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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 02-06-07 ti NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE February 6, 2007 — I0:40 a. in. 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 — March 6, 2007 PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Bills /vouchers * Park Improvement grant OLD BUSINESS: Stanton forest — timber harvest Bicycle /pedestrian trail/RFP — Regional Planning LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Subdivision update * Board of Adjustment update Update — County owned property - Oakridge Lake George — River Falls — update & letter of support Wildlife Damage - Approval of 2006 Wildlife Damage claims Resolution — Ban of deer feeding in St. Croix County Vouchers Staff reports Priority Watershed Projects ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: January 24, 2007; amended January 30, 2007 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Items may be taken in different order) *Addition s /Changes /Corrections UNOFFICAL Convened: 10:50 a.m. Recessed: 11:37 a.m. Reconvened: 12:39 p.m. Adjourned: 3:20 p.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI February 6, 2007 Members Present: Lois Burri, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Sharon Norton - Bauman (excused) Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Operations Manager -Dave Larson, Administrative Assistant - Arlene Lier Others Present: None Action on Previous Minutes: Motion by Peavey, seconded by Burri, to approve the January 2, 2007 meeting minutes. Carried. Adoption of Agenda: Ruetz made motion to adopt the agenda, seconded by Peavey. Carried. Date of Next Meeting: March 6, 2007 PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise reported: • Glen Hills Park - Due to the weather conditions, we postponed construction of 10 -14 fish cribs until the week of February 12` DNR staff and boot camp folks will be assisting us with the construction and installation. • Homestead Parklands — Now that we have received some snowfall, this week staff will be burning the slash piles created from the Oak release and habitat restoration last year. • A letter went out to approximately 800 Glen Hills campers in 2006 informing them about the improvements made in the park and future improvements for 2007 and offering them a "stay 2 nights and get the 3 rd night free" coupon combined with an advertisement for Mulligans (bar, grill and banquet facility). • The Glen Hills phone system planned for the 2007 budget is installed and working. • Glen Hills internet service is up and running. • Camper user days comparison — Dave Larson handed out two charts: "Local Park Comparison # of Camper Unit Days" (Glen Hills, Highland Ridge, Nugget Lake, Willow River) and "Comparable Local Park Comparison # of Camper Unit Days" (Glen Hills, Highland Ridge, and Nugget Lake). The charts show the trends for the years 1995 -2006. Park Improvement grant Heise explained the concept of applying for a Park Improvement grant for the 2008/2009 budget year. The application deadline is May 1. Approvals usually are received in fall of the budget year. We would have to know what type of projects would be included in this type of grant. In the past, the County Board of Supervisors had approved a resolution to allow the Parks Department to make application for this grant. All capital outlay items were removed from the 2007 budget. Larson handed out a list of staff priority items ($186,000) for the grant application which will be discussed at our March meeting. Stanton Forest — Timber harvest Larson informed the committee that the harvest is complete. The estimated harvest is close to 600 cords. As part of the project, we had the logger remove some trees in the southwest corner of the forest area to build a small parking lot. During our March meeting, staff will be prepared to provide a complete revenue analysis to date of the timber harvest of our county forests. Thanks to Gene Ruetz (former DNR forester) for his efforts and expertise in our county timber bid process. Bills /Vouchers The February bills list was presented. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Burri, to approve the Park accounts (total $6,609.51). Carried. OLD BUSINESS Bicycle /pedestrian trail/RFP (Request For Proposal) — Regional Planning Staff has received a contract from Regional planning for developing the Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan for St. Croix County. The contract was amended by county staff and reviewed by Corporation Counsel. The contract was sent back to West Wisconsin Regional Planning for review. Staff received a request from the Regional Planning Director to wait a few additional days on the signature until he had time to review the contract with his new employee, who will be responsible for this planning initiative. We are waiting to receive the notice of signature. Last month we again sent out letters to towns and municipalities that had not responded to our initial invitation and cordially asked them to delegate a volunteer from their Board or Committee to be actively involved with this planning process. We received additional volunteers. Heise met with the Highway Department on Monday to fill them in on the fact that Regional Planning will be doing the plan, how we plan to have towns involved, and how does this fit into their transportation plan. They are pleased that we have Regional Planning involved. Their Bicycle Transportation plan will be another layer in this plan and would update their plan. Heise suggested that a committee member attend the first meeting. Recessed: 11:37 a.m. Reconvened: 12:39 p.m. LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Members Present: Lois Burri, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Sharon Norton- Bauman (excused) Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise; Land Specialists -Kyle Kulow, Steve Olson, Tammy Wittmer; Administrative Assistant - Arlene Lier Others Present: Dave Hausman -DNR, Cindy Blonk - Wildlife Damage, Bob Hendrickson -FSA, Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS, Mike Reiter- Sportsmen's Alliance, Dave Larson -Parks FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Robert Hendrickson - County Executive Director reported: • Direct and Cyclical Program (DCP) payments are being made as producers sign up. • Appointments are being made for producers to come in and sign up for DCP. • Mill( Income Loss Contract Program (MILCX) payments are being made as they come in. • MILCX rates for the last five months are: Oct. .4318, Nov. .4386, Dec. .4284, Jan. .034, Feb. .102. • Jim Cody completed his term on the FSA Committee. John Schachtner is the new Committee person for that area. • Ken Graf will be the FSA rep on the LWCC. • Paper work on all of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Re- enrollment/Extensions has been completed. • There are no CRP sign ups scheduled for 2007 or 2008. However, we will still be taking sign ups for Continuous CRP and CREP. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS) Steve Pernstemer- District Conservationist passed out a fact sheet summarizing the Administration's 2007 Farm Bill Proposal. The fact sheet shows many changes to current farm programs. One proposal would simplify and combine several conservation cost -share programs into the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP). The Wetland Reserve Program would be expanded to 3.5 million acres. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) would be maintained at current limits. The current Farm Bill will expire at the end of September, 2007. If done according to schedule, Congress would need to act on the new farm bill before the 2002 Farm Bill expires. St. Croix had 38 landowners apply for the 2007 EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentive Program). Three (3) of these are for statewide funding regarding alternative handling of ag. waste. St. Croix has received approval to start funding the local workgroup requests with $201,000. This will fund the first nine. Jerry Thompson, Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations, approved using proximity to water as a tie breaker. One application for the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP) has been received for 2007. It is being submitted for funding from the State Office. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) Dave Hausman - Conservation Warden Supervisor reported: • Wildlife deer herd status meeting will be held on Monday, February 19, 7:00 p.m., Baldwin. • Chronic Wasting Disease testing — Approximately 500 head were sampled and we received no positives yet. • Fisheries — 42 fish cribs were put in at Cedar Lake. We worked with the Sportsmen's Alliance, Star Prairie Fish & Game, and the Lake Association. We had more help than needed. There are plans for more cribs to go in at Glen Lake. • Plan to do a fisheries assessment at Baldwin -Pine Lake this year. There are concerns of high rate of harvest. • Spring hearings are scheduled for April 16` which is a week later this year. Local rules that are going to be voted on include pan fish bag of 10 county -wide. Some lakes have that already because they are so close to large populations. Kinnickinnic River fisheries regulations — proposal to leave as is. • Turkey permits — Notices are being sent out. Sale of extra turkey permits will start at 10 a.m. on March 23. There is a list of zones and time periods, and how many permits will be available over the counter sale. • New licenses go on sale on March 9 for the next year. All licenses expire the end of March. • Hunter education classes start in Baldwin on March 13. • Department wide, one of the law enforcement goals and objectives is to get youth involved in outdoors activities. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz reported that there is a meeting scheduled for February 7 in Altoona. WEST CENTRAL AREA Heise reported that a meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 21, in Menomonie. All information has been sent to the counties. A few county conservationists will be absent because that is the same day as the conservation lobbying in Madison. NEW BUSINESS Wildlife Damage Program ti NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE February 6, 2007 — I0:40 a. in. 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 — March 6, 2007 PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Bills /vouchers * Park Improvement grant OLD BUSINESS: Stanton forest — timber harvest Bicycle /pedestrian trail/RFP — Regional Planning LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Subdivision update * Board of Adjustment update Update — County owned property - Oakridge Lake George — River Falls — update & letter of support Wildlife Damage - Approval of 2006 Wildlife Damage claims Resolution — Ban of deer feeding in St. Croix County Vouchers Staff reports Priority Watershed Projects ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: January 24, 2007; amended January 30, 2007 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Items may be taken in different order) *Addition s /Changes /Corrections UNOFFICAL Convened: 10:50 a.m. Recessed: 11:37 a.m. Reconvened: 12:39 p.m. Adjourned: 3:20 p.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI February 6, 2007 Members Present: Lois Burri, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Sharon Norton - Bauman (excused) Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Operations Manager -Dave Larson, Administrative Assistant - Arlene Lier Others Present: None Action on Previous Minutes: Motion by Peavey, seconded by Burri, to approve the January 2, 2007 meeting minutes. Carried. Adoption of Agenda: Ruetz made motion to adopt the agenda, seconded by Peavey. Carried. Date of Next Meeting: March 6, 2007 PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise reported: • Glen Hills Park - Due to the weather conditions, we postponed construction of 10 -14 fish cribs until the week of February 12` DNR staff and boot camp folks will be assisting us with the construction and installation. • Homestead Parklands — Now that we have received some snowfall, this week staff will be burning the slash piles created from the Oak release and habitat restoration last year. • A letter went out to approximately 800 Glen Hills campers in 2006 informing them about the improvements made in the park and future improvements for 2007 and offering them a "stay 2 nights and get the 3 rd night free" coupon combined with an advertisement for Mulligans (bar, grill and banquet facility). • The Glen Hills phone system planned for the 2007 budget is installed and working. • Glen Hills internet service is up and running. • Camper user days comparison — Dave Larson handed out two charts: "Local Park Comparison # of Camper Unit Days" (Glen Hills, Highland Ridge, Nugget Lake, Willow River) and "Comparable Local Park Comparison # of Camper Unit Days" (Glen Hills, Highland Ridge, and Nugget Lake). The charts show the trends for the years 1995 -2006. Park Improvement grant Heise explained the concept of applying for a Park Improvement grant for the 2008/2009 budget year. The application deadline is May 1. Approvals usually are received in fall of the budget year. We would have to know what type of projects would be included in this type of grant. In the past, the County Board of Supervisors had approved a resolution to allow the Parks Department to make application for this grant. All capital outlay items were removed