Final Minutes - Ohio River Valley Ecosystem Team Meeting

March 19-21, 2002

Hawks Nest State Park, Ansted, West Virginia

Tuesday, March 19, 2002

Welcome and Introductions
Jeff Towner and Bill Tolin of the West Virginia Field Office welcomed everybody to the meeting, and a sign-up sheet was passed around. The list of attendees appears at the back of the minutes. There were a number of new project leaders and new partners at the meeting.

Regional Office Updates
Region 5 - Jeff Underwood updated the team on the region's efforts related to mountain top removal/valley fill mining. Dave Densmore, Karen Mayne, and Cindy Tibbott came to the Regional Office and briefed the Regional Director on the latest issues regarding the EIS and MOU on coordination among the Federal agencies. A similar Region 4 briefing will occur later this week. On March 28, the briefing team is going to Washington to brief our new Director on the impacts of mountain top removal/valley fill mining on fish and wildlife resources.

Region 3 - Teresa Woods is the new special assistant for ecosystems in Region 3. Leslie Tewinkle also circulated a memo from Regional Director Bill Hartwig on the history, present, and future direction of the ecosystem approach in Region 3, and is soliciting our comments on where we feel the approach needs to go. Region 3 is fully committed to ecosystem management. Region 3 is also asking the ORVE Team whether there would be any benefits of deliberations among cross-ecosystem teams on issues related to freshwater mollusks and prairie habitat. There are possibilities of sharing information, techniques, funding opportunities, etc.

National Wildlife Refuge System Centennial 2003 Update

Janet Butler from the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge gave an update on the upcoming Centennial of the National Wildlife Refuge System (March 14, 2003 is the 100^th anniversary date). Secretary of the Interior has appointed a Centennial Commission. The main goals of the Centennial outreach efforts are to promote a broad understanding of refuges, improve visibility of the refuge system, expand partnerships, and strengthen volunteerism and stewardship. Janet highlighted a number of national activities that are ongoing throughout the country over the next year. Region 5 has a Centennial Coordinator in the Regional Office (Kim Halpin) and the Regional Centennial Team has produced a number of products. We might want to look toward submitting flex fund project proposals involving Centennial activities or a Centennial component such as habitat restoration on refuges for this next fiscal year.

Freshwater Mussel Initiative Development

There was discussion about the genesis of and status of a mussel initiative or aquatic species initiative apparently coming out of the Washington Office for FY 04. This may be a perfect role for a cross-ecosystem team mussel group. In order to be successful, it was felt that this initiative must include the scientific community, the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, and other players in aquatic ecosystem recovery. Mussels are good surrogates for aquatic ecosystems.

Action Item: Patty Morrison will canvas the subgroups of other ecosystem teams that have aquatic groups and ask if they would be interested in forming a larger task force to deal with this potential initiative development. The Lower Tennessee/Cumberland, Southern Appalachian, Ozarks, Upper Mississippi River, and ORVE all have mussel and/or aquatic resource groups.

This may also be part of the fisheries strategic plan currently under development.

Status of Land Protection Planning in the ORVE

The ecosystem team has a Land Protection Subgroup, but it has been relatively inactive over the past year or so. Historically, the team has taken the "Focus Area" approach to prioritizing land conservation and protection. Do we need landscape level planning in the ecosystem? There are a number of other groups doing landscape level planning, such as the eco regional planning effort underway by The Nature Conservancy. Having a land protection plan in place would add power to the plans of other federal, state and local partners toward resource conservation.

Over the past six or seven years, plans for new refuges have requested or required the approval of the relevant ecosystem teams. However, at least one refuge in the ecosystem (Erie National Wildlife Refuge) has an approved PPP already dated 1997, but no land acquisition activity has taken place because the regional office is advising them that none can move forward until their CCP is completed (which is not due to begin until 2007). What happens in the meantime?

The team decided to try to pull together existing information on other landscape level planning efforts that are already in place or underway in the ecosystem. Specific action items related to this task are defined in the subgroup updates portion of these minutes, under the Land Protection Subgroup.

Ecosystem Kitty for FY 2002

The ecosystem project kitty for FY 2001 was $8,200, which funded two projects: Reprinting of the Sink Holes Brochure, and a Cheat Mountain Salamander Study. At the Fall 2001 meeting, those present decided we should continue to do the kitty if possible.

Action item: Lee Barclay will send out a request for kitty donations as soon as possible.

The team may look at those pieces of projects that were not funded with flex fund money and fully fund some of those.

Ohio River Response Coordination

This is an issue that has been under discussion for the past three or four meetings. There has been a historic problem coordinating spill response on the Ohio River and other inter-jurisdictional rivers in the ecosystem involving two or more states and two or more Fish and Wildlife Service Regions and/or U. S. EPA Regions. Do we want one office or one person to be a single point of contact who will then coordinate with the relevant Fish and Wildlife Service Offices? Considerable discussion followed about the best way to get involved and at the earliest possible time.

Mike Weaver recommended that we make personal contacts with the individual Coast Guard Divisions and get on their direct notification list above and beyond the office Interior notification protocol.

Action item: ORVET members who would like to be on a Service spill-event contact list should submit their names and contact information to Mike Weaver.

Action item: Mike Weaver will compile the ORVE contact list for law enforcement to call when they receive early notification of a spill event.

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

Overview of Mountaintop Removal/Valley Fill Mining in the Ecosystem

Dan Ramsey from the West Virginia Field office summarized activities which have occurred during the interim permitting period since 1998. During the time period 1999 through 2001, 40 projects were permitted in West Virginia resulting in the loss of 61 miles of stream and 15,000 acres of forested habitat. Approximately 10 permits per month are issued in Kentucky.

Katherine Paybins from the U. S. G. S. in Charleston, West Virginia summarized a number of ongoing studies, some of which have already been published, on the effects of mountaintop removal valley fill mining on stream hydrology and invertebrates. For example, watersheds with valley fill mining experience higher flood flows than unmined water sheds.

The final speaker for the morning was Ken Hechler, former U. S. Congressman, West Virginia Secretary of State, lecturer at Marshall University, and West Virginia Statesman. He related the history of strip mining, mountaintop removal, and valley fill mining dating back to his tenure in Congress in the 1970s. The bottom line is the existing legislation is not doing the job. He spoke about the cultural and social impacts of mountaintop removal and valley fill mining to the citizens of Appalachia.

Following lunch on Wednesday, most attendees participated in a field trip led by the West Virginia Field Office to an active mountaintop removal/valley fill mine site on Kayford Mountain, West Virginia. The team also met with a local resident, Larry Gibson, who presented a compelling case on the human impacts caused by this type of mining. On the way back to the State Park, the team stopped off to visit the upper reaches of the Kanawha River Focus Area, a five-mile reach of the free flowing Kanawha River which supports at least two federally listed species of mussels among a community of over 25 other species.

Thursday, March 21, 2002

Development of Team Strategy on Mountaintop Removal/Valley Fill Mining

There was considerable discussion on what the team feels we should do about this issue. The Regional Directors have already been briefed, and the Director is scheduled to be briefed on March 29. We will wait and see what comes out of the Director's briefing. As a follow-up to the Director's briefing, the team would develop a white paper which describes the effects to fish and wildlife due to this type of mining practice and tie together all Service programs and partners, taking a view beyond trust resources. We can already make a connection with migratory birds, Indiana bat, black sided dace, and other listed species, however, the resource priorities identified by this team in its strategic plan go beyond merely listed species. Are adequate studies being done to evaluate the effects on listed species? We need to involve state partners in the creation of the white paper, if possible, remembering the influence that the International Association will have on our new Director.

The Executive Committee will develop the white paper with input from the State College, Cookeville, and Elkins, West Virginia ES Offices, using Cindy Tibbott's presentation as an outline.

Action item: Patty Morrison will contact Cindy Tibbott for a copy of her presentation.

Action item: The State College, Cookeville, and Elkins ES Offices will work together to provide input to the Ex-Comm by April 30, 2002.

Action item: Leslie Tewinkel will set up an Ex-Comm conference call to finalize the paper.

The team can also encourage or sponsor research or publications which target data gaps.

Action item: Bill Tolin will ask Katherine Paybins if they have any needs in the way of papers or studies that need to be published that we could help with.

Action item: Between now and September, each subgroup leader will look at research needs in their issue area, as they relate to MTR/VF, and contact pertinent researchers to solicit proposal ideas for this year's flexfund competition.

Action item: Subgroup leaders will send copies of their subgroups flexfund proposals to Ed, Leslie, and Mike Gantt so they can keep the proposals on file in case other funding opportunities arise.

Action item: Ed Christoffers and Patty Morrison will attend the annual coordination meeting of the West Virginia University Coop Unit on April 12 to see what studies are going on there and what other studies might need to be addressed.

Action item: Kurt Snider and Janet Butler will work on a write-up and photo spread from our field trip to post on the ecosystem team web site.

Ohio River Mainstem Navigation Study Update

Leroy Koch of the Frankfort ES Office gave an update on the Corps of Engineers Ohio River Mainstem Study. He highlighted the aquatic studies that are underway, the cumulative effects assessment, and the status of the ecosystem restoration program on the Ohio River (although authorization was passed by Congress for the program, no funding has been allocated as yet). The Cookeville Office is also working on a system-wide Section 7 consultation for all operations and maintenance activities along the Ohio River System.

Flex Fund Process, FY 2002 and Beyond

The ORVE team was highly successful in its submission of project proposals for FY 02 Flex Funds. Overall, team projects received $304,163, which fully or partially funds 18 of the 31 proposals submitted. Great job, everybody.

The standardization of forms and use of consistent deadlines across the three regions was a great help for FY 02 submissions. There are a few recommendations from the team on how to make the process even better for FY 03, and a few questions or needs for guidance that remain. We encourage the flex fund managers to communicate with each other across regional boundaries. It is apparent from some of the funding decisions from FY 02 that the individual fund managers may not have been talking with each other about who might be funding what. Many projects were submitted as multi-regional projects asking for varying amounts of funding from two or three of the regions. In some cases, two of the regions funded the work, but a third one did not, even though the money amounts were, in most cases, less than $4,000.

The team also recommends maintaining and adhering to a December 15 deadline for announcement of successful projects, with the caveats that the funding targets might not come down yet from Washington by that time. The team also recommends that subgroup chairs feel free to communicate with regional flex fund managers to highlight their top priority projects. It would also be helpful to know, for FY 03, what amounts of money are available from each region by program fund. In many cases, pots of money available in one region are not at all available in another. It would be helpful to know that ahead of time so as not to submit projects for a non-existent pot of funds.

The team will also request guidance on ranking multi-year projects: should the second year of the project be ranked or should it come off the top for subsequent years funding? Do all of the regions want rankings only per fund category, or do they want the team's overall rankings of all the projects?

Action item: Patty Morrison will draft a memo on flex fund recommendations with reviews by the Ex-Comm, to go to the Regional Directors with copies to the special assistants.

Action item: Kurt Snider will revise the flex fund table which will be an attachment to Patty's memo, with particular clarification on the Indiana bat study amounts requested (contact is Jim Widlak).

Action item: For FY 03 submissions, team members and subgroup leaders will forward all flex fund proposals to Patty, with copies to Kurt, preferably via email, by August 1, 2002. Subgroup ranking of these proposals ahead of time is optional.

Action item: Kurt will post the proposals on the team's web site for review.

Action item: Team members should review the proposals ahead of the next meeting and can bring any questions they may have on these proposals to the September meeting.

Action item: Kurt Snider will put a call for flex fund proposals on our web site (after the call is distributed by the regional offices), with an announcement about how to get a hard copy of the format requirements, primarily for our partners.

Subgroup and Standing Committee Updates

Endangered Species - Lee Barclay. The gap analysis is ongoing, as is the development of GIS layers. Indiana Bat Section 7 Consultation guidelines are due out soon, and the Region 4 part of the Indiana Bat Study evaluating the effects of forest management activities is underway. The Cheat Mountain Salamander Study was funded with kitty funds from last year, and it is underway.

Migratory Birds - Joe Robb. The second year of the cerulean warbler study was funded, and a Bewick's wren study in Kentucky and Tennessee. This species is almost gone from the region. The subgroup is working with Kurt to develop Central Hardwoods Bird Conservation Area data layers, showing areas with increasing human population trends as a threat overlay.

Native Fishes - This group needs a leader!

Action item: Leroy Koch has graciously agreed to take the lead and round up more members for this group.

Of the people present at the meeting, a number expressed an interest in participating, including Jon Amberg, Dean Rhine, Bob Butler, Bill Tolin, and probably Angela Boyer, Barb Douglas, and Greg Conover.

Action item: Patty Morrison will send Leroy the entire file she has on the history of the native fishes subgroup, and send a copy of the old membership list to everyone in the new group.

GIS/Website - Kurt Snider. The Cookeville Office is the GIS center for the ecosystem team. Kurt has a CD available for everyone who wants one showing basic data layers along with resource priority focus areas.

Action item: Kurt will be working on correcting the list of species which appear in the boundary counties of the ecosystem.

Action item: Kurt will work on adding a news item of the month to the web site, highlighting a species or issue of concern.

Action item: Patty Morrison will hound a different subgroup leader or team member each month to get a news item to Kurt.

Freshwater Mollusks - Bob Butler. Bob reviewed the Green River Mussel "Blitz" which was funded and implemented last year, and the mussel species status review that the subgroup has been working on for the past 2 years under Bob's lead. There is also a big river mussel sampling protocol under development right now which has been modified and reviewed with state, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Corps of Engineers input. The hope is to provide some consistency among all the states which review proposals for primarily commercial sand and gravel dredging and maintenance dredging with the goal of protecting significant mussel resources.

Karst/Cave - Bill Tolin. The brochure for protecting sink holes, karst and cave habitats were reprinted with ecosystem team kitty funding last year. Six bat caves have been gated within the ecosystem with dollars and much man power provided by ecosystem team members. Rob Tawes is also joining this group.

Land Protection - It looks like this group is going to be resurrected.

Action item: Patty Morrison will contact Tom Magnuson of the Region 3 Regional Office to request his guidance on this effort. Tom had previously agreed to help the team work its way through this land protection planning effort

Action item: The Elkins Office will contact State College and Cortland, New York, to notify them of the upcoming tasks.

Action item: Forest Clark will contact Bloomington and Marion to notify them of the upcoming work.

Action item: Project leaders for the respective state ES Offices will be the contact points to collate information on a state level and identify what land protection plans are already in existence, what agencies or entities are doing them, what methodologies are being used, etc. The following offices are responsible for data collection in their respective states. Forest Clark for Indiana; Cookeville ES Office for Kentucky; Elkins ES for West Virginia; Reynoldsburg ES for Ohio; State College for Pennsylvania; Rock Island and Marion for Illinois; and Cortland for New York.

Action item: At the next ORVET meeting, Jeff Haas from Erie National Wildlife Refuge will make a presentation on land acquisition planning and threats to mussels in a proposed expansion package for Erie National Wildlife Refuge.

Acid Mine Drainage - The standing committee is now called the Mining Standing Committee.

The meeting was adjourned at noon. Many thanks to our guest speakers and a special thank you to Jeff Towner and Bill Tolin of the West Virginia Field Office for hosting and organizing the meeting.

Next Team Meeting

The next ORVE Team meeting will be held September 17-19, 2002, to be hosted by the Frankfort, Kentucky ES Office (contact is Leroy Koch).