[PAGE 1] City of Rockaway Beach Forest Stewardship Plan Advisory Committee (FSPAC) Meeting Agenda Date: Thursday, November 13, 2025 Time: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Location: Rockaway Beach City Hall, 276 Hwy 101 – 2nd Floor Conference Room Join here to attend the meeting remotely: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81493316314?pwd=aupUBqh5ozfNvP9pGfJ5vnzIgDL3yv.1 Meeting ID: 814 9331 6314 Passcode: 325340 Dial by your location 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) How to Provide Public Comment: • Written Comments – submit in person at meeting or 48 hours prior to meeting to cityrecorder@corb.us • In Person – sign-up sheet and instructions will be located on the table inside the meeting room. • Virtually on Zoom – use the “raise hand” feature when the Chair announces it is time to do so. 1. CALL TO ORDER – Jason Maxfield, Committee Chair 2. ROLL CALL 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – October 17, 2025 Meeting Minutes 4. PUBLIC COMMENT 5. NEW BUSINESS a. Review of Forest Stewardship Plan Timeline (Sustainable Northwest) b. Confirm Goals and Purpose (Springboard Forestry) c. Confirm Policy Categories (Springboard Forestry) d. Introduce and Review Management Activities (Springboard Forestry) e. Next Steps 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS 7. ADJOURNMENT NOTICE OF POSSIBLE QUORUM: A quorum of the City Council and/or Planning Commission may attend this meeting. No deliberations or decisions will be conducted by either body at this meeting. Rockaway Beach City Hall is accessible to persons with disabilities. A request for an interpreter for the hearing impaired or for other accommodations for persons with disabilities should be made at least 48 hours before the meeting to the City Recorder Melissa Thompson at cityrecorder@corb.us or 503-374-1752. [PAGE 2] City of Rockaway Beach Forest Stewardship Plan Advisory Committee (FSPAC) Meeting Minutes Date: Friday, October 17, 2025 Time: 12:00 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER – Jason Maxfield, Chair Maxfield called the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Committee Members Present: Sandra Johnson, Jason Maxfield, Lydia Hess, Darlene Johnson, Nancy Lanyon Council Members Present: Charles McNeilly, Mayor; Mary McGinnis, Councilor (guest) Staff Present: Luke Shepard, City Manager; and Melissa Thompson, City Recorder Consultants Present: Ben Hayes, Springboard Forestry; and Brandy Saffell, Springboard Forestry (remote) 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – August 21, 2025 Meeting Minutes Start time: 12:01 p.m. Motion by Hess, seconded by S. Johnson, to approve the August 21, 2025 meeting minutes as presented. Motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5 (S. Johnson, Maxfield, Hess, D. Johnson, Lanyon) No: 0 4. PUBLIC COMMENT • None 5. NEW BUSINESS Start time: 12:02 p.m. a. Introductions – Ben Hayes, Springboard Forestry Staff • Ben Hayes, Springboard Forestry, introduced himself and explained that the notes from the August committee meeting which outlined vision, goals, and objectives were aligned Forest Stewardship Plan Advisory Committee Page 1 of 3 Meeting Minutes – October 17, 2025 [PAGE 3] with Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) and other planning requirements to create the proposed language being presented for review. b. Springboard Forestry Presentation: • Hayes shared a presentation and led participants in discussion of the following: i. Discuss terminology for referring to the proposed acquisition “City of Rockaway Beach’s fee simple ownership in the Jetty Creek Watershed” ▪ Consensus to refer to property as “in and around” the Jetty Creek Watershed. ii. Review Draft Purpose and Goals – From FPSAC Meeting #1 (Attachment 1 in meeting agenda packet) ▪ 52% figure in draft goal 1 will be updated to reflect a recent delineation of the watershed using LiDAR data ▪ Discussion about expanding and adjusting specific language to better align with goals ▪ Discussion regarding priorities related to water quality, recreation, and use of transient lodging tax funds toward the acquisition of the watershed ▪ Discussion about importance of considering water quality first when making any habitat enhancements ▪ Discussion about options to protect from future harvesting and noted that such policies would be discussed at the next meeting ▪ Discussion that potential timber sales revenue would be associated with stewardship activities, such as thinning iii. Review Proposed Policy Categories – (Attachment 2 in meeting agenda packet) ▪ Committee reviewed slide of proposed policy categories. ▪ Draft policies for each category will be reviewed at the next meeting iv. Review Management Zones - (Attachment 3 in meeting agenda packet) ▪ Three management zones: Zone 1 - preserve; Zone 2 - protect and steward; Zone 3 - steward and recreate ▪ Reviewed maps identifying the zones, noting that proposed purchase line follows the road at the south end of the map ▪ Hayes identified an active rock quarry in the watershed ▪ Discussion about areas for potential recreation, including use of existing roads ▪ Suggestion to add to the map 300 acres that could potentially be purchased outside of watershed to Zone 3 ▪ Suggestion to have future discussion about bikes c. Next Steps • Next meeting on November 13, 2025 will include policy discussion. Forest Stewardship Plan Advisory Committee Page 2 of 3 Meeting Minutes – October 17, 2025 [PAGE 4] 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS • None 7. ADJOURNMENT Motion by S. Johnson, seconded by D. Johnson, to adjourn the meeting at 1:13 p.m. Motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5 (S. Johnson, Maxfield, Hess, D. Johnson, Lanyon) No: 0 MINUTES APPROVED THE 13TH DAY OF NOVEMBER 2025 ______________________________ Jason Maxfield, Chair ATTEST Melissa Thompson, City Recorder Forest Stewardship Plan Advisory Committee Page 3 of 3 Meeting Minutes – October 17, 2025 [PAGE 5] ATTACHMENT A: Purpose and Goals Vision Statement Our vision is to provide reliable, high-quality, and affordable drinking water for the Rockaway Beach community for generations through managing an ecologically complex and resilient forest. Primary Goals 1. Provide reliable quantities of high-quality drinking water. The City of Rockaway Beach fee simple ownership in and around the Jetty Creek watershed includes roughly half of the drinking water source area. A combination of steep slopes, erodible soils, roads, and past management practices has resulted in high turbidity throughout the watershed, driving up water treatment costs. All management practices will prioritize protecting and improving both the quality and quantity of source water, now and in the future. This includes mitigating impacts from sediment, nutrients, temperature fluctuations, large-scale disturbances such as pest outbreaks, and human activities. Additionally, forest structure and stand composition significantly affect low-flow and peak-flow conditions—factors that are becoming increasingly critical as weather patterns grow more unpredictable. 2. Build long-term forest resilience through stewardship that promotes species diversity and structural complexity while mitigating risks from fire and other disturbances. Diverse and complex forests have a higher capacity to store and filter water, as well as greater ecological resilience in the face of disturbance. Forest stewardship will align with natural ecological processes to accelerate the forest's ability to provide essential ecosystem services. Policies relating to harvest, stream buffers, and invasive species management all aim to support natural forest processes while preparing for anticipated variability and severity of disturbances. 3. Foster community engagement and stewardship through recreation and education. The city-owned property provides valuable aesthetic, recreational, and cultural benefits to the Rockaway Beach community, supporting activities such as hiking, wildlife viewing, and education. While protecting water quality and quantity remains the primary management priority, management actions promote public access and [PAGE 6] community connection to the forest where possible and with little to no potential impact on source water. 4. Support and enhance habitat for native wildlife, consistent with drinking water objectives. The Jetty Creek watershed provides important habitat for a wide range of wildlife species. The mosaic of forest stand characteristics on the city-owned property currently supports adequate habitat with significant potential for future improvement. Steep slopes and large riparian buffers have created natural barriers to harvest, resulting in de facto reserve areas across the property. Over time, managing for historical forest succession patterns will restore habitat conditions that have become increasingly rare on the Northern Oregon Coast. 5. Ensure long-term financial sustainability by managing the forest to minimize water treatment costs and optimize operational efficiency within the City's budget. Active management of the city-owned property plays a dual role in maintaining forest health and funding ongoing stewardship costs, with direct impacts on water affordability for the community. By integrating active management with source water protection and climate resilience, the property serves as a public model for sustainable forestry that delivers both ecological and economic benefits. [PAGE 7] ATTACHMENT B: FOREST MANAGEMENT POLICIES. In order to achieve the goals and objectives of the City of Rockaway Beach, the City’s ownership within the Jetty Creek Watershed will be managed in accordance with the following 5 policies. These policies create a framework for determining operational plans across the ownership. The policies are designed to meet or exceed the requirements of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the Oregon Department of Forestry, and the Forest Stewardship Council Pacific Standard. Each individual stewardship project will require analysis to guarantee Forest Practices Act and Certification compliance. The management of the Jetty Creek Watershed must also comply with state and federal regulations pertaining to forest management, threatened and endangered species, and source water protection. These policies include background as well as requirements and recommendations related to: Forest Stewardship Stream Buffers Road Maintenance Invasive Species and Chemical Use Recreation and Public Access These policies are intended as the minimum level of protection for the City of Rockaway Beach’s ownership in the Jetty Creek Watershed. Each section includes background on the topic and a summary of the policy itself. Forest Stewardship Forest Stewardship Discussion [PAGE 8] The primary goal of stewardship within the Jetty Creek Watershed is the provision of reliable quantities of high-quality water. Central to this goal is stewardship of the forest, which covers the entirety of the watershed. The structure, species composition, understory plant community, and extent of this forest will determine the landscape’s ability to function in two ways – as a sponge and as a filter. A forest as a sponge: A primary function of the forested landscape is to mitigate high- rainfall events, and to increase base flow during dry conditions. Forests accomplish this to varying degrees depending on age, species / structural composition, and soil conditions. The best sponges are forests with uncompacted, highly porous, loamy soils, a diverse and healthy plant understory, multiple canopy layers or strata, and old trees. These types of forests weather dry conditions by minimizing evapotranspiration and decreasing the temperature within the forest. In wet conditions, the multiple canopy strata, healthy understory plant community, and deep, high organic content, loamy soils store water, slowly releasing it into both surface and hyporheic flow. In this way, the forest serves as a sponge, decreasing peak flow events while increasing summertime base flows. A forest as a filter: In addition to storing and releasing water, forests also filter out particulates including airborne particulates and runoff from roads and soil surfaces within the forest. Of particular importance in working forests is the ability to filter fine sediment runoff from road surfaces. A forest with multiple canopy layers and a healthy understory both serves as a good filter above the forest floor but also decreases the velocity of rain as it moves through the forest, diminishing erosive potential. A diversity of native plant species both creates an excellent filter today but also mitigates the risk of mortality from any single species dramatically altering the forest’s functional characteristics. In addition to serving as a sponge and a filter, the diverse, complex, and older forests provide climate mitigation and adaptation services, grow a range of high-value wood species over the long term, and provide habitat and recreational benefits. The ongoing stewardship of these forests through forest management can support area forestry contractors while protecting the communities source water quality. Forest Stewardship Policy The City of Rockaway Beach’s ownership within the Jetty Creek Watershed will be managed to increase species diversity, develop forest structural complexity, and maintain canopy cover (extent). This will be done with a long-term planning horizon and may include both non-commercial and commercial (revenue generating) activities. [PAGE 9] Stream Buffers Stream Buffer Discussion Riparian areas within a forest are the first line of defense in stream protection. The buffers on these areas are measured in feet from the bank-full width of a stream. For the purposes of this plan, all buffers will be measured as horizontal distance, as opposed to slope distance. Buffers can vary both in terms of width, and in terms of activities allowed within the buffer. In many cases, regulations or policies define an “inner” buffer, where activities are more heavily limited than in the “outer” buffer. Both state laws and forest management certifications specify where buffers should be applied and what activities are permitted within the buffer. The Oregon Department of Forestry administers a statewide streams geodatabase that foresters use to determine stream size and fish presence, although unlisted streams will also require protections. Stream protections provide a wide range of water quality, ecological, and landscape resilience benefits. Stream buffers serve as a high-quality filter, using intact riparian vegetation to remove sediment. By protecting these near-stream areas, the risk of sediment mobilization particularly from exposed mineral soil, is also decreased. Stream Buffer Policy The City of Rockaway Beach will manage the City ownership in the Jetty Creek Watershed to comply with the Oregon Forest Practices Act and Forest Stewardship Council Pacific Standards requirements for stream buffers. All streams will require a 150’ equipment limitation zone, measured as horizontal distance. Non-commercial stewardship activities may take place to accomplish restoration and resilience goals within this 150’ buffer, but should not utilize mechanical equipment. Road Maintenance Road Maintenance Discussion Road maintenance includes all activities associated with the road system, including vegetative control (mowing), grading, cross drainage repairs / additions, addition of rock, or re-alignment and replacement. Road maintenance relies on regular monitoring of the road system condition, needs, and uses. Mainline roads will require more maintenance than dead-end spur roads. A lack of maintenance on mainline roads can lead both to severe water quality issues as well as issues for property access. Small spur roads may simply be allowed to re-grow vegetative cover, while roads with drainage issues require [PAGE 10] decommissioning. Decommissioning activities range from minor excavation and drainage to complete excavation and revegetation, returning the road to the surrounding slope and understory vegetation. The forest road network provides essential access throughout the property for stewardship activities, fire suppression, monitoring, and recreation. Road maintenance is critical to source water management for the following reasons. First, well maintained roads decrease the risk of catastrophic failure of roads, which create both source water and access issues. Secondly, adequately maintained and drained road surfaces minimize the mobilization of fine sediment, which presents severe water treatment issues. Road Maintenance Policy The City of Rockaway Beach or their contractors will monitor and evaluate the condition of roads in the Jetty Creek Watershed on an annual basis and following extreme weather events to prioritize maintenance and repair activities. Mainline and essential spur roads will be maintained on an annual basis with repairs as needed. Small spur roads may be decommissioned or temporarily abandoned. All current mainline roads should be kept open in order to provide fire and emergency access. This includes the removal of downed trees and regular brush mowing to keep roads open during fire season. Strategies for road maintenance include out-sloping roads where possible, frequent and oversize cross drains, and disconnecting ditches and culverts from active stream channels. Routing road runoff into forest understory vegetation provides the best fine sediment filter available for forest roads. Invasive Species and Chemical Use Invasive Species and Chemical Use Discussion Invasive plants can present a competitive challenge to native vegetation. This includes a significant risk that invasives can overwhelm all native species and create a monoculture thicket. By competing aggressively for light and moisture, invasive plants such as Scotch broom, Gorse and Himalayan blackberry will either overtop and exclude native species that occupy a site, or preclude the establishment of native plan communities. Invasive species can create challenges for working forestry, land conservation and recreation. In order to grow a healthy and resilient forest, native trees must outcompete invasive species present on the site during stand establishment. The Pacific Northwest is [PAGE 11] fortunate in that very rarely would an invasive species present a challenge in an established native conifer forest. If a risk exists of failure to regenerate a forest, foresters typically consider mechanical and chemical site preparation to treat invasive species. Forest chemicals include pesticides and fertilizers. The most common form of chemical use in Oregon forests is broadcast and spot herbicide application. These applications focus either decreasing herbaceous competition, maintaining vegetation free road surfaces, or treatment of specific invasive species issues. Invasive Species and Chemical Use Policy The City of Rockaway Beach will work with partners and the other watershed landowners to utilize the best available science and treatments for the management of invasive species. Invasive species are an inevitable component of forested ecosystems, but management will always strive to develop healthy native forests and ecologically functional plant communities. The City of Rockaway Beach will not use any pesticides or fertilizers on their own ownership within the watershed and will work with other watershed landowners to encourage alternatives to pesticide and fertilizer. Recreation and Public Access Recreation and Public Access Discussion The Jetty Creek watershed provides a unique recreational access opportunity, with the potential for easily accessible trails, wonderful views of Nehalem Bay and Neahkahnie Mountain, and chances to encounter many of the region’s charismatic wildlife species. Recreational access also includes considerable risk to source water, primarily from contamination and wildfire ignition. While water contamination from recreational access is not well tracked, wildfire ignition in NW Oregon is predominantly caused by humans (an estimated 97% in Tillamook and Clatsop County), with a significant proportion of those ignitions caused by recreational users. Recreation and Public Access Policy Determining a long-term balanced and managed approach to recreation will be critical in the Jetty Creek Watershed. The property is currently open to public access, with some restrictions relating to permits and seasonal / operational closures. Public access will continue to be allowed, with efforts made to develop new recreational access trails outside of the Drinking Water Source Area (DWSA). Recreational access will be managed to [PAGE 12] minimize impacts to the property and to the staffing of the City of Rockaway Beach public works department, while also exposing residents and tourists to the wonders of the Jetty Creek property. The City intends to complete a Recreation Development Plan for areas outside of the DWSA within three years from the date of acquisition.