New River Watershed Roundtable, Inc.

P.O. Box 1506 • Dublin, VA • 24084 • phone 540-643-2590

shared calendar at <http://calendar.yahoo.com/newriverwatershedroundtable>

email <newriverwatershedroundtable@yahoo.com>

website <www.vawatersheds.org/newriver>

Friday, January 6, 2006, 9:00-12:00

Wytheville Community College, 220 Carroll Hall

Board Meeting Minutes

 

ATTENDANCE

Board Members:

Ranny Akers, Liza Field, Mike Harvey, Jim Hurt, Charlie Maus, Jerry Moles, Ron Powers, Bennie Quesenberry, Rick Roth, Dan Sable, Bucky Sharitz, Mike Smith, Bill Tanger, Craig Whittaker, Tamim Younos (15 of 31)

 

Guests, Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), Executive Committee, Focus Group, and other Roundtable members:

Gary Boring (TAC), Abigail Convery (NRPDC, rep. Rundgren), Albert Crigger (Va Rural Water Project), Bob Denton (FVNR), James Dillon (MRPDC, rep. Barrett), Cynthia Hancock (ExComm), Jason Hill (Va DEQ), Darla Jennings (ExComm), Kelly Miller (TAC), Tim Ott (TAC), Capt. Forest Presnell (Cleanup Focus Group), David Richert (Chair, Forestry Focus Group), Llyn Sharp (staff), Donnie Turner (Carroll Co.), Scott Ward (Forestry Focus Group), Jim Whitt (Floyd Co. rep. Nester)  (16)

 

REPORTS

NRWR Committee Reports

Executive Committee, Ron Powers

501(c)3 status, Ron Powers

·        Darla Jennings has been working on this, will submit as soon as she has board member biographies and other pieces (as soon as application goes in, we can submit proposals under “pending” status)

·        also need a record of grants for the past 2 years

·        add statement on bylaws as to when adopted –July 15th 2005

·        Establish end of year date – Kent Welch recommends June 30th (Tim Ott said that would match DCR)

·        Motion authorizing the Chair to fill in routine items such as the above as needed with 501c3 application (Field-motion/Maus-amend/Harvey-2nd; approved)

·        Motion to accept the conflict of interest statement, standard in 501c3 application (Maus/Roth; approved)

·        Motion to accept the draft financial plan created by Welch, Powers, and Jennings to go in with the 501c3 application (Maus/Roth; approved)

 

“State of the River” Project, Rick Roth

·        Discussion that 3 states is good

o       Encourages cooperation with other groups

o       See difference in management between states

·        Dan Sable – funding agency may suggest geog.—talk to EPA?

·        Dave Ratcliff asked à What is the state of the river? (Question keeps coming up))

·        State of the River Project will be significant goal for NRWR

 

Focus Groups Committee

            Forestry Focus Group, David Richert

§         5-8 meetings so far, meetings are about quarterly.

§         membership includes private business, agencies

§         Nov 3 – management workshop

§         Apr 20 – critical habitats

§         They promote BMP’s – DOF will do harvest plans with landowners

            River Cleanup Focus Group, Mike Smith

§         Planning for Late summer/early fall when river is down

§         Donnie Turner will loan rafts/canoes

§         DCR Adopt-a-Stream; Mike wants to submit paperwork so they need to decide locations

§         Focused on Foster Falls area and downstream

 

PRESENTATIONS

Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Cynthia Hancock, Skyline SWCD

·        Cynthia Hancock gave a very informative slide presentation overview of the activities of the SWCDs in the New River watershed.

o       New River SWCD Districts

§         Big Walker: – Bland,

§         New River: Carroll, Grayson

§         Skyline: Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski, Tazewell, part of Smith

o       Partners:

§         Fed: NRCS, USFWS, Farm Services Agency

§         State: VCE, DCR, DOF, DEQ, DGIF

§         Local: Units of local governments, conservation groups

o       Programs funded through state legislature, local BOS, grants

o       VA Ag BMP program

§         Cost share

§         Tax credit program

 

TMDL program for water quality improvement in the New River basin, Jason Hill, DEQ

·        Jason Hill offered an overview of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) pollution prevention program.  He has extensive experience with these projects.

o       This program comes out of the Clean Water Act and EPA’s enforcement of that.  There are a few active Total Maximum Daily Load studies and plans in the New River Watershed, split administratively between Roanoke and Abingdon DEQ offices

o       The TMDL program can document some dramatic changes on the Blackwater River in the Roanoke watershed.

o       Non-point source TMDLs require broad stakeholder engagement

 

Charlie Maus asked: if given this encouragement for there to be local involvement in watershed stewardship activities, what is the legal framework for watershed associations to be protected from liability for cleanup, monitoring, restoration, other activities?

Gary Boring-If the associations partner of specific projects of interest to the RC&D (or SWCD, or similar entity), then they can use their indemnification as a partner.  The RC&D can’t run it all--there are 39 tributaries to the New in Virginia, and the RC&D can’t run 39 watershed associations.

 

OLD BUSINESS

Minutes of October 05 meeting; Motion to approve – (Harvey/Roth; approved)

WQIF proposals submitted from New River watershed, Tim Ott

  • 7 proposals/$900K total request – notice in March with Awards in April
  • Mostly urban issues

Tim Ott has received $2500 from 319 funds for New River Watershed Roundtable for the period Dec 05– July 06.  These funds will run through Skyline SWCD.

    • we will need achecking account:

Motion to establish a NRWR checking account with dual signature required, signatories will be Ron, Charlie, and Rick. Charlie will try to get free checking offered for non-profits by local banks. (Maus/Roth; Approved)

 

NEW BUSINESS

Foundation for Virginia’s Natural Resources (FVNR), Bob Denton

Bob Denton gave us a brief presentation on the mission and structure of the new FVNR, chaired by Jay Gilliam of the Upper James Roundtable.

  • Bob Denton is appointed as the New River Watershed representative for a 3-year term.  He is looking forward to working with NRWR to help both organizations be effective. 
  • FVNR – 1st meeting Jan 20th in Richmond
  • Their charge is education, protection, monitoring, non-regulatory education and outreach
  • They expect to get an appropriation from this session of legislature
    • Seek corporate sponsorship, etc. in addition to appropriation; DEQ/DOF offered interim staff support to FVNR

 

New River Highlands Resource Conservation & Development (NRHRC&D), Gary Boring

Gary Boring gave us an overview of the ways that the RC&D can work with and assist the New River Watershed Roundtable

  • Able to partner on any project in:
    • Natural Resources Development and Management
    • Water Quality
    • Forestry
    • Land Protection
  • Procedure – involvement can range from management, implementation, to tech assistance
  • To engage with RC&D, NRWR should come to council meetings – present project and seek partnership, this is flexible – can then be added to work plan
  • There is some overlap in missions because of huge need – many groups doing the same thing are needed in order to make progress on water quality
  • Project Proposals – key items are having a clear objective and well thought out budget; Gary available to help, he has many years of experience developing successful proposals.

 

Motion to expand the Board by 2 seats to include institutions of higher education [bylaws Article VI, Section 1] – Hurt/Harvey, approved

 

Motion to appoint Darla Jennings to the Executive Committee [bylaws VII, 1] – Younos/Harvey

 

Motion to appoint Tamim Younos to the Board as a representative from Virginia Tech for a 2 year term, January 2006-January 2008 [bylaws VI,4]  bio provided – (Roth/Smith; approved)

 

Motion to appoint Llyn Sharp as NRWR representative and Rick Roth as alternate to the Virginia Watersheds Alliance (VAWA). – (Tanger/Smith; approved)

VAWA plans to meet from 1:00-4:00 pm on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at the Environment Virginia Conference in Lexington.  They also meet by teleconference calls.

                        - Suggested to check Canaan Valley for funding to attend conference

 

Officers for Jan 1-Dec 31, 2006 [bylaws IV, 2] – the original bylaws were amended to a 2 year term in July ’05.

            Chair -- Ron Powers

(Jim Hurt resigned as Vice Chair, but will stay active with the Board and Focus Groups) 

Vice-Chair – Rick Roth elected to fill 2006 term (Younos/Sable; approved)

Treasurer -- Charlie Maus

            Secretary -- Della Osbourne

Motion now is for current officers to serve through 2006 to get on Jan-Dec schedule in synch with bylaws – (Maus/Roth; approved)

 

Committee Structure and Membership

            sign up sheets and tasks

 

Citizen Monitoring and K-12 support, Llyn Sharp

Supporting efforts like Save Our Streams, GLOBE, and volunteer water quality monitoring in the New River watershed will fit in with statewide initiatives and help us keep things going in our watershed.  We have some longstanding programs in the area.

Charlie suggests that someone else from the Education Focus Group should bring this to the Board with an action plan for approval. 

 

OTHER

Rick Roth was presented a Certificate of Appreciation from the Float Fisherman of Virginia by Bill Tanger.

 

Rick Roth: American Electric Power – FERC dam re-license process starts today – may be able to help fund DCR Minimum Instream Flow study.  Friends of Claytor Lake will have a link to relicensing on their <www.FOCL.org> website.

 

 

NEXT MEETINGS

Board Meetings (there was discussion of changing meeting time, but no decision)

Friday, April 7, 2006, WCC Grayson Commons (9-12)

Friday, July 7, 2006, WCC Grayson Commons (9-12)

Friday, October 6, 2006, WCC Grayson Commons (9-12)

Friday, January 5, 2007, TBA

 

ExComm Thurs, Feb. 2, 9:30-11:30, NRVCC Conference Room

ExComm Thurs, Mar 2, 9:30-11:30 NRVCC Conference room

 

Forestry Focus Group February 8, 2006 at 5 in Galax at New River SWCD office.