East Canyon Watershed Committee
April 12, 2007
Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District Office
Minutes
Attendees:
Dave Tripp – Chair
Brendan Waterman – Upper Weber Watershed Coordinator
Craig Stevens – Landowner
Paul Dremann – Trout Unlimited
Mike Luers – SBWRD
Jack Wilbur – Utah Dept. of Agriculture and Food
Tim Hawkes – Trout Unlimited
Jeff Salt – Great Salt Lakekeeper
Ray Loveless – Mountainland
Brian Suhadole – Park City Mountain Resort
Barbara Gardner – Utah DNR
Lee Broadbent – E. Canyon Creek TAC
Steve Noyes – Bureau of Reclamation
Karen Nichols – Stantec Consulting
Derrick Radke – Summit County
Jeremy Maestas – NRCS
Paul Burnett – UDWR
Craig Schaugaard – UDWR
Kent Sorenson – UDWR
C. Ross Anderson – Macfarlane Ranch
Julie Howe – Stantec Consulting
Nell Larson – Swaner Nature Preserve
Erin Spear – Swaner Nature Preserve
Gaylynn Mooney – Silver Springs HOA
Mary Perry – High County Fly Fishers/Friends of East Canyon Creek
Jeff Schoenbacher – Park City Municipal Corporation
-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 January 11, 2007 meeting. The minutes were approved by the committee.
-Ray Loveless gave a quick summary of the congressional earmark funded project. This was followed by updates on the three components of the earmark project. These components include a NEPA analysis, and information and education campaign, and stream restoration.
-Jack Wilbur gave an update on the information and education component of the earmark project. $64,000 has been set aside for I&E efforts. The required contracting for these funds is almost complete. Swaner Nature Preserve will serve as the contractor for these funds, with project direction coming from Jack Wilbur and the East Canyon Watershed Education Sub-Committee. The main goals will be to develop awareness and targeted behavior change campaigns.
-Ray Loveless announced that the NEPA analysis for the earmark project has been contracted out to Stantec Consulting. Stantec will be working with SWCA to complete a programmatic environmental assessment of East Canyon Creek and all major tributaries above the Summit/Morgan County line. A cultural resource assessment will be completed as part of the EA. The survey should be completed by early summer.
-Brendan Waterman gave up update on the progress of the stream restoration component of the earmark grant. Approximately $300,000 has been set aside for project work. Restoration work will begin after completion and NRCS approval of the environmental assessment. Hopefully all work will be completed by the end of 2008.
-One item of concern regarding earmark project implementation and maintenance is the high rate of land ownership transfers in the Park City area. The watershed committee agreed that some type of requirement to leave restoration work should be drafted. Brendan will check with NRCS to see if such a document has been used in previous earmark projects.
-Erin Spear provided an update on the ongoing work at Swaner Nature Preserve. Volunteers have cut and planted approximately 1200 willows this spring. This work was completed on East Canyon Creek above the Glenwild Trailhead. Additional planned project work for this summer includes installing brush revetments, re-routing and fencing trails along the creek, and restoring natural channel sinuosity to a previously straightened section of East Canyon Creek.
-Mike Luers announced that neither of the proposed instream flow bills passed. Strong opposition to any modification of current water rights laws came from the Farm Bureau. As a result, the waters of East Canyon Creek will remain unprotected during low flow.
-The Division of Water Quality is currently in the process of revising the TMDL documents for East Canyon Creek and East Canyon Reservoir. The revised documents will take into account improved sampling techniques and nutrient modeling methods. Field data will be collected throughout this summer; revisions will be drafted by spring of 2008. The outcome of the new studies is unknown and could result in new discharge limits for point sources.
- Jeff Salt from the Great Salt Lakekeeper gave presentation on community based river clean up projects. His organization has successfully organized grass roots waste collection campaigns on the Jordan River in the Salt Lake Valley. While the clean up projects have been very effective at removing trash from the waterway, they have also functioned as a valuable educational tool for the local community. Jeff will be working with the Education Subcommittee to explore the possibility of implementing this type of project on East Canyon Creek,
-Jeff Schoenbacher gave an update on NPS related projects that Park City Municipal Corporation will be completing this year. A Youth Corp group will be working on McCloud Creek this spring. The project work will include riparian plantings and revetment maintenance and installation. The city will be developing a web-based GIS for public use. The GIS will include all environmental layers available. A pilot for the project can be viewed at: http://atlas.utah.gov/website/pcenvpilot/viewer.htm If you are using the latest version of Internet Explorer, you may need to temporarily disable the pop-up blocker.
-Park City Municipal Corporation will be constructed an anaerobic bio-cell on middle Silver Creek and has asked for 319 assistance with project funding. The bio-cell will be constructed just below the Prospector neighborhood and will filter heavy metals from the stream. The total project cost is $200,000. The committee agreed to contribute $8,000 of East Canyon 319 funds to this project.
-Swaner Nature Preserve’s 3rd Annual Nature Festival will take place on Saturday June 2nd at the Basin Recreation Field House in Kimball Junction. If you would like to volunteer or set up a booth, contact Erin Spear at 435-649-1767.
-Recycle Utah will be hosting a free household hazardous waste collection from 9am to 12pm on Saturday May 5 at The Canyons Resort parking lot.
-The next East Canyon Watershed Committee meeting will be on Thursday July 12 at 9:30am. We will be meeting at the East Canyon Resort.
PDF
