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Home My WebLink AboutLand & Water 01-05-10 4f NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY AGRICULTURE & EXTENSION COMMITTEE ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & *ATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE January 5, 2010 — 9:00 a.m. Agricultural Service & Education Center 19608 th Avenue, Baldwin, WI CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL REVIEW OF AGENDA CONSENT AGENDA (Unless separation of an item is requested, all will be adopted in one motion.) 1. Vouchers 2. Minutes of previous meeting — December 1, 2009 3. Date of next meeting — February 2, 2010 UW- Extension Administrative Report: • WACEC • Personnel • Other Administrative Items OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: AGENT'S REPORTS: • Resource Agent - 2010 Census • 4 -H Youth Development - Educational Programs for 4 -H Youth Development • Ag Agent - Update on Educational Programs • Family Living Report LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency reports — FSA, NRCS, DNR, RC &D, WEST CENTRAL AREA NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Introduction - Deb Ryun — Executive Director, St. Croix River Association Resolution — Lake Planning Grant Wildlife Damage Program — Set grain prices Bruce Smith — Glen Hills Structure #7 OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's report OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Pete Kling, Robert Heise DATE: December 23, 2009 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Items may be taken in different order) *Additions /Changes /Corrections It DRAFT ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI January 5, 2010 Members Present: Ken Graf, Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Dan Raebel Staff Present: Director Bob Heise, Administrative Assistant Arlene Lier Others Present: Dave Hausman -DNR, Bob Forrest -FSA, Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS, Cindy Blonk- Wildlife Damage, County Board Supervisor Buck Malick, Deb Ryun -St. Croix River Association, Bruce Smith PARKS DEPARTMENT VOUCHERS Peavey made motion, seconded by Ruetz, to approve Parks Department vouchers in the amounts of $10,984.37 and $757.37 (Snowmobile accounts). Carried. NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise reported: • Staff will be working with our procurement officer on requests for proposals or bids for the upcoming capital items in the 2010 budget (lawn mowers, truck, skid steer). • Snowmobile trails were officially opened on December 25. • Winter projects will be worked on over the next few months: - Pine Lake - install aerators - Kinnickinnic forest — removal of trees (bark beetles) - Glen Lake — logs have been delivered for building fish cribs - Homestead Parklands — burn wood piles • Reviewed the Park User Fees Report summary: 2008 Year End, 2009 Projected, and 2009 Year End. LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) Dave Hausman - Conservation Warden Supervisor reported: • The total deer registrations (Pierce and St. Croix counties) were down. Between the two counties, we had 10,350 in 2008 and 8,220 in 2009. The reasons were fewer deer and we have been trying to get the numbers down in the last few years. • Land acquisitions — 155 acres by Casey Lake and 204 acres, both in the town of Erin Prairie (donation through the Kinni Land Trust). Both parcels are available for public use. • There have been cougar sitings and tracks verified in the county and the Spring Valley area. It was tracked across the Eau Galle Reservoir. If it was monitored and caught, we could put a collar on it. • Fisheries — Some boat landings have low water levels (Bass Lake and Squaw Lake). Both lakes have been dug out. More snow is needed to bring lake levels up. More habitat work will be done in spring on Parker Creek. • Service Center Office hours have changed in 2010 due to the Governor's budget proposal to reduce staff and services. Baldwin office will be open Wednesday and Friday for customer service traffic. Two people from the northern region will be manning the office. The Baldwin Office Manager will be working at Eau Claire. FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Bob Forrest -County Executive Director reported: • Farmers can visit the FSA Office now to enroll into the 2010 commodity programs. • The MILC (Milk Income Loss Contract) program payment rate, used to calculate benefits on November's milk production, is $.375 /cwt. Payments were issued yesterday. Because of the continued increase in the price of milk the farmers receive, this may be the last MILC program payment we issue for a while. • The signup for the 2008 crop disaster program has begun. In most cases, farmers who suffered qualifying losses would have had all of their crops covered by a crop insurance policy to potentially qualify for disaster program benefits. This is a new program. Losses are no longer crop specific. The total value of all crops for the entire farming operation will be used to calculate potential disaster program benefits. • On Friday FSA will be interviewing 8 candidates to fill the vacancy here in the Baldwin Office. • During calendar year 2009 WI FSA issued the following program benefits: Milk Income Loss Contract $185 million Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Program $57 million Direct & Counter - Cyclical Program $116 million Conservation Reserve Program $43 million Farm Loan Program Direct & Guaranteed Loans $350 million NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS) Steve Pernsteiner- District Conservationist reported: Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is taking applications until February 19. Several new practices have been added including wildlife scrapes and high tunnel hoop houses. This year applications will be sorted by type of land cover is being treated. Cropland and pasture applications will be ranked for a local county pool of funding. Other applications such as forestry and farmstead work will be ranked at the area office level. All six applications we received for the Conservation Stewardship Program have been tentatively approved. Payments will be about $15 to $20 per acre. We will start contracting soon. Space needs for the Ag Center are being currently reviewed. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) are operating currently under a month to month lease with the County. With relocation of the farm loan section of the FSA to Menominee, there will be extra space available on the FSA end of the building. We have been discussing the potential of NRCS moving into that space. Hopefully we will know more once GSA moves ahead with long term lease issues. Bruce Smith — Glen Hills Structure #7 Bruce Smith presented his concerns such as the access road to our dam and the underground cable buried across his property. County Board Supervisor Buck Malick suggested that the committee put this item on future agendas and consider the information that was presented. County staff will research the easements and determine the boundaries. Wildlife Damage Program — Set grain prices Cindy Blonk presented the "2009 Wildlife Damage Program Grain Reimbursement Rates for St. Croix County". The prices are down from last year. CORN - $3.52 /bushel — average from Chicago, Jenni -O Turkey Store - Barron, Minneapolis, WI Farm Report, Boyceville and Stanley; SOYBEANS - $10.10 /bushel — average from WI Farm Report, Chicago and Minneapolis; ORGANIC SOYBEANS - $26.50 /bushel, ORGANIC CORN - $6.00 /bushel, ORGANIC RYE - $8.50 /bushel. All ORGANIC prices are based on the individual farmer's organic contract. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Graf, to approve the grain prices as presented. Carried. The claims will be presented at the February meeting. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz reported to committee: • There will be less funding from NRCS in 2010. • Suggestion that Coordinator spend 300 hours working on NRCS operations and programs, the remainder hours on RC &D. There will be a cut in some of the services. • The driftless area initiative will attempt to fund the Value Added Agriculture conference to be held in Eau Claire on January 21 -22. • RC &D is continuing to assist in the Greenway Energy Inc. project (treating whey and converting to methane). Introduction — Deb Ryun — Executive Director, St. Croix River Association Heise introduced Deb Ryun. With the recent listing of the St. Croix River as an impaired water resource, she and her organization will serve as the leader working with adjoining counties in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The association's mission is to protect and restore the St. Croix River and its watershed. Director's Report • Heise reported that he and Ruetz did not attend the WLWCA conference in La Crosse due to bad weather. • He handed out the "Drinking Water Program" schedule for 2010 and 2011 calendar years. WEST CENTRAL AREA Heise reported that he will attend the next meeting which will be held in Dunn County on February 18. Resolution - Lake Planning Grant Heise presented a resolution recommending the LWCD to submit an application for two Lake Planning grants (one in February and the other in August) for work to be completed with Lake Mallalieu and the Willow River Watershed. It will supplement staff funding to complete the implementation plans for Lake Mallalieu and the Willow River. Both grants will be $13,000 each (75 %). The 25% can come from staff time as our contribution. The budget shows $20,000 for the stimulus grant, which we got $25,000 for. There were two $10,000 grants for lake planning grants which matched the $20,000. Peavey made motion, seconded by Marzolf, to approve the resolution authorizing St. Croix County LWCD to apply for two 2010 lake planning grants. Carried. VOUCHERS Reviewed the January voucher list. Graff made motion, seconded by Luckey, to approve the January voucher list (total $30,821.73). Carried. Chair Ruetz adjourned meeting at 12:10 p.m. Buzz Marzolf Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary