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WCRC Minutes November 9, 2005 Intro of members: Zeke Ward, WCRC Chairman and Mineral County Commissioner; Jim Matush, Creede; Kathy Jennings, Creede; Don Dustin, Creede; Mike Wireman US EPA; Jeff Graves, CDMG; Les Dobson, US Forest Service; Steve Yochum, NRCS; Jim Mietz, San Luis Valley RC&D; Kelley Thompson, WCRC Director Approval of minutes: Kelley mentioned Jim Mietz’s comments regarding the October minutes that DOLA funds could be administered by a non-profit; although the funding did have to go through local government. No corrections to the October minutes were proposed. Motion to approve the October minutes made by Kathy; second made by Kelley. Motion carried. Additions/corrections to the agenda: Reports on the Brownfield conference and on the EPA Assessment Report were added to Reports. In-Kind: Forms were provided in hard copy for volunteers to track time and other expenses. Zeke encouraged monthly submission of these forms. Reports: Director’s Report: Kelley reporting on completion of work on the culvert at Windy Gulch. The old culvert was removed and concrete box culverts were placed using a 75-ton crane. It was not known until September that the culverts had to be built, and the concrete placement companies that Kelley contacted in late September were booked into November. Therefore, Kelley recruited his father, and together they formed and poured the footers, headwalls, and wingwalls. They recently finished removing insulation that was used to protect the concrete from freezing and applied a tan finish coat. During the culvert excavation, water began entering the excavation from upstream bank. The water now is now running through the gravel under the culverts and exiting; and the city found trace chlorine levels in the water indicating it was coming from a water line. All evidence suggests that a water line was not broken by the culvert excavation, but rather indicates that the water line has been broken upstream of the culvert for some time. However, the water may cause freeze/thaw problems for the culverts, and a simple fix of the line may increase chances that it may then freeze under the culvert. Therefore, it will benefit the project to try to reroute the water line around the culvert. After the water line is addressed, the wingwalls will be backfilled, rock will be placed in the bottom of the channels, and the banks may be stabilized with willow or grass. Kelley also has been working to spread compost at the
Phoenix Park Mill and Midwest Mine sites. Kelley
spread compost at the Kelley also mentioned that he put a salt block near the Commodore portal that can be put in the ditch further in the mine the next time someone takes in the locomotive. Brownfield’s Report Mike described the recent EPA Brownfields conference held
in EPA Assessment Report Mike presented final copies of the EPA Aquatic Resources Assessment of the Willow Creek Watershed to the committee. The report will form a large portion of the Willow Creek Watershed Management Plan that must be developed. A committee worked on the report, but in the end Mike and Karl Hermann put a tremendous amount of work into the report. Mike will try to ship additional copies for committee members. Zeke mentioned that the committee should send an official letter to Max Dodson acknowledging the great report and the people that worked so hard on it. Steve Yochum Report (presented at end of meeting) Steve has been working hard to complete a GPS survey of the floodplain area after repair of the radio for his GPS unit. The survey is critical for creation of a flood level model and channel design. Steve had a conversation with Bob Tridle of Hecla Mining (Creede Resources) who indicated that data collection may need to be more tightly controlled following issuance of the Wason lawsuit. Zeke explained that Hecla may now be somewhat more comfortable with data collection since his conversation. Steve would like to get Hecla more engaged with the NRCS floodplain design project. Zeke will make a phone call to Hecla to coordinate a potential meeting to further discuss the floodplain project and data collection. Steve also expressed interest in having Wason Ranch more involved with the committee. Wason Ranch was once more involved in the committee, and they still have an open invitation to come, but Zeke will call Diane the Ranch manager to see if she’d like to be more involved. Steve also mentioned that he found that a lawsuit in 1904 was filed by Wason over dumping of tailings on their property that was settled for $1200. Some tailings on their property may be from this time period. Old Business Commodore Level 3 Investigation If the weather is good enough, Jim, Merl, Kathy, Kelley and Zeke will meet at 9am on Saturday November 13 to go the Commodore level 3 building to investigate potential needs to help preserve the structure. Kelley will call to confirm how the weather is. Low Flow Sampling Things were too busy for Kelley to get a limited low flow sampling done in October. Kelley will still try to coordinate a limited sampling in November. Jim Matush and Les mentioned that they could potentially help with the sampling and flow measurements. New Business: Support of
Floodplain Work Zeke and Mike
presented to the committee the need to help Steve Yochum with any needs that he
might have in order to expedite the NRCS floodplain design project.
In addition to the floodplain stream channel design, results are also
critical to the Steve feels that he
has the geomorphology and hydrology under control.
He could potentially use some help with the revegetation plan, spatial
identification of contaminated soils, and finer scale data of water levels and
gradients. Other resources may
include Mark Arnold and Casey Resources or the soil scientist in Commodore Flume Band-Aid The CDMG has said that we can spend up to $5000 to take measures to try to get the wooden flume through the next high flow season. Jim Herron originally indicated trying to replace some of the wood to reinforce the flume. Kelley talked to Ken Wyley about trying to replace some of the side posts and planking. Jeff mentioned that he feels like it may be more beneficial to work first on earthwork at the site. This work could include placing material around the flume at several places where it is getting washed out and to reinforce the sides, cleaning out the upper grizzly, removing trash in the bank that is being eroded could be removed, and potentially digging out the lower grizzly and replacing fill under the metal drop structure. If money is still available, the parshall flume could also be reset to collect more water from the Nelson Tunnel or some wood could be replaced. Jeff motioned and Mike seconded to first do earthwork at the site using the CDMG money. Motion carried. Erdman Willow Samples Kelley mentioned that Jim Erdman asked if the committee could pay a $97.50 bill for willow leaf analysis related to metals levels in the area. The committee approved the payment and Kelley will see if a current grant can be used. Jim Mietz brought up his idea of charging a 10% administrative fee for new grants. 5% would go to the RC+D while the other 5% would be passed back to the committee for director salary. Don Dustin invited committee members to the Creede annual Thanksgiving dinner on November 19 at the community center. The next meeting will be December 7, 2005. Meeting adjourned 3:30 PM Respectfully Submitted, Kelley Thompson |