A/GVWC Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, November 7, 2009

AGV Watershed Council

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Minutes of November 7, 2009

A meeting of the board of directors of the Atascadero / Green Valley Watershed Council was held on November 7, 2009, at 345 Montgomery Drive in Sebastopol, at 10:05 PM. Directors Zeno Swijtink, Jon Sassin, John Roberts and Bob Burke were present. Also present were Tom Veader and members Jo Bentz and Kimberly Burr.

            Minutes of Last Meeting. The minutes of the October meeting were approved as last circulated.

            Recent Activities. The attendees mentioned recent activities in the watershed, including: the clean up of the creeks in Graton and roadsides in the area, including along Green Valley Road, and a clean up near the mouth of Green Valley Creek. Zeno proposed that a letter of appreciation be sent to Roger Rupe for the latter effort and John agreed to locate contact information for Roger.

            Tom Veader reported on the volunteer monitoring he has been doing for the past 16 months on certain tributaries of the Upper Russian River, where flow data have been recorded. Such data are available at

http://www.azonde.com/azondeView/hydroGraph.htm?nodeAddress=110 with additional background information at www.cemar.org .

            Kimberly will be attending the public workshop of the State Water Resources Control Board on November 18, on the subject of vineyard frost protection by sprinkling. The board decided to send a letter to the WRCB on the subject.

            Gold Ridge RCD. Kimberly and Tom had attended the Green Valley Creek Watershed Management Plan Technical Advisory Committee Meeting held at the Gold Ridge RCD office on October 15. Kimberly said she had stressed the importance of the plan for the Green Valley Watershed Assessment including instream flows because, without adequate flow, the salmonids are doomed, regardless of any beneficial efforts regarding erosion, passage barriers and similar activities. The board agreed, with Kimberly, acknowledged the many good things the RCD has accomplished in recent years, and agreed to revisit the Watershed Assessment planning process at the next meeting.

            Preservation Ranch Proposed Development. Jo Bentz reported on her review of the file, located at the PRMD office, for the proposed development of what is known as Preservation Ranch.   Much of the file is available on-line, at

http://www.sonoma-county.org/prmd/presranch/index.htm , with particular material on timberland conversion to vineyards found in an appendix, at

http://www.sonoma-county.org/prmd/presranch/appa_toc.htm

            Jo also reported on a proposed timberland to vineyard conversion proposed for property located at 11835 Highway 116 west of Forestville. The board discussed the applicability of County Ordinance 5651, known as the timberland to vineyard conversion ordinance, now appearing in the County Code at Section 26-88-140 to 160.



            Lower Green Valley Creek. John reported on the efforts of himself, Larry Hanson, Richard Miller, Tom Veader and others in addressing the natural barrier to upstream and downstream fish passage that was created several years ago when a large Douglas fir tree fell across the mouth of Green Valley Creek. After discussions with Bob Coey of NMFS, Darcy Aston of Fish 4 Net, Diana Hines of Gold Ridge RCD, and Elliott Doss of DFG, the group obtained permission from DFG to cut a notch in the trunk designed to allow free passage of fish. Photos of the effort will be available on the Council’s web site, www.agvwc.org

            The meeting adjourned at 12:10.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        Bob Burke
                                                                        Secretary

AGV Watershed Council	Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Minutes of November 7, 2009


A meeting of the board of directors of the Atascadero / Green Valley Watershed Council was held on November 7, 2009, at 345 Montgomery Drive in Sebastopol, at 10:05 PM. Directors Zeno Swijtink, Jon Sassin, John Roberts and Bob Burke were present. Also present were Tom Veader and members Jo Bentz and Kimberly Burr. Minutes of Last Meeting. The minutes of the October meeting were approved as last circulated. Recent Activities. The attendees mentioned recent activities in the watershed, including: the clean up of the creeks in Graton and roadsides in the area, including along Green Valley Road, and a clean up near the mouth of Green Valley Creek. Zeno proposed that a letter of appreciation be sent to Roger Rupe for the latter effort and John agreed to locate contact information for Roger. Tom Veader reported on the volunteer monitoring he has been doing for the past 16 months on certain tributaries of the Upper Russian River, where flow data have been recorded. Such data are available at http://www.azonde.com/azondeView/hydroGraph.htm?nodeAddress=110 with additional background information at www.cemar.org . Kimberly will be attending the public workshop of the State Water Resources Control Board on November 18, on the subject of vineyard frost protection by sprinkling. The board decided to send a letter to the WRCB on the subject. Gold Ridge RCD. Kimberly and Tom had attended the Green Valley Creek Watershed Management Plan Technical Advisory Committee Meeting held at the Gold Ridge RCD office on October 15. Kimberly said she had stressed the importance of the plan for the Green Valley Watershed Assessment including instream flows because, without adequate flow, the salmonids are doomed, regardless of any beneficial efforts regarding erosion, passage barriers and similar activities. The board agreed, with Kimberly, acknowledged the many good things the RCD has accomplished in recent years, and agreed to revisit the Watershed Assessment planning process at the next meeting. Preservation Ranch Proposed Development. Jo Bentz reported on her review of the file, located at the PRMD office, for the proposed development of what is known as Preservation Ranch. Much of the file is available on-line, at http://www.sonoma-county.org/prmd/presranch/index.htm , with particular material on timberland conversion to vineyards found in an appendix, at http://www.sonoma-county.org/prmd/presranch/appa_toc.htm Jo also reported on a proposed timberland to vineyard conversion proposed for property located at 11835 Highway 116 west of Forestville. The board discussed the applicability of County Ordinance 5651, known as the timberland to vineyard conversion ordinance, now appearing in the County Code at Section 26-88-140 to 160. Lower Green Valley Creek. John reported on the efforts of himself, Larry Hanson, Richard Miller, Tom Veader and others in addressing the natural barrier to upstream and downstream fish passage that was created several years ago when a large Douglas fir tree fell across the mouth of Green Valley Creek. After discussions with Bob Coey of NMFS, Darcy Aston of Fish 4 Net, Diana Hines of Gold Ridge RCD, and Elliott Doss of DFG, the group obtained permission from DFG to cut a notch in the trunk designed to allow free passage of fish. Photos of the effort will be available on the Council’s web site, www.agvwc.org The meeting adjourned at 12:10. Respectfully submitted, Bob Burke Secretary