Pima Natural Resource Conservation District

NRCS Plant Materials Center

3241 N. Romero Road

Tucson, AZ 85705

June 22, 2017

NOTICE OF COMBINED PUBLIC MEETING OF

PIMA NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICT (PIMA NRCD) BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

And

Pima Center for Conservation Education Board of Directors (PCCE)

Pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the Pima NRCD Board of Supervisors and to the general public that the Pima NRCD Board of Supervisors/PCCE Board of Directors will hold a meeting open to the public.

As indicated in the agenda, pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(1) and/or A.R.S. § 38431.03(A)(2), the Pima NRCD Board of Supervisors may vote to go into executive session, which will not be open to the public.

DATE: Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Time: 9:00 AM (not the typical starting time)

Location: NRCS Plant Materials Center, 3241 N. Romero Rd., Tucson

AGENDA

I. Call to order

II. Pledge of Allegiance

III. Introductions

IV. Announcements

a. Pima NRCD’s website has moved to http://www.PimaNRCD.Wordpress.com

b. Public comment periods open

i. National Monuments comments due July 10 https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOI-2017-0002-0001

ii. Red wolf 10(j) revision comments due July 24 (more information attached below agenda) https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FWS-R4-ES-2017-0006-0001

iii. Other announcements

V. Treasury

a. Financial Report

i. Income/expense & balance statements

b. Bills

i. Program Administrator invoice $500.00

ii. Program Administrator office supplies and postage

iii. Registration and/or travel expenses for AACD meeting attendance @ $225 per attendee (to be reimbursed afterward with receipts)

VI. Minutes

a. Approval of minutes of meeting of May 30, 2017

VII. Action Items

a. Old business

i. Mexican Wolf genetics study update

ii. Wolf 10(j) rule litigation status update

iii. PCCE Plant Guides: sales reports

iv. Regional meeting and sponsorships update

v. US Border Patrol activities in the Altar Valley

vi. Public records request to Arizona Game and Fish Department and FOIA to USFWS for existing but as-yet unreported DNA data on various jaguars killed in Arizona.

vii. Educational workshop on pond sealing-set date

viii. National Monuments draft comments

ix. Newsletter articles

x. New business

1. Approve Draft annual reports and financial statements for PNRCD and PCCE

2. Approve Draft Ironwood Forest National Monument comments

3. Approve Draft “red wolf” comments (if available) VIII. Reports:

a. Altar Valley Conservation Alliance

b. NRCS

c. AACD

d. Other federal agencies

e. State Natural Resources Department

f. Other State agencies

g. Program Administrator

i. Grant writing course

h. Supervisors

i. Set date for next meeting

IX. Call to the Public

X. Adjourn

Pima Natural Resource Conservation District/ Pima Center for Conservation Education

By

Cindy Coping, Chair

Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation, such as a sign language interpreter, by contacting the district at http://pimanrcd.org/agency-contacts/ (scroll down to contact form). Requests should be made as early as possible to arrange the accommodation.

Supplemental Information:

Red wolf 10(j) revision (from Federal Register Notice):

“The viability of the captive population is below and declining from the original recovery plan diversity threshold of 90 percent and could be enhanced by breeding captive wolves with wolves from the NEP project area. Therefore, the Service is considering whether the NEP should be managed with the captive population as one meta-population, whereby individuals could be moved not only from captivity into the wild but also from the wild into captivity.

Therefore, the Service is considering whether the NEP should be managed with the captive population as one meta-population, whereby individuals could be moved not only from captivity into the wild but also from the wild into captivity [and managing both wild and captive wolves as
a single meta-population]. …Therefore, the Service is proposing to change the goal of the current NEP project from solely that of establishing a selfsustaining wild population to a goal of also supporting viability of the captive wolves of the red wolf breeding program (proposed action). Maintaining a wild population fully integrated with the captive wolves also will: (1) Allow for animals removed from the wild to support the necessary expansion of current and future wild reintroduced populations and to improve the genetic health of the captive-breeding program; (2) preserve red wolf natural instincts and behavior in the captive population gene pool; and (3) provide a population for continued research on wild behavior and management.”