FOBHL
Board meeting minutes
Powell C of C Meeting Room
August 11, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Powell
Call to order and Welcome – Bob C
Approval of July email minutes: Motion by Joe Second by Ken
Jerry Case items by phone:
We will be visiting with Jerry on this concern soon. Jerry attend the H2O 09 Forum at MSU in Billing this week and heard some very interesting comments regarding the Big Horn River system from Montana Senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus. The new Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar was the key note speaker. The Crow Compact will be the topic of discussion with Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming on Friday in Worland. The invasive species concerns are being addressed by BICA. There will be two wash cleaning stations available at BICA in 2010 and there is the possibility of closing down some ramps to prevent contaminated boats from entering BighornLake. We are awaiting further information on this issue.
The FOBHL logo made from static vinyl will cost $4.00 each for one 4 inches tall. The board will determine how many to have made and how to make them available to the members.
A continued discussion of the 2010 Bighorn Lake Celebration was held. We felt that a separate day for this celebration was still our preference. We will contact the Town of Lovell about putting up some large poles with cables across main street for the display of event banners. Director Joe Anderson will encourage the Lovell Town Council to put up this structure. The main street in Powell can display 6 banners at a time if needed for events. There are more businesses that want to give out event invitations this next year. The discussion then turned to possible events that could be held for an hour that would interest the visitors at Horseshoe Bend.
Bob C reported on his visit with Jerry Case on July 28 following being together for the weekly conference call with the Bighorn River Issues Group. There was a lot of concern brought forth by Montana about the lake verses the river. The USBR wants to keep adequate storage so all stakeholders needs can be considered. The topics discussed by Jerry and Bob C were: The 2009 Bighorn Lake Celebration, the YCC group, non-boaters making decisions that don’t address the boater issues being considered, concerns with the new dock and the future of ramps in the south lake.
The board would like to understand how the visitors needs and desires can be served when the main work force is on a Monday thru Thursday schedule and the most visitation is Friday thru Sunday?
The Wyoming area office of the USBR has set the winter river flows for the Bighorn from Boysen Reservoir to 900cfs and the Shoshone from Buffalo Bill Reservoir to 400cfs. These are higher than many past years and will greatly enhance the two river’s fishery and also the BighornLake storage.
The visitor/vehicle survey at BICA is half completed. Those giving service to date are Toby Wanner, Bob and Rena Croft all of Lovell and Mike Lindsay of Powell. The survey will end on Sept 30, 2009.
A member suggestion was made for the restroom at Horseshoe Bend. Replace the flush value on the urinal with a new working manual one or an automatic valve in the men’s room to reduce the constant odor.
FYI:
No new info on the Horseshoe Bend well.
The Horseshoe Bend Campground has been very busy this summer.
The new south end ranger is Pete who has worked as a seasonal at BICA in past years. Welcome back Pete!
New sidewalks are being poured at the CalTaggartVisitorCenter in Lovell.
Bighorn Ready Mix in Powell is pouring more 1000 lb anchor blocks for the new destination docks. We appreciate their donations to BICA!
The highway chip and seal project at BICA is nearly completed by the YNP crew.
The fall meeting of the Bighorn River Issues Group will be held in Lovell the end of September. We will keep you informed so many can attend this public meeting. There will be reports on the Bighorn River down cutting study, the BighornLake sedimentation survey and the proposal to raise BighornLake 5 feet into the flood pool.
The next FOBHL board meeting will be in Lovell on September 8 at 6:30pm at the Bighorn Federal Meeting Room.