The June Quarterly meeting of the Trinity Management Council was held in Weitchpec, Ca. located near the confluence of the Trinity River and the Klamath River. The meeting was hosted by the Yurok Tribe and took place Wednesday, June 5 and Thursday, June 6. During the first day members received presentations from the acting Trinity River Restoration Program Executive Director, James Lee regarding program updates. Topics in the Executive Directors Report covered major activities since the March TMC meeting as well as organizational updates, budget updates, Implementation Branch updates, Public Outreach updates and Science Branch updates. The ED Report can be downloaded by clicking here.
Additionally the council received updates from various membership staff regarding Central Valley Project operations (Elizabeth Hadley, Reclamation), Trinity River Division Reconsultation (Kristen Hiatt, Reclamation), Fish workgroup synthesis report recommendations (Kyle De Juilio, Yurok Tribe) and TRRP channel rehabilitation site status and schedule (Oliver Rogers, TRRP). There were two informational presentations given to the council, the first a presentation from Whiskeytown National Park Service staff regarding the policy around keeping Whiskeytown Reservoir full as well as a presentation on the Remote Site Incubator (RSI) program (download the presentation) implemented by the Yurok Tribe on Grass Valley Creek in spring of 2024 by Zac Reinstein.
On day 2 In addition to a presentation from Hoopa Valley Fisheries Department Director, Mike Orcutt on chinook management post-Klamath dam removal in the second day of meetings the council received 3 presentations focused on program updates and 2 presentations regarding updates to TMC procedure. The first presentation was given by the TRRP Science Coordinator, Eric Peterson who updated the council regarding fiscal year 2025 science proposal recommendations. Second, James Lee, acting Executive Director presented the proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 for council approval. The council voted unanimously to adopt the FY25 budget proposal with one amendment. The amendment reads as the following, “Mike Orcutt made a motion to follow the IDT’s recommendation to fund the additional three proposed projects up to $610,000 subject to IDT team review and contingent on their concurrence. The projects proposed include the Restoration Vegetation Diversity (TRRP-2025-1), Benthic Macroinvertebrates (TRRP-2025-2) and Initial Steps to Foodscape Model (TRRP-2025-3).”
In the afternoon, the TMC discussed amending the bylaws to more clearly define procedure in calling for executive session during management meetings. The TMC voted unanimously to amend this section to read as the following, “All regularly scheduled and special meetings of the TMC shall be open to the public except executive sessions. Executive sessions shall be comprised of one representative per TMC entity and invitees. Executive sessions shall be limited to issues related to contracts, personnel, legal matters, or other sensitive matters as determined by the TMC. The request for a specific executive session (including invitees) will be clearly proposed via a motion and voted to proceed by the TMC in accordance with Sections 603, 604, and 605.“ TMC bylaws (Section 600, Bullet D)
The final topic of the quarterly meeting was a discussion titled, Winter Flow Variability Planning and was brought by TMC member Radley Ott, who serves in the seat for California Natural Resources Agency. The discussion centered around the desire from technical groups and the public, who have expressed the need for advanced planning regarding water management. These groups were looking to the TMC for guidance on how Water Year ’25 would be managed with the knowledge that the management council was not able to pass a flow recommendation to the Department of the Interior in Water Year ’24. The council decided on creating a timeline for proposals that would include both limitations as well as implementation. The motion, that passed with 1 vote against and 7 votes in favor, reads as follows, “Any recommendations or conditions for WY 2025 flows between 01 Oct and 15 April are to be submitted to the Flow Workgroup by 19 July and any specific hydrographs are to be submitted to the Flow Workgroup by 9 August.”