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Home My WebLink About07-01-97 Land & Water Conservation - Resource & Ed CommitteeST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Robert Boche, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Art Jensen, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Land & Water Conservation/Resource & Education Committee DATE: July 11 1997 TIME: 9:00 a.m. LOCATION: Ag Center, Baldwin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING. ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Reports: DNR NRCS FSA RC&D West Central Area Education Activities Farmland Preservation Environmental Stewardship Priority Watershed Projects Kinnickinnic South Fork of Hay River St. Croix Lakes Cluster Glen Hills Watershed - Flood Plain Study Baldwin Ag Building Update Conservation Farmer/Water Quality/Wildlife Awards NEW BUSINESS: Job Description Review* Wildlife Damage - Gary Lamb - 10:45 a.m. Farmland Preservation Applications Subdivision Review - 11:00 a.m. Vouchers ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not SUBMITTED BY: Charles DATE: June 17, 1997 necessarily Christenson Amended June 24, 1997 presented in this order) COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA/NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS/CORRECTIONS/CHANGES Convened: Recessed: Reconvened: Adjourned: 9:05 a.m. 9:50 a.m. 10:25 a.m. 12:10 p.m. T. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION/RESOURCE & EDUCATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Center, Baldwin, WI July 1, 1997 Members Present: Leon Berenschot, Chris Bethke, Jim Cody, Art Jensen, Ron Raymond Members Absent: Vernon Dull Staff Present: County Conservationist -Charles Christenson, County Technician -Bob Heise, Farmland Preservation Technician -David Sander, Kinnickinnic Project Intern-LeeAnn Ross, Secretary -Arlene Lier Others Present: Don Siler-NRCS, Dick Gade-FSA, Kim Reaman-UW-EXT, Mike Kinney -Dunn County LCD, Roger Humphrey, Gary Lamb Meeting called to order by Chairman Art Jensen. Berenschot made motion to adopt agenda. Bethke seconded. Carried. Bethke made motion to approve June 3, 1997 meeting minutes. Seconded by Berenschot. Carried. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 5, 1997 at 9:00 a.m. DNR No report. NRCS Siler handed out and discussed June activity reports. Reported county CRP averaged $57.00/acre on recent sign-up. Nationwide average is $39.00/acre. CRP appeals are being dealt with on an individual basis. FSA Gade reported that the FSA office is taking crop reports through July 15. Those who are required to make an acreage report are, all participants in CRP, those having a Production Flexibility contract who plant fruits or vegetables, those anticipating applying for a commodity loan, and those having catastrophic crop insurance. A tremendous amount of ongoing administrative work is involved with CRP including ownership transfers and early terminations. Other time is being spent receiving Production Flexibility contracts resulting from farm operation changes. Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (buyouts) are available to FSA employees to reduce current staffing in order to meet current FY1998 budget and ceiling targets. VSIP's are available to permanent FSA employees who have been employed for 3 years. Eligible employees must apply by July 11, 1997 with a separation date between October 1 and October 31, 1997 if selected. RC&D Berenschot reported that he attended the annual national convention at the Civic Center in St. Paul on June 16 and 17. Other River Country representatives attending were Jim Hartung and Ed Weber. Over 1,000 people were at the general assembly. St. Paul Mayor Coleman spoke. Included sessions on business development, information services, and Mother CAT (the gift that keeps on giving.) Recycled newsprint is being used as a soil improvement product for cotton production. Increases yield and also reduces erosion. Former Secretary of Agriculture, Orval Freeman, attended the convention. WEST CENTRAL AREA Barron County will host the summer tour on July 15. Berenschot, Bethke, Cody, Dull, Raymond, Christenson, Sander, and Gade plan to attend. EDUCATION ACTIVITIES Sander reported: He was a counselor at the conservation camp on June 10-13 at Trail's End, Bruce, WI. Kling will participate in a shoreline workshop at New Richmond on July 1-2. FARMLAND PRESERVATION Sander reported that he is doing status reviews and plan revisions. ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP Discussed that the county set a good example by using good erosion control measures on the new ag building site. Silt fence should be installed around the disturbed area. PRIORITY WATERSHED PROJECTS Kinnickinnic - Christenson introduced LeeAnn Ross, intern through the University of River Falls. She reported that well sampling (nitrates and atrazine) is completed. Results have been received on 35 of the 172 samples done. If samples are over 10 parts per million, county nurse is notified of results and is cooperating in follow up instructions to the well owner. There would be a concern if infants were in household. She has had no difficulty with active farmers in getting permission to draw a sample, where she eventually will be doing barnyard inventories. Berenschot commented on the field trip he participated in during a recent Citizens Advisory Council meeting. Commented that it would be informative for all County Board supervisors to also go on such a field trip. There was a concern from a County Board member that environmental groups and City of River Falls might have too much input in the planning process. To date, the CAC has been a very active and broad-minded organization. DNR Fisheries Manager Marty Engel gave a report on sediment. 9:50 a.m. - LWCC recessed for ground breaking of ag center building. 10:25 a.m. - Reconvened. 5 South Fork of Hay River - Project Manager Mike Kinney reported that watershed incentive proposal was presented to Joint Finance in early June. It is in budget bill as a four-year pilot project. Final action is on hold. Next deadline for project is August 5 to present to the state Land & Water Conservation Board. Berenschot made motion to approve resolution for South Fork of the Hay River with condition that if pilot project is not approved, St. Croix County wants to continue with the conventional type plan. Bethke seconded. Carried. GLEN HILLS WATERSHED Flood Plain Study - Christenson reported on contract with NRCS for low flight photography. Has been signed by County. FARMLAND PRESERVATION APPLICATIONS Christenson reported that two applications were received. County Board will refer them back to committee. To be eligible for 1997, the applications had to be received by June 30. BALDWIN AG BUILDING UPDATE Discussed concern about water runoff and proposed ditch at the site. Reaman updated the committee on interior furniture and work stations. There is 100,000 dollar budget to work with. Reaman and Sander discussed options for keeping costs within the budget. Due to the cost of panels, an option to be considered would be to use the small conference rooms as work stations for multiple employees. This would reduce the number of panels required by approximately 30 panels ($15,000). Committee approved obtaining the two cost estimates for the interior of the new agricultural building: 1) As it is drawn in the current blue prints, 2) Using conference rooms as multiple work stations. WILDLIFE DAMAGE - GARY LAMB Sander introduced Lamb, Connorsville, WI, who has bee yards in several counties including St. Croix. He has 3,000 colonies, full-time commercial venture. It is a high risk business, dependent on weather. He has had experience with bears during his 17 years in business. DNR promotes bear population. He wanted to know what county program is. Discussed fencing that county requires. He may have 30-40 bear yards to fence. Landowner has to fence according to county specifications - 7 strands of electric barb wire. Program provides materials and landowner has to furnish labor. He has been successful at installing 3-wire fence at an approximate cost of $180/yard, including labor. (APHIS sets standards in other counties.) If a fence is built to county specs and bear damage still occurs, then claims would be paid. Abatement is provided first and claims second. Maximum claim is $5,000. We have 5 separate bee yards fenced according to specs. If he moves bee hives, would that be considered abatement? Can we set lesser specifications than we now have? Lamb feels our fence specs are too labor intensive. Jensen made motion to stay with specs that we have. Raymond seconded. Carried. 1997 CONSERVATION FARMER/WATER QUALITY/WILDLIFE AWARDS Heise reported on the suggested names for candidates. Wendy Wayne, NRCS Soil Conservationist, used the rating system and results are: Goodrich Farm (73 points), Ken & Carla Greiber (89 points), and Jerry & Sandy Carufel (94 points). Berenschot made motion that Jerry & Sandy Carufel (South Fork Hay River Watershed participants) be selected as the Conservation Farmer. Nominations for Wildlife Habitat Award - LaRosa Farms (Bob & Rick Derrick), Don Gavic, Jeff Christensen, Don Kellen, and Steve Wirth. Cody made motion that Don Kellen be selected as the Wildlife Habitat Award winner. Bethke seconded. Carried. Jensen made motion to select Carol Benish as the Water Quality Award winner. Seconded by Berenschot. Carried. JOB DESCRIPTION REVIEW Christenson outlined changes in County Technician Heise's job description. Recorded time spent on zoning: 1994 (247 hours), 1995 (600 hours), 1996 (680 hours), 1997 (6 months - 515 hours). There are fees involved in plan reviews. The fees are collected by Zoning and credited back to the department. Berenschot made motion to approve upgrading job description/grade change for Robert Heise, County Technician, for 1998 department budget. Cody seconded. Carried. SUBDIVISION REVIEW Windsor Heights (Sec. 32, Town of Hudson) - Reviewed storm water and erosion control plans. Submittal time was insufficient for Land & Water Conservation Department (LWCD) staff to review. Bethke made motion to table Windsor Heights subdivision. Berenschot seconded. Carried. Fagerland (Sec. 11, Town of Somerset) - Initial subdivision plans were submitted on May 5, 1997 as a concept review. Zoning office initially denied subdivision on a dead end road extending greater than 10001 . Discussed who ultimately decides on road to be built. Proposed that people involved resolve differences at technical meeting. Submittal of updated information from engineer (A.C.A.) to LWCD was insufficient. Jensen made motion to table Fagerland subdivision. Berenschot seconded. Carried. VOUCHERS Reviewed vouchers. Bethke questioned voucher #97-127 St. Croix Co. Highway Department (Bass Lake Project - $6,032.42) and voucher #97-138 Earl Newton Trucking (Tree hauling - $400.00). Christenson explained both vouchers. Bethke made motion to approve vouchers as presented. Cody seconded. Carried. Meeting adjourned at 12:10 p.m. Arlene Lier Acting Secretary Vernon Dull Secretary