FRIENDS OF THE MARK WEST WATERSHED
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

June 19, 2008, 6- 9 PM
MONAN'S RILL HUB

Facilitation Team: Linda Sartor, Bill Blake, Harriett Buckwalter, Richard Baril

6:00 Sign in and shared munchies.

6:30 Presentation: Saddle Mountain Management Planning. The Open Space District, working in cooperation with the Sotoyome Resource Conservation District, is kicking-off their planning for the future management of Saddle Mountain. Karen Gaffney of West Coast Watershed and Sierra Cantor from the RCD will describe their upcoming planning and the opportunities we will all have to participate.

8:00 Business Meeting

Approve May meeting minutes.
Accept financial report.
Consider recommendations of Strategic Planning Committee regarding supermajority, quorum, and core values. Approve or return to committee.
Form Nominating Committee for officers.
Mike Thompson Event, Sunday, June 22, 5-8 PM. Participation and setup.
Pepperwood Event, Sunday June 29, Participation.
Consider group-training re: power dynamics (ROPES, Adam Wolport?)
Other Business?


Next Membership Meeting: July 17, 2008 - Monan's Rill Hub

Please Note:  All attendees will be asked to sign a general liability release for the benefit of Monan's Rill.  

Directions to Monan's Rill ~ 7899 St. Helena Rd.. Santa Rosa CA 95404

Approx. 4 miles on St. Helena Road from Calistoga Road.   At the bottom of a sharp S turn, there are several mailboxes on the left at the base of the main drive onto the land. You will also see a sign for Monan's Rill at the entry on the left side of the road.   Go up the gravel drive. Please keep your speed below 15 mph. Monan's Rill community hub is about a mile up the drive.   Once you get onto the property, keep going straight, curving around to the left until you get to a "Y".   Take the left fork, cross over the bridge, down and past the community garden on the left.  Turn right at the 'T' and pass the long house. The community building is on the right and parking is on the roadway or in the parking lot area on the right.  Please leave your pets at home  ~ stay clear of the ponds  ~ no smoking

Our On-Going Stratetic Planning

FMWW Mission:  We are a community dedicated to preserving, protecting, and restoring the Mark West Creek and its watershed as a natural and community resource.

Read our May 17, 2008 Agreements as to how FMWW plans to operate under Consensus (a work in progress).

Strategic Plan:  A strategic plan is a road map, or recipe, or set of drawings that sets out the tasks necessary to achieve our chosen outcome, our mission.

One could say that there are three parts to the process of creating a strategic plan.

1)  Watershed Community

This section would describe who we are as a community and how and what we choose to do as a group.  Our choices are informed by what we learn from part 2.), Watershed Science.   These are some of the topics we can address in this part of our strategic plan.  We are having a discussion about partnering with Monan’s Rill Institute and other organizations to support this effort structurally and financially.

• Who are we, FMWW (Landowners, residents, supporters, other organizations)?

• What are the boundaries of our interest?

• What do we want to accomplish (Vision, mission, etc.)?

• How can we best organize ourselves to do this (Affiliation, incorporation, committees, leadership, other)?  

• How do we decide what we do as a group (and perhaps what we don’t do)?

• How do we communicate (web site, email list, phone trees, other)?

• Whom can we find who shares our interests (RCD, F&G, private supporters, etc.)?

• How do we best partner with those who share our interests?

• How do we fund our activities?

• What events do we hold and sponsor (Harvest Moon, Hike and Hoot, others)?

• What watershed activities do we undertake (Emergency Preparedness, History Club, Creek Watchers, Saddle Mountain Trail Watchers, Creek Cleanup Days, Scotch Broom Pulling, other stewardship treatments, monitoring, homeowner out reach, etc.)?

2) Watershed Science 

This is the information we need to understand how our watershed works dynamically. It includes things like the rocks, soil, water, its quality, our watershed’s hydrology and its modeling and monitoring priorities, botany and vegetation, invasives species, planning and mapping and the development and voluntary implementation of “stewardship prescriptions” (For example, forestland improvement (like Doerksen’s) and the hardwood forest restoration prescriptions (like Monan’s Rill’s) or the road upgrade project funded by Fish and Game. 

We are talking to RCD about their support in creating this section.  It could include:

• Identify and describe the Mark West Watershed in geographic terms and at a scale appropriate to support parcel by parcel stewardship planning.

• Describe the History of the Mark West Watershed (Who lived here, when, how did they live, and how did they change the watershed)

• Inventory and collect available data (i.e.: soil, vegetation, geology, topography, hydrology, flora and fauna).

• Identify additional data needed for stewardship planning (geology mapping at 1:6000, ICE Vegetation Mapping as in adjoining Napa County, Watershed Hydrology Model, other)?

• Organize and present existing data to support community stewardship planning needs (Watershed Atlas for landowners).

3) Watershed Stewardship Plan

This is the implementation aspect where we combine our watershed community plan with the watershed science and make choices about what we can do to achieve our mission.

• Select reasonable stewardship goals for the community.
• Identify “stewardship prescriptions” in support of community stewardship goals (physical effort:  i.e. pull out the scotch broom;  plant riparian habitat; clean the creek annually; encourage best management practice for wineries and vineyards).
• Develop implementation strategy (when, where, who, what and how is it funded).

Develop monitoring program to measure effectiveness of community efforts.

• For latest achievements, click here.
• Establishing Saddle Mountain Trail Watchers
• Preparing for Emergencies and Fire Preparedness Task Force
• Creating a historical record of the our watershed and its community
• Signage Project- Installing road signs marking the Mark West creek and watershed boundaries
• Upper MW Creek Restoration and preservation-preserving Mark West Creek and Watershed