Jim Ross, Lou Bousquet, Ray Brierly, Raynham
Cheryl Wall, Jack Traynor, Halifax
Alex Houtzager,
Joe Callahan, Angela Possinger, Margiana
Petersen-
Rockney,
Dan Lopes,
Maryan
Nowak,
Bob Davis, TRWA
John Torgan,
Save the Bay
Joan Kimball, Riverways
Rachel Calabro, Riverways
Jack Callahan
Bill Napolitano
The meeting was called to
order at
1. Minutes of February approved, with noted
corrections
2. Introductions of guests and group
3. Review of the Charette:
Bill reported to the group
that 70 people were in attendance, including at the 2/28 charette; he had received
several very positive emails, phone calls and excellent press from the
Rachel reviewed the notes
from the individual sessions conducted at the charette,
Highlighting key issues,
major concerns and priority action steps;
Rachel also told the group that we should focus on data gaps, based on
the issues raised at the charette, in constructing
the draft management plan;
Alex said that a “Save Our
Bridge” group had started up in Berkley as a result of the session on culture,
history and archaeology at the charette; the group is looking
for an alternative to the state’s proposed design for a replacement bridge (
the group would like to see the new bridge retain more of the design qualities
and integrity of the old bridge); Alex
also wanted to know if the W&S Committee could help influence the
development of bike paths within our
communities;
Bill said that many
communities have sought funding through the Transportation Enhancements Program
(Fall River has been funded previously, Somerset will be voted on this spring,
and looks very good); John Torgan said that the land conservation groups could help to
support such actions, especially as The
Nature Conservancy (TNC) has made the Taunton River one of their focus
areas;
John said that TNC recently
held a meeting in Vermont during which they said that stats from our
biodiversity section and introduction
are highlights behind their reasons for choosing the Taunton as a focus
area; John said that the meeting provided a good perspective on the
conservation needs of the watershed;
4. Project Proposal Reviews
Per request of the W&S
Committee, the following proposals were submitted for review and funding
consideration:
a.
Synthesizing of
Taunton River water quality data accumulated since 1989 by the TRWA and the
Watershed Access Lab at BSC; Bob Davis
presented this idea, which has been discussed at meetings several times in the
past, to the Committee; Bob and Kevin
Curry (BSC) estimate that it would take approximately $5,000 to do this
properly, using interns from the Watershed Access Lab under the supervision of
Kevin Curry;
b.
Rachel Calabro presented a proposal to continue the Stream
Team
Implementation
and Awards Program within the basin; the program costs
approximately
$5 – 10,000 annually (usually $8,000);
c.
Bill and Tim
presented the macro survey proposed by Fred SaintOurs
and
Kevin
Curry (SEE ATTACHMENT 1);
d.
Bill presented
the Cultural Landscape Inventory proposal by Jessica
Rowcroft
of DCR (SEE ATTACHMENT 2);
e.
Joan Kimball of
the Riverways Program presented a proposal for
Rotating
Tributary Monitoring (SEE ATTACHMENT 3);
f.
Joan Kimball
presented a proposal for a
Study
(SEE ATTACHMENT 4);
Jim Ross led the Committee through a
discussion of our selected “Outstanding
Values” in terms of the
proposals and prioritizing our needs; Jim would like the Committee to vote
on the proposals at the next meeting;
5. Other Business
Alex told that the BBC was
going to present a 2 hour special on PBS in the near future on the Chinese
exploration of the Taunton River based upon the book “1421, The Year Chinese
Discovered America”
Bob the Committee that the
USGS is looking for brooks and streams that not impaired by human activity for
further study;
Jim thought that maybe beyond
the proposed studies, we could still have a mainstem
survey during the TRWA’s “Source to the Sea”
paddle in June (at least from
Jim would also like to work a
lot on outreach in the coming months; he’d also like to find out when towns are
scheduling their Fall ’04 and Spring ’05 Town Meetings;
Nancy gave brief report on
the stream team activities; Nemasket, Forge and Winnetuxet are now
complete; Nancy has begun work with the
Assonet, Three Mile and Segregansett teams;
6. Next Meeting: