GALVESTON BAY ESTUARY PROGRAM

GALVESTON BAY ESTUARY PROGRAM Final Galveston Bay Council (GBC) Meeting Minutes July 15, 2015 Approved by GBC on October 28, 2015. Galveston Bay Council Chair: Ceil Price (City of Houston) Galveston Bay Council Vice-Chair: Nancy Parra (League of Women Voters) Estuary Program Staff Lead: Sarah Bernhardt, Galveston Bay Estuary Program (GBEP) The July 15, 2015 quarterly Galveston Bay Council meeting was held at Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, 1660 West Bay Area Blvd., Houston, Texas, from 9:30 AM to 12:22 PM. Members Present: Scott Alford, Jarod Davis, Albert Gonzales, Kelly Holligan, Brian Koch, Kristin Lambrecht, Luz Locke, Garry McMahan, Carolyn Murphy, Helen Paige, Ceil Price, Hanadi Rafai, Linda Shead, Sharron Stewart, Bob Stokes, Jeff Taebel, Michael Talbott, Lori Traweek, Kirk Wiles, Tracy Woody, Heather Young Members Not Present/Delegates: Bill Baker, Gregory Biddinger, Glenn Clingenpeel, Mark Fisher*, Carla Guthrie, James Harcourt, Rebecca Hensley, Jace Houston*, John Huffman, John Jacob, Doug Jacobson, Michael Lee, Nancy Parra, Ana Partin, Aaron Price, Bob Schwartz, Mary Beth Stengler, Matthew Still, Chuck Wemple, Kate Zultner (*=Member designated a proxy) Proxies Present: Mario Mata attended for Mark Fisher, Bret Raley attended for Jace Houston Current Vacancies: Medium local government representative; Minority community representative Other Attendees: Phillip Goodwin, Stuart Carlton, Glenda Callaway, Cory Horan, Scott Jones, Jacqueline Munoz, Jim Lester, Ronnie Schultz, Mike Stahl Additional GBEP Staff present: Sarah Bernhardt, Michelle Krause, Lindsey Lippert, Lisa Marshall, Mary Stiles Call to Order: Introduction of Members and Delegates Ms. Ceil Price (Chair) called the meeting to order for introduction of members, delegates, and guests to introduce themselves and their organizations. Action Item: Approval of April 15, 2015 Meeting Minutes Ms. Ceil Price opened the meeting with approval of the April 15, 2015 meeting minutes and opened the floor for questions and comments. A motion was requested for approval of the minutes, and the minutes were approved by Council members. Mr. Jeff Taebel motioned to approve followed by Mr. Mike Talbott who seconded the motion for approval. Report of the Chair: Page 1 of 8

Ms. Ceil Price announced there may be a possible location change for the October 28 th meeting. If anyone has any suggestions or may have a public facility please contact Dr. Sarah Bernhardt with details. Ms. Ceil Price announced the availability of a City of Houston facility that may accommodate council members and guests, but it is not an ideal location for everyone. Ms. Price also suggested Armand Bayou Nature Center and the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC). Carolyn Murphy (USAC) announced their agency has conference room that can accommodate, but will need the next council meeting date for availability. Dr. Bernhardt asked Ms. Murphy if the facility is a public building due to this being a public meeting and agenda is posted on the Texas Register. Ms. Murphy will follow up and check on the security issue, but added she is aware that security requests identification of attendees. Dr. Hanadi Rafai announced she will look into the facility availability at the University Of Houston Clear Lake (UHCL Green Room), and will contact Dr. Bernhardt. Other mentioned facilities were the United Way and City of Pasadena. Ms. Price encouraged members and guests to contact chair, vice chair and/or GBEP via email with any leads. Ms. Ceil Price announced keynote speakers and the number of people that have expressed interest for the State of the Bay Symposium. Ms. Price announced Mr. Ron Curry (EPA Regional Administrator from Region 6) expressed interest in attending the meeting. Mr. Doug Jacobson could not attend today s meeting. Ms. Price announced the symposium will take place in January. Ms. Price announced the renewal of the Council occurs in the fall at TCEQ. TCEQ has an early agenda and the meeting is set for Wednesday, September 9, 2015, at 9:30am in Austin, Texas. Ms. Price announced that typically the chair and vice chair attend. If anyone would like to attend, please signup to attend the agenda meeting and support an item on the agenda without speaking. Ms. Linda Shead emphasized this meeting is a renewal of the Council, and is not just an action item on the agenda. Members need to show support for the Council renewal since it has been 20 years for the Council. Ms. Lori Traweek agreed with Ms. Shead and encouraged member support for the Council Ms. Ceil Price announced the July meeting would be her last meeting as Chair, and she has retired from the City of Houston last September. The work of the program, council and partners goes beyond the bay itself. The way everyone conducts themselves and sharing information is to be commended and supported. Ms. Shead commented the Council is very important and the way it is run is important. Ms. Price thanked everyone for the opportunity for being chair. Action Item: Nomination and approval of NRU chair Ms. Price announced the Natural Resource Uses (NRU) needs a new subcommittee chair. Dr. Bernhardt announced that Mr. Jamie Schubert had been the chair for the NRU subcommittee and due to a number of responsibilities does not have the time to continue. Mr. Schubert asked to step down as the chair. The NRU subcommittee vice chair is Mr. Bill Baker, and he asked to remain as vice chair. Subcommittee members have been working to nominate a new chair. Page 2 of 8

Ms. Price announced what is needed is a nomination and a second for the NRU subcommittee. Ms. Shead announced that NRU has agreed and accepted Ms. Cherie O Brien as chair for the NRU subcommittee, and Ms. Shead has nominated Ms. O Brien. Ms. Price announced that Ms. O Brien has been with the Texas Parks and Wildlife for 18 years prior to which she spent three years with (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service in Galveston. Ms. O Brien has been an active member of the NRU subcommittee for over a decade. Ms. Shead made the first motion of approval followed by Ms. Sharron Stewart who seconded the motion for approval. Project Presentation: Clean Rivers Program (CRP), 2015 Basin Highlights Report (Basins Report). Jeff Taebel, Director of Community and Environmental Planning, Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) Mr. Taebel reported that the CRP Assessment Area includes 15 counties, 16,000 miles of streams and shoreline, and a population of over five million. Six local partners professionally monitor 400 sites at least quarterly with data that is quality assured. The Stream Team has 97 volunteers that monitor 96 sites. The Basins Report shows that generally the water quality is improving. H-GAC looked at a seven-year trend. In that time, 24 percent of the stream segments improved for bacteria and 5 percent were worse; 13% improved for dissolved oxygen and 12 percent were worse; and 28 percent were better for nutrients and 4 percent were worse. What H-GAC has found is that where there is a commitment by partners in the voluntary implementation or watershed protection plan process, then bacteria is down by almost 50 percent. Other highlights from the report indicate that since wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF) have become regulated, over 98 percent of the facilities test below the bacteria standard. Almost 50 percent of the storm sewer overflows come from fats, oils, and grease blockages, which can be addressed with more education and outreach. As far as on-site sewage facilities (OSSFs), there is no regional problem. But in the areas where OSSFs exist, there are problems with bacteria. H-GAC has implemented a pilot program for OSSFs and training for realtors to help combat these problems. Programs that have been implemented or supported by H-GAC to improve water quality are: outreach campaigns in the region: Back the Bay, Cease the Grease, and Patty Potty; partnership with Harris County Flood Control and the City of Houston to eliminate illicit discharges in the White Oak Bayou watershed; six Total Maximum Daily Load projects and eight watershed protection plans; OSSF repair and replacement program with SEP funding; Clean Water Initiative Workshops; Water Resources Information Map; and Designing for Impact Program. Overall, the news is good in the Basins Report. The water quality is improving and there are good case studies on which to build. Questions Ms. Price Is there money in the SEP for OSSF replacement? Page 3 of 8

Mr. Taebel Not yet. The area where the SEPs are applicable is small and no industry has contributed yet. Mr. Bob Stokes Is there buy-in by county officials for the H-GAC programs? Mr. Taebel - Not at the board level. It is a complicated issue. Need to explain why it matters, such as air, traffic, crime, etc. We would get more traction coming at things as maintenance and having a consistent message. Mr. Talbot Water quality is incidental to flood control. The county is working with individuals to get grants to try to get them off of OSSFs. Ms. Price City of Houston is focusing on water quality. They are working with TCEQ and EPA to reduce the number of SSOs, which is a hot issue right now. Mr. Stokes Renewal of the Joint MS4 Permit Application has been submitted. TxDOT is pursuing their own permit. Ms. Glenda Callaway Communication among different departments within H-GAC is an issue. At the Transportation Policy Meeting all that is discussed is problems with traffic. Environmental staff needs to contact key individuals and raise awareness of what is at stake. Eco-logic Tool was developed but there is a hesitancy to use it because the constituency complains so much about the traffic and roads. Mr. Albert Gonzales Are there 400 sites where bacteria is collected? It used to be volunteers that would collect those samples. Is it still? Mr. Taebel Professionals collect the water quality samples at the 400 sites. BREAK: (15 minutes) Report of the Program: Dr. Bernhardt announced Moody Gardens has been secured for the Symposium which will take place on January 13-14, 2016. The suggested registration fee is $150.00 and will be available online. Budget and Priorities (B&P) subcommittee and GBEP staff are reviewing all of the abstracts. Next meeting will be July 27 th and will have the final schedule completed by the end of July early August. Dr. Bernhardt reminded members that at the last Council meeting there was a request for suggestions on whether the January Council meeting should be held concurrently with the symposium or take place after the symposium. The next meeting will take place January 20, 2016. B&P favored having the Council meeting at the same time as the symposium. Dr. Bernhardt announced there is a single afternoon field trip planned prior to the symposium coordinated with the Galveston Parks Board to provide transportation. Registration will be for 40 people available on the website. The trip will be a first come first serve option, the trips will visit some Page 4 of 8

parks and restoration sites on Galveston Island, the trip is planned a day before the symposium January 12 th in the afternoon. Dr. Bernhardt announced that at the October Council meeting, members will review the GBEP work plan and budget. Council will emphasize the importance of the meeting with staff and subcommittees presenting projects that have been developed and recommended for the Fiscal Year 2017 work plan. Dr. Bernhardt announced Back the Bay is ongoing and at its final season of the contract with the current vendor. New Back the Bay tote bags and stickers are available for the members. GBEP included the Back the Bayou Back the Bay this campaign season to make the connection that what flows into the bayous flows into the bay. Additionally, Cynthia has worked with the contractor to develop a new campaign video and refresh the Back the Bay website. Dr. Bernhardt announced on June 9, 2015, Back the Bay partners Amanda Hackney, Coastal Conservation Program Manager for Audubon Texas and Joanie Steinhaus, Associate Campaign Director for Gulf Coast Turtle Island Restoration Network Sea Turtle Restoration Project appeared on KHOU Channel 11 s Great Day Houston for an education and outreach segment on protecting birds and sea turtles especially during the nesting season. The segment highlighted awareness and tips for the public to do their part in protecting habitats. GBEP would like to thank Ms. Hackney and Ms. Steinhaus for making the segment such a great success. Dr. Bernhardt announced the Mickey Leeland intern Mr. Grant Moss, who will be helping with the review of the Galveston Bay Plan implementation. Last year the intern provided a report on how well the Galveston Bay program has done implementing the overall projects, and this summer the intern is looking at the goals and objectives in each of the 11 action plans, as well as creating a report card on where we stand reaching the goals. Mr. Moss will remain with GBEP until August 21 st. An update will be given at the October Council meeting. Partner Presentation: Continuation: Presentations from several perspectives on the status of Oysters and their restoration in Galveston Bay post Hurricane Ike Presenter: Commercial Fisheries Perspectives, Tracy Woody, Jeri s Seafood Mr. Tracy Woody presented his non-scientific, experienced-based status and trends of oysters. Two major oyster effectors are drought and hurricanes. According to Mr. Woody, droughts are worse for oysters than hurricanes. After Hurricane Ike, oyster leases were covered in mud and debris and they had to work to get the mud off the reef so it wouldn t kill the oysters. Oysters don t want ideal salinity (11-17ppt) all of the time, changes in salinity are necessary for their lifecycle. Floods are useful for lowering salinity which kills parasites, predators, and diseases of the oyster. The ideal range for oysters is also the ideal range for predators, parasites, and diseases so changes in salinity are important. Page 5 of 8

Moderate drought (18-25) is great for triggering oysters to spawn and leads to an above average spat set. However, it also increases predator, parasites and diseases and the rising ph causes alkalinity levels that dissolves and inhibits oyster growth. Low freshwater inflows also mean lower nutrient for oysters. A human influence, such as dams, diversions, and impoundments complicates freshwater pulse and compounds effects of high salinity levels. The Houston Ship Channel lessens the effectiveness of freshwater inflows due to changing tide; however the Houston Ship Channel helps drive population and the economy. There are issues with game wardens being sent to protect the border instead of protecting reef leases. There is a lack of self-policing by industry; they should be checking the boats they are buying from. Mr. Woody considers themselves farmers, want to coexist with human interferences; they do not want to stop or impede. They have planted a large amount of river rock and return shell back to the reef, over time they have learned to plant close to the freshwater inflow. Oysters will be migrating further to the north due to lower freshwater inflow event frequency. Oyster license buyback program died in session although was popular. Recent floods killed diseases as well as oysters. Not a lot of substrate left for new spat to grow on. Private leases understand how vital it is to replenish cultch material. On public reefs there is no substrate on structures fishermen go to the private leases to fish because there is habitat. Questions Ms. Heather Young - Leases broken up into areas for policing purposes? Mr. Woody - Small areas are kept so leases have their own area, takes out element of competition. Ms. Carolyn Murphy - What is the cost of one acre of reef? Mr. Woody - Depends on material, more expensive with dredge scars, to build a new reef in good sediment is $75,000. Restored reef is cheaper. Ms. Murphy- Overfishing of public reefs is also an issue for USACE. USACE does oyster reef restoration as mitigation for projects, but as soon as reefs are stablished they are knocked out immediately by oyster harvesting Mr. Woody Monitoring and sampling for closures need to be done as soon as possible. Need more monitoring, working on emergency closure criteria. Mr. Stokes- When is the next political move regarding STORM LLC and the next legislative session? Mr. Woody - Tried to get policy into last legislative session to codify laws but ended up substituting the bill with mariculture bill. Bill was introduced in committee; opposition said the bill had mysterious language. TPWD has the authority to establish criteria so we will see. If anything, STORM brought issue to light, and is now going into legal phase. Ms. Shead- Encourage support to have full 3-D reefs that would protect shorelines but not for harvest. Homeowners can apply for riparian right. Page 6 of 8

Mr. Woody -Common law, people have ability if they own land in the upland have the right to put in oyster reefs and people can t harvest them Dr. Stuart Carlton: Just started a project with The Nature Conservancy, looking at social science in Matagorda Bay, results could inform this conservation with angler satisfaction. Presentation: Kirk Wiles, Seafood and Aquatic Life Group, Texas Department of State Health Services DSHS has a very conservative program to protect the public from disease. Their main goal is to classify shellfish areas if they can be harvested and to do fish consumption advisories. Open and close areas rules operate under the same laws throughout the USA. The FDA oversees state programs. Surveys are developed using WWTP and any other place that could contribute to pollution. They have many water sample stations in the bay, use fecal coliform as their indicator. The standard is three to four times more stringent than the contact recreation standard, very conservative. Maps are produced to determine where oyster harvesting can occur. Questions Ms. Callaway- After spill event, who notifies and how quickly do you go out? Mr. Kirk Wiles - We wait for the event to be over for rain. For an oil spill, it depends on the type of oil. Dr. Jim Lester red tide sampling through the cytosol at Port Aransas. Blooms are mostly coming from south, look at all harmful algal blooms. Mr. Stokes - How are SSOFs handled? Mr. Wiles - See impacts of first flush, but then as it falls, lowered, has cleaned up quickly. Parts of bay have been closed since April. Mr. Scott Jones- How about vibrio? Mr. Wiles - Vibrio is not a problem this spring because not a lot of harvesting. The people who get sick are highly immunocompromised. The oyster industry is refrigerated which greatly helps. Every oyster sample has vibrio in the background, just the immunocompromised gets sick. Mr. Woody Oystermen realize that if illness is prevalent, they would rather have a closure. He also commented that every state relies on Kurt for his information and dedication. Subcommittee Reports: Monitoring and Research (M&R): The subcommittee met on June 10, 2015. Dr. Lester made an announcement that the M&R Subcommittee was going to hold a Status and Trends Work Group Meeting to discuss the future of the website for status and trends information and State of the Bay. He asked for volunteers to serve on the work group. Page 7 of 8

Public Participation and Education (PPE): The subcommittee met on June 11 th, Kristi Alexander has stepped down as chair due to other obligations; Amanda Brown will serve as interim chair; subcommittee is reviewing By-Laws for final approval. Water and Sediment Quality (WSQ): The subcommittee met on June 4, 2015. Mr. Brian Koch announced that Mr. Justin Bower presented an update of the Cedar Bayou Watershed Protection Plan and that the subcommittee discussed what the process will be for selecting FY 17 projects during the September meeting. Natural Resource Uses (NRU): The subcommittee met on May 4, 2015. Updates on projects were received, and a presentation and discussion of the Greens Lake Shoreline Protection Project took place. It was also decided that prior to the September project planning meeting, NRU would like to meet to discuss implementation status and future priorities for funding. That NRU meeting would be held July 21, 2015. Budget and Priorities (B&P): Met on July 8, 2015. The subcommittee discussed symposium issues, panel discussion topics, and nominations. Council Members Roundtable: News and Announcements: Mr. Bret Raley Lake Conroe WPP published in the spring, issue to the Board of Directors to amend OSSF 2,075 ft. Mr. Mike Talbott University of Houston Hurricane Conference, August 7 at 9:00pm Mr. Brian Koch TSSWCB RFP April 24, closed June 5, 2015. Total of 43 proposals totaling $18 million were received, and are currently being reviewed. TSSWCB and NRCS (NFWF?) are working on conservation plans for wildlife (migratory birds). Goal is to develop 225 conservation plans Mr. Kelly Holligan Armand Bayou TMDL, Oyster Waters I-plan August Ms. Lori Traweek Trash Bash Results, event is dated for April 2, 2016 Mr. Bob Stokes Texas Living Waters Report, Galveston Bay Report Card will be published August 12, 2015 and there will be an event at Sylvan Beach. Public comments: No public comments were received. Adjourn: Meeting was adjourned at 12:22pm. Page 8 of 8