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TAUNTON RIVER WILD AND SCENIC RIVER STUDY COMMITTEE MINUTES
FOR MEETING OF 6/12/02
Meeting location: SRPEDD Offices, Taunton
Chairman Jim Ross called the June 2002 meeting of the Taunton River Wild and Scenic Study Committee to order at 7:05 PM.
Committee members in attendance:
Kitty Doherty, Bridgewater; Francis Pereira, Karen Holmes, Bill Taylor, Middleboro;
Ray Brierly, Jim Ross, Raynham; Aria Brissette, Taunton; Pat Rogers, EOEA Taunton
River Basin Team Leader; Joan Kimball, DEM Riverways Program; Joan Pierce, Mass.
Division of Fisheries and Wildlife; Bill Napolitano, SRPEDD; Scott MacFaden,
Wildlands Trust.
Review of Agenda Items Discussed
1 (1) Town Updates: Committee members Kitty Doherty,
Pat Rogers, and Jim Ross provided reports on upcoming events and other items
of interest in their communities. In Bridgewater, Kitty reported that a public
presentation on June 19 will offer the public its first look at recently created
management plans for several town-owned conservation holdings, including several
along the Taunton River system. Pat announced that Middleboro passed the Community
Preservation Act. Jim noted that BioDiversity Days efforts in Raynham included
a special focus on Forge Pond. On behalf of Taunton, Bill Napolitano reported
that the city acquired a 127-acre parcel adjacent to the Boyden Wildlife Refuge,
and that efforts are underway to append the Three-Mile River watershed to the
Canoe River ACEC, which would expand to almost 23,000 acres.
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3 The proposed study received a primarily favorable response from
committee members. All agreed that one of the best ways to create and maintain
a supportive constituency for the river is to enable the public to get to the
river, and while several access sites do currently exist on the upper Taunton,
most of these could stand improvement. It also was suggested that the proposal
should clarify exactly what type of craft the access sites should service-i.e.
cartop boats instead of trailered boats. It was further suggested that in the
interest of balance, the study should include analysis of at least one access
site in each of the five communities within the study area.
4 GIS Subcommittee: Bill N. reported for this subcommittee,
and noted that Maisy McDarby has completed compiling parcel information for
properties along the Taunton. This will enable her to produce maps depicting
the study area in greater detail, and these maps, soon to be available, will
nicely augment public outreach efforts.
5 Website Subcommittee: Bill N. also reported for
this subcommittee, and reported that the website continues to garner rave reviews
from all who encounter it. Congressman Barney Frank has expressed interest in
participating in a chatroom on the site during the summer months. Bill noted
that Committee member Bob Davis, unable to attend this meeting, had requested
that the full committee approve nominating the website for an "Eddy" award,
a distinction bestowed by the national river advocacy group American Rivers
upon river-related websites of note. The committee voted to approve the nomination.
6 The Landowners Subcommittee has encountered numerous
scheduling difficulties, has yet to meet, and thus had no report to offer.
7 Natural Resources Subcommittee: Bill N. reported
that he has been working with Lynn Harper of the Natural Heritage and Endangered
Species Program, who has prepared a letter highlighting areas of particular
natural resources interest along the upper Taunton, including major tributaries.
Jim Ross requested that the full committee consider authorizing funds for a
fisheries study in the future.
8 (3) Work Plan Items and Financial Allocations:
9 (a) Year-end Financials: Bill N. distributed a standard form financial
report detailing the first year's expenditures. Because a grant was written
for $40,000 to pay for the website, $140,000 was available for the first year
of the study. $43,000 remains from this allocation, and will carry over into
Year Two of the study.
10 The question of whether SRPEDD should issue financial reports
on a monthly or quarterly basis was raised. It was agreed that the full committee
will have the opportunity to examine financial reports at each regular meeting
(i.e. all meetings that are not specifically oriented to the public at large,
those involving guest speakers, etc.).
11 (b) Tributary Analysis Proposal: Joan K. and Bill N. reported
on the creation of a "Tributary Strategy" that adds four tributaries, the Nemasket,
Winnetuxet, Town, and Forge, to the scope of the Wild and Scenic study, but
does not recommend that they receive formal consideration for Wild and Scenic
designation. This strategy will develop natural resource and cultural data for
the tributaries, highlight them on study area maps, and include them in the
preparation of the Upper Taunton River Wild and Scenic Management Plan. This
strategy thus affords these major tributaries the consideration they deserve
without excessively expanding the scope of the original study. To put this in
context, adding the tributaries to the mainstem already under consideration
for Wild and Scenic designation would have added over 28 miles of river to the
study (or six miles more than the length of the existing study area).
12 The full committee voted to approve the Tributary Strategy in
concept, with a vote on funding to come at the conclusion of the meeting..
13 (c) Taunton River Heritage Proposal: Bill N. announced a proposal
to adopt the Taunton Heritage River Committee, a committee currently serving
to review and approve state grant monies under a pilot program for projects
along the entire Taunton River, as a budgeted subcommittee of the full Wild
and Scenic Study Committee. The proposal requests $10,000 for this purpose.
14 The consensus of committee members was that they needed more
information before they could make an informed decision about the merits of
this proposal.
15 At this point in the meeting, it was decided to formally vote
on the three proposals before the committee. The results were as follows:
16 The Committee unanimously voted to authorize the expenditure
of up to $25,000 to fund a Recreational Access Study.
17 The Committee unanimously voted to authorize the expenditure
of $8,000 to fund the Tributary Study Strategy. This expenditure will be used
as a matching grant in conjunction with $4,000 available from the Taunton River
Watershed Basin Team, thereby creating a fund of $12,000 for the project.
18 The Committee voted to table the proposal seeking $10,000
for the purposes of absorbing the Taunton River Heritage Committee as a budgeted
subcommittee until such time as committee members can study the proposal in
greater detail.
19 Several agenda items did not receive consideration because of
time constraints. Bill N. did announce that he will distribute a Year Two Timeline
that was to be discussed at this meeting, and Ray Brierly raised the possibility
of scheduling a canoe trip on the Taunton for committee members sometime in
July, details to follow
20 It was also agreed not to schedule a full committee meeting in
July, with the next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, August 14, time and location
TBA.
The meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Scott MacFaden Secretary, Taunton River Wild and Scenic River Study Committee