Sharing Information | Encouraging Engagement
This is an executive summary of notes regarding our Town Hall Meeting focused on Trinity Lake and River Releases. I hope you find these notes (and Town Hall Meetings) of value.
There were approximately 70 to 80 people in attendance at the Lewiston Hotel Dance Hall. Special guests included Trent Tuthill (Our new CAO) and Liam Gogan (District 3 Supervisor and BOS representative to the Trinity Management Council).
This gathering got off the ground thanks to Darren Victorine & Amber Elizabeth. This meeting actually started out as a follow up meeting of folks who gathered a couple weeks ago to address the same subject. Darren and Amber were kind enough to hand over the reigns for this meeting so that I could promote on a broader scale, incorporate survey results, invite special guests, and facilitate discussions.
Amber provided an update regarding key takeaways from the previous meeting and invited attendees to sign up for updates. It is clear there is strong support for a community-driven organization to address questions, concerns, goals and ideas related to Trinity Lake and River Releases. I will update this post with more information when I receive it.
After establishing an agenda and objectives for the meeting, I shared results of an online survey regarding this subject. At that time we had received 179 responses. As of this writing we have received 193 responses. You can click here to review results of the online survey that I prepare this morning.
We then opened up the floor to gather additional input, answer questions, discuss shared goals, receive information regarding previous efforts, and to discuss plans for moving forward. Below you will find a brief summary of the goals and action items that I took away from our time together.
Goals
- Improve collaboration and communication – within Trinity County and with Key Influencers
- Increase minimum lake levels – with focus on cold water storage
- Revisit winter variable flow approach to address concerns that have been raised
- Revisit water year classification/application – more consideration of current and projected lake levels
- More consideration of potential property damage and economic impact when planning release schedule
- Address health and safety concerns related to lake and release management
- Create a more balanced and truly adaptive approach to lake and release management
- Greater accountability and transparency regarding the impact on fish and other wildlife
- Address uncertainty regarding options for preventing and addressing property damage
Action Items
- Form official community-driven organization – including establishing leadership team and potential representation in future decision making forums
- Re-establish TAMWAG
- Develop and implement program to better educate all parties
- Constituents
- County Leadership
- Key Influencers & Decision Makers
- Actively and cohesively participate in efforts to revisit the ROD
- 2nd round of input expected in August or September
- Build and support community engagement
- Focus local leadership to:
- Amplify community input
- Keep community more well informed
- Strategize and engage community in plans
- Establish a process for gathering property damage details
- Research potential sources of financial support for those who have experienced property damage
- Use county website to share information, gather input, and engage the community
- Spread the word about the virtual gathering with Congressman Huffman on Monday evening
- Improve efforts to acknowledge and respond to input (such as property damage reports) provided by constituents
I hope this information is helpful and encourage you to reach out to Amber if you would like to get involved and/or stay informed of community-based efforts related to this matter. You can reach Amber at thewaterbar@outlook.com. You can reach me at rleutwyler@trinitycounty.org.
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