Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 07-06-04 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: July 6, 2004 TIME: 10:40 a.m. LOCATION: Ag Center, Baldwin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: August 3, 2004 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's Report Request for Proposal - Walkway Request for Proposal - Campground electrical plan Parking Lot - Homestead Parklands Bills /vouchers UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Capital Outlay Plan - 2005 House - Finance decision /Demolition plan LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency Reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area NEW BUSINESS: Subdivision Review - 1:00 p.m. Ag Center - Break in Ag Star Teacher Scholarships Farmland Preservation - Soil & Water Conservation Standards Discuss Resolution - Milk Volume Production Program Vouchers UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Staff Reports Capital Outlay Plan - 2005 budget Information & Education report Priority Watershed Projects Summer Tour Critique Sub - committee Restructuring - Administration ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: June 24, 2004 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS /CORRECTIONS /CHANGES LAND & WATER CONSERVATION Reconvened: 1:10 p.m. Adjourned: 2:52 p.m. Members Present: Lois Burri, Jim Cody, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz, Jan Zoerb Members Absent: None Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise; Land Specialists -Pete Kling, Kyle Kulow; I & E Coordinator - Aleisha Miller; Secretary- Arlene Lier Others Present: Bob Hendrickson -FSA; Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS; Jody Bloemke -Ag Star Financial Services; Teachers — Randy Bergman, Jody Lenz; Pat Conrad - Emmons & Olivier Resources FSA Robert Hendrickson reported: • Agency continues to work on CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) cost share agreements and notifying producers to submit their bills. • Compliance checks on CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) fields found some box elder trees that shouldn't be there. Staff will notify landowners on compliance issues. • The DCP (Direct and County Cyclical Program) sign up ended June 1 A few producers that are signing up have to pay a late file fee of $100.00 per farm to sign them up before September 30 0 '. • The interest rate for July Commodity Loans are 3.0% and for Facility Loans are 4.375 %. • Compliance is going well. The deadline for crop reporting is July 15. After that date, there are late file fees. The late file fees were $20.00 per farm and $3.00 per field. They have now gone up to $25.00 per farm number and $10.00 field. To avoid this late fee, the producers must report by July 15 or at least call in and get on a register. • There are no MILC (Milk Income Loss Contract) payments for June. NRCS Steve reported on the EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentive Program) signup. So far 29 applicants have been approved for about $156,000. This leaves about $60,000 available to additional applicants. Applications will be accepted until July 30 Staff is busy writing contracts. The Lower Chippewa Watershed was selected to be part of the Conservation Security Program (CSP). This includes the Eau Galle watershed in St. Croix County. During 2004, 18 watersheds were selected nationwide. Program application can be made July 6 to July 30 ". This program is designed for landowners doing a good job of conservation. Annual payments are made to encourage them to maintain the conservation work and enhance what they are doing. An informational workshop will be held July 14 at the Baldwin Ag Center. RC &D Ruetz reported: • He was appointed to the Planning Committee for the State Annual Meeting scheduled on October 26 -28. Wisconsin has seven RC &D councils. Tour will include: Chippewa Valley bean operation, Silver Spring horseradish farms, and bull frog fish farm (trout). • Grants are very essential for solving budget problems. • He will be unable to attend the July 7 meeting at Eau Claire. Dale Fern, citizen member from St. Croix County, will be attending. West Central Area Raymond commented that he thought the Area Tour on June 17 was very good. He was re- elected as Vice President of the West Central Area Association. Heise stated that we are hosting the Fall Area meeting on October 20 at UW- Stout. The speaking contest, poster contest, and awards luncheon will be held that day. NEW BUSINESS Subdivision Review Pete Kling presented: Gavin's Acres 1" Addition — (Located in part of the N'` /z of the NW ` / 4 and part of the NW `/a of the NE `/a of Section 23, Town of Somerset, St. Croix County, Wisconsin) — 75 acre development, 23 lots total. There are two wetlands on the property, which are clearly delineated. All storm water and erosion control issues have been resolved and the plans conform to the St. Croix County Subdivision Ordinance. The storm water and erosion control plans are acceptable for this subdivision. Zoerb made motion to recommend that the plans for this subdivision are acceptable and a letter be sent to the Planning & Zoning Committee, Burri seconded, carried. Kling introduced Pat Conrad, Water Resources Specialist — Emmons & Olivier Resources, private engineering firm out of Oakdale, MN. The firm specializes in working with government agencies on water resource related issues. A2 Center Break in Heise reported that a break in occurred at the Ag Center over the June 19 -20 weekend. Entrance was made through the east basement entry door. Several doors were damaged in the process of obtaining entrance. It was determined that they entered the LWCD and UW- Extension suite. No noticeable items were missing from the facility except for two front entry door keys taken from a UW- Extension desk. The front door was re -keyed and new keys were issued to staff. A2 Star Aleisha Miller, I & E Coordinator, introduced Jody Bloemke, representative of Ag Star Financial Services. Bloemke presented LWCD a grant award in amount of $7,500 for our Information and Educational Program. It will cover salary, prairie planting, wetland planting at Homestead Parklands, GPS units, etc. Teacher Scholarships Aleisha introduced the two scholarship recipients: Randall Bergman, Jody Lenz. Another recipient, Cynthia Landers, was unable to attend the meeting. Bergman and Lenz gave reports on the Environmental Education Course they participated in at UW -River Falls. Heise presented each of them with a $312.00 check from LWCD. Kyle Kulow, representing the Sportsmen's Alliance, presented $100.00 checks to each of them. Farmland Preservation — Soil and Water Conservation Standards Heise reported that he has been working on amending our county's soil and water conservation standards to incorporate the new NR -151 standards and prohibitions. He is using similar county plans (similar mix of Exclusive Ag Zoning and Farmland Preservation Agreements), which were recently approved by the Wisconsin Land & Water Conservation Board. The amended standards have to be submitted to the Wisconsin Land & Water Conservation Board by October 2004. The process will require a public hearing after approval by the state board. Milk Volume Production Program Heise presented a resolution "Requesting Governor Jim Doyle to direct the Wisconsin Department of Commerce to revise the milk volume production (MVP) program in order to protect water quality ". Corporation Counsel has reviewed the resolution. Burri made motion to approve the resolution for presentation to the County Board in August, seconded by Cody. Carried. Vouchers Reviewed vouchers. Peavey made motion to approve Chair Raymond's signature on the July voucher list (total $16,761.14), seconded by Burri. Carried. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Capital Outlav Plan — 2005 Budget Heise will update the committee on any revisions of the Capital Outlay plan at the August meeting. Information & Education Report Aleisha Miller reported on nature hikes, which she held at both Glen Hills Park and Homestead Parklands. Priority Watershed Proiects Kyle Kulow reported: Kinnickinnic - Dorwes Farms have completed their BMP'S (Best Management Practices) associated with the easement they entered into with the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust and WI DNR. Billing (vouchers) should go through in late July to early August. The seeding has been checked and it looks good so far. The Goodman/Linehan riprap project has been submitted to DNR for the purpose of acquiring a permit. We need to get a notification in the paper yet. Contractors have looked at the site and given preliminary cost estimates. DNR is finishing their riprap project on the Kinni. They have begun to submit bills and we'll attempt to get them paid by the middle of August. South Fork/Ha River - We completed an extensive survey of the Fairgrounds in June for the purposes of using it as a site plan map in addition to using it for the stream restoration project. We have yet to hear if we were awarded the Targeted Runoff Management Grant. Hopefully by the end of July we will know something. We met with a landowner who is interested in doing some barnyard work, which would consist of placing roof gutters on the barn and constructing a clean water diversion around the farmstead. We are not yet sure if we have the dollars to cost share this project. Lakes Cluster Project - Bass Lake's O.H.W.M. (Ordinary High Water Mark) determination is still in litigation which puts our shoreline restoration project with the Englharts and Wilsons on hold for now. Staff provided an educational talk for the UW -RF's student teachers out at Squaw Lake in conjunction with Extension and Roger Swanson from the University. A general Watershed discussion was the emphasis. Tammy continues to work on a shoreline restoration plan for Pine Lake with our Parks Department. Sub - committee Restructuring - Administration Discussion on restructuring of sub - committees. Consensus from the committee, and their recommendation to the Administration Committee, is that the Fair Board should report to the Ag & Extension Committee and that the representatives serving the Willow River Rehab, Squaw Lake Rehab and Bass Lake Rehab District make reports to the Land & Water Conservation Committee. Miscellaneous Heise reported that the department is partially complete with developing a Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U.) with DNR on the administration of NR -151. The M.O.U. will identify roles and responsibilities of the County and DNR on the administration and enforcement process. Meeting adjourned at 2:52 p.m. Jan Zoerb Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary i