June 29th, 2015

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Frenchman Bay Partners Executive Committee Meeting

Location: Hegner Building (2A) on the MDIBL campus. 

Call in Number: 288-9880 ext. 429

Date and Time: Monday June 29, 2015 3-5 pm

In attendance:  Jane Disney, Bridie McGreavy, Chris Petersen

MINUTES

  1. Review of Emma Fox’s request to survey Frenchman Bay Partners as part of her environmental economics research at University of Maine.

 We discussed Emma’s proposal.  She had sent a link and we looked at her survey questions.  We are supportive of her research project.  We agreed:

  • She is welcome as an administrator of the website and Facebook Page to post information about herself, her research, and the up-coming survey. If she needs help, Duncan Bailey, webmaster, or Anna Farrell, Environmental Steward will give her a hand.
  • She is welcome to use the Frenchman Bay Partners e-mail list
  • We are happy to help as needed to promote the survey, encourage members to take the survey etc.
  1. Review of request from Maine Coast Heritage Trust for a letter from the Partners to support a grant to conserve part of Stave Island

 We agreed to support the North American Wetlands Conservation Act Proposal.  Jane will sign as president and forward to Bob DeForrest 

  1. FBP Annual Meeting

 We analyzed the results and agreed that next time:

  1. We will end the meeting with the potluck lunch: no work only networking after lunch
  2. We will continue with the World Café structure; people thought it was informative and conducive to conversation.
  3. We will make the goals of the World Café clear to participants
  4. We will provide more time for the World Café
  5. We will have fewer talks in the morning and a single World Café session afterwards.
  6. We will encourage partners to bring display items
  7. We will encourage posters to cover the topics that are not the focus of the annual meeting but still of interest to all. These can be perused during/after lunch.
  8. Gates Center is a good venue for the meeting.
  1. Establishing a Steering Committee for FBP

    We decided to invite larger participation from Frenchman Bay Partners by creating a steering committee.  We will:

  1. Define the roles and responsibilities of the Steering Committee
  2. Differentiate them from those of the Executive Committee
  3. Invite Frenchman Bay Partners to participate with the intention of including representatives of municipal committees, the municipal liaisons, groups like the Regional Shellfish Committee, Zone B Lobster Council, Acadia National Park, as well as individuals and others.
  4. Plan our first meeting for September

A maximum would be 15 committee members; probably 12 would be optimum.  Jane will create invitation language.  Anna will write a draft roles and responsibilities document for us.

  1. Committee Summer Plans:
  • Diadromous Fish

Chris reported that Southern alewife runs did not do well this year.  Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary runs were not as good as last year.  The Downeast runs were good however. Dwayne Shaw and Downeast Salmon Federation may be getting more involved with Frenchman Bay, in particular, with smelt runs.  Jane will invite participation of DSF in Frenchman Bay Partners

  • Eelgrass

Eelgrass restoration projects from last summer are all doing well at Berry Cove, Hadley Point, and Thomas Island.  Two more projects are planned.  One on July 6-7.  The other on August 3-4. Both of these involve partnership with Maine Coast Heritage Trust and others.

  • Mudflats

Chris has interns working on shell addition, pH, and clam recruitment.  They will look at different sites and times.  They will potentially work at the Trenton Bridge, Hadley Point East and West or a site off Indian Point Road in Western Bay. We are all involved in the Cromwell Brook Watershed Monitoring project which may have implications for Frenchman Bay down the road. A site at Hadley Point East is already set up.

Bridie has been working with the Regional Shellfish Committee on restoration and seeding mudflats at Raccoon Cove and Settler’s Landing.  The 610 Project will meet this summer to continue to address the recent closure in Lamoine and advance the campaign to raise awareness about dog waste contamination and impact on clam harvesting livelihoods. 

  1. Grant Updates:

These grants were not funded: 

 Elmina Sewall Grant submitted January 15th for an FBP coordinator

See http://www.sewallfoundation.org/

NOAA B-Wet Grant submitted Oct. 31st to engage students in FBP projects

See http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/grants/docs/NE-FFO2015.pdf

This grant was funded: 

Alex C. Walker Foundation for creating an on-line ESV decision support tool and testing it in a real world setting

We discussed exploration of open source options for Ecosystem Services Decision Support Tools like the Natural Capital Project.  We may invite The Nature Conservancy to work with us and help us create a decision support tool that is tailored to Frenchman Bay using their open source software.

  1. Ecosystems Services Values (ESV) decision support tool for Frenchman Bay

We discussed the Technical Report updated based on data from the June 2nd, 2015 meeting of stakeholders on the Hancock Side of Frenchman Bay.  We had over 20 interested stakeholders attend the meeting.  From all three meetings, we have 3 new business partners.  Perhaps the potential to serve on the steering committee will draw in new partners.