Introduction to Business Abe Power Point Presentation

							                                    Animas Watershed Project
                                       Meeting Summary
                                         June 18, 2008


On June 18, 2008, the Animas Watershed Project (AWP) group met at the City of
Aztec City Hall. The meeting was conducted from 4 pm to 6 pm. Attendees
were: Abe Franklin (NMED/SWQB), Regi Wahl and Paul Montoia (City of
Farmington), David Tomko (San Juan Watershed Group), Jack Rogers (City of
Durango), Aaron Chavez (San Juan Water Commission), Bill Pullen and Dorothy
Munson (property owners along the Animas River), Chuck Wanner (SJCA), Barb
Horn (CDOW), and Lynne Krueger (City of Aztec), Tyler Scheid (B.U.G.S.
Consulting), and Janet Wolf (Coordinator) – 13 total.

[Please see the website at www.ecosphere-services.com/resources for copies of
meeting materials and handouts as well as the power point presentations used at
the meeting]

The meeting began with a brief welcome and review of the agenda. The use of a
new form for tracking volunteer hours and mileage was introduced. The form
was circulated for attendees to complete.

The Action Item List generated during the May meeting was reviewed.
     Janet Wolf summarized the effort to finalize the brochure and asked for
      any final changes as this version of the brochure was expected to be
      available for the Durango Animas River Days happening the following
      weekend, June 22 and 22, 2008.
     The finalized Newcomers Document was completed and distributed to
      over 400 new contacts. The new contact lists are made up of property
      owners along the Animas River in La Plata County, Colorado and San
      Juan County, New Mexico and water supply companies in the Animas
      River watershed in Colorado and New Mexico.
     Chuck Wanner updated the group on his conversation with Michiko Burns
      with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe regarding the memorandum of
      understanding (MOU) for data sharing. There will be a discussion with
      the tribe’s attorney to see if an MOU can be avoided.
     Janet Wolf indicated that she received nine responses of interest
      regarding participation in a Document Review Committee.

Old Business: Tyler Scheid summarized the changes that had been made to
the Watershed Plan Strategy document that was reviewed during the May
meeting.

Presentation: Abe Franklin with the New Mexico Environment Department’s
Surface Water Quality Bureau gave a presentation titled “A Pollutant Load
Analysis Framework for Watershed Management Plans”. He provided a hand


AWP June 18, 2008 Meeting Summary                                             1
out listing the Environmental Protection Agency’s nine key elements that must be
included in watershed-based plans to restore waters impaired by non point
source pollution using incremental Section 319 funds. The first two elements
appear to be the most challenging to accomplish in the plans. The first element
involves identifying the causes and sources that will need to be controlled to
achieve the load reductions estimated in the watershed-based plan. Typically, a
watershed plan will set an overall non-point source load reduction goal (e.g., 130
pounds of phosphorus per day), but will also divide the goal by source activity
(e.g., treated wastewater discharge, runoff from flood-irrigated pasture) and
geographic priority areas. The second element requires an estimation of the load
reduction expected for the management practices (e.g., tertiary treatment of
wastewater, conversion from flood to sprinkler irrigation) identified for each
source.

Abe is working on a watershed project for the Rio Santa Barbara from the Picuris
Pueblo boundary to the US Forest Service boundary. He showed the group a
series of Excel tables that make up a framework to assist in determining the first
two of EPA’s elements described above. He will be sharing this framework with
the Rio Santa Barbara working group in early July. He will keep our group
informed if the tables are a useful tool, as they may be something that we can
use for the Animas River watershed management plan.

New Business: Tyler Scheid noted that the large format maps of the watershed
were available at the meeting for individuals to use “sticky” arrows and a
corresponding notepad to make their concerns/issues associated with the river.
These comments would be incorporated into a GIS layer. The maps will be
available at future meetings for stakeholder input in an ongoing basis.

Tyler Scheid then discussed the Draft Section 1 Introduction that had been
distributed. There were several sections in the draft that were left incomplete as
they required group discussion. One of these sections was in regards to the
mission statement. There had been some comments received recently on the
mission statement that needed to be discussed. Specifically the use of the word
“consensus” and “our”. Janet will draft a revised mission statement for review
and discussion at the July meeting. Another section needing input was regarding
an Advisory Board. Group discussion indicated that this topic was in flux and we
should include some discussion of who will hold this group together once the
grant monies are spent. Water quality goals were also discussed as far as level
of detail. There is some guidance in the EPA handbook. Tyler will revise these
goals for the introduction and expect that later sections of the management plan
will include more detailed water quality goals.

July Meeting – The next meeting date was set for July 16, 2008 in Durango from
4 pm to 6 pm. The meeting venue will be announced. Agenda items for the July
meeting will include discussion of a revised mission statement and the section in




AWP June 18, 2008 Meeting Summary                                                2
the watershed management plan introduction on education strategies and
outreach goals.

Action Items:
   1. Tyler Scheid - make revision to Section 1 based on comments received at
      the June meeting.
   2. Janet Wolf – Revise mission statement text for review.
   3. Tyler Scheid – will contact Document Review Committee members to
      determine whether the web-based tool called Basecamp will be used as a
      review tool.
   4. Janet Wolf – will provide Chuck Wanner with 25 copies of the brochure
      and a map of the watershed for Animas River Days.

    Decision Points from the June 18, 2008 Meeting:

    1. The project brochure will be made available without changes to the
       mission statement for the Animas River Days event this weekend.
    2. Attendees preferred the 4pm meeting start time over the 6 pm meeting
       start time for the July meeting in Durango.




AWP June 18, 2008 Meeting Summary                                             3