Regional Interagency Executive Committee
333 SW 1st P.O. Box 3623
Portland, Oregon 97208-3623
Website: www.reo.gov E-Mail: REOmail@or.blm.gov
Phone: 503-808-2165 FAX: 503-808-2163

Memorandum

Date:

August 9, 2006

To:

Regional Interagency Executive Committee (see attached distribution list)

From:

/s/Anne Badgley, Executive Director

Subject:

REGIONAL INTERAGENCY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA & PREWORK FOR AUGUST 16, 2006

Meeting Room: Sixth Floor Regional Forester’s Conference Room
Robert Duncan Plaza, Portland, Oregon
Time: 8 a.m. – 12 noon

Enclosed please find a proposed agenda and pre-work for the August 16, 2006 Regional Interagency Executive Committee (RIEC) meeting. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m. in sixth floor Regional Forester’s Conference Room in the Robert Duncan Plaza and adjourn by 12:00 noon.

This meeting includes updates on several activities including the Survey and Manage Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, updates on litigation and RIEC subcommittees activities, plus several other hot topics and updates. We will also have a presentation on the Structured Decision Making process currently being used by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

As a last reminder, be sure to bring your Duncan Plaza building access card and government identification. If you have any questions regarding the upcoming meeting, please contact your REO Representative, Kath Collier (REO Analyst at 503-808-2179), or me at (503-808-2165). I look forward to seeing you at the August meeting.

 

Enclosure:

1 – August 16, 2006 Agenda and prework (10p)

cc: Presenters, REO Staff

2212/kc

Regional Interagency Executive Committee Distribution List

Renne Lohoefener, Fish & Wildlife Service - NEW
Terry Rabot (Alt)
Anne Badgley, Regional Ecosystem Office
Elaine M. Brong, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon/Washington
Mike Mottice (Alt)
Tom Fontaine, Environmental Protection Agency, Western Ecology Division
Robert Lackey (Alt)
Linda Goodman, Forest Service Region 6
Jim Golden (Alt)
Bob Graham, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Tom Makowski (Alt)
Col. Thomas E. O’Donovan, US Army Corps of Engineers
Curt Loop (Alt)
Jon Jarvis, National Park Service
Rory Westberg (Alt)
Frank Shipley, US Geological Survey, Western Region, Biological Resources Division
Carol Schuler (Alt)
Robert Lohn, National Marine Fisheries Service
Mike Crouse (Alt)
Michael J. Pool, Bureau of Land Management, California
Paul Roush (Alt)
Dave Powers, Environmental Protection Agency, Region-10 OR Operations
Socorro Rodriguez (Alt)
Bov Eav, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station
Cindi West (Alt)
Jim Sedell, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
Garland Mason (Alt)
Stan Speaks, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Alex Whistler (Alt)
Steve Thompson, US Fish & Wildlife Service, California/Nevada Operations Office
Darrin Thome (Alt)
Bernie Weingardt, Forest Service, Region 5
Art Gaffrey (Alt) - NEW
 

Regional Interagency Executive Committee
August 16, 2006 Meeting Agenda
Regional Forester Conference Room, 6th floor, Robert Duncan Plaza

Time

Topics

Purpose

Presenter

8 a.m.

Welcome

  • Logistics, introduction, agenda overview

House-keeping

Facilitator
Anne Badgley, REO

8:10

Opening Remarks

Opening

Linda Goodman, Chair

8:15

Survey and Manage

  • 2006 FSEIS Supplement
  • Interim management of S&M species

Update

Discussion

Alan Christensen, FS
Ken Denton, SEIS Contractor Lead

8:55

Litigation

  • Aquatic Conservation Strategy
  • Other related issues

Update

Sue Zike, FS

9:25

BREAK

    

9:40

Adaptive Management and Monitoring

Update

Lisa Freedman, FS

10:10

Structured Decision Making

  • Improving the way that groups make and document their decision making processes

Information

Terry Rabot, FWS
Steve Morey, FWS

11:10

Examining the RIEC/IAC Future Structure

  • Proposal for discussion process and timeline

Decision/ Preferences

Anne Badgley

11:35

Hot Topics

  • Salmon Recovery Plan
  • Spotted Owl Recovery Plan
  • Status of "Thinning" and "Restoration" Programmatic Biological Opinions
  • Other

Updates

Mike Crouse, NOAA
Terry Rabot, FWS
Mike Mottice, BLM

11:50

Closing Remarks

Closing

Linda, Goodman

11:55

Close Out

House-

keeping

Facilitator
Anne Badgley, REO

12 p.m.

Adjourn

    

Status Reports

Proposed Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline
Potential 2007 RIEC Meeting Dates
What’s New on the Web (10-Year Monitoring Reports Update)

TOPIC SUMMARIES

Topic: SURVEY & MANAGE UPDATE

RIEC Sponsors: Linda Goodman, Forest Service, and Elaine Brong, Bureau of Land Management

Introduction by: Alan Christensen, Assistant Director, Natural Resources, Region 6, Forest Service

Presenter: Ken Denton, Contractor Lead, PBS Engineering and Environmental (through BLM)

REO Contact: Kathy Anderson, BLM Natural Resource Specialist

Issue Statement: The purpose of this presentation is to update RIEC members on the Survey and Manage program.

Background: The Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) included the Survey and Manage (S&M) Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines (S&G), which provide protection for approximately 296 rare or little-known species of plants and animals associated with late-successional, old-growth forests. In January 2004 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service (FS) released a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) which amended 28 land and resource management plans within the range of the northern spotted owl by removing the S&M Mitigation Measure S&G.

The ROD was challenged in court by a coalition of environmental and conservation groups. On August 1, 2005, Judge Pechman issued an Order (Northwest Ecosystem Alliance et al. v. Mark E. Rey et al., No. 04-844P, W.D. Wash) that found the agencies deficient in three areas. Defendants failed to:

  1. Analyze potential impacts to S&M species if they are not added to or are removed from the FS and BLM respective programs for special status species.
  2. Provide a thorough analysis of their assumption that the late-successional reserves would not adequately protect species that the S&M standard was introduced to protect.
  3. Disclose and analyze flaws in their methodology for calculating the acreage in need of hazardous fuel treatments. Part of the cost analysis was similarly flawed because it relied on the acreage in need of hazardous fuel treatments in calculating the cost of the S&M standard.

On January 9, 2006, Judge Pechman signed an Order on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Injunctive Relief (Northwest Ecosystem Alliance et al. v. Mark E. Rey et al., No. 04-844P) that:

"The Record of Decision dated March 22, 2004, entitled "To Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines in Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl" (the "2004 ROD") is hereby set aside, and Defendants shall not rely on it or implement it."

"The Record of Decision dated January 2001, entitled "Record of Decision and Standards and Guidelines for Amendments to the Survey and Manage, Protection Buffer, and other Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines" (the "2001 ROD") is hereby reinstated, including any amendments or modifications to the 2001 ROD that were in effect as of March 21, 2004." [e.g., including results of the 2001, 2002, and 2003 Annual Species Reviews].

"Defendants shall not authorize, allow, or permit to continue any logging or other ground-disturbing activities on projects to which the 2001 ROD applied unless such activities are in compliance with the provisions of the 2001 [sic] ROD (as the 2001 ROD was amended or modified as of March 21, 2004)."

"No project or activity enjoined under this Order may occur unless and until this Court modifies or vacates this Order." [or the agencies bring the activities into compliance with the 2001 ROD].

Current Status:

Reinstating the Survey and Manage Program

To assist field units in implementing the Program the agencies have chartered an interagency S&M Strategy Team. The role of the Team is to identify immediate field unit needs and develop tools to address them; clarify and/or draft agency direction; provide short-term management of the S&M Program until the Final Supplement is released; and develop options for longer term S&M Program implementation.

Supplement to the 2004 Final SEIS to Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines

The FS and BLM have contracted with PBS Engineering and Environmental for the preparation of a Supplement to the 2004 SEIS which will respond to the inadequacies found by the Court. Ken Denton, former Forest Service Regional Silviculturist who has extensive experience with the NWFP, is the contractor lead for this effort. The Supplement is not a stand-alone document. It contains inserts and replacement sentences, paragraphs, and tables and is intended for use as a side-by-side supplement to the 2004 SEIS.

Key Messages:

  • The Court’s order prohibits implementing projects that do not comply with the 2001 ROD for S&M and any amendments or modifications to that ROD that were in effect as of March 21, 2004.
  • The Court’s ruling affects all categories of projects that disturb habitat for S&M species found within the range of the Northern spotted owl.
  • The FS and BLM have directed field units to not proceed with proposed S&M habitat-disturbing activities, unless they comply with the 2001 ROD (as modified) and document that compliance.
  • The FS and BLM filed a motion with the Court to narrow the scope of the injunction to exempt projects in four categories: fuels reduction projects, thinning projects in stands that are not late successional/old-growth timber; culvert replacements; and riparian and stream improvement projects. On April 20, 2006, Judge Pechman denied the motion for reconsideration of the scope of the injunction.
  • Both Agencies are working to continue to provide products and services for local communities.

Schedule:

Draft Supplement

July 7 - October 5, 2006: public 90-day review.

Final Supplement

Expected publish date: late December 2006

ROD

To be signed on: March 30, 2007

Action Required:

[ x ] Information [ ] Decision

 

Topic: LITIGATION UPDATE

Sponsor: Linda Goodman, Chair

Presenter: Sue Zike, Forest Service

REO Contact: Anne Badgley, Executive Director

Issue Statement: Sue will provide an update on recent key litigation such as the Aquatic Conservation Strategy, and other issues affecting agencies.

Action Required:

[ x ] Information [ ] Decision

 

Topic: ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT & MONITORING SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATE

Sponsor: Jim Golden, Forest Service, Region 6

REO Contact: Becky Gravenmier, REO Representative (PNW)

Issue Statement: The Adaptive Management & Monitoring Subcommittee continues to make progress on tasks to improve adaptive management and refine NWFP monitoring efforts. The group has completed their main tasks and will report out on the few remaining pieces they are working on.

Background: After the NWFP Conference in April 2005, the IAC met to prioritize a set of management implication topics from the 10-year monitoring reports. As a result of this meeting, adaptive management and monitoring were identified as priority action items. Jim Golden (FS, R6) and Tom Quigley (PNW) were designated as co-leads for the RIEC Adaptive Management/ Monitoring subcommittee. A small staff group, led by Lisa Freedman (FS, R6) and John Laurence (PNW) was convened to evaluate tasks that might improve adaptive management and refine NWFP monitoring efforts. The staff group has been working on a variety of tasks including the development of an Adaptive Management Framework.

Status of Task Group Work: Lisa Freedman will give a brief summary of the completed task group products and will provide an overview of remaining tasks.

Completed Tasks: The following products have been developed for the RIEC.

  • Improvements to Regional Adaptive Management Process (Framework)
  • RIEC identified Priority Questions (16) to help focus monitoring and research
  • RIEC Decisions on monitoring budgets and options
  • Development of the Management Experiment Primer
  • Development of a Process for Regional Adaptive Management Accomplishment Reporting

The task group recently updated the Adaptive Management "framework" paper to better articulate the adaptive management process improvements.

Remaining Tasks: The following tasks are still in progress.

Monitoring

  • Review of existing monitoring protocols to refine or suggest changes to protocols as appropriate based on previous RIEC input on monitoring options including annual cost ceilings. (Estimated Completion: Fall 2006)

Management Experiments
  • Develop two detailed management-experiment template examples written in the form of study plans that could be attached, after local modification, to future decision documents: (Estimated Completion: End of Calendar Year 2006)
    1. Post-fire management, including salvage logging in some treatments;
    2. Fuel reduction in support of upland wildlife, specifically spotted owl, with both production and protection objectives.
  • For each management experiment template example, write sample National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) language to support possible decision-documents, including learning objectives and supporting elements such as an uncertainty framework and minimum monitoring objectives. (Estimated Completion: End of CY06)
  • Write a General Technical Report (GTR) on the management experiment concept, using the Management Experiment template and the examples that can be cited in NEPA analyses for future projects. (Estimated Completion: draft GTR by mid-FY 2007 for use in project planning in late FY2007 and 2008).

Next Steps: The task group will share the remaining management experiment related products with the RIEC upon completion. Suggestions for revisions to monitoring protocols will be coordinated through the Senior Managers Group.

Action Required:

[ x ] Information [ ] Recommendations

 

Topic: STRUCTURED DECISION MAKING

Sponsor: Terry Rabot, FWS

Presenter: Steve Morey, FWS

REO Contact: Kristi Young, REO representative (FWS)

Issue Statement: Steve will describe a process that can help agencies and groups improve the way they make and document decisions.

Background: Federal managers’ decisions are being subject to increasing public and legal scrutiny, making it even more important to ensure that the decisions that our managers are making are good decisions - meaning rational, transparent, and defensible. But the decisions our managers face are usually very complex, involving multiple objectives, numerous alternatives, several stakeholders, and varying degrees of uncertainty about the outcomes or consequences.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has begun to use a structured approach when faced with these kinds of difficult decisions. To structure a decision means to decompose the decision problems through a series of analysis steps that help identify which solutions bring the decision maker closer to his or her objectives. Structured decision making improves our chances of making rational and relatively optimal decisions in complex situations involving uncertainties.

A structured decision approach helps the manager come to better decisions by identifying

  1. What is the problem
  2. What are the objectives
  3. What are the alternatives
  4. What are the anticipated consequences
  5. What are the key tradeoffs

After an introduction by Terry Rabot, Steve will provide an overview of structured decision making, give some examples of how the FWS and other agencies are using it, and suggest some opportunities within the Northwest Forest Plan where agencies could apply structured decision making.

Action Required:

[ x ] Information [ ] Decision

 

Topic: EXAMINING THE RIEC/IAC FUTURE STRUCTURE

Presenter/Sponsor/REO Contact: Anne Badgley, Executive Director

Issue Statement: Periodic evaluation of organizational units that support the Northwest Forest Plan have improved the efficiency and effectiveness and reduced costs. During this short segment, Anne will begin the next round of discussions and probe the group for their preferences and ideas.

Organizational/Funding Implications: An opportunity to refine our processes and procedures to create a more efficient and effective organizational structure.

Action Required:

[ x ] Information [ x ] Decision

 

Status Reports

These Status Reports are for your information only, and will not be discussed in the RIEC meeting. Committee members are welcome to bring up questions or comments during the closing session.

Topic: Proposed Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline).

REO Contact: Debbie Pietrzak, REO Representative (BLM)

Issue: The proposed Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline (PCGP) would extend from the Coos Bay area to facilities near Myrtle Creek and Malin – crossing both Forest Service (FS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. Portions of the route as currently proposed would be within Late-Successional Reserves (LSRs

Background and Status: The proposed project is a 223-mile natural gas transmission pipeline designed to increase the supply of natural gas on the west coast. The project involves three National Forests (Rogue River-Siskiyou, Umpqua, and Fremont-Winema) and four BLM Districts (Coos Bay, Roseburg, Medford, and Lakeview). The BLM has responsibility to process the right-of-way application and authorize the right-of-way over public lands and national forest system lands. Because this right-of-way application involves a gas pipeline, it is being processed under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended.

The project will be regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC has lead responsibility for conducting the NEPA process; the FS and BLM are serving as cooperating agencies. FERC approved the applicant’s request to begin the pre-filing process on May 1, 2006, and several open houses were held in June. The applicant is currently conducting civil and environmental surveys of the proposed route in preparation for resource reports. The full application is scheduled for submission to FERC in January 2007, and a draft Environmental Impact Statement is expected in May 2007. If approved, project construction would begin in 2009, with pipeline operations starting in 2010.

Based on preliminary information about the current proposal, less than 10 percent of the acres affected by the pipeline would be within LSRs. Assuming a 50-foot post-construction and rehabilitation right-of-way width, and a 200-foot construction right-of-way width, the current proposal could affect about 140 to 570 acres of LSR (mostly on FS lands).

The RIEC addressed questions related to proposed new developments in LSRs several years ago. The resulting interagency memo (dated January 3, 2001) includes general background and guidance on the interpretation of standards and guidelines (S&Gs) regarding new developments in LSRs, a set of principles for use on a case-by-case basis to help interpret and implement the S&Gs, and provisions for early sharing of information and concerns among RIEC agencies.

In June, BLM shared early information regarding the proposal with agency counterparts on the Senior Managers’ Group (SMG) and representatives in the Regional Ecosystem Office. In addition, FERC and the applicant were apprised of the RIEC memo and interagency interest in proposed new developments in LSRs.

For further information: Project and schedule information is posted on the applicant’s website at: http://www.pacificconnectorgp.com. Additional information is available on the FERC website at: http://www.ferc.gov. Use the e-library link to search for Docket Nos. PF06-25 (LNG terminal) and PF06-26 (pipeline). Questions regarding the project and the EIS process can be directed to Paul Friedman, FERC Project Manager, at 202-502-8059

 

Topic: What’s New on the Web? (10-year Monitoring Reports Update) - Published NWFP General Technical Reports available on the Northwest Forest Plan, Regional Ecosystem Office website now include:

REO Contact: Becky Gravenmier, REO Representative (PNW)

- Northwest Forest Plan—the first 10 years (1994–2003): preliminary assessment of the condition of watersheds (http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_gtr647/)

- Northwest Forest Plan—the first 10 years (1994–2003): status and trends of northern spotted owl populations and habitat (http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_gtr648/)

- Northwest Forest Plan—the first 10 years (1994–2003): Late -successional and old growth forests (http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_gtr646)

- Northwest Forest Plan—the first 10 years (1994–2003): Socioeconomic results (http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/gtr649)

- Northwest Forest Plan—the first 10 years (1994–2003): status and trends of population and nesting habitat for Marbled Murrelet (http://www.reo.gov/monitoring/10yr-report/marbled-murrelet/final-report.html)

-Implementation Monitoring: Summary of Regional Interagency Monitoring Results (http://www.reo.gov/monitoring/10yr-report/implementation/documents/ImplementationI.pdf)

-Effectiveness of Federal-Tribal Relationships (http://www.reo.gov/monitoring/10yr-report/tribal/documents/Tribal_Draft.pdf)

Status of Other NWFP General Technical Reports to be published by PNW

Topic

Status

Est. to Printer

Synthesis (includes Management Implications)

In final layout.

Online by 9/15/06; Publish 10/31/06

Synthesis Summary

Being written by PNW science writer

Online by: late fall

Status of other Reports to be published by BLM/FS

Topic

Status

Est. Date to Printer

Information Management

In final review

Online by: late fall

Implementation summary

Completed

To printer and on-line by 5/12/06

Information Management

Revising for policy review comments.

To printer and on-line by 6/1/06

 

Topic: Potential 2007 RIEC meeting dates:

REO Contact: Kath Collier, Management Analyst

Issue Statement: Each year about this time, the REO begins looking at potential meeting dates for RIEC/IAC meetings. The next IAC meeting date is Wednesday, November 8. Potential dates for CY 2007 might include

RIEC

IAC

Early February

Early April

May/Early June

  

August

  

Early October

Early November

Early November