Doc. # 2010-
Issues Committee Meeting
Cayuga Lake Watershed Network
January 14, 2010 conference call

Present:Ruth Richardson (chair), John Mawdsley, Keith Tidball, Roxy Johnston

Absent: John Mawdsley, Doug Haith

Agenda:
4:30 – 4:40 Setting days/time of spring meetings:
Suggestion 1: preceding Board Meetings at 5:30 (at same loc’n as BdMtg)
Suggestion 2: 3rd Wed evening of each month. 5 or 5:30 start. Can alternate b/n Ithaca in person and conf call.
Minutes: This issued deferred b/c of low attendance; will be polled via Doodle. Aiming for meeting in second week of Feb.

4:40 – 5:00 Dashboard discussion summary and next steps
Who will take reigns?
Can we decide which indicators/metrics to include in a first draft?
Can we estimate the # of man-hours needed to pull it together?
In what way/when do we want to involve Rich Stedman and/or a grad student group?
Minutes: This item needs a broader group for effective discussion. Will be a major topic at Feb meeting. Big decisions about whether we want to try top put out a Dashboard before significant funding or to simply ID which indicators/metrics we want tomeasure then search for $. Good idea to put a timeline together for this project.
Roxy is putting together a proposal for the Great Lakes call and would like a rough estimate of costs for the Dashboard project (with the interest in putting it onto the website in an interactive way). She also thinks another way to get $ for it is SOLEC (State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference).

5:00-5:20 Spring and Fall Conferences
Topics/Speakers?
Themed: Water/Energy Nexus
Variety show? Seneca Meadows; Marcellus Shale; Bacterial Source Tracking
Minutes: The ideas of the Wetlands topic was raised by Judy Pipher. Those present thought this topic was very worthwhile and in line with some of our priorities (encouraging citizen monitoring in the North end – esp Canoga)
Keith has some quick suggestion for speakers related to Canoga creek/marsh: a Biologist (name?) from the DEC doing work in Canoga Marsh; Pete Kleinman from Ag Research Service; a citizen from Canoga Creek. By email other suggestions from Judy were:”Montezuma of course. But also Seneca Meadows expansion led to redoing wetlands around Black Brook, and of course the Canoga Marsh restoration and a large area near Red Creek sub-watershed. There are also wetlands west of Cayuga Lake State Park, about 2 miles north of the park off Demont Rd. and several near Union Springs."
Present members of the Issues Committee felt Seneca Meadows would make a good Panel member rather than speaker given the fact that they are a for profit company.
Roxy mentioned a recent report by Tompkins County on wetlands mapping. She pointed out that due to a redefinition of wetlands by the Federal govt, municipalities are now the main level of gov’t that can make a difference.
Keith also suggested speakers that could address wetlands’ habitat; water quality effects and the benefits of public participation.
Spring: North End
Timing?
Minutes: April much better than May (esp given topic: Keith pointed out that turkey & duck season in May).
Lead? Keith.
Keith & Judy brainstorming on speakers/panelists; Ruth to help contact and coordinate location until late Feb. Advertising/day of tasks Roxy can help a little with but not much. Presumed that Hilary could release flyer/press release to the “usual” suspect places.

Fall: South End
Timing? October/ Nov
Lead?
Minutes: not discussed.

5:20 – 5:30 Other Issues
North end volunteer monitoring (Canoga Creek) – a 2009 Issue
Minutes: this came up w/in the context of Spring Conference topics; it supported the topic of Wetlands as the Conference topic
Hemlock Wooly Adelgid update

Biological treatment tests being done by Cornell
Walking surveys of hemlock stands in Feb/March
Minutes: not discussed.

Marcellus Shale
Letter to officials
Minutes: not discussed.

5:30-5:40 Other business
Minutes: none.