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Stakeholders Meeting Minutes 23 October 2007
Cypress Lodge at University of Florida Lake Wauburg Recreation Center, S. US 441, Gainesville
The meeting opened at 10.20 am after delay due to road conditions. A quorum was not present until Jennifer Hobgood arrived at 11 am. Participants and the initial steering Committee quorum indicated in attachment 1. below. The purpose of the meeting was to make structural and governance adjustments and adopt action to participate in the implementation of the gopher tortoise management plan.
The Group accepted resignation of inactive members J. Handley, K. Gault, M.C. Davis, K. Ramsey, L. Wendland, L. Smith. These members were thanked for their service and will remain on the stakeholder email list to receive information. Ron Concoby resigned as representative of Primary Industry (mining). David Gordon indicated his intention to resign as consultant representative when a suitable replacement is identified.
The Group discussed the procedure to replace members of the steering committee and, a full quorum being present, unanimously adopted the following amended wording to the governance document Article 3b (new wording in italics)
vii. Additional or replacement interest groups, representatives and alternates must be designated and approved by the steering committee.
viii. Each interest group is responsible for presenting nominations for vacancies in that interest section.
ix. Representatives must be present to be nominated and considered.
x. Nominees shall be approved by simple majority vote of the steering committee.
The group also recommended clarification and definition of the role of alternate members be prepared and submitted for approval.
After adoption of these procedures the following individuals were nominated for the positions indicated. The nominees were introduced and those present (*) made brief presentations on their qualifications and interest. The Group then determined the following outcomes by acclimation:
Primary Industry representative (replacing Ron Concoby)- nominated *Mary Ann Gosa (by J. McGlincy) APPROVED
Primary Industry alternate (to replace Mary Ann Gosa) nominated. *Rob Hicks, Plum Creel Timber Co. (by Mary Ann Gosa) APPROVED
Research and Academic representative (to replace Lorie Wendland) nominated *Ron Concoby). (by Matt Aresco APPROVED
Private Land Owners representative (To replace M.C. Davis) *Linda McCarthy (Lykes Bros. by Steve Shea) APPROVED
Research and Academic alternate (to replace Lora Smith) Reed Bowman, David Breininger (nominated by Matt Aresco). DEFERRED until the nominees were present (Article 3b ix)
Private land owners alternate (to replace Jim Handley) ) Brigham Mason (Steve Shea) DEFERRED until nominee is present (Article 3b ix)
Public land managers alternate (to replace Kathleen Gault ) Jeff McLemore (proposed by Ray Ashton, nomination accepted by Skip Griep contingent on further exploration and discussion);DEFERRED until nominee is present (Article 3b ix)
Consultants to replace David Gordon, representative *Tom Connolly (by David Gordon), Roseanne Clementi (Mike Palmer) After some discussion DEFERRED pending confirmation of Ms Clementi’s intentions. The matter was raised again in the afternoon after Roseanne indicated by phone willingness to take the representative position. The matter was then DEFERRED again until both candidates were present.
Land development alternate (to replace Kristina Ramsey) no nomination and the position remains open.
The Group briefly discussed then approved by acclimation the following changes to the Governance document (Article Name, Purpose and term of service of the Group) to bring the Group into conformity with FWC Handbook on Advisory group 2007 (new wording in italics).
Article 1
- The Gopher Tortoise Technical Assistance Group is a self constituted voluntary association of individuals, organizations and entities sharing a common interest in the management and conservation of gopher tortoises and their associated community.
- The group will receive technical and facilitation support from FWC.
- The group will discuss issues, explore common interests, evaluate scientific information, review and comment upon proposals and provide information and technical assistance to FWC staff relating to the Commission’s responsibilities for regulations, management activities and conservation of gopher tortoises.
- The Group shall serve until 1 January 2009 at which time the Group may either dissolve or reconstitute itself for another fixed term.
The facilitator was asked to amend the wording of the governance document throughout to reflect the changed name.
The Group then broke for lunch.
After lunch, Greg Holder briefed the Group on actions GT- proposed to immediately begin implementation of the management plan. FWC staff identified four major areas in which the drafting of specific guideline language, criteria, threshold values and qualifying conditions was needed. If these could be drafted and presented to the FWC Commissioners April Meeting they could be in place and operational for the 2008 tortoise season. The timeline to reach this objective requires submission of proposals to the commission agenda by 23 February. A timeline to draft these items and a proposal to form joint FWC-Stakeholder working groups to undertake this work was presented.
The group discussed:
- Priority topics
- Integration of content among related topics in the plan (e.g., survey and habitat assessment for both donor and recipient sites.)
- The consideration of economic factors into the management plan.
- Organization and function of working Groups.
- Inclusion of subject matter experts from all sources within and outside the steering committee.
- The steering committee’s role in leadership organization and balance in the working groups.
Following these discussions the following working groups were approved and the staff points of contact, Stakeholder points of contact, leadership members and subject matter expert resources were approved:
Group 1 Tortoise donor site issues
Application requirements, Process, surveys, site inspection, tortoise handling
Staff POC Alex Kropp
Stakeholder POC Steve Shea
Members Rachel Sulkers, Ray Ashton, Boyd Blidhove, Bernie Kaiser, Skip Griep, Ilka Daniel, Matt Aresco, Doug Rillstone
Group 2 Tortoise recipient site issues
Legal and financial instruments, habitat condition, carry capacity- restocking density, management requirements
Staff POC Joan Berish
Stakeholder POC-Steve Godley
Members Matt Aresco, Tom Logan, Ron Concoby, Walt Thomson, Mike Palmer, Rob Hicks, Linda McCarthy, Steve Shea, Ray Ashton, Boyd Blidhove, Bernie Kaiser, Skip Griep, Jennifer Hobgood, Cheryl George for Joe McGlincy
Resources-Doug Rillstone
Group 3 Permit issues- small site permits
Staff POC David Arnold
Stakeholder POC Tom Connolly
Members Ray Ashton, Boyd Blidhove, Jim Briely, Barbara Berguson, Ilka Daniel Resources- Sue Farnsworth
Group 4 Authorized tortoise handler certification
Staff POC- David Arnold
Stakeholder POC Mike Palmer,
Members Rachel Sulkers, Tom Connoly. Ray Ashton, Boyd Blidhove, Jen Hobgood
Ray Ashton reported that he had convened a technical working group of gopher tortoise researchers November 2nd to consider and recommend on some technical/ science aspects such as surveys and tortoise density. Ray agreed to be Point of contact and Joan Berish will be FWC liaison to pass products from that group to the other groups.
After discussion the group concluded that a special working group on economic issues was not needed but Ray Ashton’s offer to provide a white paper on the topic was welcomed.
The Group agreed to the following general actions and process:
- FWC and Stakeholder POC’s will make contact to initiate working group function following GT-2 meeting Thursday 25 Oct.
- Stakeholder POCs will be responsible for organizing and coordinating stakeholder working group activity.
- Working Groups may function by electronic contact, phone, meetings or occasional conference phone calls and FWC could make phone conferencing capability available.
- Working groups may subdivide to address specific topics.
- The draft products of working groups will be presented to the steering committee at a meeting to be determined between late November and mid- December 2007.
- The steering committee in conjunction with FWC staff will address coordination of topics among working group drafts.
- Revised working group products will be available for public workshop comment by 15 January.
- Products will receive final discussion by the steering committee at a meeting in early February and be passed as technical advisement to FWC staff for final submission to the FWC agenda by 23 Feb 2008.
The group expressed approval of the meeting site and requested to meet there again. The facilitator was requested to poll members electronically for a suitable Thursday or Friday date in the windows Nov26-30 or Dec 12-20 and Feb 1-9.
The meeting closed at 3.15pm.
Participants
Steering Committee
Cheryl George Primary Industry (proxy Joe McGlincy)
Mary Ann Gosa Fl. Farm Bureau
Boyd Blidhove GT Council
Walt Thomson TNC
Doug Rillstone Broad and Cassell
Steve Godley Research Assocs.
Bernie Kaiser Hillsborough Co.
Susan Farnsworth Citrus Co.
Matt Aresco, Nokuse Plantation
Mike Palmer King Engineering
David Gordon Quest Ecology
Steve Shea St. Joe Co.
Skip Griep US Forest Service
Chris Becker Fl. DEP
Ray Ashton
Jim Bierly
Jennifer Hobgood Humane Soc. USA and proxy for Ilka Daniel
Nominees to the Steering Committee
Rob Hicks Plum Creek Timber
Linda McCarthy Lykes Bros
Ron Concoby Research and Academic
Tom Connolly, Consultant
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Other public participants
Linda Kessel
Patty Connolly
Tom Logan BDA
Chris Collier City of Deltona
Danielle Dangleman, Volusia Co.
Danielle Ivey, Volusia Co.
Ann Stodola, Clay Co.
Stephen Tonjes Fl DOT
Rachel Sulkers, ES Inc.
Lisa Munsch PBSJ Inc.
Bob Mish
Public 2
Public 3
Public 4
Public 5
Jason ?????
FWC Staff
Greg Holder
Joan Berish
Elsa Haubold
Deborah Burt
David Arnold |
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