Executive Committee

Conference Call Minutes

July 25, 2011

The Executive Committee met on July 25, 2011 beginning at 6:30 a.m. by telephone conference call. Those present were Nick Schultz, Chair; Dean Rogge, Vice Chair; Dick Iversen, Lower Reach; Paul Gies, Middle Reach; Jeff Tiberi, MACD; Laurie Riley, Coordinator; and Carie Hess, Secretary. Karl Christians, DNRC was contacted later by phone.

Approval of Minutes: The minutes were reviewed and Dick moved to approve as submitted, Dean seconded and the motion passed. Karl approved over the phone.

Financial report and approval of bill payments: The budget, financial, and unpaid bills reports were read. Paul moved to approve as submitted and Dick Iversen seconded; the motion passed unanimously. Jeff Tiberi suggested that the council have a spending plan for the cut dollars just in case the council was to receive additional money. Laurie said that she would draft and send out to the committee.

Coordinator’s Update:

Bison- Laurie had contacted Arnie Dood with FWP about his report on bison that is due out any day and the council is on the list to be notified when released. Jeff mentioned that he read an article in the July 24th Independent Record about the movement of bison.

Noxious Weed/ AIS- Laurie had sent out an email stating that there is a quarantine on EWM in the Missouri Basin

CMR NWR CWG- Next meeting August 4th in Lewistown 10:00am to 3 pm

CMR- Laurie and Dean attended a CCP/EIS Cooperating Agency meeting in Lewistown on Jul 21. The USFWS is accepting the big game objectives by MT FWP; they will adopt the elk, deer, sheep management plans from MT FWP and deal with the animal numbers at the step-down level of planning. They are also accepting additional data regarding socio-economic analysis until August 15th that could be added to narrative. It was noted that the CMR had received just fewer than 20,000 comments to the draft CCP and EIS; they are still analyzing the comments. They are working on their definition of prescriptive grazing and were unable to present a draft definition at the meeting. They discussed continued contracting with Paul Hanson for the riparian health analysis. Other DOI agency representatives in the room were disappointed that the USFWS is not on board with using the National Riparian Services Team for riparian health assessment, as this would have all DOI agencies using same methodology and the same language. CMR Management agreed to a side-by-side comparison of assessment results for continued consideration on using the National Riparian Services Team. One change was made to Alternative D which eliminated one WSA area but added 18,000 acres to others with a net increase of 5000 acres in WSA. They are looking into the legality of making changes to wilderness and wilderness study areas. The CMR stated that they will be moving forward with using sentinel plants to assess vegetation community health, but will connect sentinel plants to focal bird species. They will be looking to purchase in holdings and adjacent lands where compatible with management objectives. It was also noted that they were going to open some roads for game retrieval and only at certain times of the day. The CMR staff went over how they get their visitor numbers and how the data is compiled. It was noted that the grazing permits will be on a prescriptive grazing basis used as a tool to reach HMP (habitat management plans) goals for wildlife. They are working with the NRCS on grazing decisions. Dean felt that nothing was defined well and that it was left open. The audience asked for another meeting before the final CCP/EIS is released. Members of the council that attended the meeting with Mary Sexton on the possible land swap reported on their thoughts.

String of Pearls - Laurie reported she had phone conversations with Nick Kaczor and David Lucas in response to the letter that the Council had written to Steve Guertin. They stated that the Yellowstone Confluence Refuge has been shelved and that they would respond to the letter in writing. Dick warned that they should keep their guard up this situation.

Monuments – no update.

MRRIC/ ACOE – Laurie updated the group that the July meeting scheduled for Great Falls was cancelled due to high water conditions and flooding throughout the Missouri River watershed. A 2-day information sharing webinar will be held instead on Jul 26-27. Also the various working groups have been holding webinar meetings. It was noted that the annual assessment and self evaluation was due July 31.

BLM RAC- no word on the applications but Laurie reported that the council had been invited to a small group meeting over dinner when the National Leadership will be visiting in September.

Cottonwood Regeneration – Laurie reported that the meeting for July 14th had been cancelled and had not been rescheduled. It was thought to follow up with the BLM to do some monitoring of regeneration following the flood and high water event. If they pick some spots this year then they can monitor for the next 3-5 years. It was also noted that the council should talk to Julie Goss down in the Richland county area on the study by USGS on the Missouri River System.

River Rendezvous – no update.

State Water Plan – no update.

Residential Development – no update.

Additional Business:

Laurie reported that the next Natural Resource Partnership’s next meeting would be in Lewistown on August 19th. She also reported that Ray Beck had been in contact with Laurie and asked her to contact Bob Berry with the NACD and their communications newsletter. It was thought that they could do a spot on the council and its accomplishments. Laurie also reported that she had been interviewed by the Great Falls Tribune and the Land Letter (on line news wire service) regarding the CMR CCP. The Billings Gazette picked up the Great Falls Tribune interview and greatly condensed the article. She stated that she was not completely happy with how one quote was taken out of context. Paul reported that train trestle that the Charlie Russell Chew Choo train uses, as well as being a major line for hauling grain from Geraldine, Denton, and Lewistown to Moccasin, had been severally damaged in the flooding this spring. The Judith River had completely undercut 2 of the pylons that support 2 of the trestles. This trestle line was built in 1913 and is historical and he asked if the council would consider talking to Carla Allen with Central Montana Rail to help find some grant money to help with repairs currently estimated at over 1.5 million.

Next Conference call time & date: The next conference call is scheduled for August 24th, 2011 from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.

With no additional business being brought before the Committee, the call adjourned at 7:51 AM.

Approved by unanimous vote on August 24th, 2011

_____________________

Nick Schultz, Chairman

Submitted by:

____________________

Carie Hess, Secretary