Team Arundo del Norte Meeting November 25, 1997 Minutes Attending: Paul Jones, Deanne DiPietro, Chris Sauer, Lois Battuello, Kent Nelson, Ellie Insley, Mary Bettiga, Joel Trumbo, Mark Hennelly, Mike Dannenberg, David Perata, Richard Dale, Janice Alexander, Tom Dudley ---------------------------Highlights--------------------------- Status reports: Grant Status - we can start to spend the money - Tasks 1 & 2 (herbicide trials) will be done by DFG - Task 3 (educational materials) require bids - Task 4 (survey & mapping) will be done by UCB - we have decisions to make on tasks 3 & 4 Other Projects - Team Arundo data catalog started - eradication effort planned for Napa River - Partners for Wildlife funding being worked on - mitigation credit and banking issues are ongoing Ideas and revelations: - Adopt-A-Highway/CalTrans people can help with survey - buy a slide projector to loan out - $60 M available for veg management through Caltrans - build partnerships with regulatory/project-lead agencies Action items: - have a viewing of sample educational materials - RFP for 4-page brochure - get the new information packet on Roundup - new arrangement admin coordinator: Deanne meeting facilitator: Ellie lead team: Paul, Joel, Richard, Ellie, Chris, Tom, Deanne ---------------------------Details--------------------------------- Deanne on Information Sharing: Deanne gave a briefing on the CERES Environmental Catalog and its usefulness for sharing information related to alien plant (and any other environmental issue) research and management. Deanne will work with Tom to catalog Team Arundo's survey and bibliography information, and the educational products and survey protocol can also be advertised in the TAdN Catalog. The TAdN catalog has been started and so far has one record in it, describing the website where our materials can be accessed. The URL for the Environmental Catalog is http://ceres.ca.gov/catalog. Ellie Insley on Napa Arundo eradication: Ellie brought with her two Napa landowners, Lois Battuallo and David Perata, who have identified an Arundo problem on a reach of the Napa River. Wants to work with researchers to implement eradication methods and do monitoring of the effects such as erosion. Paul suggests the possibility of funding from the USFWS Partners for Wildlife Program because of the presence of key species and habitat. Ellie is interested in how Arundo effects stream morphology and flood dynamics. Lois shared a binder that is on file with the Napa RCD and which describes the land and how to get to it. Ellie will be arranging an eradication effort there in the spring with help with the permitting by Napa Ag Commissioner's Office. DWR Land Use office in Sacramento has aerial photos that are very useful for historical assessment. Environmental fate information, such as the effects of the Arundo on siltation and erosion patterns, from any of these projects would be useful to collect if possible. There's a new information packet on Roundup- we'll want to get it. Joel on the Grant Status: Handouts- Background, Task 3 (Public Education) and Task 4 (Mapping) DFG got the money. DFG had to get the spending authority, that has happened and now we can start to spend the money. Tasks 1 (Herbicide use demo project) and 2 (Herbicide hazard assessment) will be done by DFG on DFG land. Tasks 3 and 4- the group will need to make some decisions about what we will do with the money: What will the products be, how will they be distributed and used, who will have the final ownership and maintenance duties. Educational materials must go out to competitive bid; DFG has to pick the lowest bidder. Task 3 (Public Education) has $45,000, Task 4: (Mapping) has $12,000. Task 4 funding can be given directly to UC Berkeley (Tom). Ownership question: the final materials are in the public domain, we just need to figure out the mechanics of distribution. Task 3 (Public Education) Objective is to prepare and distribute Giant Cane educational materials. The combined video and slide show: A proposal from Peter Vilms involves the production of a two-projector slide show with sound track that can be transferred to video. Cost is between 7- 15K. Leif Joslin has provided Richard information about the cost involved and offered to see about matching funds. He made the CalEPPC video. There's also a Spartina video. Joel would like to preview all these materials- we will try and set up a viewing at our next meeting. A professional quality video would cost around 150K. Given the disparity, and the fact that we can get both a video and a slide show with the slide process, we felt we should take that route. If funds are remaining after a slide/video product, these could be used as seed funds for a higher end video. The dual-machine setup needed for the fade-dissolve effect is a bit cumbersome, but very effective. We will create an option for using only one carousel. It was also discussed that a slide version can be digitized and offered for download on the Web. The 4-page brochure: Two pages back-to-back, stapled in the middle, about two colors. $4-5,000 for production of about 5,000 and distribution of some in the Estuary newsletter. There can be an online version produced at the same time for distribution on the Web. We'll want to check into the intellectual property rights- is it Cal EPPC's? We might consider requesting more brochures, given other potential project needs. Joel will send out a draft RFP on the listserve. Landowner Outreach Education Guide and Handbook: Will cost about $7,000. Lois' idea for public outreach- Adopt-A-Highway program will provide their list of contributors and we can distribute Arundo recognition information. The same people that manage that program are the Caltrans road improvement staff. Both of these groups can be enlisted into the surveying effort, spotting Arundo and reporting the sighting with the mile marker or bridge name for input into the GIS. Keith Robinson, Chief of Adopt-A-Highway and Caltrans Maintenance, (916) 654-2926, can provide lists of volunteers who can do Arundo spotting. Plan for using products once they are available: We could pay certain groups to disperse the information (do presentations) with some of the grant money. We'll buy a slide-projection equipment setup for loaning out. Task 4: (Mapping) Need to make plans for the data collected. We'll have a separate meeting to plan the way we maintain the data and provide context for its use. We can't map it all, and we don't want to, but it may be valuable to focus on a few areas, some that are being eradicated and some that aren't, would be useful for assessment of the behavior of Arundo in our area. Other data sources should be investigated for addition into our databank. Aerial photos, DWR, other watershed groups, are possible data sources. The point is to identify infestations that can be attacked early, and the gross survey picture may not help in the identification of these early infestations. The purpose of the data is to show environmental managers that it's everywhere and a problem, so it doesn't have to get it all. If we're going to keep it going and keep it updated we'll need an input mechanism. There are several possibilities for GIS systems and databases with which we'll want to work- CARA (ICEMAPS) and SFEI's EcoAtlas, as well as Department of Food and Ag's Alien Plant Project database. Richard on the Partners for Wildlife Program: He's presently working out the details that will allow private landowners to apply for money to deal with Arundo. The landowner has to put up matching funding, which can be in in-kind services such as labor, and the commitment to maintain the resulting eradication. Proposed area for the collaborative funding arrangement includes Napa River, Sonoma Creek, and Russian River watersheds. Richard and Ellie are working on outreach mechanisms to tell people about the opportunity. The Sonoma Ecology Center is taking on the role of the necessary designated non-profit for the brokering of the money. It will begin with a funding pool of about $20,000. People can get funding for real eradication work on exactly the kind of land where the Arundo is in our area (private). Question: Can there be funding obtained for re-vegetation? Richard will find out. Re-veg recommendations can be developed with Karen Gaffney; sometimes the surrounding vegetation will just take over if you wait. Lois says the Robert Mondavi Corp. has information about riparian restoration with consideration for Pierce's disease. Looks like money might start moving in the spring. Paul on the meeting with the original Team Arundo: There are five Teams Arundo: Team Arundo del Norte, San Luis Obispo (just forming), Central LA/San Gabriel, the original team in the Santa Ana/Santa Margarita area, Team Arundo Soreno in the San Diego area. There is ongoing division of opinion regarding the mitigation credit and mitigation banking issues. The conditions in So Cal are quite different from here and so opinions are split geographically. Here in the North we want to empower local watershed groups yet we have low local authority. The issue was deferred for a later date. More description of individual scenarios may help- temporary impacts, smaller impacts, etc., conditions under which a bank may be set up and used. Cal EPPC Conference: 60 million dollars is available for vegetation management through Caltrans!!! Talk to your local Caltrans person; they'll work with people doing veg management around bridges and roads, and roadside ditches. Other items: We need to make sure appropriate partnerships get built, especially in context of the listing of steelhead trout. Certain agencies must be contacted for certain kinds of projects, and Arundo eradication will now be one of those. Paul must give away the following responsibilities because of more activity on other projects: Setting up, sending out agendas Arranging speakers Taking phone calls/distributing info Establishing meeting locations Coordinating with other Teams Arundo Facilitating meetings Tom suggests the lead people for the subcommittees be on a permanent agenda-making committee. Admin work (agendas, communications and coordination) will be taken on by Deanne, facilitation by Ellie, agenda items by subcommittee leads. Subcommittees and leads: Richard Dale- Outreach and Education Tom- Science Joel, Paul- Policy and Funding Chris- Eradication Next meeting: Jan 27th, pending checking our calendars One item for the agenda: regulation. We'll see if we can get a NMFS person to come and talk to us. ------ Deanne DiPietro