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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand and Water 02-03-09 NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE February 3, 2009 —10:40 a.m. 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 3, 2009 LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Vouchers Wildlife Damage Program — Claims Resolution to adopt the St. Croix County Land & Water Resource Management Plan Wisconsin Environmental Education Board — WEEB Grant - signature LWCD staff reports OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives Closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. Sec. 19.85 (1) (c) to consider performance evaluation data of an employee over which the Land & Water Conservation committee exercises responsibility; reconvening into open session. Position to be reviewed: Director, Land & Water Conservation and Parks Department PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Bills /vouchers OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives Private Lands Agreement/Fish & Wildlife Service ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: January 22, 2009 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Items may be taken in different order) *Additions /Changes /Corrections UNOFFICIAL ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI February 3, 2009 Members Present: Ken Graf, Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Dan Raebel Members Absent: Gene Ruetz - excused Staff Present: Jonna Fedie- Program Assistant, Kyle Kulow -Land Specialist - Watershed, Jeff Lueck- County Technician, Aleisha Miller -I & E Specialist, Steve Olson -Land Specialist - Rural, Ryan Schaefer - County Technician, Tammy Wittmer -Land Specialist- Urban, Arlene Lier- Administrative Assistant Others Present: Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS, Cindy Blonk- Wildlife Damage Peavey called the meeting to order at 10:40 a.m. Action on Previous Minutes: Marzolf made motion, seconded by Graf, to approve the January 6, 2009 meeting minutes. Carried. Adoption of Agenda: Motion by Luckey, seconded by Marzolf, to adopt the agenda. Carried. Date of next meeting: March 3, 2009 (10:00 a.m.) LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) No report. N ATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SER VICE (NRCS) Steve Pernsteiner- District Conservationist reported: The deadline to sign up for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) has been extended until February 27, 2009. They have gotten about a dozen applications so far including a couple for irrigation water management. Steve also reported that there seems to be a little more interest recently in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and Conservation Reserve Program -State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (CRP -SAFE) program. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURC (DNR) No report. RE SOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOP (RC &D) No report. WEST CENTRAL AREA No report. NEW BUSINESS Director's report No report. Vouchers Reviewed vouchers. Raebel made motion, seconded by Graf, to approve Vice Chair Peavey's signature on the February (2008 budget) LWCD voucher list (total $6,084.53 - $3,219.08 reimbursable). Carried. Raebel made motion, seconded by Luckey, to approve Vice Chair Peavey's signature on the February (2009 budget) LWCD voucher list (total $4,640.20 - $422.53 reimbursable). Carried. Wildlife Damage Program — Claims Cindy Blonk presented a list of the 2008 Wildlife Damage Program claims. Last month grain reimbursement rates were presented. Two grains have been added to the list: organic corn $10.00 /bushel, organic barley $8.50 /bushel. There were no problems with the claimants this year. The dollar amount is down from last year by about one -half. Motion by Marzolf, seconded by Graf, to approve claims in the amount of $15,853.73. Carried. Resolution to adopt the St. Croix County Land & Water Resource Management Plan Tammy Wittmer presented the resolution for review. Motion by Graf, seconded by Marzolf, to approve the resolution to adopt the updated St. Croix County Land & Water Resource Management Plan. Carried. The LWRMP will be presented to the St. Croix County Board of Supervisors for approval in March. Wisconsin Environmental Education Board — WEEB Grant — signature Aleisha Miller reported that the LWCD would like to apply for a $5,000 grant from the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board. Grant funds would be used to increase St. Croix County Citizens' Storm Water Pollution knowledge through Rain Garden Education. The goals of the grant are to collaborate with agencies and organizations to promote and share storm water education goals and to educate the St. Croix County residents about storm water through rain garden workshops, website storm water information and local rain gardens. The grant requires a 25% match which would be met through staff time. Marzolf made motion, seconded by Raebel, to authorize Vice Chair Peavey's signature on the WEEB grant application. Carried. LWCD staff reports Kyle Kulow — Land Specialist (Watershed) LAKES: Kyle reported the St. Croix Lakes Cluster Project is officially closed. A final project report will be worked on through this first half of 2009 and be submitted to DNR and the Land and Water Conservation Committee. KINNICKINNIC: Kyle also reported the Kinnickinnic Project is in its last year of funding. Typically we receive • $178,000.00 for cost - shared practices. This amount may change given the current State deficit. We have verbal commitments for almost the entire amount of our 2009 cost -share allocation. We are currently in the process of completing our annual accomplishment reporting. Kyle highlighted 2008 cost - shared projects which included several waterways and grade stabilization structures. Steve Olson — Land Specialist (Rural) Steve reported to the committee the current number of non - metallic mines in the county, the number of permit reviews conducted by the Land and Water Conservation Department, and the number of dairy operations and acres affected that are required to have a nutrient management plan. Jonna Fedie — Program Assistant Jonna reported on the Venison, Rain Barrel, Tree and Prairie Plant programs. Jeff Lueck — County Technician Jeff reported on the status of the Farmland Preservation program in St. Croix County. Although participation has declined in recent years due to smaller credits, the tax credits are still available for eligible participants. Conservation requirements include conducting status review on a portion of farms. The Towns of Baldwin and Troy were selected to be reviewed this year. Revisions and updates to conservation plans are also being conducted at this time. Ryan Schaefer — County Technician Ryan discussed projects contracted in 2008 using DATCP dollars. He explained the difference between bonded (hard practices) funds and SEG (soft practices /nutrient management) funds. There was $20,000 in bonded money spread over 11 practices, 9 of which were completed in 2008, and 2 that were extended into 2009 but used funds from the 2008 allocation. Six nutrient management contracts were signed, totaling 1,163 acres and $32,569 out of the $40,000 allocated with the SEG dollars. He discussed the many GIS mapping and analysis projects that were completed throughout the year. There was also mention of Glen Hills dam inspections and maintenance, rain barrel assembly, and computer software and training. Tammy Wittmer — Land Specialist (Urban) Tammy provided a summary of land divisions for the 2008 year, including the total number of lots and acres of undeveloped lots per town. An updated status report was provided for the Walnut Hills Farm (Tribute) and Sunset Landing Developments. GPS data points and related information was collected this past summer for all storm water features created as part of major subdivisions since 2006. Additional information was collected within the Town of Hudson for all majors since 1998. The data collected will be included in a long -term storm water best management practice database and will be shared with the Towns. As a response to the ground water /drinking water issues identified last May, staff has developed a "Brown Water" Advisor letter. The letter outlines water sampling options and additional contact information. Staff is also working with the University of River Falls and the USGS regarding ground water issues in the county. As a first step, and if funds become available, we hope to hire an intern to start working with 3 -4 towns to identify sinkholes and other karst features. Additional grants are being pursued for projects in 2010. Aleisha Miller — Information & Education Activities Specialist Aleisha reported that LWCD made 5,782 contacts in 2008 through its Information & Education program. The numbers are broken down as follows: • Stream Ecology Workshops: 13 workshops — 649 participants • Field Days: 9 field days — 841 participants • School /Scout Presentations: 46 presentations — 3,332 participants • Service Learning /Stream Clean -ups: 280 participants • Earth Day: 500 participants • Conservation Poster Contest: 69 participants • Job fair/ Higher Education presentations: 36 participants • Workshops: • Water Action Volunteers — 9 participants • Snowshoe Building — 5 participants • Rain Garden Building — 18 participants OLD BUSINESS Closed Session (performance evaluation) - will be postponed until the March meeting. Committee took a break 12:10 -12:20 p.m. PARKS DEPARTMENT Members Present: Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Dan Raebel Members Absent: Gene Ruetz — excused Staff Present: Dave Larson - Operations Manager, Arlene Lier- Administrative Assistant Others Present: None NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Dave Larson -Parks Operations Manager reported: • Updated the Committee on two construction projects: fish cribs and Troy Park registration station. • The County snowmobile trails opened on December 24` and remain open pending review by the County Snowmobile Association. • Updated the Committee on the ongoing negotiations with Xcel Energy regarding the auxiliary parking lot at Pine Lake. • Presented a recommendation to the Committee on the campground pay phone in Glen Hills Park. Discussion. Staff to move forward with new emergency telephone call box. Vouchers The February bills list for Snowmobile and Parks was presented. Motion by Raebel, seconded by Luckey, to approve Snowmobile bills in the amount of $3,487.19. Carried. Motion by Raebel, seconded by Marzolf, to approve Park bills in the amount of $5,896.06. Carried. OLD BUSINESS 2008 Strategic Initiatives No report. Private Lands Agreement /Fish and Wildlife Service Larson resented the Committee a Private Lands Agreement with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The agreement contains financial assistance for the ongoing habitat restoration work at Homestead Parklands on Perch Lake. The ongoing habitat work follows the adopted management plan for the park. Discussion. Motion by Marzolf, seconded by Raebel, for Vice Chair Peavey to sign the Private Lands Agreement with U.S. FWS. Carried. Vice Chair Peavey adjourned meeting at 12:41 p.m. Buzz Marzolf Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary