Meeting Minutes; SBWC Board Meeting – May 5, 2015
The meeting was called to order by Lonny Welter, about 7:00.
Members present (in addition to Lonny): Barbara W., Maddy S., Steve T., Jane H., and Jean
L.
Staff: Pat W, Amber K, Jenni (LCEP)
Public: None
April Minutes – Maddy made a motion to approve April minutes; Steve seconded; motion
approved unanimously.
Public Comment –
Maddy discussed the Crown Trail, Chapman Landing and suggested this would be a good place for a work party in the fall; to plant natives and cut blackberries; this is a wellused area.
Lonny discussed Fisher Park (off West Lane in Scappoose); the County can provide funds for plants and can provide a work party to remove invasives and put in natives.
Amber and Jane will visit the site and determine appropriate plantings.
Lonny noted the increased number of sea lions and their impact to salmon – they eat about
80lbs of salmon a day. Jane noted they are trapping, tagging and shipping them out…
Jenni – they are migrating here due to the warm ocean water… Maddy discussed a need to change dam operations and that we should be writing congress to bring this issue up.
Nursery Report: The plant sale on April 11 th was a huge success and generated $2601 for the nursery. Additional sales continue – LCEP purchased 150 plants that were planted at the Port by their students; 220 plants were planted by the school kids for their wetland restoration work. Amber attended the NORP (Northwest Oregon
Restoration Partnership Program), as a networking and support for our nursery programs. Amber is working with the City of St Helens Economic Development
Corporation and Planning Department to put in natives around the city; and is working on getting signs for those.
Presentation: Jane – Sauvie Island Conservation:
Jane talked about various projects on Sauvie Island (has a list of about 80 projects on the island). The West Multnomah SWCD is working on several projects, and has
Partnership Grants to support work – the Council is receiving $10,000 to work with them for the next fiscal year starting in July. She gave some history of the Island –
50% of the island is owned by ODFW and 2/3rds of the island is diked. Some projects of interest are: turtle habitat; ash oak forest; wet prairies; habitat for streethorned lark; vegetation around marinas and moorages. How can the Council best fit into this? A start is to support her work on creating a map of the conservation projects ongoing – Jane is working on this with the Wetland Conservancy; they are not sure what this project will turn into – but hope it will be a form of an assessment and turn into a plan for conservation. A discussion from this focused on what the

Council can do to support this – perhaps with historical information through interviews. This will be an evolving project; Pat will be invited to the next map meeting.
Jenni discussed the projects she is currently working on; Batwater Station started 3-4 years ago (Bill B. was involved in baseline data). The project includes a levee breech of about 500-ft (channel reconnection), and installation of 14 large wood structures.
They hope the beavers will assist in creating a wetland, and are also hoping to introduce turtles to the site. A second project involves culvert corrections on six sites on the Clatskanie river, including the Shaffer Road culvert replacement. There is potential work at the Trojan Plant in the future. Jenni is also working on Duck
Lake and did a site visit last week.
Coordinator’s Report (Attached to Minutes); Highlights include:
 OWEB Capacity Grant – Action Plan was turned in with board revisions; we should receive final decision on amount of funding in early July.
 Project work – BLM monitoring will begin next week; Milton Creek LWD project has been funded by OWEB and will begin by getting contracts for PM and construction work; Duck Lake has been continued with requirement to hire new consultant to review potential of moving Joy Creek through the OPRD wetland; proceeding with work with the WMSWCD.
Financial Report: Barbara W. presented the financial report (filed with Minutes); Motion to approve minutes was made by Maddy, seconded by Jane; Motion approved.
Upcoming Events:
Paddlefest June 13-14; Maddy said she would be available; Lonny was going to do the nature trail hunt, but will be unable to attend; we are looking for additional volunteers for the event.
Board Meeting adjourned approximately 9:00 pm.