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Home My WebLink AboutLand and Water 12-01-09 NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE • December 1, 2009 —10:40 a.m. Agricultural Service & Education Center 1960 8 th Avenue, Baldwin, WI CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL REVIEW OF AGENDA CONSENT AGENDA (Unless separation of an item is requested, all will be adopted in one motion.) 1. Vouchers 2. Minutes of previous meeting — November 3, 2009 3. Date of next meeting — January 5, 2010 LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Introduction - Deb Ryan — Executive Director, St. Croix River Association WLWCA Resolutions Wildlife Damage Program — closure date — claims OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives 2010 budget Wildlife Damage Program — Plan of Administration Grant — TMDL — Lake Mallalieu/Willow River - update PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Bid proposals - Park amenities - Park Improvement Grant Resolution — Lake Planning Grant — Glen Hills Lake contour map OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives 2010 budget ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: November 17, 2009; amended November 24, 2009 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Items may be taken in different order) *Additions /Changes /Corrections DRAFT ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI December 1, 2009 Members Present: Ken Graf, Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Dan Raebel Staff Present: Director Bob Heise, Parks Operations Manager Dave Larson, Administrative Assistant Arlene Lier Others Present: Bob Forrest -FSA, Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS, Cindy Blonk- Wildlife Damage, County Board Chair Roger Rebholz, County Administrator Chuck Whiting Ruetz called the meeting to order at 10:40 a.m. Marzolf made motion, seconded by Peavey, to approve the agenda. Carried. CONSENT AGENDA Peavey made motion, seconded by Graf, to adopt the consent agenda approving the (1) Land & Water Conservation and Parks vouchers, (2) November 3, 2009 meeting minutes, and (3) setting the next committee meeting for January 5, 2010. Carried. LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Bob Forrest- County Executive Director reported: • FSA is still processing the last few final payments to producers who enrolled in the 2009 commodity programs. • Farmers can visit the FSA Office now to enroll into the 2010 commodity programs. • The MILC (Milk Income Loss Contract) program payment rate, used to calculate benefits on October's milk production, was announced yesterday at $.60 /cwt. Payments are currently being issued. The MILC rate continues to fall which means farmers are receiving a little better price from their creamery. • There is still no official word on when the signup for the 2008 crop disaster program will begin. In most cases, farmers who suffered qualifying losses would have had all of their crops covered by a crop insurance policy to potentially qualify for disaster program benefits. This is a new program. Losses are no longer crop specific. The total value of all crops for the entire farming operation will be used to calculate potential disaster program benefits. • FSA employee Dawn Christianson has accepted a similar FSA position in the Dunn County Office. Her last day of work is this Thursday. A job announcement will be posted to fill this vacancy. • Mary Warner, Farm Loan Manager, will be retiring at the end of this year. Mary has been working for USDA for over 34 years. His position will not be filled due to consolidation of FSA's Farm Loan Program. St. Croix County FSA borrowers will now be serviced out of the Dunn County FSA Office located in Menomonie. The FSA Farm Loan Program team located in Dunn County will now be responsible for FSA borrowers located in St. Croix, Pierce, Dunn, Pepin, Eau Claire, and Chippewa Counties. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE NRCS Steve Pemsteiner- District Conservationist reported: All 6 applications for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) for St. Croix County have been tentatively approved. Currently NRCS is developing payment rates for the contracts. Landowners will soon be notified their payment rate and offered a contract. Producers may submit applications for the next round of CSP review by January 15` NRCS is also currently taking applications for the Environmental Quality Incentive and the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Programs. A deadline for applications has not yet been announced as ranking criteria and funding pools are still being developed. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES DNR No report. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT RC &D Ruetz reported to committee: • Selling prairie seeds is the one fund raiser that RC &D has been very successful. • RC &D is assisting in the Greenway Energy Inc. project (treating whey and converting to methane). • Midwest Value Added Agriculture conference will be held at Eau Claire on January 21 -22. WEST CENTRAL AREA Heise reported the next meeting will be held in February, 2010. NEW BUSINESS Director's Report • He and Ruetz will be attending the WLWCA conference in LaCrosse on December 9 -10. • We received the preliminary allocation for our Soil and Water Resource Management grant (dollars for staffing and cost sharing for practices). It is very close to what was in the budget (staffing dollars was about $145,000 estimated and we should get about $140,000 plus). Cost sharing dollars are more in the allocation plan than estimated in the budget. State Land & Water Board should make a decision in December to approve the allocation plan. • Deb Ryun (recently hired as the Executive Director of the St. Croix River Association) was unable to attend our meeting. She will be introduced at a future meeting. WLWCA resolutions Heise presented the two resolutions which will be discussed and voted on at the conference. Resolution #1 — RESOLUTION SUPPORTING LEGISLATION TO REQUIRE COMPREHENSIVE WELL WATER TESTING PRIOR TO REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS, Resolution #2 — RESOLUTION FOR WHITETAIL DEER HERD MANAGEMENT IN WISCONSIN. Discussion. Ruetz requested a vote on the each of the two resolutions. The "no" vote carried on both resolutions. Marzolf voted "yes" on both resolutions. Wildlife Dama a Program — Closure date claims Cindy Blonk reported that each year a closing date (no later than December 31) has to be set for all eligible wildlife damage claims which is when 90% of row crops are harvested in the county. Peavey made motion, seconded by Graf, that the closing date be set at December 31. Carried. OLD BUSINESS 2010 budget No report. Wildlife Dama a Program — Plan of Administration Blonk reviewed the Plan of Administration which has been re- worded and is consistent with state statutes. Peavey made motion, seconded by Ruetz, to approve the Plan of Administration as presented. Luckey voted "no ". Carried. Grant — TMDL — Lake Mallalieu/Willow River — update Heise reported that he has followed up with the State DNR. The agreement is on the Secretary's desk waiting for his signature. The agreement is to receive ARRA (stimulus dollars) to develop an implementation plan for the Lake Mallalieu/Willow River watershed. We are also seeking to supplement that grant with two separate Lake Planning grants. PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise reported: • Kinnickinnic Forest — During the next month we will be taking out trees due to the bark beetles. • Homestead Parklands — There are several wood piles that have to be burned. We are waiting for snow before we set the piles on fire. • Glen Hills —We are waiting for delivery of the logs (150 -170) so we can begin installing fish cribs. Bid proposals — Park amenities — Park Improvement Grant Larson provided the Committee an overview of the Park Improvement grant which includes funding for park amenities: picnic tables, barbeque grills, and trash receptacles. The new equipment was included in the Parks budget and incorporated into the Capital Outlay Plan. Larson then presented the Committee the bid results. Discussion. Motion by Marzolf, seconded by Peavey, to award the bid to R J Thomas Manufacturing, the lowest responsible bidder. Carried. Resolution —Lake Planning Grant — Glen Hills Lake contour ma Heise presented the Committee a resolution to allow the Parks Department to apply for a Lake Planning Grant from the WI Department of Natural Resources. The grant's purpose is to create a contour lake map of Glen Lake. Discussion. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Marzolf, to forward the resolution to County Board. Carried. OLD BUSINESS 20102010 -1` No report. Chair Ruetz adjourned meeting at 11:50 p.m. Buzz Marzolf Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary