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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 11/18/2019 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING November 18, 2019 County Board Room Members Present: Fred Strand, Chairperson; Larry Fickbohm, David Zepczyk, Jeffrey Silbert and Harold Maki Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator; Lindley Mattson, Office Manager; Steve Probst, Assistant Administrator; Caleb Brown, County Forester Others in Attendance: Joseph LeBouton, DNR Liaison; Jane Snilsberg, Across the Pond Veterans Park; Matt Kurilla, Kurilla Forest Products; Robert Hurray, Futurewood; Mike Bloomquist, Sappi; Allen Webster, Webster Logging; Jeff Olson, Bayfield County Resident 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. The meeting of the Forestry and Parks Committee was called to order by Chairman F. Strand at 6:00 P.M. 2. Public Comment. Chairperson Strand called for public comment. After repeating the call no one came forward. Closed public comment. 3. Approval of the October 14, 2019 Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Maki, Fickbohm) to approve the minutes as presented. All: Yes. Carried. 4. Fall Timber Sale Bid Opening J. Bodine read the bids for the Fall 2019 timber sales. 32 sales offered, 7 with no bids. The unofficial winning bids were announced. Unofficial total: $ 1,799,312.12 MOTION: (Maki, Zepczyk) to accept the apparent high bid on the fall 2019 timber sale. All: Yes. Carried. 5. Presentation: Across the Pond Veterans Park. Jane Snilsberg, Across the Pond Veterans Park, Inc, is asking for additional county forest land in order to fulfill their long-term vision. Total additional acreage would be 12 acres. The main need for the additional acreage is for the 5,000 square foot social/recreation building for programs and events. Jane presented a new map from the Park as well as their most recent newsletter and a letter of support from the Town of Hughes. MOTION: (Maki, Silbert) To recommend to the full county board the transfer land. Redwine road and south of their existing property to complete the 40 acres, which is 12 acres. All: Yes. Carried. Discussion from committee and presenter: Fickbohm: Brought up the idea of a partnership for all of the trail/hiking portions of the park so the county would not have to withdraw as much county forest. Also questioned why it is necessary to add more property when the current property has not been fully developed. Snilsberg responded with reference to needing the property for the building as well as helping to solicit donors. Fickbohm again states he would like to see the current property developed and see how much it is used before giving more property to the park. Silbert: Referencing the partnership with the county on trails; states when the initial agreement was done the county didn’t want a big part in the development in the case the project fizzled out, the county would have additional property to maintain. Silbert is supportive of the project but agrees with Fickbohm that he would like to see the existing property developed before giving more property to the organization. Maki: States we already gave the organization ten acres why not give the rest so they can complete their project. Agrees with Snilsberg that the land is needed to be able to secure the money for the remaining portion of the project. Silbert: Believes in the mission enough to support the additional acreage even though the first phase has not been complete. Supports Maki’s motion. Fickbohm: Hesitant about setting a precedent for groups coming along and requesting county land. Strand: Discusses adding or reiterating a reversionary clause in the contract giving the organization a period of time to get the project going and if it doesn’t happen the land is returned to the county. Committee agrees. J. Bodine clarified that a formal CFL withdrawal request would be addressed at the December meeting. 6. Monthly Reports. Discussion of general activities, events, issues and accomplishments. Possible action on report(s) only. a. Forestry (all updates): a) 2019 Budget. Timber sale revenues in October more than made up for the poor performance in September. Close to $660,000 was received last month, well above the average for October. To date a total of nearly $3.79 million in stumpage revenue has been received, about $425,000 over the budgeted amount. b) Certification Audit. Draft report from FSC was recently distributed. It is very similar to the SFI report. Bodine offered to send to anyone who would like a copy. c) Trespass in Iron River. Still in progress. Corp Council has been very busy. J. Bodine will be meeting with the landowner this week to make sure he has completed his end of the deal. d) Jackman Lake Property Issue. Back in 2011/2012, while establishing a timber sale near Jackman Lake (Town of Tripp) the department discovered multiple land use violations involving five different landowners. The violations were situated on a narrow strip of county forest land located in between the private parcels to the north and the town road to the south, J. Bodine presented a map. We decided that the best way to address this issue was to sell each landowner the impacted land. At the last minute, one landowner (Anderson) decided to back out of the sale. The other four sales went forward. Recently, Anderson passed away and the property is for sale. The listing agent was informed of the access issue and the current property owner contact with Bodine. They’ve been informed of their options and were going to discuss them over the next week. Assuming they agree to purchase the land, Bodine plans to work with corp counsel to update the terms of sale and proceed as originally planned. We’d develop a sale that is very similar to the one established for Merritt (Long Lake trespass). This sale would be about 0.75 acres total and be somewhere in the ballpark of $2,500 to $3,000. Like the previous sales, all proceeds would be placed in the land acquisition non-lapsing account and used towards a future purchase. b. Parks: Campgrounds are officially closed for the season. A parks annual report will be brought to the December committee meeting. This year is a new record revenue, just under $116,000 was received for the 2019 season. A few year end projects were completed this fall with the assistance of Highway. We are currently generating a list of things to address next spring with the ponding issue in front of cabin at Twin Bear being one of them. All 2020 seasonal sites have been filled. c. Trails and Recreation: a) Motorized Trail Updates: Snowmobile season is just around the corner. Clubs are out getting the trails ready. We added 12 miles to the system; these miles that were part of the system before, removed, now we have them back. b) Non-Motorized Trail Updates: i. Siskiwit Falls. No formal approval for the WI Coastal Grant. Until we receive an official approval, we are at a standstill with this project. ii. Fire Hill. Project was approved by the Board. We are still working on the road easement that is required to secure permanent access to the property. J. Bodine provided a series of up to date documents including maps. c) Yurt Updates: Evergreen was at 71% in October, 40% for November so far. Terra Cotta was 65% in October and is 30% for November. Cable, 48% in October and is currently 20% in November. Nearly $38,000 in net revenue has been deposited thus far. d) Events. Events approved this month: Wisconsin Youth Anglers Pike Chain Ice Fishing Tournament (staged at Twin Bear); North End Snowshoe Classic, North End Classic cross country ski race and North End Trail run (all in Cable); Adventure 180 race in Cable (similar to the new event currently on the agenda near Ashwabay). e) LCORP Update: Still waiting on a few updates from municipalities that have asked for more time. Needs to be approved before the next grant season, should have it to committee in January. f) FEMA Projects. i. Delta Landfill. Land Record and John (Forest Technician) met with DATCP engineers to look at survey data. They will begin putting together plans for repair. If all goes as planned, we should have a draft repair document at some point this winter. Then will move in and begin repairs as soon as the ground allows. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Zepczyk) Receive and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 7. Recreational Use Request. Paula Waite, 180 Adventure, LLC This adventure race will use a combination or orienteering and mountain biking on existing trails in the Ashwaybay trail system. J. Bodine presented a map of where it would be held as well as an official request. MOTION: (Silbert, Fickbohm) Approve the recreational use request for Paul Waite, 180 Adventure LLC. All: Yes. Carried. 8. Comprehensive Land Use Plan Preliminary work has begun. Next step is to establish how we are going to notify or involve the public. J. Bodine suggestions the idea of using the County’s website to reach out to a larger group of people. Creating a “Notify Me” function on the website so anyone who wants updates on the plan will be notified when any new content is available for review. J. Bodine will send out a mass email with directions on how to sign up for anyone who is interested in these notifications. Any time there is an update to the plan, there will be a notification sent out to all who signed up letting them know new content has been uploaded, also sending them a link to the update as well as a form for comments/concerns. MOTION: (Maki, Zepczyk) Approve the suggestions on the review of the comprehensive land use plan as the administrator has outlined. All: Yes. Carried. Joseph LeBouton, DNR Liason – no comments Meeting adjourned at 8:24 PM The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting will be held Monday, December 9, 2019 at 6:00 P.M. at Bayfield County Courthouse, County Board Room, Second Floor, 117 E. 5th Street, Washburn, Wisconsin. Submitted by, Lindley Mattson