Tuesday, April 12, :00 p.m. Minutes. Prepared by: Kati Harmon, NDOW

Transcription

1 Committee Chairman: Eddie Booth Staff to the Committee: Ed Partee Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners Humboldt County Elk Management Sub-plan Steering Committee Winnemucca Inn Conference Room 741 W. Winnemucca Blvd. Winnemucca, NV Tuesday, April 12, :00 p.m. Minutes Prepared by: Kati Harmon, NDOW 1. Call to Order, Pledge of Allegiance, Roll Call of Steering Committee Members Chairman Booth Meeting called to Order By Chairman Booth at 1:59 pm Attendees Anderson, Fred; Committee Avey, Lyle; Committee Booth, Eddie; Chairman Boyle, Terry; Committee Cassinelli, Tom; Committee Cerri, Ron; Committee Day, Brian; Committee Evatz, Mark; Committee Gallio, Kevin; Committee, by phone conference Schultz, Brad; Committee Sperry, Mike; Committee Sappington, Steve; BLM for William Mack Garrotto, Joseph; District Ranger, FS for Boyd Hatch Partee, Ed; NDOW Harmon, Kati; NDOW Garrett, Clint; Sportsman Mori, Pete; Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners, Member Schweigert, Bob; IRC Scherer, Bettina; NV Conservation Districts Program Ensley, Horton; Rancher/miner, retired Echeto, Isidro; Sportsman Absentees Dufurrena, Hank; Committee Hatch, Boyd; Committee Mack, William; Committee 2. Approval of the Agenda Chairman Booth Action Item The Committee will review the agenda and may take action to approve the agenda. The Committee may remove items from the agenda, combine items for consideration or take items out of order. Motion by Avey, second by Cassinelli, to approve agenda as is; unanimously approved. 3. *Approval of the Minutes Chairman Booth Action Item The Committee will review the minutes of the February 20, 2016 meeting, make any necessary changes in the minutes and may take action to approve. Motion by Cassinelli, second by Schultz, to accept the meeting minutes from 2/20/16, unanimously approved. 1

2 4. Public Comment Period Open public comment on any agenda item, with each individual allowed a two (2) minute time limit per person or four (4) minutes if representing a group. No action can be taken by the Committee at this time. Any item requiring Committee action may be scheduled on a future Committee Agenda. Ensley - everything is in decline, wondering what is being done for diversion of water and pollution of water to protect the wildlife. o Booth this committee is trying to make an elk plan, we re not in charge of water, but there is a Rotary meeting with a water presentation tomorrow. o Cassinelli this committee is here to establish an elk plan for this county, the Humboldt County Commissioners, etc. would be better suited for this question. We have no power to make water decisions o Ensley nothing is being done about the water. 5. Member Items, Announcements, Correspondence Chairman Booth Informational Committee members may present emergent items. No action may be taken by the Committee. Any item requiring Committee action may be scheduled on a future agenda. The Committee will review and may discuss correspondence sent or received since its last regular meeting and may provide copies for the exhibit file. Review of the Committee purpose and ground rules. Drew, Jeremy, NV Board of Wildlife Commissioners Sent an correspondence (attached), as he was unable to attend the meeting Booth Ed Partee and I attended the Board of Wildlife Commissioners meeting last month to present the plan to the Commission for their first reading. Chairman Drew made the following motion (excerpt taken from the Board of Wildlife Commissioners meeting minutes draft): Chairman Drew moved to advance the Humboldt County Elk Management Subplan final draft dated 2/24/16 to a second reading, following review by the Humboldt County Commission and Humboldt County planning Committee. Further, that the committee review and suggest any changes as suggested by Mr. Schweigert in the letter and correspondence that he has provided to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners. Final the timeframe on page 10, to reflect revision stating upon recommendation of the cot team. confirm that management actions to be taken once the 75 percent population objective is reached and also provide or confirm description of process to arrive at the final objectives. Commissioner Hubbs seconded the motion. Chairman Drew asked if Mr. Booth is comfortable with the motion and direction provided, and is Mr. Schweigert comfortable and able to provide a clear list of the correspondence received so we are all on the same page. Commissioner Mori asked what the process would be if that is considered a second reading? Chairman Drew said his intent is second reading of plan based on any changes that come back after the committee s review, and if Commission comfortable with approving plan at that time if the committee and Commission are comfortable that all issues have been addressed. And if not, he has no issue with a third reading if necessary. Commissioner McNinch said as he was not present during the discussion, he will abstain from vote. He said he appreciates all the work done by the committee. Commissioners in favor of Motion: Chairman Drew, Commissioners Wallace, Bliss, Hubbs, Johnston, Mori, and Young. Commissioner McNinch abstained. Commissioner Valentine absent. Motion carried

3 6. Recommendations from the March 24, 2016 meeting of the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners Committee Chairman Eddie Booth and Game Biologist and TRT Lead Ed Partee For Possible Action Chairman Booth and Mr. Partee will report on the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners March 2016 meeting and will answer any questions from the Committee. At the meeting, the Commissioners moved to advance the Humboldt County Elk Sub-plan to a second reading and requested further considerations and clarifications. Mr. Partee will report on any recommended changes to the DRAFT Sub-plan that address the Commissioners requests. The Committee will also consider the suggestions Mr. Schweigert made to the Commissioners and may recommend incorporating or adopting those suggestions in part or in whole or may recommend the Commissioners reject the suggestions. Partee o Pg 8, added final bullet point to o Pg 10 Bullet Points Day Pgs & 28-29, Planning unit specifics for 33, going to have to go through NEPA for a hunt, management for FW, NEPA is covered under CCP for the pioneering of elk, but not for a hunt, so we need to add that because we will still need to go through NEPA to start a hunt on the Sheldon. Motion by Day, second by Cassinelli, regarding USFWS, to add a line to Pg. 29 #4, stating that a NEPA process will need to be completed if a hunt is established; unanimously approved. Motion by Cassinelli, second by Sperry, to accept the items on pg 8 and 10 as suggested by the Wildlife Commission and written by Partee; unanimously approved. Dufurrena asked Partee to relay the following information on his behalf as he could not attend Dufurrena is concerned about forage allocation, never really given a straight answer from BLM, even though he has gone into BLM independently, they still did not have an answer. o Sappington AUMs will change per renewal, we will not assign elk an AUM here, nor will we take away from cattle for the purpose of wildlife. o Schweigert There isn t one AUM allocated to Elk. Gallio sent in a correspondence in case he could not attend by phone, read into the record by Chairman Booth (attached) Wakeling sent in correspondence in his absence, read into the record by Chairman Booth (attached) Booth - Commission made a decision to send it back to this committee, the reason I believe is out of respect for the committee and your time and effort. I believe the Commissioners did not want to circumvent our efforts and wanted to bring Schweigert s concerns back here locally because they plan was developed by residents of our county. I feel they didn t want to make decisions or changes to the plan that would be negative or disrespectful to the committee because of the concerns that were made to the commission. Schweigert provided 2111 pages of correspondence to the commission. Schweigert The information I provided yesterday was not redundant, it was in addition to the 2111 pages and is approximately 4000 pages. Partee - The additional information was not provided to the committee members prior to the meeting. Schweigert Wildlife Commission wanted a complete list of documents supplied for revision. They asked us to compile that list and provide it to the committee for consideration going forward. Schweigert wants the meeting reconvened at a later date because he was not informed of this meeting and the correspondence in regards to water rights, grazing rights, FLPMA, etc. that he has provided was not distributed. Sappington - Data submitted yesterday is a moot point. Gallio Personal contact is absurd; we cannot personally contact anyone which is why we post publicly. We were directed to review the information from the Wildlife Commission not anything additional. Cassinelli during public comment at the March meeting, I told the Wildlife commission when and where this meeting would be held, Schweigert was at that meeting. Schweigert additional info that was provided does not change the fundamental issues they are concerned about, it more clearly states the concerns that they have, including the water rights, decrees, and grazing allocations. If you re going to stack elk on top of 3

4 the grazing act, it is a constitutional taking; a federal law judge is going to see it one of these days. You need to be cognizant of what you are doing. o Cerri not sure some of the issues you are bringing up are within the purview of this committee, water rights, forage allocation, etc. We re not doing anything other than saying if elk pioneer in this is how they will be managed. o Schweigert You are implicating those exact things. That s saying you are taking that much forage out of the mouth of cattle, deer, wild horse, bighorn, etc. o Schweigert can form one alternative of many that the federal agencies can use to amend their allotments Booth Pg 5 plan goal is to minimize conflicts this committee has taken everything into consideration and found a good middle ground. Has nothing to do with water rights, taking away AUMs, etc. as a committee, we have done our jobs. o Cassinelli we were put together to prepare for elk, and we ve done what we were asked to do. If a rancher is going to sue over this, it is such a bad precedence, you would lose. These elk have a right here like everyone else; we are getting ahead of the game. Keeping the numbers low, committee has done everything in its power to solve a lot of these problems ahead of time. If we are going to get sued, we are going to get sued, just like a conservation group. We have a plan, that is much more than other areas have. Schweigert The idea is not to have to sue you. That s why we got involved and provided as much information as possible. Cassinelli we re trying to keep the population low and work them up to acceptable numbers. Avey The purpose this committee was put together for has been accomplished. We kept the numbers low with a total of 800 elk in the hundreds of thousands of acres in this county; you aren t even going to notice them. Evatz We have affirmation from our two ranching representatives. The information Schweigert has provided is educational, interesting and has merit, but I don t see how we have missed anything. Established a very clear and concise method of continuing to minimize conflict by forming a very balanced COT. I stick with my comments, if we are going to open this back up, then I guess we will have to call the sportsmen up and have them weigh in on larger numbers too. Sperry this committee has been so great because of the respect for each other and in that we have compromised. That is why this group isn t 13 hunters or 13 ranchers, we are evenly represented and there has been a lot of compromise. We should recognize that and go forward. Cerri as a rancher, I was an advocate to getting the plan going, the sooner the better, if we had waited until the population was , that is the number we would have started with. We are already ahead of everyone else because of the lack of augmentation or transplantation of elk. We will not be playing catch up later, I think that is key, and I think that waiting is not the preferred option. Mori in reviewing some of the stuff Schweigert sent, something stuck out to me, that I believe is worthy of discussion by the committee. The language that you have on the established population states that 10 or more cow elk showing repeated use. What about bulls occupying the area seasonally or continually will be removed by harvest, because after rut, there could be bull groups that use these areas to stay protected during rifle season. o Cerri doesn t NDOW have that option; do we need it in the plan? Partee it is kind of already outlined in the plan as a depredation hunt. o Mori going to rely on NDOW and Commission to handle the repeated use? Cassinelli the COT team will meet at least annually to handle those problems. Booth could leave as a recommendation for the COT team for their first meeting next year. Sperry the bulls aren t going to leave the cows in September rut hunts. The season structure has a lot to say about it. 4

5 Boyle it won t always be September hunts once the numbers increase. Partee the nice thing for the COT will be to review it once elk are actually established in that area. Booth That is a substantial amount of information to expect this committee to review, unless there is a motion by the committee, I do not see delaying this process any further. 7. Technical Review Team (TRT) Report Game Biologist and TRT Lead Ed Partee For Possible Action Nothing to report 8. Presentation of Humboldt County Elk Management Sub-plan DRAFT Game Biologist and TRT Lead Ed Partee For Possible Action Humboldt County Elk Management Sub-plan Committee will review the final DRAFT of the Humboldt County Elk Management Sub-plan for consideration and possible approval. Possible approval by the Committee will be followed by a presentation of the sub-plan to the Humboldt County Commission and, upon County Commission approval, presentation to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners at their May meeting for final consideration and possible adoption. Motion by Cassinelli, second by Evatz, to accept the sub-plan with the revisions voted in today, to be presented to the Humboldt County Commissioners on 4/18/16 and the Wildlife Commissioners at their 5/13-5/14 meeting; unanimously approved. o Cerri get revisions to the county commission as soon as possible. Partee will revise tonight and send tomorrow 9. Coordination and Oversight Team (COT) Selection Chairman Booth For Possible Action The Humboldt County Elk Management Sub-plan Committee, based on action at prior meetings, will select a Coordination and Oversight Team (COT) consisting of one representative from each of the following agencies and special interest groups: 1. general sportsman, 2. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, 3. Humboldt County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife, 4. farming, 5. ranching representative on BLM permit, 6. ranching representative on USFS permit, 7. Humboldt County Commissioner, 8. Bureau of Land Management, 9. US Forest Service, and 10. Nevada Department of Wildlife. Committee members will be selecting respective representatives to serve on the COT and notification of the COT members will be provided to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners. General Sportsman - Gallio s correspondence states he would like to be considered for the Sportsman representative on COT. Avey nominates Gallio, Evatz seconds, Cassinelli moves that nominations be closed, second by Avey; unanimously approved. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation - Evatz nominates Avey, Cassinelli seconds; Sperry moves that nominations be closed, second by Cassinelli; unanimously approved. Humboldt County Advisory Board (CAB) - Cerri nominates Cassinelli, Boyle seconds, Evatz motions to close nominations, second by Gallio; unanimously approved. Farming - Avey nominates Sperry, second by Cassinelli, motion to close by Boyle, second by Evatz; unanimously approved. BLM permittee - Cerri nominates Dufurrena, second by Cassinelli; Avey motions to close nominations, second by Boyle; unanimously passed. Motion to remove Cassinelli as the Humboldt CAB COT member, and replace him as the USFS permittee, and nominate Tony Gildone as the CAB member on the COT, second by Avey; unanimously approved. o Evatz motions, Cassinelli seconds, to list the Humboldt CAB COT representative as a designee for replacement purposes, but to still list Tony Gildone as the initial CAB COT representative; unanimously approved. Humboldt County Commissioners - Avey nominates Cerri subject to approval of the commission, Cassinelli seconds; unanimously approved. BLM Evatz motions that the BLM COT member will be a designee from the BLM District Manager; unanimously approved. USFS Cerri motions that the USFS COT member will be a designee made by the USFS District Ranger, second by Evatz; unanimously approved. NDOW Boyle motions, Evatz seconds, that the NDOW COT member be the local Game Biologist; unanimously approved. 5

6 USFWS Cassinelli motions. Boyle seconds, that the USFWS COT member will be a local designee from the USFWS; unanimously approved. Booth First COT meeting will be where you designate the chairman of the committee, and set to meet on an annual basis. Evatz Are the meetings open to the public? o Partee yes, same agenda posting, etc. o Cassinelli COT should be where all elk problems are taken first. CAB can pass any information they receive along to the COT. 10. Future Committee Meetings and Assignments Chairman Booth For Possible Action The next Committee meeting, if necessary, will be scheduled on an as needed basis as determined by the suggestions and/or direction of the committee, Humboldt County Commission or Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners. The Committee will review and discuss potential agenda items for that meeting. Motion by Avey, second by Cassinelli, to make note of the suggestion brought forth by Commissioner Mori, in regards to alternatives relative to established populations in the individual areas to be reviewed by the COT at their first meeting; unanimously approved. Booth thank you all for your attendance, the Wildlife Commission was pleased with the timeline and progress of this committee, job well done. Avey should we have a meeting after this plan has been submitted? o Booth if there are substantial changes by the Humboldt County Commission and/or the Wildlife Commission then there would be a meeting we would notify the committee of by Public Comment Period Open public comment on any agenda item, with each individual allowed a two (2) minute time limit per person or four (4) minutes if representing a group. No action can be taken by the Committee at this time. Any item requiring Committee action may be scheduled on a future Committee Agenda or discussed at a future COT meeting. Boyle Cake for Chairman Booth s birthday. Motion by Evatz, second by Sperry, to adjourn meeting at 3:58 pm, unanimously approved. *Support material provided and posted to the NDOW website (ndow.org), and updates to support material will be posted at ndow.org. Support material for this meeting is available for the public at the Nevada Department of Wildlife, 815 East 4 th Street, Winnemucca, NV or may be requested from Ed Partee at (775) In accordance with NRS , this agenda closes three days prior to the meeting date and has been posted at the following Department of Wildlife offices: Headquarters: 6980 Sierra Center Parkway, Ste 120, Reno, NV 89511, Western Region Field Offices: 1100 Valley Road, Reno, NV 89512, 380 West B Street, Fallon, NV and 815 East 4 th Street, Winnemucca, NV 89445; Eastern Region Field Office: 60 Youth Center Road, Elko, NV 89801; Eastern Region Field Office: 1218 North Alpha Street, Ely, NV 89301; Southern Region Field Offices: 4747 Vegas Drive, Las Vegas, NV and 744 South Racetrack Road, Henderson, NV NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC Nevada Department of Wildlife receives Federal Aid in Fish and/or Wildlife Restoration. The U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex, or disability. Individuals with hearing impairment may contact the Department at (775) via a text telephone (TTY) telecommunications device by first calling the State of Nevada relay operator at Disabled individuals in need of special services should contact the Department at least 24 hours prior to the meeting at (775)