Regional Ecosystem Office
333 SW 1st
P.O. Box 3623
Portland, Oregon 97208-3623
Phone: 503-808-2165 FAX: 503-808-2163

                Memorandum

Date:       March 14, 2000

To:          Regional Interagency Executive Committee Members
                Anne Badgley, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
                Roger Blair, Western Ecology Division, Environmental Protection Agency
                John D. Buffington, USGS Biological Resources Division
                Mike Collopy, USGS Biological Resources Division
                Col. Randall J. Butler, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
                Ken Feigner, Environmental Protection Agency
                Harv Forsgren, Forest Service
                Nancy Graybeal, Forest Service
                Bob Graham, Natural Resources Conservation Service
                Thomas Mills, Pacific Northwest Station, Forest Service
                Stan M. Speaks, Bureau of Indian Affairs
                William Stelle, Jr., National Marine Fisheries Service
                John Volkman, National Marine Fisheries Service
                William C. Walters, National Park Service
                Jim Shevock, National Park Service
                Elaine Y. Zielinski, Bureau of Land Management
                California Federal Executives
                Brad Powell, Forest Service
                Roberta Moltzen, Forest Service
                Michael J. Spear, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
                John Engbring, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
                Alfred Wright, Bureau of Land Management
                Paul Roush, Bureau of Land Management

From:      Curtis A. Loop, Acting Executive Director

Subject:   March 7 Regional Interagency Executive Committee (RIEC) Meeting Notes

Enclosed is a summary of the discussion, agreements, and follow-up actions covered at the March 7 RIEC meeting.

The next RIEC meeting is Tuesday, April 4 and is scheduled for the entire day. Elaine Zielinski, Anne Badgley, and Harv Forsgren will meet and plan the day (likely to include a walk in the woods, lunch, and a work session). At this time, nine of the ten executives who have responded have made a commitment to participate in the days activities. Logistical information will be sent to you as soon as it is available.

Please let me know if you have corrections or revisions to these notes.

Enclosure

cc: REO Representatives, Non-Federal IAC Members, PAC Designated Federal Officials

1502/lk

Welcome and Introductions - Harv Forsgren
After introductions, the Regional Ecosystem Office (REO) recognized and presented a plaque to Roberta Moltzen for her assistance implementing and supporting the Northwest Forest Plan (NFP) as the Forest Supervisor on the Mount Hood National Forest and as the representative for Region 5, Forest Service, to the Regional Interagency Executive Committee (RIEC).

Litigation Update - John Volkman and Lisa Van Atta
Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations (PCFFA) et al. v NMFS: This suit (filed January 19, 1999 in U.S. District Court in Seattle) challenges four biological opinions issued by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for timber sales in the Umpqua River Basin, Oregon. In the previous PCFFA litigation, Judge Rothstein found that NMFS had correctly determined that the NFP Aquatic Conservation Strategy (ACS) satisfied Endangered Species Act (ESA) section 7 standards, but that NMFS' site-specific biological opinions were inadequate because they did not explain how individual timber sales met the ACS.

Specifically, the current litigation (PCFFA II) challenges NMFS' conclusions within four site-specific biological opinions concerning the effects of Forest Service (FS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land management actions (timber sales) on the endangered Umpqua River cutthroat trout and the threatened Oregon coastal coho salmon. In her September 30 ruling, the Judge implied that essentially every action going forward within the NFP area must be consistent with the ACS objectives. This would allow no restoration activities and very few other activities to go forward. NMFS appealed a September 30 adverse ruling on summary judgement, and subsequently filed its opening brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Department of Justice filed a motion for an expedited hearing of the case on March 2. Also, on February 23 the plaintiffs filed a response to NMFS motion requesting appeal. This brief reiterated points raised earlier by the plaintiffs, and raised no new issues. A response to this is due March 24. Meanwhile, The FS and BLM have distributed direction to the field units addressing ESA section 7 consultation while the ruling is under appeal.

Survey and Manage (S&M) Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) - Ken Denton
Ken Denton gave an overview of the timeline and progress report of the S&M SEIS. The team is still on schedule. After reviewing the timeline, the RIEC asked the team to give the Interagency Steering Committee more time to review the document. Key decision points for the RIEC are the selection of a preferred alternative (agenda topic for May 4 RIEC meeting) for the Final SEIS and selected alternative for the Record of Decision (agenda topic for a special May 23 RIEC meeting). The species panels are meeting this week to review new information obtained from last year's Interagency Species Management System entries (approximately 17,000) and other sources of new information to see if it would influence the arrangement of species by category in the final assessment. Approximately 1,500 letters and 4,500 postcards were received during the public comment period. Letters of note included those received from the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC) S&M Subcommittee and 2 Provincial Advisory Committees (PACs). Key dates were highlighted from the timeline: March 10 substantive comments will be received from the content analysis team; March 17 Chapters 1&2 will be sent to Washington, D.C.; April 3 alternatives must be finalized for the effects writers to evaluate. The target date for the Federal Register notice is May 19 with a date for Record of Decision signature of June 21. A meeting has been scheduled for March 27 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. to discuss with the IAC S&M Subcommittee how their comments will be addressed in the Final SEIS.

Interagency Species Management System (ISMS) - ISMS has been deployed and the training of field users is well underway.

Strategic Surveys and Species Analysis - The S&M Intermediate Managers Group (IMG) has formed a Strategic Survey Work Group to develop a framework for a long range strategic survey plan to provide guidance on priorities and methodologies. The plan is to be completed in FY 2000.

In addition, the Strategic Survey Work Group is to develop a plan of work for FY 2000, including the identification of field surveys to be completed this year. The major components of the plan have been reviewed and agreed to by the IMG, and will be presented to the Research Agency Executives and S&M Executive Subgroup in the near future. The major components:

• Broad scale surveys to collect information on species occurrence using random samples of Current Vegetation Surveys (CVS) plots. Plots to be sampled will be stratified into four components - late-successional old-growth, non-late-successional old-growth, reserve, and matrix. Approximately one-half of the available funding is allocated for surveys in the Umpqua Basin, Oregon Coast, and Southern Washington.
• Revisiting known sites for S&M and Protection Buffer species and collecting habitat and other information.
• Surveys for the Red Tree Vole, Del Norte Salamander, and Siskiyou Salamander will be conducted to identify high priority sites for management.
• Examination and analysis of existing data to gain information on designing strategic surveys for species occurrence and habitat relationships.

Until dedicated staffing is obtained, a short-term interagency group of managers and specialists from across the area of the NFP is being established to take the Strategic Survey Work Group's plan and implement the FY 2000 Strategic Survey program.

Pacific Northwest Station Director, Tom Mills, requested the S&M Executive Subgroup (BLM, FS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Research Executives) be briefed prior to implementation of the FY 2000 Strategic Survey program including the linkage with the S&M SEIS. The IMG will facilitate individual briefings of the S&M Executive Subgroup members.

Agreements: It was agreed the S&M Executive Subgroup would meet in April and be briefed on strategic surveys, ISMS, and the FY 2000 field season. Judy Nelson will schedule this meeting.

Monitoring Program - Lisa Freedman
Progress was reported for the implementation and development of monitoring modules in accordance with the approved NFP Monitoring Plan, as well as agency priorities. The following issues were covered:

Memo to the Interagency Steering Committee:

• The original draft memo was revised based on agency comments. New draft to be available for review.

Decision: All comments should be sent to Lisa no later than Monday, March 13. Final memo will then be prepared for signature by RIEC Chair.

Regional Monitoring Team Position Descriptions:

• All position descriptions have been completed and classified by the FS. The FS can start outreach immediately and will be ready to advertise by March 24.
• The FWS has classified the GS-13 module leads but must send the GS-14 Program Manager position description to Washington, D.C. for approval.
• The BLM must send all three positions to Washington, D.C. for approval. Approval process may take 4-6 weeks.

Decision: The outreach notice will be distributed electronically to the RIEC members for redistribution so that interest in the positions from all agencies can be gauged. The BLM REO Representative will check with Elaine Zielinski about a plan for expediting the interagency recruitment for positions. Pending her approval, the Monitoring Program Managers Group (MPM) will do the following: FS and FWS will advertise the GS-13 positions as soon as possible. The FS and FWS will obtain approval to advertise the program manager position, with a target of one month for completing the approval process. If the BLM wishes to advertise the program manager position, the recommendation was to obtain the necessary approvals within the agreed-upon time frame.

Budget Update:

• The Environmental Protection Agency is providing $150,000 plus in-kind (up to $50k?) for the aquatic/riparian module.
• The BLM is providing $50,000 for the aquatic/riparian module.
• Filling a temporary detail for the aquatic/riparian module lead for up to 120 days is being pursued; contact with prospective qualified individuals has been made.
• No funds have been made available for additional Late-Successional Old-Growth analysis.
• Other highest priorities are funded.
• All agencies need to start looking at their FY 2001-2002 budgets. The MPM meeting scheduled for March 29 will include a discussion of future agency budget development.

Implementation monitoring:

• The FY 1999 report is being completed in two parts: results from monitoring FY 1999 timber sales will be done this spring and FY 1999 watershed monitoring results will be done this fall.
• Preliminary results show a 98% compliance on timber sales.
• The FY 2000 strategy:
• summarize 5 years of findings and monitoring experience.
• concentrate on recommending management actions (adaptive management, learning organization, etc.)
• review plan implementation projects within 24 watersheds.

There was discussion about the status of Implementation Monitoring FY 2000 plans and the FY 1999 report. These should be on the agenda for the May IAC meeting. An invitation to broaden the group of agencies working on implementation monitoring was delivered. The RIEC was in agreement with the watershed approach for implementation monitoring. In response to Tom Mills' question about what is being done to evaluate Watershed Analyses, the REO and Research and Monitoring Group will put together an analysis and recommendations about this issue. At that time, possible integration of this topic with the NFP monitoring program will be assessed.

Information Management:
The results of the Information Management workshop were described and a summary of the workshop was distributed. It is time to focus on information management: members from intermediate manager groups (MPM, Resource Data Information Group, IMG, and S&M Oversight Group) will meet and discuss overall information management needs.

A report on coordinating information management needs among programs will be included on the May RIEC meeting agenda. The RIEC agreed that the MPM need not consider bringing all regional information management issues under one umbrella, but should consider only NFP monitoring needs and how these needs might be integrated with those of other programs.

April 4 RIEC Meeting - Harold Belisle
An executive subgroup (Elaine Zielinski, Anne Badgley, and Harv Forsgren) will plan an agenda for the "executives only" meeting on April 4. The tentative plan includes a walk in the woods, lunch, and a work session. The REO will check on executive availability and report to the executive subgroup. The REO will assist in making arrangements for the meeting.

Rechartering the IAC - Steve Morris
The REO is initiating the IAC rechartering and non-federal member selection and approval process under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. We intend to forward the charter renewal and non-federal nomination packages to Washington, D.C. by early May to allow adequate time for the 18 step approval process, which we expect to be completed by September.

At the March 7 meeting, the RIEC decided to renew the existing charter without change, thus continuing the current IAC membership (federal and non-federal) for two more years. Should the RIEC decide to explore changing the IAC charter, it will be discussed over the next two years and submitted in 2002. RIEC members were made aware of non-federal member requirements: a 6-year limit for non-federal members and the requirement for non-federal members to submit two packets (primary and an alternate member). Waivers from the General Services Administration are available for non-federal members who have served on the IAC for six years, however, justification must be submitted with their application forms.

Hot Topics and Updates:

• New Developments in Late Successional Reserves - Anne Badgley, Harv Forsgren

Nancy Hayes, Department of the Interior, reported last week that Jim Lyons, Tom Fry, and Don Barry met and agreed on language for the new developments in Late-Successional Reserves interpretation memo. Most of the changes that Don Barry had requested were addressed. Jim Lyons wants to speak with Harv Forsgren prior to signing the memo. Nancy Hayes was writing a cover memo to transmit the interpretation to the region.

• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Relicensing of Hydroelectric Projects on Federal Lands Within the NFP Area - Anne Badgley, John Volkman

Pursuant to direction given by the RIEC at this meeting, the REO will facilitate a meeting of an interagency team of specialists as soon as possible to discuss ACS consistency as it pertains to existing Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensing projects on federal lands within the NFP area. The purpose of this meeting is to provide a context for a Regional Executive's discussion of the ACS question at the April RIEC meeting. The meeting will result in development of an issue paper to serve as a basis for discussion.

Future RIEC Meeting Planning

Possible Plan for the April 4 RIEC Meeting

• Federal Executive Team only walk in the woods, lunch, and meeting.

Potential Agenda Topics for the May 4 RIEC Meeting

• S&M SEIS: Select Recommended Preferred Alternative and Discuss Chapters 1-4
• S&M Strategic Survey Plan - IMG
• Monitoring Program - MPM
• Results of an Information Management Meeting
• Implementation Monitoring Update
• Results of the Interagency Steering Committee Meeting

Potential Hot Topics and Updates for the May 4 RIEC Meeting

• BLMs 3^rd Year Review
• Litigation Update - Judge Rothstein's Ruling
• Rechartering the IAC
• IAC Preview - Total Maximum Daily Load Rule