Call to Order
Minutes from the April 24th Meeting
Minutes for the April 24, 2000 STAT meeting were approved by all
members present.
Land cover subcommittee
Some of the land cover maps being reviewed by the Arizona Game
and Fish Department have been returned with good comments from
the wildlife managers. This is especially true for the Altar Valley
area, where some new locations of perennial stream reaches and
springs were drawn on the map. Pima County received a vegetation
map for the Saguaro National Park, which is currently being converted
to the Brown, Lowe and Pase system for the composite land cover
map. Pima County has also obtained a map from the U. S. Geological
Survey that displays geologic deposits for the county. This is
being analyzed for the high priority carbonate deposits which
may be sources for specialized habitats. In addition, an analysis
of discrepancies between the composite land cover map and vegetation
transects performed during the Pygmy-Owl field surveys was passed
on to RECON to help update vegetative cover.
News from other elements of the SDCP
So far, approximately 60 reports have been completed within the
last 120 days following the hiring of the biological consultants.
These reports, and others currently in progress, will be used
by members of the Project Management Team to write documents on
the six elements of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. These
documents, in turn, will be synthesized to form one large document
for the SDCP.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service will perform a scoping process to obtain public input regarding the Section 10 permits which Pima County will be seeking as part of the SDCP. This is the first step towards obtaining Section 10 permits, and must be completed prior to performing the Environmental Impact Statement for NEPA. Background and procedures for the scoping process will be published within the Federal Registry and advertised through local media.
Criteria for permits subcommittee
Bill Shaw provided a handout displaying criteria for obtaining
Section 10 permits. This chart was created by Bill with help from
Mima Falk and Sherry Barrett, who provided background information.
Some suggestions were made by members of the STAT and others regarding
a statement for higher standards than the legal minimum and a
criterion for adaptive management. The handout will be revised
to reflect comments made during the meeting and any others received
before the next meeting.
Decision-Support Model subcommittee
Julia Fonseca provided a brief overview of the meetings that were
held with Peter Stine and members of the subcommittees responsible
for providing input on target species for the Decision Support
Model. The Pima Pineapple Cactus and Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
appear to be good target species and the subcommittees will work
to provide data to the Decision Support Model (DSM) team. The
subcommittee for riparian habitat recommended reducing the scope
of the target and just focus on the cottonwood-willow series.
It was deemed that all mesoriparian habitat as a target was too
impractical, and a smaller target needed to be identified. The
subcommittee for ranid frogs decided that the existing locations
for these species would not be a good target for the DSM and should
be considered as a constraint for the model instead. Three tiers
were created for the ranid frogs: protection of existing habitat
(constraint), managing exotic species (target) and restoring hydrology
(target). The group is working to provide better data and identify
conservation and restoration activities needed for native frogs.
Robert Steidl gave a brief description of the last target,
which will be to use the information provided in The Nature Conservancy's
"Sonoran Desert Ecoregion Plan". The subcommittee will
create their own preserve alternatives based on the processes
and data within the TNC document.
The next meeting day for the subcommittees will be on July 27,
2000. The July STAT meeting will also be held on that day to better
utilize everyone's time.
Announcements
Nathan Sayre announced a field trip opportunity for the STAT with
the Ranch Conservation Technical Advisory Team (RCTAT) to visit
either the Empire-Cienega or Arivaca ranch areas. Possible dates
for the field trip include July 26, July 28 and August 14. A more
confirmed date and place will be provided at the next STAT meeting.
Riparian mapping report
Lisa Harris provided a brief overview of the riparian mapping
effort by the Harris Environmental group. About 75% of the coverage
has been delineated onto quads, and Russell Duncan and others
are looking at the maps and providing their input.
Vulnerable species data summaries
The RECON group has completed data summaries for the vulnerable
species that were listed for their potential inclusion for take
permits (56 species total). The report should be out by the week
of May 29, 2000. The consultants will continue working on the
distribution for each of the species summarized.
Non-native species
Neva Connolly completed a draft report on non-native species management
within reserves and other protected areas. This report focuses
on the overall problems within these areas, not on individual
species. Copies were passed to those who wished to review the
report. Comments are to be received by June 1.
Problematic Species
RECON provided a list of all the problematic species listed for
the SDCP in the package sent to the STAT for this meeting. In
addition, they provided a "top ten" list of species
that are proposed for further detailed analysis and a short discussion
of other species and possible approaches for handling this issue.
After a brief discussion, STAT decided that the best approach
would be to focus on ecosystems, rather than requiring individual
species summaries.
Riparian restoration guidelines
A handout containing the riparian restoration guidelines was provided
in the package sent to the STAT. Bob Steidl said that native plants
must be used for restoration efforts. Sherry Barrett suggested
that the guidelines should included a statement stressing the
need to avoid creating unnatural water bodies that would promote
invasive, non-native species. Any other comments regarding these
guidelines should be sent to Julia Fonseca.
Preserve/Reserve design guidelines
A handout displaying the reserve guidelines was provided in the
package sent to the STAT for this meeting. A brief discussion
was held regarding these guidelines, resulting in some word changes
and a revision to the biological goals statement for the STAT.
The revision changes the words "habitat conditions"
to "ecosystem structure." Julia Fonseca will revise
the biological goals accordingly and provide copies to the STAT
at the next meeting. Due to a lack of time and a number of members
missing in attendance, it was decided that this discussion should
be held over for the next meeting.
Call to the Public
No comments.
Future Meeting Dates
STAT Members Present:
William Shaw School of Renewable Natural Resources, University
of Arizona
Natasha Kline Saguaro National Park
Steve Prchal Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute
Robert Steidl School of Renewable Natural Resources, University
of Arizona
Doug Duncan U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Tucson)
STAT Members Absent:
Sherry Ruther Arizona Game and Fish Department
Cecil Schwalbe U. S. G. S. & School of Renewable Natural Resources,
University of Arizona
Gary Nabhan Arizona Sonora Desert Museum
Mima Falk U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Staff:
Julia Fonseca Pima County Flood Control District
David Scalero Pima County Flood Control District
Neva Connolly Pima County Flood Control District
Others:
Sherry Barrett U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Lori Woods RECON Environmental, Inc.
Paul Fromer RECON Environmental, Inc.
Harold Barnett Department of Economics, URI and SDCP Implementation
Team
Maeveen Behan Pima County
Lisa Harris Harris Environmental
Susy Morales Harris Environmental
Pricilla Titus Harris Environmental
Nathan Sayre Arizona State Museum, Ranch Conservation Technical
Advisory Team