADURA The meeting was then turned over to the new Vice-President, Brett Huber. IV. OLD $USINESS Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Page 3 Minutes -January 18, 2001 A. Recreation Impact Committee Report, Chris Degernes Chris provided an overall draft to the board members that was prepared following the Tuesday committee meeting. Chris then went over the study background and objectives. Chris said she had the opportunity to speak with Greg Brown of APU. He suggested instead of just concentrating on an on-site survey with the 30K that maybe we could stretch the dollars and do more. Greg suggested that we incorporate into the study GPS units that would be placed into various boats to track their movements while on the river. We could evaluate how or if there is a measurable difference in how private boaters, rental boat users, or guides use the river. He is excited about a chance to look at the dynamics on the river and is willing to incorporate it into one of his university programs. Additionally, Greg suggested documenting activity at certain times and places with a video camera to capture what type of behavior is occurring. The third component of the study would be an on-site exit survey of anglers at access sites. It is hoped to conduct the shady this summer between June and mid. September. Chris reviewed a draft budget for this study. Utilizing graduate students and Park Volunteers could stretch the fimding. We would probably need one full time employee and a part time employee, plus a volunteer or two. Some of the jobs that will need to be preformed include distribution and monitoring of the GPS units, downloading GPS data, video recording, on-site survey work and data entry. One of the big unknowns for now is that we don't know how much the GPS units will cost, and whether they would be available via a lease or rental arrangement, or whether they'd have to be purchased. Chris said the purpose for the draft plan is to provide Doug Vincent-Lang (ADF&G) with enough information to get his approval so a Reimbursable Service Agreement can be done. Once we have his approval, we can start completing work on the myriad of details that need to be worked out. Another task is to develop the on-site survey questionnaire, and develop some questions that we would like Doug Vincent-Lang to ask in the statewide angler survey he plans for next fall. There was discussion back and forth at this point in the meeting. It was then decided the Recreation Impact Committee should meet a time or two before the next board meeting in February to niake a more detailed plan to present to the lull board for approval. More information is needed regarding GPS units to determine whether we can even afford to conduct this part of the study. Then the approval from Doug Vincent-Lang could be sought so appropriate funding documents could be ready by mid-April. B. Commercial Operators Committee Update, Suzanne Fisler Suzanne presented a copy of this year's Kenai River Guide letter scheduled to go out in the mail on January 24`x'. The letter contains the dates for orientation, which is mandatory for all guides this year. Anew item in the letter is the DMV boat registration. The Coast Guard will no longer have involvement in boat registration. Suzanne said This year she took the time to have the US Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, Fish & Wildlife Protection and Fish & Game review letter to make sure all of the important facts were Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Page 4 Minutes -January 18, 2001 included. Suzanne said she is ready to register guides now. She said there will be a commercial operators committee meeting next month before the Febniary board meeting to tallc about use reports. C. Quartz Creek Gravel Pit Reclamation Update, Suzanne Fisler Good news! There are fish in the outlet creek of the gravel pit pond. Suzanne said there was concern that the lake and creek would not function as planned. Suzanne said she went out to the site with Glenda Landau and Carol Sanner (biologist with DOT Environmental Section). This past fall, the lake level was lowered artificially so that the dam could be removed. There was a fear that that if the dam should break, the rush of lake water could possibly take out the highway or culverts. The lake has slowly filled from the seep of ground water, and additional ground water is keeping the creek flowing. The main reason to check the lake is the Corps permit requires that DOT checks to make sm-e there will be viable rearing habitat for fish. Suzanne said the fish trapping results showed 1 Chinook, 32 coho, 13 rainbow and 2 dolly varden in the second step pool. She said the fish were all different sizes. Suzanne said they will be checking the area again on Febniary 2id. Suzanne said there are a few compliance problems with the contractor leaving barrels, etc. on site but DOT has notified the contractor to take care of it. There will also be work on a revegetation project in this area this summer. V. PUBLIC COMMENT John Czarnezki introduced himself to the board as a new staff member of the Kenai River Center working for the Kenai Peninsula Borough Habitat Protection Ordinance and the additional stream that were adopted by the Borough in May. He offered his assistance to the Board, should rt be needed. VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Board Comments Bi11: Chugach Electric was granted an extension for work at the power station. Glenda asked if the water levels being dropped have caused any scouring? Bill said he did not know as he did not check that. He said they are just bypassing the power station. Janette asked if there was anything going on for Cooper Creek. Bill said CEA has not stated when they will start the relicensing process. Paul: no comment. Glenda: Lance asked her to relay that he was recently in touch with Dr. Steven Maynard who is working on drafting a report from the Boat Wake Study. Lance is expecting to see a draft of that by the end of January. He will circulate it to staff at F&G, Parks and USGS. If it is polished enough he will make copies available to the board. Chris asked Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Page 5 Minutes -January 1S, 2001 Glenda to relay a concern that a plan needed to be in place to release it to the public so that it can be explained and interpreted correctly. Chris suggested a teleconference with Dr. Maynard at the February or March meeting. Brett would like to see the draft available at least to the board members who have been a part of the process instead of just agency releases. Jeff said that through the whole pracess credibility was a high priority and he is not sure if it should be released to just agency people. Chris said it is common practice to conduct a peer review to ensure the science is sound, before the study is considered final. Glenda said Lance's second message was to advise the board members he has been talking to Gordon Nelson of USGS about plans they have for further studies on effects of boat wakes. No funding is currently available, but they do intend to conduct more work on the river. Charles: no comment. Robin: asked Suzanne if the proposed Unity trail along the Warren Ames bridge will _ affect KRSMA. Suzanne explained when the work was done on the Spur Highway a few years ago they put in a trail from Soldotna to Kenai. As they built the K Beach side this past summer they put a foot path along the road. This project will connect the two. Right now the contractor for DOT is collecting agency and public input. No specific design is available yet, but it is presumed that it will require a permit from Parks as it passes through KRSMA land and over the river. Once plans are developed, they will be brought before the Board. Robin also commented that about one and a half years ago FWS printed a proposed rule on the federal register to close two areas to the use of lead fishing weights. One proposed area was the Swan Lake canoe system and the other is the section of the river below Skilak Lake where the motor restrictions for the swans occurs. There was not a lot of controversy locally but for whatever reason it did not get published nationally so the word is it will not happen this year. Janette: no comment. Chris: no comment. Jim: He thanked the Kenai River Center for providing this excellent facility for the meetings. Jim asked Bill whether Chugach Electric has evaluated the Kenai Lake sediments for the presence of PCB contamination. Bi11 has not heard anything new at this point. Jeff: no comment. Brett: Ken Lancaster plans to introduce a bill authorizing the Kenai River lands additions. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Page b :Minutes -January 18, 2001 Tim: Will be attending a meeting on February 5th at the KRC for the funding sources for the water quality studies. He may have a report on that in Febniary. Deric: no comment. Rick: no comment. B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting February 15~' at the Kenai River Center. Adjourned at 9pm. Respectfully submitted, Denise Dutile, Recording Secretary for the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Page 7 Minutes -January 18, 2001