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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 5/11/2015BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING May 11, 2015 County Board Room Members Present: Shawn Miller, Chairperson; Marco Bichanich, Vice-Chairperson; Harold Maki; John Bennett; and Fred Strand Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator; Steve Probst, Asst. Administrator and Pat Bruno, Office Manager; Andrew O’Krueg and Jason Holmes, Foresters Others in Attendance: Joseph LeBouton, WI DNR Liaison; Matt Blaylock, WI DNR Team Leader and members of the public 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. The meeting of the Forestry and Parks Committee was called to order by S. Miller at 6:00 P.M. 2. Approval of the April 13, 2015 Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Bennett, Strand) to receive and place on file the April 13, 2015 meeting minutes. Carried. 3. Public Comment. S. Miller called for public comments. Mike Blomquist inquired if improvements can be expected any time soon on the Smith Fire Lane Road. J. Bodine explained the Town of Bayview has committed to improvements but unsure when this would be accomplished. J. Bodine will make an inquiry and request that the repairs be taken care of soon. 4. Logger Comments. S. Miller called for logger comments. None were received. 5. Spring Timber Sale Bid Opening. J. Bodine read the timber sale bids of the 2015 spring timber sales (38 tracts offered and 4 were without bids). The unofficial winning bids were announced. MOTION: (Bichanich, Bennett) to accept the unofficial bids as presented for the Spring 2015 Timber Sale offering. Carried. 6. Monthly Financial Report. A. Forestry 1) Department Budget Update: J. Bodine reported in contrast to $400,000 of receipted timber sale revenues in March, April’s revenues were $131,000. It is expected that several sales will become active this week after the road bans are lifted. Expenses are on target. 2) State of Wisconsin 2015-17 Proposed Budget: The County Forest Administrator Grant has been restored. The WCFA dues reimbursement portion is yet to be decided however. 3) Stewardship Grant: The state’s Joint Committee on Finance is considering the grant requests at this time. The Finance committee has two weeks to make their decision. If approved, the County has one year to negotiate with the sellers on a final price. Draft: Subject to approval at the next Committee Meeting. Bayfield County Forestry and Parks Committee Page 2 of 3 May 11, 2015 Meeting Minutes The appraisal values for the proposed stewardship grant land purchase came in. It is unknown if the existing timber value on the purchase property was included in the appraised value. Two appraisals were received for each grant application; Meteor Timber and Lyme Timber Acquisitions and two for each match parcels. The appraised value of the Meteor Timber land came in at $208/acre and Lyme timber at $112/acre. The county’s land match was what was expected. The county could consider making additional funds available for the purchase. Land acquisition costs could be recouped when the thinnings are sold. Currently, the land acquisition fund has $10,000 available. MOTION: (Bennett, Bichanich) to receive and place on file the April 2015 financial report. Carried. B. Parks The Twin Bear playset is near completion. Now that the road bans are lifted, Norvado is expected to bring in the equipment needed to make the broadband access this week. Most of the seasonal campers are set up. Overall, the parks are in good shape. Docks will be going in soon. C. Trails The ATV season is underway. The County’s contracts with the ATV Alliances either have expired or will be expiring soon. Of note is that the ATV Alliance has not really existed for a few years. The plan is to work with both the ATV and Snowmobile Alliances to develop new contracts. Some snowmobile clubs have expressed interest in leaving the Alliance. One group is the Namakagon group who also are interested in purchasing a Tucker grooming machine. Bayfield no longer has a club, White River Ramblers have left the Alliance, South Shore has only two members, and Washburn has an existing club. The County owns the grooming equipment and provides insurance. The Alliance purchases and makes the payments on the equipment. Equipment purchases are funded via state grant reimbursement. The Alliance pays groomers and the County contracts with the Alliance to provide staff to provide the grooming. H. Maki expressed concern that some trails are over-groomed and some not enough. MOTION: (Bennett, Bichanich) to receive and place on file the April 2015 financial report. Carried. 7. Recreational Use Request, CAMBA: Ron Bergin, Executive Director. J. Bodine has received a request from CAMBA to use existing trails for a non-competitive mountain bike touring even on July 18, 2015. J. Bodine sees no potential issues and recommends approval. MOTION: (Bichanich, Bennett) to approve the request received from CAMBA to host a Ramble mountain bike trail touring event on existing trails in the Town of Cable on July 18, 2015. Carried. 8. Recreational Use Request, Chequamegon 100: Odia Wood-Krueger. J. Bodine has received a request from Chequamegon 100 to use existing trails in the Town of Cable for a mountain bike race to take place on June 20, 2015. J. Bodine sees no potential issues and recommends approval. MOTION: (Bennett, Bichanich) to approve the request made by the Chequamegon 100 to host the Chequamegon 100 mountain bike race on a portion of existing trails located in the Town of Cable on June 20, 2015. Carried. Bayfield County Forestry and Parks Committee Page 3 of 3 May 11, 2015 Meeting Minutes 9. Land Use Request, University of Wisconsin, Shawn Crimmins, Ph.D. UW is requesting permission to install infrared trail cameras in the northern portion of the county forest for a planned three year project. A map was provided showing the grid work for the 1 by1 mile pattern where 60 cameras would be installed. Also included in the request is to attach signs near the cameras for the public’s information. The purpose is to study the link between phenology and wildlife distributions; tracking impacts of climate (leaf out) and the animals’ movements and reactions to those changes. Technicians may be visiting the site once a month to collect data until May 2018. MOTION: (Maki) to approve and require a report of results at the end of year one. REVISED MOTION: (Maki) to approve and require a report of results at the end of year one before approving the project for additional years. No second. Motion failed. MOTION: (Strand, Maki) to approve as presented and require a report of results at the end of each year. Roll call vote: Yes: H. Maki, F. Strand No: M. Bichanich, S. Miller, J. Bennett. Motion failed. F. Strand inquired if any other considerations could be made before moving to the next agenda item. S. Miller replied the motion failed and to move on. J. Bodine offered to contact Shawn Crimmins to appear before the Committee if that would improve their chances for approval. S. Miller replied the motion failed and to move on. 10. Recreational in Bayfield County. In an effort to forge a new direction with what is currently in place, as well as formulate options for the development of new recreational opportunities, J. Bodine presented this subject to the Committee for discussion. J. Bodine believes that recreation and timber management can co-exist and recreation can be maximized as timber management has. J. Bennett inquired on the current conditions of the existing trails. J. Bodine explained that it varies with the Cable area having done very well maintaining non-motorized trails. Overall the ATV trails are in better condition than snowmobile; of which both are funded by state grants. H. Maki suggested sending a letter to the area chambers of commerce requesting trail financial support. There was some discussion of requiring a trail pass for a fee. The subject will be addressed at the county’s budget meeting. J. Bodine will prepare a draft proposal to bring to a future committee meeting. No action taken. 11. Joseph LeBouton, DNR Representative. Comments. J. LeBouton has nothing to report at this time. 12. Adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 8:00 P.M. The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting will be held Monday, June 8, 2015 at 6:00 P.M. at the new Forestry Garage, 380 S. 1st Ave. E., Washburn, WI. Submitted by, Pat Bruno