Watts Bar Ecology and Fishery Council (WBEFC) Minutes: March 30, 2017
Attendees:
Courtney Briley Terry Broyles John Cummings Roger Hinsdale Bill James Timothy Joseph Bob Lamb Eddie May
Pam May Janice Moody Mark Musolf William Bud Strader Mike White Willie Word
Agenda:
o Mark Musolf ask for ideas from the group as to what this stakeholder’s group or counsel should deal with. Mark said we heard from Jeff Caldwell at Claytor Lake. Mark said Claytor Lake started out with an organization similar to the Watts Bar Lake Association; but when the weeds hit in Claytor Lake, they took on the project of managing the weeds.
o Mark said Claytor Lake is a different situation of Watts Bar Lake. - Claytor Lake is a smaller lake. Claytor Lake resides in one county,
and Claytor Lake raised the money within the county to manage the weeds.
Claytor Lake is still doing lake cleanups, restocking native plants, etc.
o Mark asked if this organization should just focus on the weeds and the fish.
– Timothy Joseph said he thought it should focus on the control and reduction of invasive aquatic plants.
o Mark said Lake Gaston is more like Watts Bar Lake because it has 5 counties and even borders two states; North Carolina and Virginia.
– Mark Musolf said Lake Gaston has a Weed Control Counsel made up of commissioners from each county.
o Bob Lamb said we need to become a 501C3 organization or find a local government to oversee the group.
Mark asked how we could do that with 3 counties. o Roger replied to same way Lake Gaston did it with 2
states and 5 counties. Roger said you must have a group of workers, you have to have a leader, you have to have a sponsor, and a home.
o Roger said he wanted to raise the issue of structure. Roger said we have heard from Claytor Lake, but he likes the structure of Lake Gaston better. Lake Gaston structure is complete and functioning very well, and far more complex than Claytor Lake.
o Roger also said he thought the financial end of Claytor Lake is very different than what we are going to find for Watts Bar Lake.
o Bob Lamb asked if we were going to have any permanent employees, and Mark said not until we have money to pay them.
o Bob said we are going to need grant writers. o Mike White said we need a general contractor to help us or we are going
to be reinventing the wheel. Mike said he was very impressed with Jeff Caldwell, and maybe we should pursue getting Jeff to join this group.
o Mark said Roane County Commission Chairman Ron Berry has formed a
committee to work on the issue of invasive non-native weeds. Mark said
Ron Berry will attend this meeting later this evening. o Mark said we need to get a stakeholder’s group together to work on a 5-
year plan to work on a balance management plan for Watts Bar Lake. o Tim Joseph said we have 3 things we need to do:
– How do we find funding? For example, how do we find grants?
Name the stakeholders group (Nominations – discussion – select). Mark said he has a graphic artist who can work on a logo.
o The group voted and approved the name of this group to be: Watts Bar Ecology and Fishery Council (WBEFC)
– Bob Lamb said he would try to get the website domain name of
www.wbefc.org
– Mark said he would contact Colt Narramore to get a Facebook page created.
– Mark asked if anyone had an idea of getting copies made for a reasonable cost. Mark said when we start having public meetings we may need 100-200 copies made.
Roane Alliance said they may be able to makes copies for WBEFC.
– Mark said he wants to put some fact sheets together. o The group agreed on the following Mission Statement:
– To protect and advance the ecological health of Watts Bar Lake for the benefit of all stakeholders (property owners, communities, fishermen, sport hunters, recreational users, marinas, and navigation). This mission will be accomplished by assessing environmental problems that reduce or limit the ecological health and use of the lake; researching technical solutions; selecting best or proven alternatives; evaluating the likelihood of success; and making recommendations to the appropriate local, county, state, and federal agencies and commissions. The focus of this Council is to control and reduce invasive aquatic plants that are rapidly taking over the littoral zone/shallow water; the critically important area for high quality lake environment and fish reproduction.
o Mark said he had some ideas about public meetings. - Mark asked the group why we would want to hold public meetings.
Some of the reasons for holding public meetings are: o Education, keeping the public informed and involved,
create credibility for the council (WBEFC). o Mark said he wanted to do some serious public
involvement in at least the 3 counties. o Mark gave the group a “Public Meetings” handout. o Mark said he wants to get some simple high-level fact
sheets developed for these public meetings to hand out; e.g.,
PUBLIC MEETNGS o Why do the public meetings?
Location? Timeframe? o PURPOSE:
next to the one already
made. o SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR
LISTENING STATIONS
o Bud said at the next meeting he would like to enlist some people to give a
presentation, e.g. a Marine Biologist for the state to talk about what
species you can and cannot introduce into the water. o Bud said we might want to go to different colleges and universities to see
if they have students working on a degree that could benefit this group.
Discuss how we see the stakeholder’s group interfacing with county governments.
o Mark said let’s wait on how we are going to contact the counties and get funding until Ron Berry joins the meeting.
Ron Berry said he thought the mission of the special committee is to strike a balance between what’s fair for the fisherman, and what’s fair for the lake homeowner. Ron said we have to protect the property values. Ron said that how they base their budget. Ron said if lake property values goes down, then other properties have to go up. Ron talked about the cost of lake homeowners paying a licensed contractor treating their weeds for a cost of $700-$1,000. Ron said we need to protect other folks that use the lake, like recreation users. Ron said we need to protect the health of our lake. Ron said whatever we do is going to affect other counties, such as Meigs or Rhea County. Ron said the goal of his 5 commissioners group is to work with WBEFC, the Roane County Environmental Review Board (RCERB), and work with anyone that has information they can assimilate so that these 3 groups can come together, describe the problem and determine the solution to get us back where we were before the weeds invaded Watts Bar Lake. Ron said the weeds started late 2016 in his cove.
o Mark said it would be great if the 3 counties would start working together on a solution.
o Bill James said 3 months ago at a commissioners meeting, the lake homeowners came to them regarding the milfoil/weed problem; and asked if they passed a resolution and send to our congressman – state and federal levels. Bill said they did that, and they heard back from one, Senator Corker. Senator Corker said it was a TVA issue.
o Mark said we need to get smarter about the chemicals that have been approved by EPA.
Startup funding for work group. We’re going to need a few dollars. We have $400 so far.
o Bob Lamb said maybe we could go to the counties and ask for seed money.
o Maybe we could get motel/hotel tax to start the funding through tourism.
Loudon County? How to approach, who to approach? Speakers Bureau Homeowners Associations Bass Clubs
Schedule next meeting
CLAYTOR LAKE
The Friends of Claytor Lake is dedicated to conserving and protecting the quality, sustainability and tranquility of the environment of Claytor Lake for all.
LAKE GASTON
The primary function of the Lake Gaston Weed Control Council is to establish policies and procedures focused on promoting research, control, and /or eradication of undesirable aquatic weeds within Lake Gaston and to improve the quality of the water related to pollution control in and around Lake Gaston.
Our Mission Statement
To promote research, control or eradicate undesirable aquatic weeds, improve the quality of water and control pollution in and around Lake Gaston. This mission will be accomplished by serving as an advisory council and making recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners in North Carolina and the Board of Supervisors in Virginia and by making recommendations to all local, state, and federal agencies concerned with quality of human life, water, pollution, recreation, wildlife, fish and fishing conditions, in and around Lake Gaston.
Based on the needs of fishermen, other recreational users, property owners, water supply systems and other stakeholders, the plan is designed to manage (not eradicate) invasive plants to ensure the long-term health of Lake Guntersville for everyone.
TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP -STAKEHOLDER GROUP/Government TECH ADVISORY GROUP A “committee” of the stakeholder group – Begin early development soon STAKEHOLDER GROUP
Property Owners 2 from each county Sportsmen 2 from each county Business Counties??