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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 06/18/2014NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2014 DATE: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 LOCATION: 215 N. Mason Conference Room 1-A TIME: 6:00–8:30pm For Reference: Joe Piesman, Chair 970-691-6697 Bob Overbeck, Council Liaison 970-988-9337 Susie Gordon, Staff Liaison 970-221-6265 Present: Joseph Piesman, Chair John Bartholow Harry Edwards Rob Cagen Liz Pruessner Absent: Joe Halseth Alexa Barratt Robert Mann Staff Present: Susie Gordon, Staff Liaison Dianne Tjalkens, Admin/Board Support Caroline Mitchell, Environmental Planner Tim Buchanan, City Forester Guests: David Tweedale, citizen Call meeting to order: Joe Piesman called the meeting to order at 6:04pm. Member Comments: None. Public Comments: None Review and Approval of May 21, 2014 minutes Harry moved and Rob seconded a motion to approve the May 21, 2014 NRAB minutes as amended. Motion passed unanimously, 5-0-0. Correct spelling of Rob Cagen in May minutes. AGENDA ITEM 1— 2013 Waste Diversion & Recycling Data Caroline Mitchell, Environmental Planner, previewed information that will be published in July about the community’s 2013 waste diversion level. Caroline described her areas of focus; regulatory oversight of trash haulers’ licenses, data collection, and WRAP (Waste Reduction and Recycling Assistance Program). She has completed calculation of the community diversion rate for 2013. Information comes from diverse sources, including trash haulers and recycling drop-off centers. The primary metric tracked is the community diversion rate, which includes commercial, industrial, and residential trash and recyclables. The goal passed by City Council last December of reaching a 75% diversion rate by 2020 is based on this number. In 2013 we had a 6% increase in diversion over 2012. The City is a co-owner of the Larimer County Landfill. The City self-hauls its industrial landfill materials at no charge as part of the ownership agreement. However, the City does pay the landfill tip fee internally, which goes to the Waste Innovation Fund (WIF), a program to fund projects that decrease the amount of material the City is sending to the landfill. A project funded by the WIF in 2013 is diverting the soil that previously had been landfilled from water utilities and stormwater projects. Utilities staff determined that we have uses for the material if the soil is screened and dried. The program has decreased what the City takes to the landfill by 45%. The soil is used as alternative daily cover at the landfill and in City projects. Other changes in the 2013 community diversion rate include an increase in asphalt and concrete recycling at the City’s Crushing Facility, as well as increases in recycling consistent with adoption of the cardboard ordinance, passed in March 2013. The industrial activities in Fort Collins are a significant driver in the increased diversion rate for the community. Primary industrial materials are concrete, asphalt, dirt, commercial wood waste, and spent grains and unregulated solids from the breweries, as well as biosolids from the wastewater treatment plant. Discussion/Q & A: • Rob asked whether the cardboard ordinance applies just to homeowners or to everyone. Caroline said it is for the whole city. He said at his condos only one side of the complex has recycling and he sees a lot of cardboard thrown into the trash. How do you enforce the ordinance? Caroline said the official threshold for violation is 25% or more of a dumpster being cardboard. If someone lodges a complaint, Susie or Caroline makes a visit to prevent future violation. They work with the WRAP program to determine best trash and recycling scenarios with the location in question. There is a large outreach campaign going on to educate. • Joe Piesman asked how much cardboard slips through. Susie said staff is unsure. In 2013, we did see an increase of 9% in cardboard delivered to the City’s recycle drop off facility. Additionally, cardboard collected from businesses nearly doubled from 2012 to 2013. Caroline added that most recycling happens through the single-stream system, where all recyclables are collected in one container. Single-stream volumes increased for both business and residences by 2.5-3.5%. Susie noted that we are seeing this shift after only nine months of implementation. • Harry asked if the recycled cardboard created a revenue stream for the City. Caroline said the most direct revenue goes to the hauler, as they get paid at the recycling center. They get paid more for sorted materials, which is why some businesses recycle their cardboard separately. Revenue also gets dispersed through the community as the more revenue the hauler gets from recycling, the less they conceivably have to charge the customers. • Liz asked about the plastic recyclables including plastic bags and shrink wrap. She wonders where you can recycle shrink wrap. Susie said it is more from commercial and industrial customers who use a lot of shrink wrap. Caroline added that there is a small bin at the recycle center for bags. A few small businesses working with WRAP bring their own plastic bags and shrink wrap to the collection bin where the plastic bags are aggregated prior to being hauled to the recycling center. Susie said all these plastics can be combined at grocery store recycling, but that means the grocers get stuck with 2 those additional materials, which are bulky. Liz asked if that includes the pillow packing material, wrap from toilet paper, etc. Caroline said yes and it even includes the plastic bags that frozen vegetables come in. • Caroline showed changes in larger categories from 2012 to 2013. The per capita waste to the landfill decreased about 5%. The average per capita includes commercial and industrial – not just residential materials. • Joe Piesman asked when this will go public. Caroline said it will be in CityNews next week AGENDA ITEM 2— Forestry Department Updates Tim Buchanan, City Forester, provided information about the status of tree replanting activities at the Woodward Governor development, as well as spruce beetle issues and the Integrated Pest Management specialist position submitted as a 2015-16 budget offer. Woodward Governor Site Update Tim said the Woodward project has had a lot of tree removal, grades were changed, etc., and many of the golf course trees were removed. For bank stabilization and grading a lot of tree removal was necessary on the river as well. Most of the tree removal is complete. There were 691 trees on the site and 504 are being removed. About 187 were retained. The good news with the landscape and reforestation plans is that they provide a generous amount of new tree planting. The campus is broken into lots, including the natural area, commercial development, and main campus. Landscape plans for the natural area are complete. Flooding has altered the timeline for tree planting. The main campus will have planting later in 2015. The numbers for the natural area are 348 native trees (three species of native cottonwoods and peach leaf willow), and over 800 shrubs. When the rest of the lots are developed there will be approximately 1,700 trees on the site. He is pleased with the plans. Tree planting in the river corridor will start in the fall. Discussion/Q & A: • Joe Piesman asked if the golf course trees were native or not. Tim said they were not native trees. • Joe Piesman asked where the trees will be purchased. Tim said a local contractor will be hired to procure the trees, locally and perhaps regionally if necessary. • Rob asked if the emphasis is on native plants. Tim said yes, in the natural areas. On the Woodward site they are planting adaptable urban plants that can screen, buffer, offer songbird nesting and habitat, and shade for parking. The landscape plans were prepared by BHA but there has been dialogue in the review process on species. • Liz asked about the historic Coy farm and whether it is one of the lots or part of Woodward. Tim was not sure if it was on lot one or lot two. Lot one will be developed as part of the first phase. It may be on the edge of lot two where they are building their corporate buildings. Liz wondered if it would be re-vegetated and used as a park since it is a historic site. Tim said the historic barns will be a rest area completed in phase 2. • Joe Piesman said we saw a lot of flooding this spring. He wonders if this is a good year for reseeding native cottonwood that requires flooding. Tim said seeding of cottonwood coincides with soil scarification due to flood or other intervention that allows the seed to contact soil. At gravel pits there is bare soil, with hundreds of cottonwood seedlings that come up. That is nature’s insurance that if a 3 drought happens some will survive. Ideally you have good spring moisture the following year to get them rooted. Forest Infestations Tim discussed the spruce beetle. For the last two years it has become the leader in infestation. This insect focuses on spruce and tends to start where there have been blow-downs. The insects attack those, and then become very aggressive. In the 1940s there was an infestation that spread all the way to Alaska. Now it is in northern Colorado, Medicine Bow, etc., and is expanding. There are many pockets. Engelmann spruce is the high elevation spruce. It is more established in the south part of the state and has about 100% mortality. It could devastate a lot more of our high elevation forest in the coming years. Mountain pine beetle is collapsing. But spruce beetle has recently been found in the San Juans, Rabbit Ears Pass, Upper Poudre River Basin, etc., and it is very serious. It does not appear that it will become an urban issue but it will alter habitat and affect watersheds in our native forests. Dead wood is prone to fires which affect water quality. These are slow growing trees that will take a long time to re-vegetate. Management is minimal. Most is on forest service land. There will probably be lumber harvesting, but spraying may only happen around camp grounds. Most people will probably think it is just more mountain pine beetle. Tim showed a map of disease progression in Colorado. There is a lot of expansion in acres over the last few years. Our native forests are under siege, but good moisture offers some protective benefit. Drought will exacerbate this problem. He also discussed 1,000 cankers black walnut disease, a fungus carried by bark beetles. The fungus was on Arizona walnut and there were no problems, but it has come here. They tried to do sanitation, but last year determined it is all over the community. At this point they are educating owners on where to take the wood to be disposed of or milled so the disease does not spread. At the entrance to the CSU Oval the black walnuts have all died and are being removed. The bigger impact will be if/when it jumps to the Eastern US, where the tree is used for wood products and is more prolific. There is a Fort Collins mill that can take walnut and there are others in Boulder. The wood can be used for tables and home construction. Emerald ash borer (EAB) may be the worst yet. It is an insect from Asia introduced to North America in the Detroit area in the 1990s. Our North American ashes have no resistance and EAB is very aggressive and fast moving, as well as hard to diagnose. It mines under the bark and kills the tree. It has been found in Boulder. They have about a 40-square mile area and it has been detected in five or six grids, so it is well established. They are doing management plans, but no one has been able to eradicate it. It can be in the top of a tree for three years without symptoms. You can control it through insecticidal treatments every year but generally cities only select highest value ash for treatment. There are approximately 8,000 City property ash trees and about 80,000 throughout Fort Collins. You can move to 100% mortality in 10 to 15 years for untreated trees. Approximately 10-20% of our urban trees are ash. We could detect it at any time or it could be 10 years away. They have pheromone traps to try to detect it, but the traps are not entirely successful. There is a Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) offer to do early detection, and pre-infestation surveying. It includes hiring private companies to do sampling on private properties and to hire an intern to conduct a private property ash inventory and help survey for early detection. If we can detect it early and implement a program it may slow the mortality. We went through Dutch elm disease and now we have EAB. It is best to have a greater variety of trees in our urban forest. These insects and diseases that pass between continents are the worst and we are very vulnerable to them. The infestation in Boulder is very close, but our biggest threat is a load of firewood from out of state. Boulder is quarantined. 4 Discussion/Q & A: • Liz asked if removal is the only treatment for ash trees hit by EAB. Tim said yes, when trees are too far gone to treat, and once it is at an epidemic level the dead trees become a safety hazard. They have strong root systems, so they sprout from the base when the top dies, which blocks visibility of sidewalks and corners. Managing the cost of removal and what happens to the volume of wood are also issues to consider. There is a BFO offer from the Street Department to purchase Hoffman Mill, which would allow City departments to collaborate. Forestry is a partner and would use six to eight acres at the site for wood processing. Natural Areas also wants to buy some of the site; there are four City departments bringing money to the table. The site would allow the City to do wood processing for EAB infected trees from City property, but not for the whole community. Susie added that Dutch elm disease regulations require burying infected wood in landfills. • Rob said in humans many diseases are cyclical. Does that hold true for native diseases like the pine and spruce beetles? Are there historic references that tell us every 40 years or so an infestation will come through, or will we just be blindsided every time, especially with climate change? Tim said we ask ourselves why native species suddenly become more aggressive. Are there epidemics within the insect populations? There have been grasshopper plagues on the plains. Why does this happen? He is less optimistic with exotic insects, but cold temperatures and dry climates can help with mortality. • Joe Piesman asked about the age of the trees being attacked. Tim said at first EAB attacks just weakened trees, but when it becomes more established can attack all sizes and conditions of ash trees. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Tim explained the BFO offer for an IPM specialist. He thinks this is beneficial to many departments. We have several departments doing pesticide application. We are doing a good job with IPM application, but we don’t have coordination or overriding policy. This position would bring that about. We have best practices for tree care, so formalizing them will be positive and beneficial. Discussion/Q & A: • Joe asked how much time Tim could expect the specialist to spend with his department as opposed to working on West Nile. Tim thinks West Nile management would take up to half of the person’s time at various times throughout the year. With emerald ash borer we will have large treatment operations. • Joe asked about the offer for trees along the trails. Tim said there is need to add canopy to the trails, but he is unsure of the areas in question, and is unfamiliar with the details of the offer. • Joe asked how many trees there are city-wide. Tim estimated there could be 300,000 or more. Staff is re-inventorying City property trees and expects at least 50,000. The green ash has naturalized and some can live up to 200 years. It is a recent species along the Poudre. AGENDA ITEM 3— Downtown River Master Plan The Board discussed contents of a memo to be sent to Council regarding the Plan before it goes to Council in July. Discussion/Q & A: 5 • Joe Piesman said one potential recommendation is to pass the list of bullets that was drafted by John Bartholow as a motion. The rest of the memo could be elaboration of the recommendations and concerns. • Liz said the first page is a good introduction of what we support and what is good about the river plan. The kayak park is the tricky piece. Options 1 and 2 could be blended together. Joe added he thinks options 2 and 3 could blend together. John Bartholow agreed with Joe. • Liz said options 1, 2 and 3 lay out the considerations and concerns with doing the kayak park. • John said it is important that Council get the idea that there are a variety of opinions. The form is less important than the information. • Rob said the Council gets buried in written materials. When he went through the BFO process last year, Council made it clear to be as brief as possible. He suggests bullets points and keeping it to a single page. If Council wants additional information, we can give them a link or an attachment. • Joe Piesman said our Council liaison is Bob Overbeck and he has come to two meetings and met individually with Joe. Joe said he sends memos directly to all Councilmembers, as well as Darin Atteberry and Susie Gordon. The river is the exception to the rule, where we go into more depth. There is room for longer memos on occasion. We’ve also heard from Councilmembers that when there is just one line, it is not very useful information. • Susie added that when staff does their agenda item summaries for Council, there is a place to include information about support from boards. Rob added that the complication of the BFO process right now adds another layer. • The board suggested changes to the “strawman” document. John moved and Liz seconded the following recommendation to Council: The Natural Resources Advisory Board supports adoption of the Poudre River Master Plan with some special considerations (see attached document). Motion passed unanimously, 4-0-1 (Rob Cagen abstained due to lack of background knowledge) • Rob Cagen added that board members can attend the Council work session to give their own opinions, especially if they missed this meeting. • Harry said that option 2 softens his concerns about turning a section of the river into a “Disneyland” type destination. AGENDA ITEM 4— Budgeting for Outcomes The Board discussed “Round 1” proposals that have been submitted for the 2015-16 budget and developed a preliminary list of priority recommendations for submittal in a memo to the City’s Budget Lead Team. Joe Piesman suggested a method for prioritizing the top six offers. The purpose now is to get the memo before the eyes of the budget lead teams. He will send the list to Darin Atteberry, Lucinda Smith, and Bob Overbeck. Each member offered his/her top three selections. Discussion/Q & A: • Liz asked about offer 47.6: the regional organics transfer station. Susie said there is an anaerobic digester being built out east of Greeley, so it makes sense to gather the materials into one place for transportation. 6 • Rob abstained from offering his top three selections. He added that his previous board came up with a fairly short list and when most fell by the wayside, they were devastated. With a longer list you can appeal to more people and have more success. • Joe Piesman said in September the board will have another opportunity to draft a formal recommendation to Council. • Joe agreed to write a brief memo to go with the list describing the board’s interest in specific offers. AGENDA ITEM 6— Other Business Update on Climate Action Plan Citizen Advisory Committee Harry said City Council requested the forming of a citizen advisory committee to review studies that will inform a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Corina Chan spoke for the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and summarized findings in a report regarding benefits and costs of accelerating the carbon reduction goals. She came to the conclusion that Fort Collins can achieve an 80% reduction by 2030 and gave examples of how to achieve that. John Bleem, from Platte River Power Authority (PRPA), gave a presentation on what PRPA is, described the Rawhide generating station (owned by four cities), and said that 73% of electricity used in Fort Collins is generated by burning coal. PRPA is looking at increasing renewables and is considering using combined cycle as a bridge between coal and renewables. John said they have six gas turbines at Rawhide that are used at peak and they can bring in steam generators as well. Judy Dorsey discussed Brendle Group and their project, which looks at inputs that affect greenhouse gas emissions and determines what kinds of decisions can be made to reduce emissions. She will put together a decision tree for evaluating strategies and a dashboard for analyzing emission reduction from specific strategies. The CAP update must be completed by the end of the calendar year. Discussion/Q & A: • Rob asked if John Bleem discussed why PRPA is continuing to use coal when they have the ability to use gas. Harry said the reasons are economic. They can supply the lowest cost electricity to us and it is their view that this is what customers want. John Bartholow added that they have contracts for coal. Rob said to look at all the natural gas we are exporting out of Colorado. Coal needs to be transported by train, and some mines are closing. • Joe Piesman asked if they discussed new EPA recommendations. Harry said they would only affect power plants of a certain size built in a certain period, and Rawhide may not be affected. However, our government just announced that coal plants will be more strictly regulated, but that will take at least a year. Joe Piesman said organizations like PRPA will have to assume that these will be implemented. Harry said John Bleem understands this and PRPA is increasing its ability to buy clean power, including partnering on a wind farm. Review City Council’s 6-Month Planning Calendar • Joe Piesman said for July, potential agenda items are for Lucinda to return to discuss the Climate Action Plan, and discussion of and modelling for integrated electrical resource planning. • Joe said Lindsay Ex would like to return regarding Nature in the City. He participated in a filming for the project. Also, Keith Elmund could speak on a warm water fishery. This may be too much for one 7 meeting. Joe added that the August 20 meeting is the week before classes start at CSU and he may be out of town. Since the agenda is very light, he would like to consider cancelling the August meeting. This will be discussed more at the July meeting. • Rob Cagen asked if this board deals with the Climate Wise program. His company participates and he is on a committee considering some changes to the structure of participation. Rob said he can brief the board on these changes as they occur. • Joe Piesman said Bob Mann proposed a recommendation to Council to make Fort Collins an idle-free zone. Susie will find out if anyone is working on this. Announcements • Susie said there were some invitations to tours that went out to the board. Rob Cagen has signed up for the water shed tour. • Susie said the disposable grocery bag ordinance goes to Council on July 1 for first reading. It will include a 10-cent fee on paper and plastic bags; funds will stay with the grocer to purchase and give away reusable bags. Implementation would begin January 1. The board took a position in April to support implementation. • Rob said he is in favor of this ordinance and would like to say this to Council. Joe Piesman said Rob can let Council know that the board already gave their support of this ordinance. Joe will email Rob a copy of the recommendation. Adjournment: Harry moved to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 8:45pm. Approved by the Board on July 16, 2014 Signed ____________________________________ 7/22/2014 Dianne Tjalkens, Administrative Clerk II Date 8