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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-10-24 KRSMA Board PacketENAI RIVE Special Management Area "Working together.../or the river" 'k~°" Meeting Agenda*'K* Thursday, October 24, 2002 7:00 p.m. Kenai River Center I. CALL TO ORDER A. Roll Call B. Approval of 9/19/02 minutes C. Agenda Changes and Approval II. III. PL~LIC COMMENT NEW BUSINESS G°QDD MO~OQ~I ~ OO QG°3D ~.f$x7 b~ $ 86" r ~i~ a ,>a A. Kenai River Water Quality Report, Robert Ruffner, KWF B. Moratorium on new Kenai River Sportfishing Guide Permits for 2003, Jim Stratton, DPOR Director IV OLD BUSINESS A. Kenai River 2002 Season -Field Report, Bill Berkhahn B. Kenai River Center Update V PUBLIC COMMENT VI. ADJOURNIVIENT A. Board Comments B. Date!Agenda of 1`:ext iv:eetin~ fo7 0 Kenai Area Office, Box 1247, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 262-5581 Kenai ~ninsula Borough, Box 850, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 262~444Y Alaska Division of Parks and Outtloor Recreation, Department of Natural Resources, In cooperation with the Kenai Peninsula Borough. `~ KENAI RIVER SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AREA ADVISORY BOARD Thursday, September 19, 2002 7:00 p.m. Kenai River Center I. CALL TO ORDER A. Roll Call Present: Lance Trasky, Jonne Slemons, Rick Wood, Chris DegeLnes, Charles Quarre, Bill Shuster, Jim Golden, Paul Shadura, Joe Connors, Robin West, Ted Wellman, Linda Snow, Dave Westerman, Brett Huber, Tim Navarre. B. Approval of 5/IGl02 minutes Approved as written. C. Agenda Changes and Approval No changes were made to the agenda. II. PUBLIC COMMENT' Sam McDowell voiced his concern about the Cook's Tesoro contamination site in Sterling, stating that there is still significant ground water contamination and the Kenai River is threatened by the conialrinaiion. III. NEW BUSINESS A. Contaminated Sites Strategic Planning Forum Update, Miriam Jones, Kenai Watershed Forum Mlrlam Came t0 The board with i.^,fOrr112t10P, about upCC~ming meetings. She also handed out a map of the contaminated sites on the Kenai Peninsula. Miriam said DEC agreed to work on a strategic plan with KWF to address the contaminated sites. There will be a meeting October 10`h at 6:30 at the Soldotna Sports Center. Bill Shuster gave a brief update on cleanup activities at the Crown Point and Grant Lake contamination sites, both of which are abandoned mines. Crown Point had sixty 55-gallon drums in the glacier at the top of the mountain. They were all empty but did contain petroleum products. All of the drums were transported from the mine by helicopter today. At the west end of Grant Lake hazardous materials left over from mining activities were also removed by helicopter. Bill said that earlier this summer at Falls Creek, the USPS did a clean up of a mill site from a gold mine. It was an active mine but an avalanche destroyed the mill. During soil sampling, mercury was found in the soil tailings. The tailings were excavated and removed, and that site is now in good shape. B. Kenai River 2002 Season Recap, Suzanne Fisler Suzanne provided the Kenai River Guide stars for the 2002 season. Guide numbers are increased by 7 guides since the 2001 season. Suzanne reviewed some of the complaints she received during the summer, including a DWI complaint about a drift boat guide on the Kasilof. If convicted, he will lose his guide permit. Many of the complaints forwarded to her were from guides complaining about other guides. Suzanne said she and Bill would have a better report for the next board meeting on the season's complaints once she has had a chance to compare notes with Bill. Suzanne said guide orientations were completed for new guides only this season, but. would be required for all guides next season. She is working on a different agenda based upon where guides primarily operate, since business is conducted differently in Che lower river from the upper or middle river. She would like to have some of the guides give presentations on the differenC techniques that go with each portion of the river. C. KRCNIP Accomplishments to Date/Recommendations for Further Work, Suzanne Fisler Suzanne provided the board with a summary of the accomplishments that have been made in implementing the Kenai River Comprehensive Management Plan since it was adopted in 1997. Please note in the handout all items marked in blue were accomplished since 2000. Suzanne reviewed the handout with the board. D. Establishing Board Priorities Ibr the 200212f103 season, Chris Degernes What priorities does the board want to set for this year? Chris said most years the board tends to react Co issues that come along and as a resulC, it is easy to miss the chance to focus on long term priorities. She said last year's goals were not completely successful. They were things like the Kenai River Lands Addition legislation which did not pass and funding for phase 2 of Boat Wake Study was not acquired. She asked if the board wanted Co continue on these issues? She then stated the review list Suzahneprovided fromthe KRCMP accomplishmentsgives many areas to focus on. There was much discussion on how to establish the board Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Minutes -September 19, 2002 Page 2 of 6 priorities. At the conclusion of this agenda item it was decided there would be no decisions on board priorities this evening. It was the will of the board to first get the new board members on board. Then new committees can be established. These committees can then each develop a list of griorities to be presented to the full board. E. Board Ndemher Appointments President Ted Wellman stated there are two vacancies created from resignations and three other seats that expire on October 1. Two of the board applicants were present at the meeting: Roland Maw and John Nelson introduced themselves to the board. There were 11 applications received and they have been forwarded to the Govemor'soffice for appointment. A copy of those applications was provided to the board. IV. OLD BUSINESS A. ADEC Update on Contaminated Sites: Jim Frechione, DEC Representative Jim stated he is working with the KWF on the management strategy to address the contaminated sites. He gave updates on the following: River Terrace: The remediated soil piles are still there. For many reasons they have not been moved, but since the clean up has been completed, the land owner is free to move them or spread the soils on his property. Sediment sampling in the river was done in May and the results indicated that levels were within the water quality standards, which is a positive step. PCE levels on site have been reduced. They have introduced a new technology called hydrogen releasing compound injection. A sampling was done in June that revealed certain hot spot areas. They are considering a bio augmentation process where they introduce bacteria to break down the contaminants naturally. Tim then answered questions from the board members. Zip Mart: Jim said the responsible party is unable/unwilling to assist on clean up of this site so the State assumed the Lead. They arc still trying to assess the size of the plume. It has extended past B&D Auto. Product recovery has started and 11, 000 gallons of gasoline have been recovered so far. Monitoring wells are in place to determine the extent of the contamination. Surprisingly, contamination has not shown up in the well for the Sterling Elementary. The plume appears to be flowing generally southeast. Cook's Tesoro: Jim said there is no active remediation going on at Cook's Tesoro. He said DEC is into along-term monitoring phase. There .are still elevated levels of contamination both on and off site, but DEC feels that the levels are being reduced naturally and that no further clean Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Minutes- September 19, 2002 Page 3 of 6 up is warranted. Jim said they do not feel there are any drinking water wells aC risk right now. It has not migrated towards the river. Jim said they have asked EPA to evaluate what's been done but they have not yet done so. Joe Connors asked Tim to check on the existence of the monitoring well that is near Sam McDowell's property: They were told iC sits 1000 feet from the river, but Joe said if is actually 400 feet. aim said he would check that and get back to the board. Old DOT Shop: The problems that remain are related to the former sand and salt storage area, where elevated levels of chloride remain. What to do about it? Jim said the Department's position is that it is not posing a risk to the river. Long term monitoring wilt continue. Dave Westerman asked about Hamilton's in Cooper Landing. Jim said he would be addressing many of these other contaminated sites at the October 10`x' Kenai River Watershed Forum meeting. B. Update on Fuel Truck Spill Cleanup near Gwin's Lodge Jim Frechione informed the board this site is close to being cleaned up, although he is not familiar with many of the details regarding this spill. Further information would be provided at later meetings. C. Kenai River Center Update -Suzanne Fisler Jamie Damon, a consultant for the Juneau Falls bypass, will be here next week to have an agency coordination meeting. Suzanne hopes to have an update for the next board meeting. Suzanne said last month she went on a field trip looking at the realignment of the Seward Highway MP 18-25 (from Snow River to Crown Point). The area that is of greatest concern is the crossing of the Snow River flats and DOT's need for an area for mass wasting. Suzanne will be bringing additional information to the board as this project is further planned. Western Geophysical Company will be doing more seismic testing in the Sterling area in the Izaak Walton, Scout Lake and i~Tilnunga park areas as well as across wide band of the Kenai River. Suzanne introduced Janet Yeager who is the new Education Coordinator hired for the Kenai River Center. V. PUBLIC COMMENT David Nyman: He stated Ile is on a team selected to evaluate some of the storm water discharges from DOT highways to the Kenai River. Theyare working to characterize influent and effluent storm waters 'to determine how effective the Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Minutes -September 19, 2002 Page 4 of 6 constructed wetland areas at Big Eddy and Marydale are functioning. They are looking for expected conCaminants from the runoff including dissolved metals, suspended solids, fecal coliform, and chlorides, and then analyzing for these compounds in the effluent that is discharged into the Kenai River. David said he has 7 or 8 more storm water events to cover. He said the City of Soldotna does the best job of maintaining their storm water drains. He then commented about the Cook's Tesoro contamination site. David said he is the one who asked EPA to come take a comprehensive look at how to diagnose the contaminated area of the site. He is very concerned about the 15-20 private drinking water welts that could be affected. He questions where the plan is to protect these people. Sam McDowell added that DEC has not done a full clean up. Tanks were pulled out at night and the contamination has been ]eft with no remediation. Sam said this site is not clean. VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Board Comments Tim: expressed his appreciation for the work of this board. Joe: Tonight we had some interesting revelations concerning the Sterling Tesoro and believe we have a serious problem there. We need to be the watchdog to insure something is done on that site, as it is a very close site to the Kenai River. Lance: Received good reporCS tonight; thanks to Suzanne Filler, Jim Frechione from DEC and Mr. Nyman. Ride Thanked staff responsible for getting out the board minutes well in advance of the meeting giving ample time to review the minutes. Linda: Asked if with the composition of the board changing, could the 2°a or 4`h Thursday of the month for meetings be considered. Chris: Reminded the board that Denise is behind the scenes again taking minutes. She thanked both Denise and Suzanne for their hard work for the board. She also announced. that Cyndy Gagnon is off work a few more months enjoying her new daughter born in July! Donne: Glad to be here as new representative for DEC. Loolting forward Co working with all the board members. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Minutes -September 19, 2003 Page 5 of 6 Paul: Asked for an update later on the Cooper Lake Hydroelectric Project. B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting Members discussed changing the date from the normal meeting date of Oct. 17, and it was decided to meet October 24`r. Meeting adjourned at 9:25 pm. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Minutes -September 19, 2002 Page h of 6