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

 

	Agenda Item
	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.
	Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes – approved
	Status of Active Action Items  Follow up Sierra Forest Initiative in Plumas; brainstorm ideas for barriers to success; get ideas to Trystan at SNC.  B Sanders assist.  TABLED Buena Vista biomass/CBD follow-up; Sanders/Wilensky TABLED Monitoring work group – K Young send Doodle poll PENDING Umbrella insurance for contractors (similar to NRA gun clubs) Heissenbuttel PENDING Veg severity map, post 1987 fire plantations & percentage of private lands on Rim Fire – (need to source from Becky Estes when available) PENDING
	ACCG Work Groups
	Admin Work Group –  C Koos Breazeal  Workgroup Update:  Online reporting form for Cornerstone Project report reviewed : due to Kendal by 11/25; defined loaded pay rates; contact made for grazing presentation; admin conference call hosting; December meeting cancelled per consensus Facilitator assignments reviewed/confirmed:  January 2014 – Peter Z; February 2014 – Rick Hopson; March 2014 – Susan McMorris; April 2014 – Teresa McClung; May 2014 – Kendal Young. Meeting location schedule – odd numbered months in Jackson, large conference room GSA building; even numbered months in West Point.
	B. Planning Work Group –  Kendal Young Workgroup update; annual CFLR report; Power Fire scoping draft document   reviewed.  reviewed 4 Next Step Points;  concurrence recommendation to continue through scoping process – AGENDIZE EARLY HERBICIDE DISCUSSION  scoping 45 day process, then still time to discuss.   Cathy will continue contact with Dan Macon for grazing presentation.   CONCURRENCE OF GROUP CONCURRENCE  TO PROCEED ON CORNERSTONE REPORT w/ REVIEW – Kendal send quick turnaround and move forward. Upcoming meetings schedule  — MONITORING WORKSHOP JAN/FEB – 3 days either week of 1/19 or week of 2/23
	C. Finance Work Group – P. Zaragoza and S. McMorris Workgroup status; function of group 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)
	D. Operations Work Group – J Heissenbuttel Repercussions of federal shutdown on local  contracts:   Amador thin and Amador WUI at Silver Lake cancelled due to shut down.  FS employees were made whole, but contractors lost hotel and other expense money in addition to lost work wages.  Will contracts be reoffered for next year? MARC – contracts still existing, maybe given time extensions.  Will not be completed this calendar year.  SPI – MATT – SPI losses – thousands of dollars of logging equipment moved off jobs, lost flow of supplies and materials to mills and biomass plants.  Lateness of year compromises ability to extend.  SMITH – he can’t keep contractor group together because FS still doing business as usual, allowing bidding all across country.  Need an agreement similar to White Mountains stewardship agreement.  J HEISSENBUTTEL – we still need to define “local”. Insurance umbrella coverage follow-up from September meeting.  AGENDA Continue to another meeting 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.
	Additional Discussion Items
	LOCAL BENEFIT RESEARCH  – Katherine Evatt –  ACCG spent over a year working with FS attempting to get an MSA-type document and when that didn’t happen, FS said there were other tools available to ensure local contractor benefit from local FS projects.  Since that isn’t working out, she is what is being done across the country with stewardship agreements.  These give FS great deal of flexibility and can define and weight the local benefit score.  Many contacts tell her we need an MSA.  What is local benefit?  She has talked to Jim Branham of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy about the problem and he is talking to Barney Gyantt.   MOU Contract between ACCG & USFS, update — J Hofmann  – 4 items to address:  inventory and survey local capacity;   we had several contracts last year that went unbid by local contractors.  So we could have a 100% local requirement, but they don’t bid.  What excludes them from bidding?  MOU – there are 5 elements – purpose, mutual benefit and interest, mutual agreement how to operate.  Mutual benefits and interests section is a critical part – what will ACCG do, what will the FS do?  What is our obligation to them?  Come up with alternative? KATHERINE   MOU between ACCG and FS – we were directed there instead because FS will not do an MSA.  They will bring content to the group for review.  If we have an MOU umbrella we can do MSA and programmatic agreements.  There is a special programmatic agreement currently between FS and CHIPS to work on cultural restoration.  That has moved ahead.  Other things have not moved ahead.  We need a full ACCG meeting to determine why are we at this table if some run business as usual. 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.   Mokelumne Avoided Cost Analysis & Environmental Benefits Program – – KATHERINE – being finalized for  release early January.  Big rollout.  Upper watershed change – website to list projects – put on hold for many policy reasons.  Now just building basic website with information and house avoided cost documents and mapping.  Underfunded SCALE – KATHERINE for Wilensky – 3 CFLR collaboratives in  CA.  Kusel, Gant, Dinkey, Craig Thomas, Branham & Wilensky have met.  Still have $45,000 in funding to work for SCALE – need matching commitment.  Response by end of year.  Needs a non FS home for this program so not institutionalized.  How to benefit local.
	ACCG Partner Reports
	Brief updates from those in attendance – Kendal – introduced Aaron Rieffanaugh – he will be monitoring emails; IDT meeting January ; West Calaveras Thin EA out soon Amy – deadline for EQIP  ended Friday; have 4 forestry apps w/in all lands ACCG area.  Special initiative due to Rim.  Non commercial and range. Reuben – fundraiser to buy a raft for Moke River, perks for contrib.; participated on MAC IRWMP plan.  Call for projects – need a few more environmental projects – maybe some from ACCG?  $8-10 million possible.  Prop 84 funding;  implementation, not planning.   FC starting a salmon reintroduction project for the upper river.
	Upcoming Events/Meetings/Conferences Tim – UC extension workshop of road maintenance – Jamestown , Susie Kocher , SNC; SNC coming to Jackson  for quarterly meeting – 12/4 tour, 12/5 meeting at Jackson Civic Center.  Tour still forming.
	Adjourn – Next meeting in Amador County January 15, 2014, Amador GSA conference room