SRM Watershed/Riparian Committee Meeting Notes

Reno, NV – February 11, 2007

1. Introductions/Chairs - Jimmy Eisner, 2006 Chair, began the meeting with

introductions and passed around a sign-up sheet for updating the e-mail list. Jimmy
Eisner is the 2007 Committee Chair, Derek Bailey 2008 and Steve Smith is the new
Chair-Elect for 2009.

Action Item: Jimmy will do an initial update of the committee e-mail list and send a test
message asking if people want to remain on it or not, and then finalize and share with the
committee members.

2. SRM Board and Committee Chair Meeting – Carol Engle and Derek Bailey
attended the meeting Saturday evening and the main point for the WRC was to get the
committee webpage completed within 60 days (see below regarding webpage). Joel
Brown is the WRC Board Rep for one more year.

3. Committee Handbook – Susan Holtzman provided copies of the updated committee

handbook that outlines history, purpose, roles and responsibilities and relationships to the
BOD and other committees. This revision is also tiered to the SRM strategic plan. The
handbook is intended for use as a guidance document and will be reviewed and revised as
needed.

Action Items: Susan will do a final edit and then transmit to Jimmy, Derek and Steve, by
February 28th. Derek will; 1) send it to committee members via e-mail, and 2) include it
as part of the webpage submission.

4. Webpage – The committee discussed webpage content and came up with the following
categories:

1. Introduction
2. Handbook
3. Members
4. Activities
5. Links

Pictures with captions were discussed but no decisions or assignments made. There is a
photo section on the SRM website already and this could be added to. Links suggested
were to SRM riparian position statements, TR 1737-20 (riparian grazing) and Rangelands
West, which may already be on the draft list.

Action Items: 1) Susan will finalize the introduction and handbook sections, and create a
first draft of the committee activities. By February 28th, she will send to Jimmy, Derek
and Steve to finalize and Derek will submit for the web. 2) Jimmy will finalize the

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member list and the links and send to Derek to add to the webpage submission. 3) Derek
will submit the WRC webpage content to Ann Tanaka (and Joel).

5. Committee Binder – The physical record of the committee has been reduced to one 3-
ring binder and information was also put on a CD.

Action Item: Jimmy will send the committee binder and CD to Derek.

6. Article on Compatible Grazing – This has been an action item for several years as
something Wayne Elmore was going to do. We also discussed addressing this in other
ways.

Action Item: Ask Wayne if we should drop this from the to-do list. Answer: Yes…he
may do this at some point but says not to keep it on the list.

7. 2007 WRC Symposium – Tuesday at 9:00am, Water Catchment Ecohydrology:

Vegetation Management for Improved Watershed Function. Derek said it was organized
in 2 parts - science and management, with good speakers, and asked the committee to
attend.

Action Item: Derek or Steve write and submit an article for the SRM Rangeland News
(formerly Member News).

8. High School Youth Forum Workshop – Wednesday, 8:30am-11:30am. Carol Engle

once again worked with Barron Rector to schedule several of the WRC members and
others to do a riparian function workshop for the HSYF, similar to the previous one at the
Ft. Worth meeting.

Action Item: Jimmy will write and submit an article for SRM Rangeland News.

9. WRC University Recruitment – Cindy McArthur reported on her activities which

included contacting quite a few universities to invite students to SRM and to participate
in the WRC while attending the meeting. She brought 3 students with her who
introduced themselves, gave their background and areas of interest and also expressed a
desire for mentorship. The committee gave some advice such as: 1) shadow a committee
member, 2) go to mixers, 3) be outgoing, inquisitive and assertive relative to
opportunities, and 4) network.

Action Item: Cindy will continue her contacts with universities and look into developing
some sort of mentor contact system on the WRC webpage.

10. 2008 Symposia Brainstorm – Next year’s meeting is being held jointly with the
annual meeting of the American Forage and Grassland Council (AFGC), in Louisville,
KY, January 26-31, 2008. A topic from previous discussions regarding a session on water
quality, emphasizing non-point source, was brought forward. In addition, the idea of
focusing on the compatibility of grazing in riparian areas was suggested. This was

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followed with the idea of a session based on the new interagency technical reference, TR-
1737-20 Grazing Management Processes and Strategies for Riparian-Wetland Areas.
Other comments included making the tie of uses and values with function as the
foundation. Possibly include fecal coliform loading, standards and sampling. Focus on
geomorphology. Tie grazing management into water quality and address riparian buffers
for the eastern conference. Possibly (probably should) co-sponsor with a committee of
AFGC. Could do water quality focus for Louisville 2008 and TR-20 for Albuquerque
2009.

Action Items: 1) Jimmy will send out an e-mail message to the committee asking if
anyone is interested in working on a subcommittee relative to the 2 proposed topics with
the idea that AFGC would help with the water quality session. 2) Someone needs to
research AFGC for a comparable committee to work with – no assignment made. 3)
Someone will have to be the lead if there is enough interest to sponsor an activity – to be
determined.

11. Comments from Joel Brown, Board Rep – He would like to see a section on the
webpage that outlines the activities of the WRC over the past 5 years or so, as people will
link to topics. The BOD is also working on tying membership to annual meeting
registration, along with a proposal to change how and where annual meetings are held.
He reminded us that positions and resolutions have to go through many entities and take
at least 6 months. Committees in the Science and Ecology Division should look for ways
to be more integrated and that he will send an e-mail to all the chairs if we want to share
information. He particularly mentioned the GIS/Remote Sensing and Wildlife Habitat
Committees. He also mentioned that in the east there is a lot of focus on BMP’s but not
that much on watershed management so the concern is that there is inadequate linkage
between these. He asked if AFGC has a WRC or something similar. Controversial
symposia are good and there is no space limitation on the program.

12. 2009 Symposia Ideas – 1) water quantity, 2) lentic systems, 3) TR-20

13. Other – 1) There is a riparian grazing listserve administered by Eric Peterson with
the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service. 2) Over the next several
years, the WRC should stay informed on the status of any efforts to develop ecological
site descriptions for riparian areas.

14. Report to BOD Rep – A one-page synopsis of the committee meeting and any
activities is to be submitted to the WRC Board Rep either during or right after the annual
meeting.

Action Item: Derek to send WRC report to Joel and committee members, by February
28th.

15. SRM 2007 Mini-Directory – Names and contact information for the 2007 Chair and
20008 Chair-Elect are to be sent to the SRM Headquarters Office in Wheatland, CO.

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Action Item: Derek to send information for himself and Steve Smith to Lesley Radtke,
Director of Membership at lradtke@rangelands.org.