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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 04-04-06 ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Clarence Malick, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Ron Raymond, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Land & Water Conservation DATE: April '4, 2006 TIME: 10:40 a.m. LOCATION: Ag Center, Baldwin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: May 2, 2006 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's Report Bills /vouchers • County land inventory • Expense - exceeding 90 days UNFINISHED BUSINESS: LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency Reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area NEW BUSINESS: Subdivision update Vouchers Glen Hills Dams - Annual inspection Tri- County Wildlife Damage Agreement • Resolution - Siting legislation • Position - LWCD - Job description UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Conservation Awards program proposal Two -year work plan Staff Reports Priority Watershed Projects ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: March 22, 2006; amended March 29, 2006 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS /CORRECTIONS /CHANGES UNOFFICAL Convened: 11:00 a.m. Recessed: 12:02 p.m. Reconvened: 12:56 p.m. Adjourned: 3:02 p.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI April 4, 2006 Members Present: Lois Burri, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Jan Zoerb (excused) Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Operations Manager -Dave Larson, Administrative Assistant - Arlene Lier Others Present: Harvey Halvorsen -DNR Adoption of Agenda: Peavey made motion to adopt the agenda, seconded by Burri. Carried. Action on Previous Minutes: Motion by Peavey, seconded by Ruetz, to approve the March 7, 2006 meeting minutes as printed. Carried. Date of Next Meeting: May 2, 2006 PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise reported: • The Pine Lake resolution was removed from the March County Board meeting agenda. Staff met with DNR -Eau Claire staff to review the grant application. It was suggested that staff receive permits from County Zoning Department and DNR which put us out of this application period. In the resolution we had specific dollar amounts which were different than our cost estimates that staff had projected. We may also get other money from townships. If approved, we would only have received the money stated in the resolution. The resolution will be revised and presented at a future County Board meeting. • Non - motorized trail plan — Staff sent a letter to all towns and municipalities requesting a delegate to serve on a trail committee. Each delegate is required to assist in developing trail designations on roads or proposed properties in the area that they are representing and to bring that information back to their committee/board, keeping them informed and receiving feedback. We are working with our Procurement officer on a request for proposals (RFP) to seek consultants to assist in development of the County-wide non - motorized (hiking, biking — human powered) trail plan. Larson has requested copies of RFP's from other counties who have developed this type of plan. Committee reiterated that staff should focus their efforts on developing a trail plan for non - motorized, human powered uses. • Seasonal Park employees — Interviews have been conducted and all seasonal staff have been selected and hired for this year. • Park truck — The new truck (2006 F -250 4 x 4) was delivered last week Wednesday. Larson reported: • Park map — J & M Printing is printing the revised map, to be completed by May 1 (before Park season begins). The names of rivers and lakes have been added. We lost 3 sponsors, but gained 4. The cost will be $3,300 (same as last year) for a run of 10,000 maps to be printed. The department will receive $2,200.00 in sponsorship fees to offset the cost of the park map. • Invasive aquatic weeds, Homestead Parklands - Staff met with the Hudson Scuba Club and they are willing to help us with the aquatic weed eradication in the beach area as well as the hot spots of Eurasian water milfoil along the lake. They will buy 10 annual stickers from us. They will harvest everything and haul it up on shore for our disposal. Expense — exceeding 90 days Heise stated that a staff member submitted an expense report with mileage that exceeded the 90 -day limit by 7 days. Burri made motion to approve the payment ($20.86), seconded by Raymond. Carried. Bills/Vouchers The April bills list was presented. Motion by Burri, seconded by Ruetz, to approve the Snowmobile account bill ($6,120.00) and Parks account bills (total $55,588.92). Carried. County land inventory Heise handed out a list of conservation properties in the county. An intern student from UW -River Falls was hired to assist in the land inventory. The intern organized the County -owned parcels into several categories. Chuck Whiting - Administrative Coordinator requested our department and committee to review and make comments on the conservation lands designating what parcels should be retained, parcels that the county has no use for and could be disposed of, parcels not currently used by the county but could be sold for development or not quite sure of the ownership and may require greater research. Heise stated that during his initial review he made the assumption that parcels that are currently in parkland, forestland or recreational uses, will be kept as part of our Park system. LWCC agreed with that assumption. He gave a PowerPoint presentation of the land parcels that required greater discussion and direction from the committee. Each of the parcels was reviewed and comments were noted. Heise will combine LWCC comments along with more research, and prepare a report for Chuck Whiting. Recessed: 12:02 p.m. Reconvened: 12:56 p.m. LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Members Present: Lois Burri, Jim Cody, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Jan Zoerb (excused) Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Administrative Assistant - Arlene Lier Others Present: Bob Hendrickson -FSA, Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS, Harvey Halvorsen -DNR, Pam Quinn - Planning & Zoning FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Robert Hendrickson - County Executive Director reported: • We will be holding 2 informational meetings for producers who received one of our Re- enrollment Extension letters for their CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) contracts that are going to expire in 2008, 2009 or 2010. These meetings will be held on April 19 (2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.) at the American Legion Hall in Baldwin. • The producers sign up to either re- enroll or extend their CRP the same as before which is simply signing a FSA - 409 and paying for a compliance check. The contracts that we will be looking at are all the contracts that expire on September 30, 2008, 2009 and 2010. If they have a compliance problem then they will receive a fine; and if they don't fix it, they will not be able to get back into CRP! The deadline for re- enrolling or extending the CRP contracts is June 30`'',' 2006. • The sign up period for the CRP contracts that are expiring September 30, 2006 and for new acres is March 27- April 14. • We are currently about 75% complete with the DCP (Direct and County Cyclical Program) sign up. • The deadline for making small grain loans or LDP's (Loan Deficiency Payments) for crop year 2005 was March 31. The deadline for coarse grains, corn and soybeans is May 31, 2006. • The interest rate for April Commodity Loans is 7.750 and facility loans are 4.625. • The MILCX (Milk Income Loss Contract) is up and running. The first sign up is March 27 through May 17 The producers that will hit over 2.5 million pounds of milk in a month or so may want to wait until after May 17 if they think that the payment would be more. • MILCX payment rates to date are: October 5 t ' - . 00, November 5 - . 00, December 5 0i - . 04 cents, January 5 0 ' - . 10 cents, February 5` -.10 cents, March 6 cents, and April 6"' -.8298 cents. May rates will come out on May 19`". NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (MRCS) Steve Pernsteiner - District Conservationist reported: Most of the 2006 Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) contracts have been completed and signed. NRCS is starting on planning for re- enrolling CRP participants. Several Agronomists have now been certified to do Comprehensive Nutrient Plans (CNMP) for St. Croix County. Seven EQIP contracts are approved for CNMP's. Steve is currently serving on a team to review standards for minimum tillage. There is a big change in the standard as it relates to tolerable soil loss. The standard looks more at the amount of soil disturbance than soil loss. This is a new philosophy for resource agencies. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) Harvey Halvorsen reported: • Air Program — John Stoffel — The ethanol plant is on schedule at Wheeler. Ethanol production usually relies on coal which some individuals have been concerned about the amount of mercury and other toxics that are given off from coal. Natural gas burners will generate the digesters for ethanol product. Dairyland Power is interested in buying back electrical generated power to their grid. They are looking at milking operations (1,000 cow units or more) whether there could be some bio- digesters added to the farm so that they can eventually generate their own electricity and sell back to the grid. • Water Resources — DNR recently went through another re- organization with the Water Team. We had Water Supervisors and Water Experts. Now we have Line Item Supervisors. Bob Baczynski is one of the supervisors (Lower Chippewa Basin). He will continue to supervise Pete Skorseth, Jim Devlin, and Eunice Post. They work with everything that is wet, except fish and the drinking water program. • Fish Biologist —Marty Engel — Lakes and streams program — Cedar Lake added 20 cribs this winter (goal is 300 cribs to be put out in selected locations — 60 per year). Bass Lake — Will be doing walleye assessment starting in spring of 2006. State wide, they are looking (Bass Lake is part of state -wide analysis) at putting in little or big (which does better getting to fishable stage) fingerlings in select lakes. Squaw Lake — Second year of study (fish evaluations), starting to get trend information relating to bag limits — 50 /stringer, 25, and now 10 /stringer. Streamside of his work — working with 4 other counties on long -term stream monitoring. They are looking at trout regulations on their reproduction, whether we are having some real healthy reproduction on select streams (Kinnickinnic, Hay Creek, and Willow). He also is evaluating Sparrow Brown trout. He is finding in the Willow system, there are certain select areas in the Willow River where they are able to be reproduced. He is assessing that at the State Park, downstream of the dam in New Richmond, Jewett area and the upper north fork. • Customer Service and licensing — The glitch in the Turkey license sales was caused by the software developer. • Wildlife — Deer shooting permits were issued to Heinbuch and Keatley; and have to issue permits to Peskar and Fryes yet. Heise will follow up on contacting Ziegler Tree Farm on possibly issuing them deer shooting permits. • Venison disposal program from shooting deer permits — In fall they could be donated to the food pantries using funding, funneled through the county, from the Wildlife Damage Program. • Burning program — About 850 acres is planned to be burned this season: 9 private land burns (CRP — 350 acres), rest is ag land. Charge is $7.00 /acre on up to $25.00 /acre (minimum fee of $150.00). RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz reported that there was no meeting recently. • There are a few grazers in St. Croix County. • Bulk prairie seed business is increasing. • Lake Pepin — Received grant to work on Rush River. • The Value Added Conference is held each year in Eau Claire where they are getting small producers to exhibit. Rochester, MN showed an interest in hosting the conference. There may be problems with regulations. The purpose of the conference is to promote small farm products (specialty). • Dale Fern (treasurer) is a St. Croix County citizen member (receives per diem and mileage). Because of budget restrictions, Ruetz has not been charging the county for his expenses. Discussed having one county person (Dale Fern), not two. WEST CENTRAL AREA Heise reported that 5 -6 counties were represented at the area meeting held on March 23 at Menomonie. There was good discussion on legislative issues. Buffalo County will host the summer tour on June 15. The organization will have to restructure at the business meeting. The $75.00 annual dues will be collected. Decided to have a guest speaker (topic of interest to West Central members), possibly someone from the West Wisconsin Land Trust, at the October business meeting rather than have the agencies give their report. How do those conservation easements play into what we can do as far as land conservation locally? NEW BUSINESS Subdivision Update Heise handed out a list of preliminaries, finals, and some concepts. Heise introduced Pam Quinn (Planning & Zoning Department) who is filling the interim position (formerly held by Kling). Pam stated that she had a Certified Erosion and Sediment Control designation in Ohio and worked in a Soil & Water District office. She, with the assistance of Jeff Lueck, took a tour of the subdivisions (Troy, Somerset, and St. Joseph townships) and a number of subdivisions with erosion and storm water practices installed have come through the winter fairly well. Some of the newer ones (Hills of Troy, Bluebird Meadows) need work. She and Lueck will be attending a "Construction Erosion Control Workshop" at Rice Lake on April 10. Pam shared a conservation design development with the committee. This is the first Conservation design subdivision that was submitted to the Zoning office since the inception of the new ordinance. Vouchers Reviewed vouchers. Burri made motion, seconded by Cody, to approve Chair Raymond's signature on the April LWCD voucher list in the total amount of $7,372.14. Carried. Glen Hills Dams — Annual Inspection Discussed date for the annual inspection of the Glen Hills dams. The inspection is scheduled for Thursday, May 11. Tri- County Wildlife Damage Program Working Agreement Heise stated that this agreement is with Burnett County to administer our Wildlife Damage program in St. Croix County. The contracted services have worked well for over three years. Burri made motion, seconded by Peavey, that LWCC approves Chair Raymond's signature on the agreement. Carried. Resolution — Siting legislation Heise stated that the siting legislation has been approved and will be become effective May 1, 2006. Those counties that have rules and regulations in place now will have 6 months to get this new legislation in place. Planning & Zoning committee may be developing a resolution of intent for St. Croix County during this 6 -month grace period. Position — LWCD — Job Description Heise stated that he, Fodroczi, and Bezek reviewed the proposed job description for the Land Specialist (Urban) position. The decision was made to keep the position in the LWCD. He explained the revised job description. Raymond made motion, seconded by Burri, to approve the new job description and forward to the Human Resources Department. Carried. Discussed method of filling the position. The position has to be advertised internally or externally. Since one of the watershed projects terminates in two years, there could be problems with budget at that time. Raymond recommended filling the position with a watershed staff person and not add an additional person to the payroll. Heise will be reviewing the procedure with Chuck Whiting- Administrative Coordinator and the Human Resources Department, and report to LWCC. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Conservation Awards program proposal Heise provided a handout and explained the suggested protocol for the Conservation awards program in the future. • The department will continue to follow the conservation award categories that WLWCA establishes. • Each year would be different with the types of conservation awards and the number of participants. Staff would present the selected nominations (individual or group) to the committee. • Calendar years that have few award recipients, staff or I & E Specialist would present the award at a known meeting or official function of an organization that the individual belongs to or works in. • Pictures and news articles would be placed in newspapers in the area where the award recipient lives, attends school or works. • Poster and Speaking contest students would receive their awards in front of their peers, either a classroom presentation or school assembly. • In years where staff selects nominations for all categories of the conservation award program, LWCC may decide to recognize the recipients at a conservation banquet developed by LWCD staff, similar to past years. • Each year LWCC could evaluate how the new process is working, and if the new process meets the mission of LWCD and the overall information and education program. Two -Year Work Plan Heise stated that last month he gave out the revised two -year work plan (2006 -2007) for the Land and Water Resource Management Plan. Discussion. Ruetz made motion, seconded by Peavey, to approve the two -year work plan. Carried. ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE Heise stated that there are training sessions scheduled for new as well as existing LWCC members on June 12 in Eau Claire. Raymond adjourned the meeting at 3:02 .m. Arlene Lier Recording Secretary