ACCG Meeting Notes – 11/20/13
Meeting NOTES
November 20, 2013 – 9:30am – 12:00pm
Location: Veterans Hall, Hwy 26, West Point, CA
Meeting Facilitator: Katherine Evatt
Color Key: Previous meeting action items in yellow new action green agendize red
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Participants Introduction Cathy Koos Breazeal, Kendal Young, Aaron Rieffanaugh, Peter Zaragoza, Vincent Campa, Rueben Childress, Leland Meyer, Amy Rocha, Bill Haigh, Susan McMorris, John Hofmann, Pat McGreevy, Marc Young, Matt Waverly, Katherine Evatt, Gerald Schwartz, John Heissenbuttel, Tim Tate, Robert Smith. |
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Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes – approved |
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Status of Active Action Items
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ACCG Work Groups |
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B. Planning Work Group – Kendal Young
CONCURRENCE TO PROCEED ON CORNERSTONE REPORT w/ REVIEW – Kendal send quick turnaround and move forward.
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C. Finance Work Group – P. Zaragoza and S. McMorris
SUSAN /PETER – reviewed diagram provided by Katherine. Need clarity on MOA functions listed – assist with fundraising (how is that defined? Can be help with grant writing, letters of support; Kendal would like a dedicated group in case of deadline crush; assist with accounting and auditing issues – how would this work since no funds come through the group?; J Hofmann – could be in-kind reporting to Cornerstone; Susan – can see managing that database, keep fiscal reporting material in a database. Determine financing requirements for ACCG initiatives. Katherine – CFLR was a collective action; J Hofmann – also did Wilseyville master plan. Address other questions of fiscal transparency & accounting ACTION: Form ad hoc committee consisting of each work group lead and review MOA roles. Bring recommendations by March meeting. (Katherine wishes to be part of this ad hoc committee)
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D. Operations Work Group – J Heissenbuttel
3. ACTION Schedule January meeting with contractors and contractoring officers (Heissenbuttel/Hopson) |
Open Roundtable Discussion: Rim Fire implications, local effects on contractors, mill availability – All TIM TATE/MATT WAVERLY – displayed Ponderosa pine slice – bark beetle larvae, blue stain; does not affect integrity of wood, but bought at lower dollar rate. Specialty niche market. Started Ramsey last week. White fir sample displayed – checking, split; smaller white fir will break down quicker. KATHERINE – how long are contractors scheduled to work on your projects? TIM – SPI can react to fire faster than FS. They have been logging for a couple months already on company lands and will finish up next year. The sooner the better that they get their timber taken care of. KATHERINE – saw log components on FS lands – will anyone even be available or should FS in next year look at other projects since workforce not available. MATT- FS needs to continue with work. Currently they have put a halt to all other green-type projects so there will be a gap when this salvage is done to pick up green type sales. Fire affected a number of contracts in process. Chance that SPI /FS projects will be cancelled. They like to lay out projects 3 years in advance, but fire will cause them to reset those timelines. KATHERINE – workforce impacts? MATT – don’t want that to happen. TIM – worst thing FS can do post-Rim is assume enough wood for 3-5 years; will not be the case after 2014. They need to continue with green timber sales through fuel reduction, etc as if Rim fire never happened. Should increase creation of fuel breaks around WUI’s and broader landscape of national forest on strategic ridges so we don’t have another Rim take place. Rim is the best argument that FS is not doing enough. KATHERINE – environmental community would agree with that. TIM – in terms of workforce, folks harvesting fee timber (SPI owned) there has not been any draw for Rim salvage – they were using all same contractors – just moved them from green activities over to Rim fire for good chunk of season next year. These are contractors that already work for them year in year out. Not big impact to contractor base that would be working on Cornerstone. HOFMANN – how is log buying ability impacted? MATT – his job is division forester for mill purchases of logs from FS and private; he manages flow. TIM manages fee lands and resources of SPI – he sells logs to Matt. He is one of 3-4 sources of logs that Matt manages flow. MATT – no additional contracts this fall on green logs based on priority of their own burned logs, but will continue to buy FS and private as they can. Other markets are taking some logs as well. TATE – fee timber recovery around 35-45% this calendar year. Rest capture as early as can next spring. As that winds down, there will be a substantial amount of timber from FS on roadside hazard ops. FS will offer off road sales later in year. PAT – did plantations hold any better than clear cuts – TATE – they were out building line that Sat ; by Wednesday the fire burned 87,000 in 40 hours. Fire indiscriminate as to what stands arevdestroyed or not. 30-year old plantations after Grant Fire – SPI & FS – some thinned, some pruned, some fared well, some annihilated. Tens of thousands of acres of resilient old growth forest now completely annihilated. MATT – the key is management on ground – you can’t stop fire, just slow down and give defense point. ROBERT – Re Rim Fire – how is FS helping locals –he heard 800 acres out for mastication but the bid was too high so they are doing in house. Kendal – contact Dave Horak. TIM – 4 entities working for them now are Amador or Calaveras based. PAT – asked SPI when do you replant? TIM – some sites are prepped and ready to receive trees in Feb/Mar. Do a little this year, complete most Feb/Mar 2015. In 1.5 year all harvesting and replanting done on Rim. |
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Additional Discussion Items |
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PETER – this is a heated discussion about putting local people to work; what is occurring due to lack of MOA umbrella. Many here have no other way of making a living – how does one survive;maintain culture; provide for future generations; education; a number of universities have an interest in ACCG but we need to put puzzle pieces together. We need to act upon this professionally but collaboratively. KKE commit date to bring back to group – early next year.
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ACCG Partner Reports |
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Adjourn – Next meeting in Amador County January 15, 2014, Amador GSA conference room |