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Home My WebLink AboutLand & Water Conservation Resource & Education Committee 12-07-1999 - - - X ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Tom Dorsey, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Art Jensen, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Land & Water Conservation/Resource & Education Committee DATE: December 7,1999. 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 Joint Polk/St. Croix Meeting Baldwin Ag Building Update County Land and Water Resource Management Plan - Cheryl Bursik - 10:30 a.m. County held Conservation Easements St. Croix Riverway District NEW BUSINESS: 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: November 17, 1999 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA/NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS/CORRECTIONS/CHANGES UNOFFICIAL Convened: 9:05 a.m. Adjourned: 11:30 a.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION/RESOURCE & EDUCATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Center Baldwin, WI December 7, 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: Don Siler-NRCS, Cheryl Bursik-Dragonfly Consulting Meeting called to order by Chairman Art Jensen. Bethke made motion to adopt agenda. Raymond seconded. Carried. Berenschot made motion to approve November 2, 1999 meeting minutes. Seconded by Bethke. Carried. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 4, 2000 at 9:00 a.m. DNR No report. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE Siler reported: 8-10 people were in to do conservation planning to qualify for Loan Deficiency Payments. Lee Seim and Dan Stansbury are working on plan revisions as part of 590 planning for their operations. CRP - Inquiries are coming in on the next CRP signup (January 18-February 11, 2000). Several ranking factors will be changed for the next signup that may help local landowners be successful in their bidding. Plan revisions continue to be a workload for the planners. Check of fall plantings of shrubs. Looked like good stock purchased from private nurseries. EQIP - Year-end reports on progress were done. WHIP -Visited the Sally Casperson farm to discuss prairie grass planting and potential for WHIP. Acreage was below the minimum, but encouraged her to see if neighbors are interested in a joint project. Could have 4 neighbors and about 12 acres of new prairie planting. Siler stated that he really enjoyed his tenure at St. Croix County working with LWCC and the staff Berenschot reported that he talked with Pat Leavenworth(State Conservationist) and Dave Vold (Assistant State Conservationist) during the Annual WLWCA Conference in Appleton. They will attempt to stay within the guidelines for the DC replacement as outlined in the letter from LWCC directed to Pat Leavenworth. Want to continue the present good working relationship. Vold will select the candidate for replacing Siler. FSA No report. RC&D Berenschot reported: Attended meeting on November 12. Became more acquainted with new coordinator Pam Herdrich. Reviewed progress report for 1999. Mary Sue Anderson - Grazing specialist hired by RC&D through a NRCS grant. Goal to increase production with less expense. Also reported attending the Wisconsin Counties Association meeting on December 6 at Stevens Point. Topic was "land use". WEST CENTRAL AREA Christenson reported that the Area Wildlife Development Award winner(Lee Christenson) was also the State winner. Encouraging use of "Environton" as an education tool. Berenschot reported that the WLWCA auction brought $4,500. EDUCATION ACTIVITIES Sander reported: Activities have slowed down. Worked recently with Hudson school system. FARMLAND PRESERVATION Sander reported on some changes: Not requiring landowners to come in and be certified on an annual basis. We, however, prefer to have people come in and talk about their farm plan. Exclusive Ag zoning requires a conservation plan if taking tax credits. If towns have no land use plan in place, will not have authority to zone. Raymond commented: Urban approach to land planning - 35 acres too much per person/house. PRIORITY WATERSHED PROJECTS Kling reported: Completed Strohbeen purchase. Vern Teske has agreed to 40 acres. Project is moving ahead. Engineering work being done. Hope to get some wetlands restored next summer. Kinni - Working on end of year report. South Fork - Writing nutrient management plans so that people can get paid. Reported on his being on the Western Prairie Habitat Restoration Area Committee (20,000 acres of grassland - Hwy 63 to Pierce County, north to Polk County). Task is to develop how to evaluate land that is available. Meeting scheduled for December 7 (evening). Have list of people who are interested in selling or could sell conservation easement. Perpetual conservation easement - could get paid 50-75% of appraised value for easement. Historical - grassland - prairie area. Sentiments rest with the prairie. Habitat - deer, turkeys, bear in or near area. Cedar Creek Flume - Met with DNR (Gary Lepak and Dan Koich). Reviewed chain of ownership through Register of Deeds. St. Croix County is the current owner of culvert and spillway. How did ownership take place? Attended DATCP meeting to plan how cost share grant funds would be distributed to counties. To start, cost share dollars would be split equally, with each county receiving $29,000. If dollars left, will be put into pot - if more than $75,000, committee will meet again. GLEN HILLS WATERSHED Berenschot reported on Finance Committee meeting with Mickey Brettingen. Taking dam out or reconstructing dam would be too expensive. Christenson commented that he talked to Don Brown following the Finance meeting reviewing alternatives. Heise stated that he and Gary Lepak-DNR will conduct informational meetings to review the draft flood plain zoning map: Town of Springfield (1/10 6:30 p.m.) and Town of Glenwood (1/117:00 p.m.). Area below structures 7, 8 and 10 has incomplete data. Being sent to DNR-Madison to complete map of the area. Will not be done by January 4. Work on ordinance is progressing. Christenson stated structure 7 likely will require a signal (2 years to complete). Maintenance plans are acceptable. Spring 2000 inspection should include house near structure 7 that would affect need for signal. Future budget will be affected by the need for another signal. AG BUILDING UPDATE Christenson reported that voice mail is now in place and working. COUNTY LAND AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN Cheryl Bursik asked for input on plan. Gave plan overview. Recommendation for first two years. Raymond stated that support is not there for subdivision construction site erosion control. Taking a look at it. Time table: Final draft by January, public review, and then submit to DATCP by mid January. Feedback from DATCP by mid February. Present to County Board in March. Discussed loss of agricultural lands. Motion made by Bethke to put "preservation of ag land" back into the plan, seconded by Raymond to make "preservation of ag land" a priority concern. Carried. Zoning will address. COUNTY HELD CONSERVATION EASEMENTS Kling reported: Will be working with Greg Timmerman-Corp Counsel. JOINT POLK/ST. CROIX MEETING Kling reported on the tour with Polk County. Committee members Jensen and Cody attended tour. Various projects and issues were compared. Suggested making it a yearly event, perhaps with Pierce and Dunn Counties. ST. CROIX RIVERWAY DISTRICT Raymond stated that issue may be brought to County Board with options. SUBDIVISION REVIEW Rocky Knoll Estates - 22.21 acres (Sec. 13, Town of Somerset) - Heise presented Rocky Knoll Estates subdivision (6 single family lots, 3.1 acre lots or greater). Berenschot made motion to recommend that storm water and erosion control plans are acceptable and a letter be sent to Planning & Development Committee. Bethke seconded. Carried. VOUCHERS Reviewed vouchers. Berenschot made motion to approve the vouchers. Seconded by Raymond. Carried. MISCELLANEOUS Christenson reported that he plans to retire the end of February. Internal job posting will be approximately January 1 St Berenschot commented that the county vehicle was in good condition for travel to the WLWCA conference. Sander reported that DNR is revamping their system on animal waste complaints. Jensen adjourned meeting at 11:30 a.m. Jim Cody Secretary By Arlene Lier