East Canyon Watershed Committee
January 11, 2007
Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District Office
Attendees:
Dave Tripp – Committee Chair
Brendan Waterman – Utah Association of Conservation Districts
Jack Wilbur – Utah Department of Agriculture and Food
Ray Loveless – Mountainland Association of Governments
Kari Lundeen – Utah Department of Environmental Quality/Division of Water Quality
Scott Peterson – Weber Basin Water Conservancy District
Steve Noyes – Bureau of Reclamation
Lee Broadbent – Self
Craig Stevens – Self
Darren Olson – Bio-West
Derrick Radke – Summit County
Brian Suhadole – Park City Mountain Resort
Marry Perry – Friends of ECC, High Country Fly Fishers
Julie Howe – Stantec Consulting
Nell Larson – Swaner Nature Preserve
Erin Spear – Swaner Nature Preserve
Bruce Sanders – Morgan County
Sherrie Christensen – Morgan County
Louis Cooper – Davis County
Senta Beyer – Basin Recreation
Ann Price – Forestry Fire and State Lands
Barbara Gardner – Forestry Fire and State Lands
Mike Luers – Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District
-Dave Tripp called the meeting to order, thanked all for attending, and asked if there were any corrections or additions to be made to the minutes from the October 12, 2006 meeting. The minutes were approved by the committee.
-Ray Loveless gave an update on the NRCS earmark that has been approved for the East Canyon Watershed. This update included the distribution of a document which can be found at the end of the minutes. A technical assistance committee has been formed to provide assistance to Lee Broadbent, the newly appointed restoration lead. Members of this committee include Mike Luers, Brendan Waterman, Jeremy Maestas, Ray Loveless, Colleen Rush, Dave Tripp, and Darren Olson. The TAC will have its kickoff meeting Tuesday January 30 at 10:00am. This meeting will be held at the SBWRD office.
-Julie Howe announced that Stantec is currently developing a map of the study area for the earmark environmental assessment. A draft of the map was presented to the committee and comments on the extent of the study area have been requested.
-Ray announced that the East Canyon Phase I Restoration Grant is currently being amended to allow for the transfer of $10,000 to the Rees Creek Phase II project. This transfer was proposed last summer to help cover unanticipated engineering costs.
-Mike Luers updated the committee on the progress of Senate bill 95. Mike reviewed the background of the bill for those who were not at our last meeting. A document outlining the bill was distributed to the committee. A second document with contact information for the members of the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee was distributed. Both documents have been e-mailed to all members of the committee. Mike urged everybody to contact members of the Senate committee and voice support for the instream flow bills.
-Erin Spear provided an update on the plans to add more signs and fencing to the Swaner Nature Preserve. Interpretive signs will be placed at various high use areas along the East Canyon Creek corridor. Property boundary signs will placed various locations where it has become clear that trail users are not aware of restoration and re-vegetation efforts. Erin also reported that Gaylynn Mooney has been working on developing an education curriculum that will be used in local 4th and 9th grade science classes. This curriculum will be developed and in place by the start of the next school year.
-Barbara Gardner and Ann Price delivered a presentation on the Forest Legacy Program. This is a federally funded program that is being administered locally by the state Department of Natural Resources. The program allows for the protection of forested lands from non-forested uses through the use of conservation easements. The funds used to purchase the conservation easements are generated from USDA Forest Service annual appropriations through Congress. Local success stories include the MacFarlane Ranch in East Canyon and the Ensign Ranch in the Rees Creek drainage. The program has been very successful.
-Senta Beyer presented Basin Recreation’s East Canyon Creek Trail Plan. Basin Recreation would like to construct a non-motorized transportation corridor along East Canyon Creek. The route would be a hard-surfaced trail from the west end of the Spring Creek neighborhood to the foot bridge behind the SBWRD office. The trail would be placed outside of the creek’s riparian zone on the North/East side of the creek.
-Steve Noyes discussed the findings of the Bureau of Reclamation’s 2005 Snyderville Basin Water Supply Study. This study looked at the current and future demands for water within the basin for both municipal and industrial uses. Among the findings presented was that fact that given the rapid development in the basin, future demand will exceed current supply levels very soon. In order to satisfy future demand, BOR has evaluated a combination of activities that include reuse of water within the basin, development of additional storage capacity within the basin, importation of water via pipelines and canals, and conjunctive management of ground and surface water within the basin. The recommended plan presented in the February 2006 Park City and Snyderville Basin Water Supply Special Report includes water reuse (for golf courses, parks, etc.), and importation from both the Rockport Reservoir area and East Canyon Reservoir.
-Kari Lundeen announced that DWQ will be hosting a meeting on January 29 to discuss a possible land acquisition of the Weber River corridor below Echo Reservoir.
-Mike Luers announced that preliminary designs for expansion and upgrades to both the East Canyon and Silver Creek water reclamation plants are being developed. The plans include adding an additional 1 million gallons of capacity to the East Canyon plant and adding phosphorus removal technology to the Silver Creek plant.
-The next meeting of the East Canyon Watershed Committee will be on April 12, 2007 at 9:30 am. Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District will be hosting the meeting at their office.
East Canyon NRCS Earmark Update – Ray Loveless
Contract Administration
The Project Implementation Plan was approved, and the Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District (SBWRD) signed the contract with NRCS. Mountainland Association of Government subsequently signed the contract with SBWRD. Recent discussions with Kerry Goodrich (NRCS) indicated that they do not know yet if the Earmark for East Canyon will be available again for next year.
NEPA Review
Mountainland Association of Governments is amending the existing Stantec consulting contract to coordinate the completion of the NEPA Review in the watershed. Before any project implementation can begin, we must have the NEPA report finalized.
*A teleconference was held with Mountainland (Ray Loveless), Stantec (Karen Nichols and Julie Howe), and NRCS (Kerry Goodrich and Marnie Wilson) to coordinate what will be required in the report. Stantec is preparing the scope of work, based on the requirements of NRCS.
*It is anticipated that because of the breadth of the required review and anticipated costs, this task will cost more than was originally budgeted. Thus, an amendment to the NRCS contract will be necessary.
*Before any work can be started along the stream corridors, the NEPA review must be completed. In order to assure that there are no cultural resources along the streams, the stream corridor must be inspected, thus free of snow.
*Julie Howe (Stantec) will be the coordinator for this project
Information and Education
A committee is organized and functioning well. A strategy is being developed to implement an education program in the watershed. Brendan Waterman is the chairman of the committee.
*Mountainland is contracting with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food to provide I&E leadership. Jack Wilbur will be the coordinator for the project.
*Specific Tasks for Information and Education include:
-Develop an outreach program helpful to all residents and businesses in the watershed.
-Prepare specific information to landowners implementing projects along the streams.
-Create a school curriculum for Park City schools. Gaylynn Mooney will coordinate this task, working with Jack Wilbur.
-Prepare information that can be used by planners to minimize erosion from the phosphoric soil formations.
-Separate from this task, but related is a contract Mountainland Association will be finalizing with Stantec to map the phosphoric soils in the watershed.
Project Implementation and Technical Assistance
I am gearing up for this task to begin as soon as possible, probably after spring runoff. Some of the accomplishments and needs are:
*I have contacted Lee Broadbent about taking the lead in the effort to work with landowners and design projects. Lee was instrument in the Chalk Creek NPS project, and is willing to help in East Canyon.
*Jeremy Maetestas had located a source for Christmas trees that we can use. I have not confirmed with Jeremy if that happened.
*A technical assistance committee (TAC) needs to meet. At the last East Canyon Committee meeting, there were several who volunteered to be on that committee. Those people included:
Mike Luers, Brendan Waterman, Jeremy Maestas, Ray Loveless, and Colleen Rush. Lee Broadbent will also be on the committee. Others are invited if they are interested.
Set a date for a meeting.
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