FOBHL
Board Meeting via Email
For October 2009
Emails and calls from the board members approved the Sept email minutes.
Bob C met with Superintendent Jerry Case to discuss several items from the past board meetings.
Jerry will have a boat to make his commutes from Fort Smith to Lovell next year. This will give him a lot of on the water time to contact folks and learn the needs of BICA visitors. This will have a positive impact on BICA.
CFR 36 Chapter 1 Part 3 – Boating and water use activities in the NPS will be enforced by BICA. He will check on the EPA Clean Engine Requirement of 2013 to determine how this will affect boat owners with older boats boating in NPS waters.
We feel that there needs to be some guidelines as to when the docks are adjusted or removed from Horseshoe Bend and Barry’s Landing when the ice period begins. Bob C and Jerry reviewed the local weather information sheet that was presented at the BICA/FOBHL issues meeting last March. This data indicated that in the past 49 years the reservoir freeze up date for Horseshoe Bend was after December 1 for 27 years and for 22 years it was after November 22. Barry’s Landing was later than January 1. Barry’s freezes up later due to the deeper warmer water with seldom thick ice forming. Jerry will review this data with his maintenance leaders.
Jerry informed us that there will be several professional staff changes announced in the coming weeks. Also more programs will be offered in the park and at the visitor center for park visitors to enjoy! He is also spending more time communicating face to face with the USBR at Fort Smith and Billings. He intends to keep up his local community involvement in the BighornBasin area that he initiated this year! We appreciate his desire to be out among the local people in Montana and Wyoming!
There will be combined meetings discussing the invasive species concerns and how to handle things next year. It is important that there be a lot of public and government involvement to educate and involve everyone in this most serious issue. BICA has purchased two portable decontamination wash stations for boat cleaning to be used next year. This project is very labor and money intensive so VIP’s can be a big help.
Jerry and Bob C also discussed having BICA/FOBHL on site touring meetings to brainstorm together on park concerns. These were very productive in years past in helping everyone see first had “issues of concern” and sharing ideas on how to resolve them.
The Board has contracted for a 12’ X 48’ lighted billboard on Highway I90 between Laurel and Billings from April thru September 2010 to promote Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. Ken took a photographer out to BICA to get some high density digital photos for the vinyl billboard. Some of our members may have photos that will work as well. The billboard ad company will be putting together some sample looks for us to review.
The Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2009 which includes the Crow Compact is winding its way thru Congress. This bill now has had some deletions and improvements that will better protect the Wyoming water users and BICA, not all that was desired, but many beneficial adjustments. It still has a long way to go before passing due to its cost and management concerns expressed by the USBR.
The Bighorn River System Issues Group met in Lovell on September 29 from 9am to 3pm. FOBHL and Red Apple Supermarket provided the noon lunch for over 50 people. Presentations were made by the USBR on YT reservoir operations and the Bighorn River Side Channel Study. The COR from Omaha presented information on Bighorn Lake Sediment Management options and Flood Pool Reallocation options. The information from this meeting is on the Montana Area office of USBR web site (see the Sept 29 meeting section) http://www.usbr.gov/gp/mtao/yellowtail/bighorn_longterm.cfm
The Yellowtail Dam Fall Water Supply Meeting was held in Billings October 8 at 7pm with Bob C in attendance. There were only 6 non USBR folks in attendance this year. The lake fall/winter management plan is posted on the USBR web site. With a full lake at this time the Bighorn River outflow will likely be 2700cfs until January when the snow pack info begins to develop. At that time adjustments may need to be made. Conference calls with the stakeholders will be monthly until early 2010.
FYI
The new well at Horseshoe Bend will become a reality very soon. Once well production is known plans will be finalized on the landscaping of the camp ground.
In 2009 149 FOBHL VIP’s served for 439 hrs aiding in administrative, interpretive and maintenance duties. There are also 3 of our people serving in the park and visitor center on a regular basis.
The BICA visitors per vehicle survey was completed in September with the results sent to the Denver NPS office for processing. This new factor (3) will be used along with the car counter information to calculate the number of visitors coming to BICA each year.
BighornLake is still just a few inches below full pool elevation of 3640 feet.
The Wyoming Game and Fish just completed their fall fish sampling on BighornLake and its looks to be a record year for fish size and numbers. This data will be available later this winter.
The next FOBHL board meeting will be in Powell November 10 at 6:30pm.
See you on the lake, fall is an awesome time to fish and see the canyon!