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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 11-04-03 Land and Water Conservation/Resource and Education Committee - November 4, 2003 Page 2 of 5 Priority Watershed Projects , Agency Reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area i ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: I ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) i SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise � DATE: October 22, 2003; amended October 27, October 30, 2003 I COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS /CORRECTIONS /CHANGES MINUTES I LANDA ND WATER CONSERVATION /RESOURCE ANll EllUCATION COMMTIEE NOVEMBF.R.I, 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 Specialist -Pete Kling; Technician -Tammy Wittmer; Program Assistant -Jonna Fedie; Secretary - Arlene Lier Others Present: Cindy Blonk- Burnett County; Mike Reiter; David Larson -County Parks; Bob Hendrickson - FSA; Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS; Dahn Borh, Mark Kubler -DNR; Don Berkseth, Jim Emmert, Ronald Moe, Chuck Serier Berenschot made motion to adopt agenda, seconded by Bethke, carried. Raymond made motion to approve the October 7, 2003 meeting minutes, seconded by Burri, carried. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 2, 2003 at q:oo a.m. I WILDLIFE DAMAGE PROGRAM I Cindy Blonk reported: i I Bear trapping — St. Croix County does not have a Wildlife Services Agreement with the state. St. Croix County does not have much bear damage. There are more bear in the area each year, mainly being a nuisance rather than crop damage. There is a $500.00 minimum charge to have trappers (out of Cumberland) available to trap bear. There is no impact on county money, it is l00% reimbursable. If more than 2 bear are trapped, it is on a per bear basis. Berenschot made motion for St. Croix County to join the bear trapping program, Burri seconded, carried. Raymond questioned Cindy about coyote trapping. Yes, the trappers would trap animals other than bear. 2004 budget — The $5oo.00 for the Wildlife Services Agreement would show as a line item on the Wildlife damage budget presented to the state. f Hunting Access List - Cindy handed out a list of current St. Croix County participants (similar to last year) and hunting access list. http://172.17.128.87/Committee/Minutes/2003/LWCO3/lwcI 10403.htm 8/4/2011 Land and Water Conservation/Resource and Education Committee - November 4, 2003 Page 3 of 5 Deer Donation Program - Cindy handed out flyers: Wisconsin Deer Donation 2003 (listing participating processors) and "Information about Donated Venison and CWD for Patrons of Food Pantries ". Heise stated that St. Croix County will participate this year. I I Raymond questioned when the annual tri -county meeting would be held. Cindy replied that it is held in spring (April /May), when the claims have all been submitted. MIKE REMR PRESENTATION — DEER COLLISION STUDY Reiter presented his study of "Deer Accident Incidents — St. Croix County September 2oo2 through August 2003. Presentation included Deer Related Accidents: Number of Accidents /Time of Day, Number /Day of Week, Percent of Total Vehicle Accidents, Number of Deer/Vehicle Accidents per month, and Number of Deer Related Accidents per township One magnet for drawing deer is the Willow River State Park and also the heavily developed part of the county. It was suggested that archery people could be registered (certification) for hunting which may be more acceptable to some f landowners in the western part (heavily developed) of St. Croix County. ` Discussed the former "Project Respect" program where hunters had to get permission from the landowners before I hunting on their land. I RESOLUTION — RECOMMEND THAT THE PARKS MOVE UNDER DIRECTION OF LWCC AND RECYCLING PROGRAM UNDER DIRECTION OF PLANNING & ZONING COMMITTEE I Heise stated that both committees (LWCC and Planning, Zoning & Parks) discussed this move at a joint meeting and was approved by the committees to have this change take place. A resolution would be drafted and brought forward to the Administration committee and then to County Board. Heise presented a resolution drafted by Fodroczi. Raymond proposed that the effective date of this change coincide with the 2004 budget (January i), rather than during committee member change next April. Berenschot made motion to amend resolution that the change take effect with the 2004 budget year, Bethke seconded, carried. Burri made motion to approve resolution to move Parks under direction of LWCC and Recycling Program under direction of Planning & Zoning Committee, Raymond seconded, carried. SEEKING TO BYPASS LOCAL AUTHORITY ON CONCENTRATED FEEDING OPERATIONS Heise reported that this resolution was presented for support by the West Central Area Association at the October 22nd business meeting. Raymond stated this resolution was amended and will go on to the State WLWCA conference in December. Legislation is on a fast track and West Central Area Association is on a slow track. Discussed with County Board Chair (Buck Malick) and he is willing to put the item on the West Central Regional Wisconsin Counties Association meeting agenda. Will attempt to get the Counties Association to lobby. Jim Cody questioned the thinking of DNR -DATCP people at a meeting in Manitowoc, when they could not understand why a large feeding operation was not accepted. Raymond commented that we have to try and get a voice on these committees that make decisions. Berenschot commented that he was in Madison a week ago for an agriculture leadership forum. Ag leadership is trying to keep our infrastructure in place. We have to keep our attitude to "keep Wisconsin as the ag state ". Can we retain our status of being an "ag state "? Berenschot said that California may not continue to be a leading "ag state" due to their water problems. Raymond made motion to adopt the amended resolution, Cody seconded, carried. RESOLUTION - PROHIBITING DEER FEEDING Heise reported that this resolution was discussed at the October meeting and no action was taken. Is the committee interested in having this one go forward? As a committee, decision was made not to support this resolution. I RESOLUTION — TO PROTECT GROUNDWATER RESOURCES This resolution was drafted by Adams County and was sent to St. Croix County. LWCC requested Heise to prepare a resolution. j I WLWCA ANNUAL MEETING I Heise stated that registration has been prepared for Berenschot, Burri, Cody and himself to attend the conference in Madison on December 3 - 5. 1 VOUCHERS Reviewed vouchers. Motion by Bethke, seconded by Raymond, to approve Chair Jensen's signature on the November voucher list. Carried. SUBDIVISION REVIEW No subdivisions were presented this month. COUNTY BUDGET 2004 http: //172.17.128.87 /Committee /Minutes /2003/LWCO3 /lwc110403.htm 8/4/2011 Land and Water Conservation/Resource and Education Committee - November 4, 2003 Page 4 of 5 Heise reported that the budget was approved. NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN Heise reported that the plan was approved at the State Land & Water meeting on October 7 where he provided a presentation before the Land and Water Conservation Board. Copies of the plan will be distributed to County Board members and it will be on the November (not December) agenda for approval. I INFORMATION & EDUCATION REPORT The October conservation education report was prepared by Ruth Stern and copies were distributed. I PRIORnT WATERSHED PROJECTS f Tammy Wittmer reported: *The DorWes Easement is carrying through, The Land Trust will be holding the two easements. A meeting will be scheduled within the next 2 weeks to finalize it all. -The Mnnickinnic Steering Committee meeting was re- scheduled to November 20 at 8:oo p.m. f *South Fork: The Wellumson's manure storage abandonment is now complete. FSA Robert Hendrickson reported: •CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program) activity continues. -All CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) 2003 annual rental payments were made except for a few problem ones. We ended up with around 975 contracts for roughly $1,9oo,000.00. *All of the new CRP contracts have been signed and loaded from the last signup. I *There is not a lot of activity with the LDP (Loan Deficiency Payment) rates for this year. The interest rate for loans is I 2.25 %. We have made a few loans at this point but we expect a lot more will apply. •DCP (Direct and Counter Cyclical Program), the "final" 2003 direct payments of .14 cents /Bu. have been made except for a few problem ones. Sign up for 2004 DCP is starting and we can make 2004 "advance" payments for that of .14 cents /Bu. after December 1 *There is no MILC (Milk Income Loss Contract) payment for October. *The interest rates for our facility loans are 3.625 %, which is down slightly. A -All of the Crop Disaster program (CDP) applications for the years 2001 or 2002 have been submitted and paid for. No word yet on when signup will end. *No information yet on a Crop Disaster Program (CDP) for 2003. i NRC Steve Pernsteiner expressed his appreciation for the fine job the Land Conservation Staff did in assisting with planning the recent CRP contracts. 98 contracts were developed by the October 24 deadline. This past year twenty five new Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) contracts, five Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts, four Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) contracts, and one I Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) contract were developed and approved in St. Croix County. Congress has not yet approved a budget for NRCS and we are operating under a continuing resolution. It appears that proposed budgets contain adequate funding for Conservation programs such as EQIP, WHIP and CRP. We scheduled a Local Work group meeting for November 17 at 9:oo in the Ag. Center. Main topic will be EQIP f ranking. Jim Emmert (land owner) was asked about his experience with no till. He stated that he experiences disease (mold and fungus) problems when doing no till on soybeans. Rotation (most important) and tillage is needed to get rid of 1 disease. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES Mark Kubler- Forestry Area Leader, Baldwin Area, reported that he oversees a 5 -county area, which is part of the http:// 172.17.128.87/ Committee /Minutes /2003/LWCO3 /lwcl 10403.htm 8/4/2011 Land and Water Conservation/Resource and Education Committee - November 4, 2003 Page 5 of 5 western district. He introduced Dahn Borh, County Forester - Senior West Central Region. There are 7 permanent forestry positions (2 vacancies). Dahn is the St. Croix County Forester, two in Dunn County, two in Buffalo County, one in Pepin County, and one in Pierce County. There are 3 temporary foresters (one former DNR forester) who assist with workload. They also work a great deal with private foresters. Dahn Borh stated that he moved from Ladysmith and is originally from Liberia. He came to the U.S. in 1993. He now lives in Baldwin with his wife and two children. DNR UPDATE — Harvey Halvorsen- Private Lands Wildlife Biologist is spearheading the Paperjack Creek project, located in New Richmond. The proposed project should help alleviate flooding problems and create wildlife habitat with no long -term negative effect. It is a beautiful education area located within close proximity to the schools. Steve Pernsteiner commented that it is a WHIP project. An "open house" is planned to officially unveil the new DNR building. No date has been set yet. The DNR office hours will be expanded the week before deer hunting season. I RC&D Berenschot reported: *The board meeting will be held November 5, 9:oo a.m. at Barron. Dale Fern from St. Croix County will also be attending. The full council will meet after that. A tour of the Turkey Store is planned. .They will be discussing who will attend the National Association of Resource Conservation Districts meeting. He has attended the meeting in Washington D.C. the last two years. *The National Grazing Conference will be held in Nashville, TN. They will discuss whether someone from RC &D will attend. *He picked up the president of the North Central Region (7 states) from the airport. They attended the RC &D meeting held at Siren, WI on October 15 -17. Theme was "Value Added ". People from Burnett County gave a report on the tornado that went through Siren. .Value Added Agriculture conference is scheduled for January 2004 in Eau Claire. WEST CENTRAL. AREA , Ron Raymond reported on the West Central Area Fall Business Meeting & Speaking Contest held on Wednesday, October 22 at the Plaza Hotel & Suites in Eau Claire. The business meeting involved the amendments to the "Seeking to bypass local authority on concentrated animal feeding operations" resolution. MISCELLANEOUS Jim Emmert questioned the status of RUSLE II. Heise explained that USLE (written version) was used for Farmland Preservation, but if there is a change of ownership or change in rotation (dairy to crop farming) RUSLE II (electronic version) could be used. Raymond stated that a resolution opposing RUSLE II was passed at the West Central Area business meeting on October 22, and will go on to the State level at the December meeting. Heise stated that in ATCP -5o it states that RUSLE II will be the soil loss equation. Pete Kling presented a power point presentation: "SUBDIVISION TRENDS IN HUDSON TOWNSHIP" 1960 -2002. From 196o -1990 (30 years), 51 subdivisions were developed (2,000 acres). From 1990 to 1995, we had 10 subdivisions (387 acres). From 1995 -2002 we had 58 subdivisions). In this 7 -year period we nearly met the number that was developed in the 30 years (196o- 199o). Some of the issues we are dealing with are car /deer accidents, 1 police, schools, maintenance, etc. Summary, total acres developed is 5,000 acres. Some of the specific things that we are dealing with in Hudson township are: Site development construction, roads, stormwater management structures, things that we are responsible for in initial phase of construction. Showed examples of turf reinforcement mats in ditch line, sediment logs anchored with lath. Brian Wert (Hudson Building Inspector) will now enforce the Uniform Dwelling Code. Kling reported on meeting with the Willow River Rehab District. The DNR now has come out and verified that the fluctuating water levels below the New Richmond dam agree with what Trout Unlimited identified. Bethke made motion to adjourn meeting at 11:5o a.m., seconded by Berenschot, carried. Jim Cody Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary CARMIt'IIAEI,R0\n I1UPSO"l%1,,.lato - t,5. ;Sn..jhun Itltit Lit S1PN http: // 172.17. 128. 87 / Committee /Minutes /2003/LWCO3 /lwc l 10403.htm 8/4/2011