The Eightmile River
Wild & Scenic Study Committee
Meeting Minutes – August 30, 2004, Lyme Town Hall
Present: Nathan Frohling, David Bingham, Eric Belt, Anthony Irving, Sally Snyder, Linda Krause, Sue Merrow, John Rozum; NPS – Kevin Case,
Absent: Bill Koch, Brad Parker, Larry Reitz, Walter Smith, David Tiffany, Randy Dill, Jamie Fosburgh
1) Meeting called to order at 5:10 PM
2) Minutes of June 28, 2004 meeting approved unanimously.
3) Subcommittee Reports:
a. Natural Resources –
Case reported Moorhead was well underway on the ecosystem analysis. Bingham and others have been working hard to organize and submit any records they have that are eligible for the Natural Diversity Database that aren’t already included in the database. Moorhead is also working with NatureServe to perform a New England wide assessment of available biodiversity data by watershed. A draft is expected the first week of October. Also, Moorhead is looking for an opportunity to get up in a plane to look at the watershed. Krause will help follow-up with some pilots.
The UMASS team has finished fish sampling in the watershed, completing over 350 samples. Diving surveys of deep pools and the Cove should be underway this week. The Subcommittee will be meeting with the UMASS researchers on October 4 to review preliminary results and discuss next steps. There was consensus from the Study Committee to support funding the next phase of the instream flow study, recognizing that it shouldn’t jeopardize the core funding needs of the Study Committee to complete the study process.
Case reported the water quality, water quantity, and geology reports should be in completed draft form in the next two weeks.
b. Management –
Frohling reported the subcommittee hired Jennifer Heintz, as staff support for two months to assist with some of the threat and gap analysis underway. GIS staff Ken Geisler has completed the first round of a series of GIS based threat analyses. NRCS continues to refine the municipal regulation review document. A series of questions have been developed based on the outstanding resource values (ORV) to provide a clearer assessment of how they are affected by local regulations. Case and Heintz will be meeting with town staff and land use commission chairs in each town in the next month to discuss the regulation review and the implementation of local regulations. The management goals for each ORV have been completed and the subcommittee will now be working on establishing objectives with quantifiable criteria for measuring success towards achieving each goal. The outline for the Watershed Management Plan document is completed. An early December meeting of all the land use commission members from the three towns is still being planned. Rozum, after getting feedback from the East Haddam Planning & Zoning Commission, reaffirmed the importance of the meeting focusing on providing specific Management Plan recommendations for the commission members to react to and provide input on. The next subcommittee meeting is Monday, Sept. 20 at the Lyme Town Hall.
c. Outreach & Education -
Case reported things have been fairly quiet the past two months. The third newsletter has been completed and distributed to the Eightmile Study email list and land use commissions. It will also be sent to the local press and riparian landowners. Everyone appreciated the good work of Wendy Goodfriend on the newsletters. The fair season has begun. The display was at the Hamburg Fair recently and will be going to an East Haddam Land Trust event, the East Haddam Fair and the Salem Fall Festival. The next Outreach Subcommittee meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 7 in East Haddam.
d. Cultural/Historic/Recreational –
Case reported the first draft of the Cultural Landscape report from UMASS should be circulating in mid-September. Great interest was conveyed to capture the recreational uses of the Eightmile Watershed and develop a description of how people recreate in the area. While likely not an ORV this will be important background information the study report. Case will develop a list of possible recreational opportunities in the watershed and send around to the Committee for input on what information may be available to describe the various uses.
4) Other Old Business
a. Study Timeline –
Case distributed a process timeline developed by Wendy Goodfriend showing needed tasks to complete through December. The chart is an ever evolving document that provides the Committee a vehicle to assess where they are at, where they need to be and the actions that have to occur in the interim to get there. Updates of this will be circulated to the Committee as the timeline continues to be refined.
b. Financial report –
An updated financial report was distributed. The Committee has a balance of $13,821 in budgeted but unspent funds, as well as another $22,829 in unbudgeted funds. Over the next month an assessment of funding needs for the remainder of the study process will be made for discussion at the September meeting to determine if any additional funds beyond those currently available are desired.
5) New Business –
a. Renewal of Fox Hopyard Golf Course Diversion Permit –
The golf course has submitted an application to CT DEP to renew their five year groundwater diversion permit. The application requests a 25 year permit with withdrawal increases from the current 150,000 gallons per day (gpd) to 206,000 gpd for 214 days a year. It also asks that they no longer use the Salmon River stream gauge but instead rely on the East Branch Eightmile River stream gauge for monitoring the need for withdrawal reductions based on low flow. The Committee agreed it needs to be consistent in its role with this type of issue and not act as an advocate but make the reviewing agency aware of the study and the importance of water quantity as an outstanding resource value. Snyder, from DEP, noted she will have to recuse herself from all discussion on the issue. It was also agreed that because instream flow is so important to the river system and the study findings to date that a letter to DEP should include any questions we may have on the potential impacts the proposed modified withdrawal would have on any of the outstanding resource values that we have studied that are flow dependent. Case will work with Irving and others on a letter that should be sent by the end of September. It was also recognized it is important to be communicating directly with the applicant on issues that are of interest to the Committee.
b. Route 11 Extension – Frohling reported that the Federal Secretary of Transportation, Norm Minetta, recently came to Salem to announce the completion of Rt. 11 as a national priority. Recognizing the completion of the highway would very likely have an effect on the landscape of the Eightmile River Watershed, a discussion ensued as to what the Committee can recommend be done to help protect the watershed’s outstanding resource values in the context of a completed highway system. An increase in open space acquisition funds dedicated to the Eightmile Watershed as mitigation for the highway project was one approach suggested. It was suggested possibly an analysis of potential impacts in the Eightmile Watershed from the completed highway project would be helpful to understand where mitigation in the Watershed should be focused. Everyone agreed that the watershed management plan should anticipate the completion of the highway and identify management tools to address potential resulting impacts. Frohling, Case and Irving will work on a strategy for addressing the management challenges associated with completion of Rt. 11, and possible mitigation measures to be recommended. It was agreed that once we have such a document a meeting should be held with Congressman Simmons to discuss.
6) Next Meeting Date – Monday, September 27, 5pm, Salem Town Offices
Meeting adjourned 6:55 PM
Submitted K. Case