Elko County Natural Resource Management Advisory Commission 540 COURT STREET, SUITE 104, ELKO, NV 89801 PH. (775)738-6816, FAX (775) 738-4581 ELKO COUNTY NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES COUNTY OF ELKO, STATE OF NEVADA, REGULAR MEETING TO BE HELD AT 6:00 PM, P.S.T., SUITE 102 OF THE NANNINI ADMINISTRATION BUILDING LOCATED AT 540 COURT STREET, ELKO, NV. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2016 6:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Acting Chairman Sacrison called the regular meeting of the Elko County Natural Resource Management Advisory Commission to order at 6:02 p.m. on, in Suite 102 of the Nannini Administration Building, 540 Court Street, Elko, Nevada. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Absent: Others Present: Kristina Radel Ralph R. Sacrison Richard Genseal Craig Spratling Teresa Conner Heston Johns Randy Brown, Assistant County & Natural Resource Manager Eleanor O Donnell, Administrative Assistant Rex Steninger, Elko County Commissioner Moment of Silence in Honor of John Carpenter was observed. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Eleanor O Donnell led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Page 2 COMMENTS BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC: Connie Lee (NV Department of Wildlife) stated that she is representing the Conservation Districts and the Humboldt Watershed CWMA who would like to bring a presentation before NRMAC concerning funding for weed control within Elko County and then to the County Commission meeting on January 19 th. Mr. Brown stated to send the information to him and he will put them on the agenda. Martin Paris with Congressman Amodei s Elko office introduced himself. He offered his assistance if he could be of help on issues that arise. Mr. Brown commented that Mr. Paris has been most helpful to him and thanked him for his efforts in obtaining a 5 day extension on the comment period on the Sagebrush Focal Area as well as other items. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Presentation of items by BLM Representative: Update and Discussion of Emergency Wild Horse gather for the Goshute Herd Management Area. Matt Murphy (Elko District) explained the emergency horse gather was completed on October 18 th. It was called the Tunnel Springs Emergency Wild Horse Gather within the Goshute HMA. It was brought to the BLM s attention that there were some dead horses over in the Tunnel Springs area. After some investigation there were a large number of horses depending on nonexisting water sources. There were 63 horses removed on the emergency gather. The herd is being monitored through the winter and on through next summer. Commissioner Genseal asked where does this put towards the appropriate management level (AML) in the area. Mr. Murphy stated the Goshute HMA alone has an AML of 74 to 123 horses the estimated population was 904, which is about 840 now. There is a proposed gather in the southeast portion of the district in conjunction with the Ely district to remove up to 4,000 horses. The State director approved it but it has not been approved by the Washington office, they do not have the capacity for 4,000 horses in the long-term holding facilities. For now, we are working on the NEPA for the gather in case it is ever approved, of about 4,000 to 4,500 horses out of the complex including Antelope, Goshute and Bald HMAs. County Commissioner Steninger asked how far the next available water is located. Mr. Murphy explained that Rock Springs is another available water source that is a few miles away, it was also depleted, but it was inaccessible to perform a gather. This is not the way we would prefer to manage the HMA, on an emergency basis. It would be better to secure funding and remove the horses over AML in order to get into a maintenance pattern on these HMAs. Commissioner Sacrison asked if there is any time table to remove the other 800 horses above the AML to get it back to a sustainable level. Mr. Murphy stated they had requested to remove them this winter but without approval, nothing will be done. It is part of the 4,500 that was proposed for removal.
Page 3 Discussion and consideration of the Papoose Pipeline Determination of NEPA Adequacy. Mr. Murphy explained this is a decision on the determination of the NEPA adequacy for the completion of the Papoose Pipeline. This is located in the Indian Springs Allotment. This was an old oil drill site once they moved out of the area, the permitee (Barrick Cortez) wanted to complete the drill for water and run a pipeline to increase the dispersion of cattle throughout the allotment and keep them out of the Papoose Canyon and assist in meeting the objectives for rangeland health. It is located within Sagegrouse general habitat. Owyhee Wild Horse gather and other Wild Horse and Burro issues and developments. Greg Deimel (BLM public affairs officer) gave an overview for the Owyhee HMA gather. This was a two district gather for the Elko and Winnemucca districts. The Elko District side began on November 1 st and ended on November 16 th. The Owyhee complex and the Rock Creek HMA, are both in sagebrush focal areas. There were 770 horses gathered, the goal was 680, 560 horses were shipped to the Palomino Valley facility in Sparks, NV with 198 stallions and mares released; 94 mares were treated with PZP-22. Everything from 1-5 years old was shipped to the facility in Sparks. Any horse that was outside the HMA was shipped directly to the PVC facility because usually they will travel back to the area from which they were gathered and they would be outside the HMA, probably on private land. Horses returned to the range were above 5 years old. The horses body scores ranged from 2 to 5, with a little higher scores in the Rock Creek area. There was limited public involvement. There 7 deaths during the Elko District gather mostly from preexisting conditions with only 2 gather related deaths. How we will manage in the future. Tentatively within the Owyhee complex there is scheduled for another gather 2019. The gather would have to be approved by the Washington office and put on the list of gathers for the national BLM picture. For FY2017 there were 3,500 horses within the Owyhee Complex, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming. The national office feels that through adoption and natural deaths they can field an additional 3,500 horses on long term pastures. County Commissioner Steninger asked what the management level for the complex is. Mr. Deimel stated the management level for Owyhee is 129-231 for Rock Creek 150-250. We have not done a census flight recently after the gather, tentatively it looked like we fell to the lower level of the AML in both areas. There will be a better idea when the fly over is completed in December or January. It is a good change, the last time it was gathered was in 2013. Some of the horses, especially in the Rock Creek area, had been gathered multiple times because they had the freeze brands on them. For Elko it was a successful gather. Commissioner Radel asked what the post management strategy is. Mr. Deimel explained the fertility method PZP-22 takes 22 months to activate and will not affect if the mare is currently pregnant. The average is 20% foals, so this results in better population management. In this area there, it showed some age gaps in the herds, so it is working. There are no natural predators for horses in Nevada. In the Owyhee, area there is a narrow canyon to water where mountain lions attack, but there are very little natural predators so the horses can live a long time, there are some mares that are 25 years old. The post management strategy is to monitor the herds and do what they can which is the fertility treatments with PZP-22 and gathering horses. County Commissioner Steninger questioned the time periods for the PZP-22 treatments. Mr. Deimel explained it would work for 1 maybe 2 seasons. The treatments are cumulative and increase in effectiveness with multiple treatments over the years.
Page 4 Mr. Deimel stated the number is controlled by the national number, next year in FY2018 the number hasn t come out yet for a prioritized gather. Discussion and Consideration of the 2016 Hot Pot Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Treatments Wildfire Management Decision Record. Tom Warren (Elko District Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Coordinator) explained the Hot Pot fire that occurred in early July, over 122,000 acres and was very devastating to the mule deer winter range. There are plans to do a lot of seeding within the area and herbicide treatments. There will be hand planting of sagebrush seedlings, fence repair and fence construction for post burn recovery and establishment of seedings. A map was shown and discussion on the areas to be seeded and the seed mixes followed. Mr. Warren explained that the management practices are prioritized according to the sage grouse habitat in the area. Different seed mixes will be used in the different areas depending on the location and conditions. This is a harsh site and it is difficult to establish species that will compete with the cheat grass. Therefore, some of the seed mixes in certain areas will contain a larger percentage of nonnative species to increase the chances for successful restoration. Other areas will be primarily native species in the seed mix. The area will be monitored to determine if retreatment would be needed. Steve Foree (NDOW) talked about the cooperative rehabilitation efforts between the multiple agencies. NDOW has the ability to work on private as well as public lands. Described the cooperative efforts that will be done in the area, government and county has contracting issues, NDOW looks at what needs to be done and defaults to the most efficient and easiest contracting agency to get the work done. There have been failures in this area; it is a harsh site, it is one of the lowest elevation and driest sites within Elko County. Science is progressing there, is a fungus that will be tried on the cheat grass on BLM land this year. There is a lot of effort that goes into getting the agencies to work together to get something like this done. Discussion and Consideration of the 2016 Izzenhood Wildfire Management Decision Record. Mr. Warren described the Izzenhood fire was started by lightening in an intact sagebrush stand and burned about 6,500 acres in crucial winter range for mule deer. There will be mostly native species seeded in this area with some nonnative species in some of the more difficult areas. There will be some additional fencing constructed to protect the seedings as well as using the topography and existing fences. There will be additional follow up treatments over the next 3 years on the sagebrush seedings. There will also combined efforts with NDOW on private lands. Correspondence and Items of Discussion There were four letters of decisions on fires received after the agenda was posted, that were sent out to the permitees. Decisions authorizing emergency stabilization and rehabilitation treatments on the Dixie, Adobe, Wally and Deer Creek Fires.
Page 5 Mr. Murphy explained these decisions were on fires within the District this year that rehabilitation efforts are planned. The process was described pertaining to the rehabilitation efforts, long and short-terms goals and what is proposed for each fire and the plans on how to treat them are in this type of letters. Continued Update and Discussion of Emergency Wild Horse gather for the Goshute Herd Management Area Commissioner Sacrison asked if it was appropriate for this commission to make recommendations to the County Commission pertaining to the Goshute HMA management and gathering. Mr. Murphy commented that it would helpful. This is a contentious issue and public opinions are welcome. It is sometimes frustrating to the local office on how these issues are managed but the directions and decisions are handed down from a thousand miles away. Outside entities opinions and concerns are always helpful. Commissioner Spratling made a motion for a recommendation to the County Commission to encourage reducing the herds to AML by any means necessary. Commissioner Radel asked for and addition to the motion to encourage more post management methods be added to the post management plan. Commissioner Spratling approved the addition to the motion. MOTION: Commissioner Spratling moved to recommend to the County Commission to encourage the BLM to bring the Goshute Herd Management Area to within AML by any means possible and encourage more post management methods be added to the post management plan. Seconded by Commissioner Genseal. Motion passes. Public Comments: There were no comments. VOTE: Yea: Nay: Absent: Abstain: Craig Spratling Ralph R. Sacrison Richard Genseal Kristina Radel Heston Johns Teresa Conner UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE: Presentation of items by USFS Representative: Correspondence and Other Items of Discussion No items
Page 6 GREATER SAGE-GROUSE FEIS LITIGATION / PROPOSED SFA WITHDRAWALS Overview and discussion of the Sagebrush Focal Area proposed mineral entry withdrawal and Environmental Impact Statement Administrative Review. Mr. Brown commented there is nothing new to report on the litigation. The FEIS on the withdrawals was received for administrative review on November 11 th the deadline for comments was today at 5:00pm. Thanks to Senator Heller and Congressman Amodei, there was a week extension of 5 days for comments. The draft EIS will be out December 31 st for public review and 90 days for comment. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement is usually in final form and very little is changed after that. There are four alternatives proposed at this time. The withdrawals are still around 10 million acres through Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and Idaho, with 2.7 million in Nevada and 2 million in Elko County. Elko County has about 20% of the total. The economic impacts are skewed for Nevada when the urban Washoe County is taken into account. Elko County has several pages of comments that will be submitted. CORRESPONDENCE REPORT AND OTHER ITEMS OF DISCUSSION: No items CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of Minutes September 26, 2016 MOTION: Commissioner Genseal moved to approve the minutes from the September 26, 2016 regular meeting, seconded by Commissioner Spratling. Motion passed. VOTE: Yea: Nay: Absent: Abstain: Craig Spratling Ralph R. Sacrison Richard Genseal Kristina Radel Heston Johns Teresa Conner B. Next Meeting Date December 19, 2016 Discussion on the next meeting date. It was decided to set the next meeting date for December 12 th pending availability of the meeting room.
Page 7 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMISSIONERS AND COUNTY STAFF COMMENTS: No comments. COMMENTS BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC: No comments. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 7:22 pm. Minutes Clerk: Eleanor O Donnell Date Approved: December 12, 2016