Pringle Creek
Watershed Council

MEETING NOTICE

Tuesday, July 8, 2003

6:30 PM to 8:00 PM

Leslie Middle School
Room 232
3850 Pringle Rd SE  

AGENDA / MINUTES

This is an open meeting. The public which lives, works, and recreates in the watershed is encouraged to attend.

Council Core Values: 

• Stewardship of the Pringle Creek watershed as a natural entity in an urban environment; 
• Sustaining Pringle and Clark Creeks as naturally occurring watercourses;
• Preserving Pringle and Clark Creeks’ riparian corridors to support native plants and wildlife;
• Improving water quality; and
• Promoting public awareness and education on watershed issues. 

The Pringle Creek Watershed Council is a nonprofit association representing watershed residents, businesses, schools, neighborhood associations, government, the scientific community and environmental organizations.

Pringle Creek Watershed Council

Tuesday, July 8, 2003

Attendees: Roger Heusser, John Savage, Alan Pennington, Susan Kephart, Larry Nasset, Robin Straughan, Bob Roth, Victor Dodier

Draft Volunteer Recruitment Plan

John Savage reviewed the draft volunteer recruitment and retention strategies paper that he, Alan, and Bob prepared. John commented that membership, particularly for the boards, is a common problem for volunteer organizations. Bob noted that Crystal Burgoyne prepared a piece for Friends of Mill Creek that might be help in recruiting volunteers.

The draft outlines three committees (see next page). We talked about dividing up duties among the committees:

• Membership Committee - John will chair the committee. Victor and Robin volunteered to serve on the committee.
• Organization Committee - Victor will chair the committee. He looks to other board members to help build agendas for monthly meetings. Was Anne Taylor able to participate? Victor said that he would contact her.
• Project Committee - Roger will chair the committee. Alan and John volunteered to serve.

City News

Alan Pennington covered several issues. He reported that the city would offer small restoration grants. The total city budget for restoration grants is $50,000 per year. The city's guidelines will be on line.

The city's "free tree" program is back. The city will send streamside property owners a letter soon. The city will be looking for volunteers to help those who aren't able to plant their trees.

The Cannery Park grand opening is scheduled for August 13.

Work on the Pringle Creek fish ladder has started. The contractor will work on one side of the creek, then switch to the other. Stream flow in Pringle Creek and Shelton's Ditch has been reduced so that the contractor can "de-water" the work site. Victor commented that a Statesman Journal reporter had contacted him for comment on the fish ladder project.

Alan also had news of the Sumco Supplemental Environmental Project. The SEP will fund a proposal by Mike Weddle, Waldo Middle School. The SEP money will fund a number of projects at the Jane Goodall Environmental Magnet School (JGEMS).

Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) Council Support Grant

Victor briefly described the current status of the support grant. OWEB appears ready to approve a $70,000 watershed council support grant. However, there is a major controversy. The Glenn-Gibson Watershed Council (GGWC), one of the four Salem urban WCs that have been supported by this biennium's OWEB grant, recently decided to withdraw from the combined grant. GGWC wants to re-align itself with the WCs on the west side of the river and the Polk County Soil and Water Conservation District. While GGWC would like to take 25% of the combined Council Support Grant with it as it leaves, the other three (Friends of Mill Creek, Claggett Creek, and PCWC) have not agreed. Rather, they propose to continue with the four WCs in the council support grant for the next two years because that is how the grant was proposed to OWEB. In addition, the $70,000 offered by OWEB is barely sufficient to support about 80 percent of Bob's time. Support for a full position requires partnership with Marion County Soil and Water Conservation District to make up the difference.

The latest information from OWEB indicates that OWEB is prepared to offer a $70,000 council support grant for the four WCs. If GGWC wishes to leave, OWEB will reduce the support grant for the remaining three by 25 percent. OWEB will not offer council support funds to GGWC.

That said, the PCWC board must provide Bob guidance on how to prioritize within the PCWC work items initially proposed to OWEB. At best, we have to cut back about 20 percent since Bob will be working only part of the time for the WCs. Generally speaking, board members took on board development and volunteer recruitment, putting these activities at a lower priority. We advised Bob to emphasize activities that are common to the four (or three) WCs.

Project Ideas

We had a brainstorming session for project ideas:

• Channel Habitat Typing element for Pringle Creek must be done.
• Jeanne Fromm is planning an October 11 project for the Fairview Mitigation Wetlands. This is an early Make a Difference Day project. The idea is to put a walking trail onto the top of the berm.
• Bush's Pasture Park restoration. The JGEMS SEP proposal has a project element for Pringle Creek in the park. The advantage is that the kids in the JGEMS program can do maintenance activities.
• Cannery Park Bioswale and wetland will require maintenance.
• The planting project at Salem Hospital needs to be cleaned up. The plants appear to have been established.
• The poster project ... Bob puts this at a lower priority.
• Education forums for Pringle Creek. We have one already on the drawing board, the Historic Fish Presence. The Project Committee will work on this project.
• Blackberry removal from Pringle Creek west of Commercial.
• A fund raising project. Larry Nasset suggested developing a donor base. The Audubon Society has been successful in raising money this way. We thought that it might be a good idea for all the urban watersheds. We also came back to the "classy stuff" garage sale idea.

Additions after July 8 meeting:

Robin Straughan joined the Project Committee.

Another project idea:

• Cleanup, weeding and bark dusting at the Oregon School for the Blind.

Draft

Pringle Creek Watershed Council

Volunteer Recruitment and Retention Strategies

July 2003

• Pitch the organization and upcoming projects at the September Watershed Forum at the Salem public library.

• Establish three Council committees to slot new and existing volunteers.
  • Project Committee - responsible for planning and organizing field projects and education programs. Near-term projects include Fairview mitigation, Bush Park restoration, Cannery Park, watershed assessment, water rights inventory, and watershed poster.
  • Membership Committee - responsible for volunteer recruitment and retention. Duties include volunteer orientation, volunteer training, volunteer recruitment activities, volunteer recognition, volunteer tracking and record keeping, and volunteer support programs and materials such as volunteer handbook, mentoring programs, volunteer fairs, job descriptions, etc.
  • Organization Committee - responsible for upkeep of organization as a whole. Duties include planning monthly and annual meetings, raising money, writing grants, recruiting board members, training new board members, developing budgets, coordinating with other organizations, organizing special events (e.g. Watershed Forum), providing testimony to public bodies, maintaining Web site, and providing other necessary support for Council activities.

• Interview all new volunteers and provide new volunteer orientation.

• Assign membership committee to flesh out recruitment and retention plan.

Pringle Creek Watershed Council
c/o Marion Soil and Water Conservation District
EMAIL to Watershed Council

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