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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 12-02-03 ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Clarence Malick, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Art Jensen, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Resource & Education /Land & Water Conservation Committee DATE: December 2, 2003 TIME: 9:00 a.m. LOCATION: Ag Center, Baldwin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: January 6, 2003 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES NEW BUSINESS: Mike Reiter - Sportsmen's Alliance - Resolution Prohibiting Deer Feeding John Vrieze - Discussion siting of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations' proposed legislation EQIP St. Croix River Crossing Plan Subdivision Review - 10:00 a.m. Vouchers UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Staff Reports Resolution - To protect groundwater resources Natural Resource Management Plan Information & Education Report Priority Watershed Projects Agency Reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: November 19, 2003 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS /CORRECTIONS /CHANGES UNOFFICIAL Convened: 9:00 a.m. Adjourned: 11:35 a.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATIONIRESOURCE & EDUCATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI December 2, 2003 Members Present: Leon Berenschot, Chris Bethke, Lois Burri, Jim Cody, Art Jensen, Ron Raymond Members Absent None Staff Present: County Conservationist -Bob Heise; Land Specialists -Pete Kling, Kyle Kulow, Steve Olson; Technician -Tammy Wittmer; Aleisha Miller; Program Assistant - Jonna Fedie; Secretary - Arlene Lier Others Present: Cindy Blonk- Burnett County; Mike Reiter, Carol Benish -St. Croix County Alliance; John Vrieze- Baldwin/Emerald Dairies, Bob Hendrickson -FSA; Jay Custer -NRCS; Dave Hausman -DNR; Julie Speer - Supervisor Dist. #3, Peggy Rode, Don Berkseth, Rudy Erickson, David Krear, Ronald Moe, Gene Nelson Cody made motion to adopt agenda, seconded by Bethke, carried. Berenschot made motion to approve the November 4, 2003 meeting minutes with an amendment under RC &D : Delete "Chuck Mehls gave a 15 minute report on the tornado that went through Siren" and add "People from Burnett County gave a report on the tornado that went through Siren ", seconded by Raymond, carried. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 6, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. MIKE REITER — SPORTSMEN'S ALLIANCE — RESOLUTION PROHIBITING DEER FEEDING Mike Reiter, representing the Sportsmen's Alliance, presented a resolution written on behalf of the Sportsmen's Alliance encouraging the LWCC to support a similar resolution prohibiting the artificial feeding of deer. He stressed the fact that it is a very serious problem. Dave Hausman, DNR Warden, stated that it is the department's recommendation to go with the ban, but socially it is not very well received. Manitowoc County went against baiting and feeding. Feeding is a non - hunting activity. Resolution does not include "Enforcement ". A county ordinance would create regulations and enforcement. DNR could not enforce a county ordinance. Carol Benish stated that the county could be proactive. Bethke made motion that St. Croix County support the Manitowoc County's resolution at the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association. (WLWCA) conference, Raymond seconded, carried. JOHN VRIEZE — DISCUSSION SITING OF CONCENTRATED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS PROPOSED LEGISLATION John Vrieze discussed the proposed legislation on the siting of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. He has been very active in Madison promoting this legislation. He described the process which he experienced for a special use permit beginning in 1996 with the Board of Adjustment. The town of Hammond did not have zoning authority. He expanded the permit in 1997. Also in 1998 he went through same process with the Town of Emerald and in 2001 applied for an expansion of that permit with the Board of Adjustment. Both townships had no zoning authority. The county required engineering plans which in the beginning were $2,00043,000 and the last set of plans cost $75,000, which is a big burden for dairy producers to carry. The legislation would keep authority where it is at this time. If the producer were turned down at the local County Board of Adjustment, he could go to the state level board. The recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture are to create state standards, which all operators must follow over a specified number of animals. Heise stated that we don't know what the state standards would be. Berenschot said that odor is one of the proposed standards. Counties would have the option of adopting the state standards. Raymond stated that whatever goes forward, LWCC would like to see representation from local authorities. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES Dave Hausman (Lower St. Croix Team Supervisor) reported on the preliminary deer hunt numbers. Overall, it was a good deer season, harvest numbers are up, and hunter attitude was good. There were 2 minor hunting accidents, one person was shot in the wrist during a deer drive and another one was hit in the ankle. Statewide, it was the second safest deer season. The muzzleloader season runs until December 10 and hunters have to wear blaze orange. Mike Reiter stated that the Willow River Rod & Gun Club provides dumpsters for deer carcasses. The dumpsters and barrels are emptied regularly during hunting season. EQIP Jay Custer reported on the Local Workgroup meeting held on November 17 2003 EQIP cost share had 34 applicants, with 20 applications being funded. He discussed the various practices contracted, including prescribed grazing, No -Till, Nutrient Management Planning, and Waterways. The workgroup is leaning toward revising its ranking system to insure more structural practices were contracted. Splitting the funding allocation is being considered. New EQIP applications are being accepted, with two applications for Prescribed Grazing incentive already signed. These applications may be amended as local workgroup decisions are made on funding limits. Available funds will be known after critical appropriation bills are signed; until then we can expect similar levels as in 2003. The Conservation Security Program was outlined briefly. FSA Robert Hendrickson reported: • Conservation: Matt Bobowski will be leaving St. Croix FSA at the end of December. Dawn Christianson will be replacing him. • Work is continuing on the new CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) contracts. • The next CRP signup may be in February 2004. • There is not much activity with the LDP (Loan Deficiency Payment) rates for this year. The interest rate for loans is 2.375°/x. • Sign up for 2004 DCP (Direct and Counter Cyclical Program) has started and we are making 2004 "advance" payments for that of. 14 cents/Bu. • There is no MILC (Milk Income Loss Contract) payment for November. • The Interest rates for our facility loans are 3.75 %. • All of the Crop Disaster program (CDP) applications for the years 2001 or 2002 have been submitted and payments completed. Program deadline is January 31. • There is no word yet on a Crop Disaster Program (CDP) for 2003. BEAR TRAPPING AGREEMENT - WILDLIFE DAMAGE PROGRAM Cindy Blonk reported: Bear trapping agreement has been signed by Chair Jensen. St. Croix County can close out 2003 claims if 90% of the county's crops are harvested. Close out date of December 19 was set. A notice will be publicized in every county newspaper for 2 weeks prior to December 19. Raymond asked about remedies for coyote. Cindy stated that any animal nuisance can be reported by calling (800) 228 -1368. ST. CROIX RIVER CROSSING PLAN LWCC was given a copy of the 2003 amended Scoping Document/draft Scoping Decision Document. Heise stated that there are advantages and disadvantages of the scoping alternatives. Informational meetings are planned for December 2 (Houlton Elementary School) and December 3 (Washington County Government Center, Stillwater). WLWCA CONFERENCE — RESOLUTIONS Reviewed and discussed the 13 resolutions which will be presented at the conference in Madison on December 3 -5. Direction was given to our LWCC representative who will vote on each resolution. All were to be "yes" except for #10 Resolution for Cost - Shareable Technical Assistance, which should be amended (dollars to go to a designated fund). VOUCHERS Reviewed vouchers. Motion by Bethke, seconded by Cody, to approve Chair Jensen's signature on the December voucher list, carried. LAND AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN (LWRMP) Heise stated that the LWRMP has been approved by the County Board on November 25. Hard copies as well as an electronic version (CD) will be distributed to each township, municipality, and libraries in the county. The committee was given a memo copy on "open meetings" directed to LWCC from Julie Speer, Supervisor Dist. #3. Chair Jensen commented that it would have been good to have Julie stay at the meeting to discuss this issue. Referring to Julie's request that LWCC support an informational meeting in February, Raymond said he did not think the committee should support an informational meeting which is in opposition to "Smart Growth ". Whether you are for or against it, he felt LWCC should not be "endorsing" or "not endorsing" Smart Growth. Discussed the issue of concern regarding meeting notification to public citizens. Berenschot stated that every county newspaper receives notices for publication. Currently (May 1, 2003 -April 30, 2004 ), New Richmond News is the designated legal paper. Legal publications need to be printed only in the New Richmond News. It is the other newspapers' decision on whether they publish the notices received by them. Chair Jensen will discuss this issue of meeting notice publications with Cindy Campbell- County Clerk and Buck Malick- County Board Chairman. INFORMATION AND EDUCATION REPORT Heise reported that Ruth Stern is not renewing her education contract for 2004. Aleisha Miller will be replacing Ruth as the Information and Education Specialist. She has been working for the county this summer. Her degree in Conservation with emphases in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Science is from the University of Wisconsin -River Falls. Aleisha Miller handed out Ruth Stern's report for November and reported: The current Wisconsin Environmental Education Board (WEEB) grant will end December 31, 2003. This $5,000 grant was used for education the past two years. A new grant, AgStar Financial Services, has been applied for in the amount of $7,500 and a second WEEB grant will also be applied for. Possible additions to the upcoming year's educational programs include an educational Global Positioning Systems (GPS) program, an educational prairie plot at the Ag Service Center, and a shoreland restoration on Perch Lake. PRIORITY WATERSHED PROJECTS Kyle Kulow reported: South Fork of the Hay River - Nutrient management workshops are scheduled for next week and are to be held at the community center in Glenwood City. These workshops will give the participants an opportunity to update their plans, with staff help, for the purpose of staying in compliance for 2004 incentive payments. The project is slated to end in late June of 2005. Because of this date, we will only be able to cost share BMP'S through 2004. We intend to spend a portion of our bond revenue on a streambank restoration project with the fairgrounds in 2004. Kinnickinnic Watershed - We met with David Cowles on November 25 (Tuesday) to sign documents relating to the easement we have been working on for the past two years. He has signed the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust portion of the easement and signed an option on ours. He will have to clean up the two dump sites on the eased property before DNR will make payment for our portion of the easement (approximately 17 acres). This is projected to occur sometime between now and early spring. The easement covers 40 acres and is bordered to the north by an existing Land Trust easement and to the south by DNR land. The easement area is in Sec. 36 of Warren. St. Croix Lakes - Kyle and Tammy attended the Ordinary High Water Public Hearing for Bass Lake on Monday evening, December 1 The hearing was held at the Government Center in Hudson and drew a crowd of about 50 people. DNR made a proposal to change the O.H.W.M. from an existing elevation of 888.31 Ft. to 886.90 Ft. If the elevation is changed, it may have an impact on existing roads, among other things. Eunice Post from DNR gave a brief presentation describing the history of the existing determination and how they arrive at a particular elevation. Things such as changes from aquatic to terrestrial habitats, scour lines, and soil modeling were considered, among other physical characteristics when establishing these elevations. SUBDIVISION REVIEW Pete Kling presented: HOLLOW POND — (In the SW 1 /4 of the SW 1 /4 of Section 25, T30N -R18W, Town of Richmond, St. Croix County, Wisconsin) — 35 acre development, 16 lots total. All storm water and erosion control issues have been resolved and a revised plan has been submitted. The storm water and erosion control plans are acceptable for this subdivision. Berenschot made motion to recommend that the plans for this subdivision are acceptable and a letter be sent to the Planning & Zoning Committee, Raymond seconded, carried. RC &D Berenschot reported: • Two new employees have been hired. One is a grazing educator (retired Extension Agent from Taylor County). The other person hired will work in the office. Heather Amundson who has been doing office work, has been trained and will be doing grazing work with Mary Anderson. • Entered into a partnership with Pheasants Forever on prairie seed work. • Received $250,000 in grants from private and public sources. • Value Added Conference will be held in Eau Claire on January 30 -31, 2004. • RC &D is also in the process of re -doing a plan for work to be done in the next 5 -10 years. WEST CENTRAL AREA Raymond stated the resolutions have been reviewed and a report should be made to LWCC after the WLWCA conference. MISCELLANEOUS Heise reported that work is being done on the microwave (200') communications tower which is being constructed next to the Ag Center by Dairyland Power. Last month there was a resolution to move Parks under direction of Land & Water Conservation Committee and Recycling Program under direction of Planning & Zoning. Corporation Council was to develop a resolution and bring it to the Administration Committee with changes in the by -laws for approval today and later the resolution will be brought to the County Board. Effective date is when there are approvals of the resolutions. Citizen Gene Nelson questioned WLWCA Resolution #8. Heise explained that this resolution will seek the proclamation from Governor Doyle and the State Legislature to declare 2005 as the "Year of Conservation ". Gene Nelson also questioned the definition of "navigable streams ". Heise said that our definition is the same as DNR uses. Kling added that "navigable water bodies" are ones that have a discernable bed and bank, have a visible change in vegetation, and can float a craft of the lowest draft. Nelson asked what size watercraft? He said the dictionary says "water vehicle ". Heise said you can get definitions out of Chapter 30, State Statutes. Berenschot made a motion to adjourn meeting at 11:35 a.m., seconded by Burn, carried. Jim Cody Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary