Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
September 23, 2007 – 6:00 p.m.
Presque Isle Fish and Game Club
Parsons Road, Presque Isle
Attending:
Roland D. Martin, Commissioner
Andrea Erskine, Assistant to the Commissioner
Mark Stadler, Wildlife Division Director
Tom Santaguida, Colonel, Warden Service
Pat Dorian, Lieutenant, Warden Service
Dan Menard, Sergeant, Warden Service
Brian Gray, Sergeant, Warden Service
Tom Ward, Sergeant, Warden Service
Rick Ouellette, Game Warden
Becky Orff, Secretary and Recorder
Council Members:
Leo Kieffer, Chair
Joe Clark, Vice-Chair
Mike Witte
Al Goodwin
Frank Dunbar
Ron Usher
Ray Poulin
Sheri Oldham
Members of the Public:
Deena Winslow, WAM
John Sewell, Biologist, Passamaquoddy Indians
Gary Sewell
Jackie Dunbar
Bruce Archer
Presque Isle Fish & Game Club:
Dick Fortier
Nick Archer
Charlie Numan
Charlie Beck
Berry Flood
I. Call to Order
Mr. Kieffer, Council Chair, called the Council meeting to order.
Commissioner Martin presented the Presque Isle Fish & Game Club with a Commissioner’s print.
II. Introductions
Introductions were made.
III. Acceptance of Minutes of Previous Council Meeting
Motion made by Mr. Clark and seconded by Mr. Goodwin to accept the minutes of the previous Council meeting as written.
Vote: Unanimous – minutes accepted as written.
IV. Rulemaking
A. Step 3
1. 07-08 Beaver Seasons and Closures
Mr. Stadler stated there were no changes in the packet from Step 2.
Motion made by Mr. Dunbar and seconded by Mr. Witte to accept the proposal as presented.
Vote: Unanimous – proposal accepted as presented.
2. Fishing Regulations – Grand Falls Flowage
Commissioner Martin stated at the August meeting it was requested that the initiative be tabled. Since that tabling motion, Al Goodwin, Andrea Erskine and Commissioner Martin met with Governor Bill Nicholas, the Lt. Governor and a warden there and John Sewell from the Passamaquoddy tribe to review the proposal. Commissioner Martin’s goal was to reach a compromise so they could move forward with an initiative for 2007 with the full understanding that IF&W biologists and Mr. Sewell would meet in the near future to discuss a long-term resolution.
Mr. Goodwin stated they had come to full agreement with the tribal folks and would be continuing discussions into 2008 and beyond. Everyone was in agreement that the Flowage, Big Lake, Louie Lake and Long Lake were all to be treated as one body of water and everything went well.
Mr. Sewell thanked Mr. Goodwin for bringing this to their attention and the communication that followed was the right thing. Governor Nicholas also wanted to say thank you. Mr. Sewell wanted to reiterate that he would be in touch with Rick Jordan this winter and next summer to get all the data needed to do the best thing for all four of the fisheries which were really one body of water.
Mrs. Erskine stated that the document in the Advisory Council packet was how it would appear in the 2008 fishing booklet. The compromise was retaining the original regulation; 25 fish limit of white perch and the extended season and adding in a daily bag limit on bass 2-fish, minimum length limit on bass 10”, all bass between 13” and 18” would be released alive at once.
Motion made by Mr. Goodwin to lift the tabling motion and move forward and that was seconded by Mrs. Oldham.
Vote: Unanimous – proposal accepted as presented.
B. Step 2
1. 2008 Spring Turkey
Commissioner Martin stated that we would be asking the Council to table this and Mrs. Erskine would explain why.
Mrs. Erskine stated that the copy of the proposal in the Council packet…she had forwarded that to the Secretary of State’s office to be advertised and the person responsible for that had been out of the office so it was not advertised on the 19th; she had to bump it ahead to the 26th. That would put the comment deadline out until the end of October. We would hold it at Step 2.
Tabling motion made by Mr. Clark and seconded by Mr. Goodwin.
Vote: unanimous, item tabled.
C. Step 1
1. 2008 Moose Season
Mr. Stadler briefly discussed the season for hunting moose in southern Maine, which the Council had passed recently. This was a 2-year process in which we held public informational meetings, public hearings, drafted a legislative resolve report and in 2008 there would be a moose hunting season in southern and central Maine. One of the things that came out of the series of informational meetings and public hearings was we got an indication from the public that maybe the original Big Game Working Group that met in 1999 and 2000 may have been slightly out of sync with public sentiment regarding the magnitude of moose population reductions in southern Maine.
Mr. Stadler stated that the Department conducts its wildlife management through a public involvement process that we refer to as the Species Planning Process. In 1999 and 2000 a group of about 30 individuals representing a number of stakeholders reviewed the Department’s data about moose and gave the Department its management goals and objectives for moose. When we went to the public information meetings around the state we had a sense that the working group may have been slightly out of sync with public desires regarding moose populations and the magnitude of reductions in southern Maine as a result of concerns about collisions with motor vehicles. Mr. Stadler stated in 1999 and 2000 the public working group gave the Department goals and objectives establishing a moose hunting season in southern Maine with the goal of fairly dramatically reducing the moose population.
The Department has requested the Big Game Working Group to get back together again and take a look at the moose management goals and objectives for the state. The working group has been charged to look at two areas. One, he wanted them to review the goals and objectives for southern Maine to see if we got the goals and objectives right back in 1999 and 2000 or whether they need to be tweaked. Then, the Department has been very active in Aroostook County working with a number of entities concerned about moose vehicle collisions. The Department over the years had been in Aroostook County to talk about moose vehicle collisions particularly in WMDs 3, 6 and 11. As a result of that, the Department dramatically increased the moose permits in WMDs 3, 6 and 11 in response to reduce the moose population in an attempt to help to alleviate vehicle collisions. Some folks in northern Aroostook, in the Fort Kent area have also expressed an interest in having WMD 2 added into the vehicle safety zone. There is some question about where WMD 2 should lie in the Department’s overall moose management goals and objectives for northern Maine.
Mr. Stadler stated the working group had held their first meeting and he was sure there would be more to report as the Department worked up its input and comments. He asked if some of the Advisory Council members that had been in attendance wanted to comment.
Mr. Kieffer stated that he and Mr. Witte were on the moose study group and had attended the meeting in Bangor. As an interim report before the final report he would like to have Mr. Witte bring everyone up to speed.
Mr. Witte stated the working group had the charter to review the goals and objectives that were set several years ago. What they started to do was work through the plan that was initially in place. The mix of people that was involved, the meeting was pretty intense. A packet of information was being generated to give to the group as a result of their brainstorming session. Some of the areas that came up included the tick situation; SAM had stated they thought we needed to double the amount of permits; lack of funding to do more extensive research; actual moose population numbers and how had we determined the number we were presently working with. Another issue that came up was the amount of automobile accidents and collisions that had taken place. There was a suggestion to somehow encompass a zone to get more hunters closer to the road area where there were large numbers of moose accidents. The group had been asked at the end of the meeting if they felt the goals and objectives that were set in 1999, 2000 were still viable and still a working set of goals and objectives? Everyone around the table felt that they were. The consensus was that we couldn’t wait as long as we had waited to have another large game working group.
Commissioner Martin asked what the timeframe was for the completion of the group?
Mr. Kieffer stated he didn’t think they were going to have another meeting under the present schedule. The notes and the report George Matula was drafting would be sent to them via e-mail, they were all to respond and he would collaborate that information and resubmit. At that point and time, if necessary, they would schedule another meeting.
Mrs. Oldham asked if there had been discussion about non-hunting ways of trying to reduce the moose/vehicle collisions?
Mr. Witte stated that was discussed with DOT and several things they were attempting to do. They discussed flashing lights, broader cutbacks on the shoulders of the road, etc.
Mr. Stadler stated with regards to the 2008 moose season, the division was in the process of pulling that together. He was anticipating that for the most part the 2008 moose season for the traditional moose hunting zone would be pretty much a carbon copy of the 2007 season. We were currently considering some additional permits in WMDs 3 and 6.
V. Other Business
1. Deer Task Force Update
Mr. Stadler stated the group was pretty close to wrapping up with a set of recommendations to present to the Commissioner. The group was looking at a broad range of topics such as ways to enhance deer wintering area habitat; predation; illegal hunting; regulated hunting; necessary research that needs to be conducted; etc. The working group would transition into the group that was identified during the last legislative session to deal with the issue.
Council Member Comments and Questions
Mr. Kieffer asked about the group that had to respond back to the Legislature. He thought they had to respond by December 31?
Commissioner Martin stated that was what was indicated in the resolve.
2. Milfoil Group Update
Mr. Clark stated the group was pretty much in the same place it was at the last Advisory Council meeting. Mr. Philbrick had taken some information back with him to review. They hoped to have another meeting before the October Advisory Council meeting took place. They probably would not be able to make the cloture date to take Legislative action on anything, so it would probably be after deadline if there was anything.
3. Plum Creek Project Update
Mr. Stadler stated IF&W served as an agency that provided technical assistance to both DEP and LURC when it came to issues regarding the State’s environmental laws. DEP enforced DEP environmental laws, Natural Resources Protection Act, shoreland zoning, sand dunes, and those types of things. LURC is the planning entity for the State’s unorganized towns. They would review the land use proposals that occur within unorganized towns. Both DEP and LURC look to the other state environmental agencies for technical assistance in reviewing permits for land use changes or projects in Maine. IF&W’s wildlife division probably conducts over 1,500 environmental reviews for DEP and LURC in the course of a year. Environmental review is one of the major things that the wildlife division does. A lot of these applications have a potential impact on wildlife habitat, including endangered and threatened species habitat.
Mr. Stadler stated LURC was currently considering a proposal by Plum Creek Timberlands to rezone a portion of the LURC jurisdiction Moosehead plateau. This rezoning would allow them to submit additional proposals for the development of a fairly large development project in the Moosehead area. IF&W, both the wildlife and fisheries divisions has spent a fair amount of time conducting review of the project. The project that Plum Creek was proposing consisted of three segments. There is the area in the Moosehead plateau where Plum Creek is proposing to develop and they were proposing to develop resorts in some areas and single family residential complexes in other parts of the area. Those areas had been mapped. IF&W has an extensive wildlife habitat survey and mapping project referred to as Beginning With Habitat. We found Plum Creek’s updated proposal did a fairly good job at missing the wildlife habitats that we were concerned about. There were a number of wildlife habitats in the development areas that we had concerns about and we felt they weren’t suitable for development and should be partitioned out of the area that was being proposed for development.
Mr. Stadler stated in the next phase, there were two easements. The balance easement, which was about 90,000 acres; the balance easement was designed to be a mitigation and compensation package for the development that was going to occur within the development polygon. IF&W, in cooperation with the Maine Natural Areas Program, did an analysis of the 90,000 acre conservation easement and decided that the 90,000 acres of compensation was not really adequate for the loss of habitat that was going to be occurring within the development polygons. With those two levels of review, we drafted comments that were officially sent to LURC expressing four concerns. 1. We made suggestions for modifications in the development polygon and those modifications should be made. Waterfowl wading bird habitat should be segmented out of the development polygon and be part of the conservation easement. 2. We provided comments that based on our analysis the 90,000 acre balance easement was not adequate compensation for loss of habitat that would occur with development polygons. We suggested the State, Plum Creek and others work together to develop a more favorable package with regards to the 90,000 acres. 3. Public access and making sure that in these conservation easements (2) have provisions to allow traditional public access. 4. Concerns about the change in the character of the Moosehead Lake area with the development being proposed. We suggested to LURC that it needed to be sensitive to this major change. The Maine Natural Areas Program has also submitted fairly identical comments to LURC. LURC will consider a broad range of issues and concerns, not only biological but social, economic and cultural.
4. Forums & Misc.
Commissioner Martin announced upcoming forums; 10/15/07 in Kittery and 10/17/07 in Bucks Mills. Advisory Council vacancies; appointments would not be made before January 2008. Marc Michaud, the Director of Information and Education would be retiring at the end of October and the search had begun for a candidate for the position.
VI. Councilor Reports
Councilors gave reports.
VII. Public Comments & Questions
There were no public comments or questions.
VIII. Agenda Items & Schedule Date for Next Meeting
The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. at the Calais Rod & Gun Club.
There would not be a meeting in November and the December meeting was scheduled for December 6th in Scarborough.
IX. Adjournment
Mr. Clark motioned to adjourn the meeting and Mr. Witte seconded that. The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
