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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 10-07-08 NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE October 7, 2008 —10:40 a.m. Agricultural Service & Education Center 19608 1h Avenue, Baldwin, WI CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING — November 4, 2008 LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area - Meeting October 23, Eau Claire NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Vouchers Venison program — update WLWCA convention Local workgroup meeting — NRCS Ultimate Land Use Study tour LWRMP — review timetable OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives 2009 budget /COLP (Capital Outlay Plan) Staff reports PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Bills /vouchers Introduction — Site Manager Pine Lake Park — upper parking lot - update Ag Center — energy cost /Art Tobin OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives 2009 budget /COLP (Capital Outlay Plan) ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: September 25, 2008 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Items may be taken in different order) *Additions /Changes /Corrections UNOFFICIAL ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI October 7, 2008 Members Present: Ken Graf, Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Dan Raebel - excused Staff Present: Director- Bob.Heise, Administrative Assistant - Arlene Lier Others Present: Bob Hendrickson -FSA; Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS; Pat Collins - Hydrogeologist, Harvey Halvorsen - Wildlife Biologist -DNR; Chuck Whiting — County Administrative Coordinator; Roger Rebholz- County Board Chairman; Art Tobin - Building Services Director Ruetz called the meeting to order at 10:55 a.m. Action on Previous Minutes: Motion by Luckey, seconded by Peavey, to approve the September 2, 2008 meeting minutes with the amendment under OLD BUSINESS, Letter — County Aids project — 2009 (last paragraph) to read: Luckey made motion, seconded by Marzolf, to approve Hatfield Lake Canoe/Boat Access as the 2009 County Aids project with equal shares not to exceed $2,000 (equal partners are WI -DNR, County, Sportsmen's Alliance, and City of New Richmond). The access shall be open in perpetuity to all residents of St. Croix County and the general public. This is not to be construed as funding a municipal park, but as providing access to an area water resource. Motion carried. Carried. Adoption of Agenda: Motion by Peavey, seconded by Graf, to adopt the agenda. Carried. Date of next meeting: November 4, 2008 LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Bob Hendrickson - County Executive Director reported: • The State of WI is attending Farm Bill Training on October 28 -30 at Stevens Point. • The CRP — SAFE (Conservation Reserve Program — State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement) is progressing well. We have about 600 acres signed up at this time, which is about 25% of the acres we are allocated. • Approximately 1.4 million dollars in CRP payments are being sent out to St. Croix County producers at this time. • 182 contracts (5,178.5 acres) have expired from CRP this past September 30. • Crop reporting was extended until August 15, 2008. About 98% of the farmers have reported this year. • Sign up for 2008 DCP (Direct & Cyclical program) ended September 30th. Sign up for 2009 -2012 will start about the end of October of this year. We expect some major changes for that signup. • At the last minute Congress changed the way they looked at the 10 -acre base rule. Future producers will be able to sign up in DCP all of the farms that they have rented that have less than 10 acres of base. About 300 plus landowners may qualify for this. • There have been some changes to the New Farm Bill. Payment limitations will be hooked to landowner ID number and you can not have any other entities to receive extra payments. • Three new Program Technicians have been hired since the first of the year. • Ken Graf is the only one on the ballot for the County Office Committee election in December. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS) Steve Pernsteiner- District Conservationist reported: Pemsteiner asked that the committee act as the Local Workgroup for input on NRCS programs of Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Wildlife Incentive Programs. The new Farm Bill has good funding for both of these programs. Sign up can take place at anytime and the ending deadline for sign up has not been set. The EQIP program has practices for cost sharing including: wind and solar power, brush control, organic farming, tree planting as well as all the typical nutrient and soil erosion practices. The list of eligible practices was passed around to those present. Comments on EQIP and how the ranking should be set up should be provided to Steve. The WHIP program now will only be available to agricultural producers. Many past participants in St. Croix County would not qualify in the new program. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) Pat Collins - Hydrogeologist reported: High Capacity Wells — Since 1958, the county had 120 high capacity irrigation wells (not municipal) put in. During the years of 1976 -1977, 33 irrigation wells went in perhaps due to it being very dry and also the corn prices were very high. It dropped off until 2007 (10 wells went in) and 2008 through June (15 wells went in). There is a large well (Town of Stanton) currently being put in. State law passed a couple of years ago in regard to high cap wells primarily because of Nestles (Central Wisconsin) where they wanted to pump at the headwaters of a spring. It showed that it would increase the flow of the spring. New law covers applications for high cap wells. Applications require the applicant to submit an environmental impact report; it doesn't specifically define what has to be in it, but there is a fair amount of information about water usage, water quality, and groundwater resources. This report has to be submitted if the well is located within a groundwater protection area which is within 1,200 feet of a body of water identified by the WDNR as being an outstanding or exceptional resource water (e.g., Class I or II Trout Streams and Designated Wild and Scenic Rivers). Harvey Halvorsen - Wildlife Biologist (St. Croix and Pierce Counties) reported: Public Lands Mana ement — During the past year, there has not been funding to acquire any public lands. Consideration will be given to purchase the county 40 -acre parcel in the Cylon Wildlife Area in 2010 when DNR will have new funding to increase their land acquisition. SAFE — Attended a Public Lands state -wide meeting two weeks ago and by far we have the best signups in the state. Many people think CRP fields are public land and public hunting is allowed. "Hunting on private (CRP) land is only accessed by permission of the landowner." Nuisance animals — DNR does not provide service for calls on badgers, skunk, and other animals. Those calls should be directed to local pest and wildlife control companies and/or APHIS in Rhinelander (1- 800 - 228 - 1368). American Pest Solutions, Roberts, handles a number of our animal calls. With guidelines, the owner or occupant of any land, and any members of his or her family, may hunt or trap without license and subject to all other restrictions except seasons, hunt or trap on their own property for coyotes, beavers, foxes, raccoons, woodchucks, rabbits, and squirrels year- round. Cindy Blonk will work with the landowners if they have damage from turkey, bear, deer, or geese (animal damage program). She will come out and assess the damage. If damage is from one of those species, shooting permits can be assigned for those animals. Deer have been the major problem. Earn A Buck — Antlerless deer hunt starts next Thursday for 4 days. Blaze orange is required for pheasant hunt also. Food Pantry Deer update — There have been numerous concerns about the program. There is a health advisory dealing with lead shots. So far, 53 bow killed deer were brought into Deer's Locker. Only 8 of them were donated to the St. Croix Food pantry. There will not be funding for deer shot with lead bullets. Shooting permits — Ten permits have been issued for Pierce /St. Croix counties. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz reported that the Local Food program with the hospitals is going very good. One or two employees have left recently. The grazing program is still being encouraged. WEST CENTRAL AREA Heise reported that the fall meeting and speaking contest will be held on Thursday, October 23, at Eau Claire. Gene Ruetz will be attending. A presentation on "Wind Energy in the Upper Midwest" will be given by Mike Arndt - Director of Project Development for Invenergy LLC. LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's report Heise reported: • Town of Emerald — private drinking water issues — We are working with the town on having an informational meeting scheduled for Thursday, October 23. We will be talking about geology and karst features in the area. A professor from UW -River Falls, DNR staff, and LWCD staff will be at meeting. • TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) — Willow River — We held a meeting on Monday, September 29 to engage ag producers /landowners involved in the process. Attendance was not good. The next meeting is scheduled for October 8"' at Clear Lake, which may be the last meeting by stakeholders before the plan gets put together and sent to EPA. • Land & Water Resource Management Plan — A (Citizens Advisory) meeting was held on September 24. We received some additional written comments to our plan. We are incorporating some of those comments into our plan. Our goal is to get this plan (draft form) to DATCP by the middle of this month. State approval would be in February, county board approval at the March meeting. Vouchers Reviewed vouchers. Graf made motion, seconded by Peavey, to approve Chair Ruetz's signature on the October LWCD voucher list (total $43.055.08). Carried. Venison Program update — For the 2008 bow and gun deer season, the only deer that will be accepted for the venison program in St. Croix County will be all deer donated by bow kills. The lead issue has not been fully resolved and the food pantries are not organized to administer the entire program at this time. WLWCA convention Heise reported that the state WLWCA annual conference will be held at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel, Appleton, WI on December 10 -12. Ultimate Land Use Study tour Heise reported that he will be attending the 5 -day tour out East to understand how the TDR and PDR programs work and how we could introduce such a program in Wisconsin and St. Croix County. West Wisconsin Land Trust will pay his portion of the registration fee. 2008 SWRM grant reimbursement Heise presented the Soil & Water Grant Staff and Support Reimbursement Request in the amount of $167,596. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Marzolf, to approve Chair Ruetz's signature on the grant request. Discussion. Motion by Ruetz, seconded by Peavey, to approve County Board Chair Rebholz's signature on the grant request. Carried. OLD BUSINESS 2009 — Budget /COLP Chuck Whiting (Administrative Coordinator) thoroughly explained the county budget process. Heise reported on recent decisions made by Finance. We were asked to reduce our budget by $20,000 (tax levy dollars). Heise will offer to remove COLP — 3 PC's - $3,975, Teacher Scholarships - $500, Headwaters — Geodata base - $10,000, Conservation Camp fees - $200, NACD — dues $725, Cost share BMP's (Best Management Practices) - $4,600. Heise and Ruetz will be attending the Finance Committee meeting on Thursday, October 9. Peavey made motion, seconded by Luckey, to approve the 2009 LWCD budget -cut items for presentation to the Finance Committee on October 9 by Heise and Ruetz. Marzolf opposed. Carried. Graf left the meeting at 12:50. Committee took a break 12:50 -12:55 p.m. PARKS DEPARTMENT Members Present: Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Dan Raebel - excused Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Operations Manager -Dave Larson, Homestead Parklands Site Manager — Jessica Herrman, Administrative Assistant - Arlene Lier Others Present: Art Tobin - Building Services Director, Chuck Whiting — County Administrative Coordinator; Roger Rebholz- County Board Chairman NEW BUSINESS Ag Center — energy cost /Art Tobin Tobin reported that he has done research on the county's energy cost savings if the county went to four 10 -hour days. The Ag Center's costs (water, sewer, electricity, heat) amount to $26,500 /year, savings would be approximately 15% ($4,000). The Ag Center is used by the public (related to UW- Extension and LWCD) on Fridays and weekend days which would necessitate using utilities. If the Government Center went to four -10 hour days, it would save on over- time costs for Building Services (five days per week). Specialty work could be done on Fridays rather than on weekends which would save over -time hours. Savings would be approximately $12,000 for the Government Center. There will be cost savings at the jail if we keep humidity down and the temperature at 76 degrees. Heise thanked Tobin for presenting the energy cost savings. Discussed the village sign which is proposed to be installed on the county lot (north of Ag Center) by the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce. Director's Report • Discussed the spreadsheet on Park system revenues (2007 year end, 2008 projected and 2008 received to date — September 29). Heise said the figures are all weather related. • Two direct demand water heaters have been installed at the Glen Hills shower facility. Vouchers The October bills list for Parks was presented. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Marzolf, to approve Chair Ruetz's signature on the voucher list (total $16,315.72). Carried. Introduction — Site Manager Heise introduced Jessica Herrman, the newly -hired Homestead Parklands Site Manager. Jessica gave a short bio of herself. Introductions by committee members. Pine Lake Park- upper parking Iot Larson provided the Committee a brief update on the Pine Lake overflow parking lot. Since the last Committee meeting, there has been no response from Xcel Energy regarding staff's counter proposal. Overflow parking will be determined by ongoing negotiations with Xcel Energy. Park staff consulted with DNR grants administrators and DNR permit co- sponsor. Decision was made to move forward with balance of project. Boat landing will be paved by County Highway Department by the end of the week. Discussion. OLD BUSINESS 2009 budget /COLP (Capital Outlay Plan) Heise reported that he was asked to cut the Parks budget by $50,000. He proposed to cut Glen Hills — Chip seal campgound road - $16,000, Park outlay — PC - $1,325, Wildwood Trail — surfacing - $11,000, Glen Hills — stump grinding - $2,000, Glen Hills — Prairie burn - $900 — total $31,225 (20% reduction from 2008 budget); Glen Hills — 3 -month seasonal staff - $5,000, Homestead Park — 3 -month seasonal staff - $5,000 — total $41,225 (21.5% reduction form 2008 budget). Discussion. Peavey suggested keeping the seasonal staff instead of resurfacing the Wildwood Trail. Luckey made motion, seconded by Marzolf, to accept the $31,225 reduction and forward the recommendation to the Finance Committee on October 9. Peavey opposed. Carried. Marsolf made motion, as a back up plan for Thursday's Finance Committee meeting, that we be prepared if $31,225 not being enough, that the restoration of the Wildwood Trail surfacing be postponed. Peavey seconded motion. Discussion. Luckey opposed. Carried. Chair Ruetz adjourned meeting at 2:18 p.m. Buzz Marzolf Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary