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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water Conservation Resource & Education Committee 11-02-1999 ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING I- TO: Tom Dorsey, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Art Jensen, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Land & Water Conservation/Resource & Education Committee DATE: November 2,1999 TIME: 9:00 a.m. LOCATION: Ag Center, Baldwin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Reports: DNR NRCS FSA RC&D West Central Area Education Activities Farmland Preservation Priority Watershed Projects Glen Hills Watershed Baldwin Ag Building Update County Land and Water Resource Management Plan County held Conservation Easements County Conservationist Position Joint Polk/St. Croix Meeting St. Croix Riverway District 2000 Budget NEW BUSINESS: County Aids Project Farmland Preservation Applications Subdivision Review - 10:00 a.m. Vouchers ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) SUBMITTED BY: Charles Christenson DATE: October 20, 1999 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA/NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS/CORRECTIONS/CHANGES UNOFFICIAL , Convened: 9:00 a.m. Adjourned: 11:25 a.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION/RESOURCE & EDUCATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Center Baldwin WI November 2, 1999 Members Present: Leon Berenschot, Chris Bethke, Lois Burri, Jim Cody, Art Jensen, Ron Raymond Members Absent: None Staff Present: County Conservationist-Charles Christenson, County Technician-Bob Heise, County Technician-David Sander, Lakes Cluster Project Manager-Pete Kling, Secretary-Arlene Lier Others Present: Paul Nadolski (Conservation Warden), Kris Belling-DNR, Don Siler, Dale Gagner (Dunn County)-N RCS, Linda Paul-FSA Meeting called to order by Chairman Art Jensen. Cody made motion to adopt agenda. Bethke seconded. Carried. Burri made motion to approve October 5, 1999 meeting minutes. Seconded by Bethke. Carried. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 7, 1999 at 9:00 a.m. DNR Conservation Warden Nadolski introduced himself He is the new warden. There are now two each in St. Croix and Pierce counties. A new Warden Supervisor will be located at the Baldwin office. Kris Belling (Wildlife Biologist) reported: Most units have bonus tags available. Fisheries: Inventory of Parkers Creek after fish kill. Recovery looked good near mouth of Kinni. Recovery less further up stream, in the 20-40% range. Forestry: Most of the trees have been sold out. Water Regulations: Working on rewriting riverway ordinance (Pierce County). Wildlife: Most units have bonus tags available. Habitat CAC meeting scheduled for November 10. Have made a few land acquisition contacts. County farm availability? County has a long term lease with John Schottler. DNR would be interested in purchasing one acre food plots. Belling will contact Bethke about purchase from Schottler. DNR would also be interested in arrangement under the Prairie Habitat program. Raymond commented that county is looking at the whole square mile. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE Siler reported: • Conservation Planning & Compliance - Low crop prices are bringing people in to do conservation planning to qualify for loan deficiency payments. • CRP - DNR is just about sold out of shrubs. A vendor list of private nurseries was prepared and mailed to the people scheduled to plant trees and shrubs. • EQIP - Year-end reports on progress were done. • WHIP - Working with Gelderloos on his project and to also looking at the possibility of finding an easement program for his land. Grazing Lands Initiative - Custer met the RC&D Grassland Conservationist at Altoona. Good discussion of current state grazing networks. Announced his retirement in January 2000. He explained upcoming staffing problems. Introduced Dunn County DC Dale Gagner who will be the interim District Conservationist for St. Croix County. Gagner is part of the cluster which includes St. Croix, Dunn, and Chippewa counties. He recommends asking for filling the position with a Grade 12, due to the size and complex workload in the county. The DC has to be officially gone before the new DC position is advertised. Gagner encouraged LWCC to send a letter to State Conservationist Pat Leavenworth, expressing the qualities needed for the DC replacement. Chair Jensen requested Christenson to write the letter to Pat Leavenworth for his signature. FSA Linda Paul reported: AMTA (7-Year Program) - Final 1999 payments were out by September 30. FSA is in the process of issuing a Market Loss Assistance payment which is equal to the 1999 payment. Also in the process of notifying producers of their payment option for the 2000 fiscal year. They can opt for 1 or 2 installments between now and September 30, 2000. Conservation - Annual CRP payments were issued the first two weeks of October. Next CRP sign-up will be held January 18 thru February 11, 2000. Price Support - Overall crops have been very good. However, prices received for these commodities are extremely low, therefore triggering LDP'S. LDP's provide a payment rather than a producer obtaining a commodity loan. To date, 638 LDP's have been paid for $1.1 million. A few producers have chosen the loan option - 11 loans for $500,000. After the first of the year, there will be direct payments to soybean and oil seed producers. There is funding to allow USDA to extend a 30% discount on buy up crop insurance policies. The payment limitation on market loan gains and LDP payments has been increased from $75,000 to $150,000. RC&D Berenschot reported: • Attended the state convention in Eau Claire on October 4-5. • New coordinator Pam Herdrich came on board a week ago. She is very enthusiastic about what we want to do. • Annual conference of North Central Regional Association of RC&Ds is planned for March 19- 21,2000 at the Oneida Nation near Green Bay. WEST CENTRAL AREA Raymond stated that he, Berenschot, Bum, and Christenson attended the fall meeting and speaking contest on October 20 at UW-Stout Campus. Berenschot was a speaking contest judge. County had participation in the elementary and senior divisions. EDUCATION ACTIVITIES Sander reported: Glenwood City School 5th graders had a field day at Glen Hills County Park. Talks were presented by 3 from LWCD and 3 from DNR. Kling reported on the stream clean up and storm drain stenciling with New Richmond students. FARMLAND PRESERVATION Christenson reported: Budget bill has some changes, such as participants will not have to come in for certification each year. Berenschot questioned why DNR allows wetlands to be filled. Lands involved located in Menomonie and Arcadia. PRIORITY WATERSHED PROJECTS Kling reported: Continuing to work with Zoning Department on shoreline zoning violations. Working with Fish & Wildlife on easements. Crooked Lake - Waiting for Greg Timmerman to finalize. Gene Nelson - Involves an agreement for 10- 12 acres with no money involved. Gene wants right to say how water is managed. Have to come up with agreement between county and landowner. Getting pads for Bass Lake landing. County Highway says it is on their work schedule. Lake going down. St. Joe town board voted to open 132"d street, road south of Bass Lake. Litigation between riparian owners and town to follow. Perch Lake Park - No road decision yet. Raymond commented that funding has been approved for first phase. Budget process - trees have to be removed. County Highway will do after approval. Boat landing is owned by town of St. Joe. Cedar Creek Flume - Kling will meet with DNR (Gary Lepak and Dan Koich) to review chain of ownership. Maybe county does not own it. Look at history. Something has to be done out there. GLEN HILLS WATERSHED Christenson reported that report from DNR was received on structure 7, but not on structure 8. Took two months to get one report. Assured by phone there are no hitches. Can go ahead with mapping. Mickey Brettingen will appear at the Finance Committee meeting on November 10. LWCC will be represented by Berenschot. Question if there are other houses within the hydraulic shadow besides the Brettingen home. Restudy found one home out of the area, however there is possibly one that would be affected. This may require a signal system. Composite map is being developed. Ordinance update in progress. Proposed timetable appears to be acceptable. Raymond asked how we decide whether houses are in or out. Studies provide us with elevations which can be used. Property owners are responsible to obtain proposed elevations so we can make determinations. AG BUILDING UPDATE Christenson reported that the flag pole is lighted and flags are being flown. Jensen questioned status of voice mail. Christenson stated that the delay now is due to a part which has been ordered and not received. OFFICE PRIORITIES No report. COUNTY LAND AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN Sander reported that people involved have been inundated with information. LWCC members should make comments. Bethke and Cody attended the last Citizens' Advisory Committee meeting. CAC group will meet again on November 3. Burri indicated interest in attending. Have sent out draft of goals, statements and strategies. Proposed new mission statement: "Promoting sustainable land use management for long term conservation of land, water, and other natural resources." Commented that it was short and to the point. Berenschot made motion to accept the proposed mission statement. Burri seconded. Carried. Plan draft will be completed by early December. COUNTY HELD CONSERVATION EASEMENTS Kling reported that Corp Counsel Timmerman has worked on the proper language for easements. We are ready to go after receiving comments from the DNR-Madison. REVIEW COUNTY CONSERVATIONIST JOB DESCRIPTION Christenson reported that copy of new job description has been received. Berenschot suggested that "Responsible for maintenance of county-owned vehicles" should be added under EXAMPLES OF WORK. Christenson will contact Personnel Director Kathan on setting a timetable and adding the suggested item. JOINT POLK/ST. CROIX MEETING Kling reported that he has talked with Jeff Timmons (County Conservationist-Polk County) who indicated that he and three committee members would be attending the tour on Thursday, November 11 (9:00- noon). Jensen and Cody plan to attend. Reason for tour is to show issues that apply to both St. Croix and Polk counties. Manure ordinance - St. Croix is in process of revising ordinance and Polk County is in process of adopting one. Will meet at Star Prairie-Community Center. Kling will send out tour schedule, followed by lunch at Meister's Cedar Lake Restaurant. Discussed payment of lunch (split by both counties). ST. CROIX RIVERWAY DISTRICT Raymond stated there is nothing new to report. 2000 BUDGET Christenson reported there is nothing new to report. CONSERVATION AIDS PROJECT Christenson presented grant agreement for Glen Lake Shore Stabilization and Restoration in amount of $2,000. Bethke made motion for Chair Jensen to sign agreement. Seconded by Raymond. Carried. SUBDIVISION REVIEW West Side Winding - 20.63 acres (Sec. 4, Town of Richmond) - Extra Territorial Zoning - Heise presented West Side Winding Trail subdivision (12 single family lots, minimum lot size one acre). All items have been resolved and a revised plan has been submitted. Bethke made motion to recommend that storm water and erosion control plans are acceptable (with the condition that a small berm shall be removed between common lot line 6 and 7, and reshaped according to submitted plans), and a letter be sent to Planning & Development Committee. Berenschot seconded. Carried. Hammond Oaks - 76.52 acres (Sec. 20, Town of Hammond) - Heise presented Hammond Oaks subdivision (59 single family lots, minimum lot size one acre). Hammond has no subdivision ordinance, adopted county zoning. Meets driveway separation and minimum lot size. Meets minimum standards of county ordinance. Berenschot made motion to recommend (with reservations) that the storm water and erosion control plans are acceptable and a letter be sent to Planning & Development Committee. Cody seconded. Carried. VOUCHERS Reviewed vouchers. Berenschot made motion to approve the vouchers. Seconded by Burri. Carried. MISCELLANEOUS WLWCA - Tentatively, LWCC members Berenschot and Bethke, Christenson, and Popple plan to attend the annual conference scheduled for December 1-3 at Paper Valley Hotel and Conference Center, Appleton. Sander reported that there have been calls on wildlife damage. Claims have not been submitted due to low crop prices. Christenson stated that the conservation calendars for 2000 have been received. LWCC approved copies to be given to county board supervisors. The month of January features St. Croix County's 1St place winner (Chris Olson) in the photo contest junior division. Berenschot made motion to adjourn meeting at 11:25 a.m. Seconded by Raymond. Carried. Jim Cody Secretary By Arlene Lier