September 7th River Meeting
Present: Chris T, Harold, Caroline, Ryan, Chicken, Margery, Bill W
on phone: Mel (for trip reports), Mai
Guide applications were not discussed: not enough Steering Committee members present
Also, Harold urged the group not to conduct personnel business during River meetings with general members present.
Trip Reports
Marin NA
2-3 participant boats, 2 IKs (Caroline, participant, both swam each day)
Don't camp at Ponderosa, no campsites for tents
slept on gravel - can't sleep on recreation area
can put in there, just below Old Scary
$5 per person put-in at Coloma Resort
$10 per person put-in at American River Resort
Boys & Girls Club
group didn't go, they didn't respond to Arturo's calls
they moved trip date to August, then wanted to move to Sept,, then didn't return calls
Grant Union HS
along with Sacto ICO
one day on Gorge, late put-in, met group at 11, put-in at 1:30-2
took out 5-6
1 swimmer at Hospital Bar
Fun group
want to work with us again next year
one of the Sacto volunteers, Javier, trained with us before, may join up again
good river karma helping out ETC
their participant had a heart attack on river & died
not sure if others were injured, too
ICO guides didn't tell scary news to participants
ICO guides helped ETC with their gear
There are many lessons to learn here, things to consider - let's turn into a good learning experience
ICO guides came together, were flexible
ETC Incident
Chicken talked to Diane Pozlotsky, Davido
One man died, his wife & daughter saw him die
Experienced guide, new to ETC, went sideways at hole above Fowlers Rock
Right side of boat, including guide, went out for a swim
Broken arm was sprained wrist
They were able to call for helicopter because a kayaker had a cell phone
1st participant death for ETC
They have impeccable safety training
we all have to face that the river is powerful & dangerous
We need to make sure that on each of our trips, someone goes with a cell phone
Castlemont HS
Best target demographic for ICO
Great group leader, great teacher for this group
Big challenge: getting transportation, ICO subsidized van rental
Group was an hour late, because vans not ready + took longer to get to Coloma
2 swimmers, one at Bouncing Rock, got banged up, limped, complained of calf pain
Benefit to getting to Fowlers Rock after 3 pm to alleviate congestion on river
They want to do another trip next year
Group leader wants to create an outdoors club at Castlemont
Smallish trip, 12 kids, 2 chaperones, several kids were 18 or over
One boat had a hole in it, in the floor, left it behind
So now Mike @ PRS wants us to roll boats without folding in half 1st
The kids had a lot of apprehension, esp. the boys, esp. after the hole in the boat
Fundraiser updates - Mai
Thanks to volunteers for spreading the word
Currently have for Saturday: 22 paid guests, 7 that haven't yet paid; want at least 30
Sunday: 3 paid, 2 campers paid, 2 campers that haven't yet paid; want at least 10
Encourage people to sell the Middle Fork trip - the more folks we have, the better a deal we get
3 ICO folks on MF: Mai, Haya, interpreter
Bill & Mary will handle camping & food for dinner & b'fast
last year, at cost on MF = $59, with 12 people
Ansel & Arturo are interested
Chris is only ICO guide guiding for AO on SF
Next year we'll get a head start so we can recruit more guides to guide on the fundraiser
Committee Updates
Training: Margery & Bill made a survey for basic & high water training
Please go online & fill it out - it will be critical to affect training for next year
Where do our trainees fit in the paradigm? We've committed to them, and to our alternates?
Ryan is concerned about river access before April, given the California state budget
Off River Jobs
1) Insurance reports due every quarter, Mel wants to retire
Ryan thinks ICO needs a Secretary, doing quarterly insurance reports
e.g. meeting minutes, keep track of permits, other things
fits well with a larger discussion of how we get things done in ICO, who does what
2) Bake sale coordinator position available
3) Co-chair needed
4) Basic training coordinator
Institutional Permits
looks like Sept 21 for open meeting to work out issues for IP
History: we pay $150 a year, been doing it for years
7 institutional groups right now, commercials have much more regulation than IGs
Changing regulations to 1) make $$, and 2) reaching carrying capacity of 300 boats/ hr
measured at Fowlers & Troublemaker
The river is close to reaching the carrying capacity, when draconian policies kick in, esp. for commercials
So, we likely will get river usage fees, river restrictions, guide compliance requirements
RMAC getting public feedback, last year in June, this year in August, and later this year Oct4
There will also be a breakout meeting among IGs later this month
Issues to work out:
1) what constitutes advertising?
2) How much for user fees?
3) restrictions for # users, boats launched, # trips launched
Need to be practical, not blame other IGs or commercials or County
Concerned that this IP will affect our ability to get non-commercial permit from other agencies
We need to be careful, e.g. BLM, Jeff Horn, wouldn't give us permits for SFA or Merced until we cancelled our fundraiser trips
The Forest Service knows & doesn't care that we're on the Kings, EFCarson
We don't know what Forest Service district manages the Trinity, Upper Sac
IP proposal allows for 3 fundraiser trips
Ryan thinks it best to stick with AO for fundraiser trips, to avoid jeopardizing our non-commercial status
BLM has stable leadership
Forest Service cycles managers around
IGs can come together & build for other issues
Right now, FOR not allowed to raft other rivers, except Kings, Upper Sac, maybe Trinity
excluded from Merced, EFCarson, Tuolumne
Great turnout at August RMAC meeting, 8-9 volunteers from ICO came
Discussion - Organizational Reflections (Harold)
informal discussions about what to do about this year's trainees led to bigger questions
lack of clarity over who's responsible, who gets to decide, for training and other issues, too
As ombudsman, H notices many struggles
1) overlapping areas of authority, not just training
2) no one's doing anything, no one has responsibility or authority
E.g. Selection of trainees, how they were notified of policies
Who gets to say how many people we take training?
Is it the BT coordinator? Training committee? Chairs? Selection committee?
E.g. training season's coming
If we move BT, it will affect SWR, advanced training
Who decides how it works?
What happens to this year's trainees?
Caroline: steering committee trumps smaller committees that compose steering committee
Margery: steering committee makes the decisions of policy, but doesn't meet enough
Bill: if the same folks show up, then why do we need another meeting?
Chicken: most helpful to address problems rather than only talk about them. Steering Committee meeting to discuss training needs in early Oct.?
Bill: Lines of authority meeting, public forum?
Harold wanted to use a tool, a matrix to ID tasks: RACI
Who's responsible, accountable, consulted, informed
Harold wants consensus to move forward, but not all members see the need for another meeting to discuss these issues.
Meeting second Wednesday of October for Harold Meeting, for those who want to come?