WEW Sustainable Management Strategy Implementation Plan Analysis

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e -mail sent: March 17, 2007 Sent to: Cathy Harris /ORSO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, Kim Titus /ORSO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, Mark E Johnson /CBFO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, Jody Weil /ORSO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, Virginia Grilley /EUFO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, William Hatton /EUFO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, Chuck Fairchild /EUFO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, Steven Shafran /WO /BLM /DOI @BLM, Fred O'Ferrall /ORSO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, Maria Thi Mai /ORSO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, Maya Fuller /ORSO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, Mark Brown /ORSO /OR /BLM /DOI @BLM, and Dick Todd. (Mike Mottice asked to be removed from e-mail list.) Good Morning All, Yesterday, Mark Brown and I met with Forrest Cameron, Refuge Supervisor, Doug Spencer, Project Leader and Willamette Valley Coordinator and Jim Houk, all of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1. We presented the Background Paper' West Eugene Wetlands Proposal for a Sustainable Management Strategy" as well as a land ownership map of BLM administered lands in WEW. 2. I also provided a packet of outreach materials regarding WEW, including Interpretive Plan, Master Plan for the Education Center, ethnobotany project and a variety of other materials to describe the breadth and wealth of the programs and partnership opportunities. In the last several years the USFWS has been looking for opportunities to expand Finley Wildlife Refuge. In March of 2003, a Preliminary Project Proposal was developed for the Coyote Creek addition to the Finley Wildlife Refuge. As of September, 2004, under the previous administration, this project was denied by the national director of the USFWS. The project area lies directly west of the current BLM administered lands in WEW. In many ways it is a companion project, intended to provide connectivity between the current WEW and lands managed by the Army Corp of Engineers and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at Fern Ridge Reservoir. I tried to attach maps of Coyote Creek proposal and the BLM - administered lands, but the files are too large to send over Lotus Notes, even if sent separately. The idea of BLM- administered lands becoming a part of a USFWS management strategy for the four endangered species that occur within the rare Willamette wet and upland prairies of the WEW is appealing. However, USFWS would want to be transparent in their intentions and potentially pitch the combined project of BLM- administered lands and the proposed Coyote Creek unit. It is not clear whether it would be best for BLM- administered lands to be transferred to the US Fish and Wildlife Service or simply have a conservation agreement between the two agencies. Questions inevitably arose about the Education Center. As the USFWS has a strong environmental education and interpretive focus, the education center itself is appealing. They were interested in the growing ethnobotany project and the newly emerging Citizen Science program. There were questions about the current condition of the BLM- administered lands and what level of inventory has been completed, as well as the status of management plans. There was a question as to whether a complete plant and wildlife inventory was available. There will be information and planning requirements to fulfill if the USFWS wraps the BLM administered lands into a preliminary project proposal. There were also questions of encumbrances on the BLM - administered lands. Being that these lands are mostly LWCF, encumbrances should be pretty straight forward. Next Steps: 1. USFWS staff is currently completely a large planning effort, called Comprehensive Conservation Plan, this is due to be completed in July, 2010. Until that time, there is little in the way of USFWS staff time to dedicate to other projects. 2. Pat will work with Jim Houk to better understand the inventory and planning requirements of a Preliminary Project Proposal Mtg Report USFWS March 17, 2009 _ Page 1 — — -- - -- — --