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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 1/11/2021 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING January 11, 2021 Held virtually through Microsoft Teams Members Present: Fred Strand, Chairperson; Jeffrey Silbert, David Zepczyk, Larry Fickbohm, Steve Sandstrom Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator; Lindley Mattson, Office Manager; Steve Probst, Assistant Administrator, Charly Ray; County Board Member 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. This meeting was called to order at 6:00pm. 2. Public Comment: None 3. Approval of the December 14, 2020 Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Zepczyk, Fickbohm) to approve the minutes as presented. All: Yes. Carried. 4. Bayfield County Forest 2021-2035 Comprehensive Land Use Plan Revision. Discussion and possible action on the following items: a. Review of Public Comment: No written public comment at this time. b. Approval of the Final Draft (all chapters) c. Approval to Submit Final Draft to the DNR for Review MOTION: (Sandstrom, Zepczyk) Accept the final draft and submit to the DNR for final review. All: Yes. Carried. 5. Land Acquisition Proposal: Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Red Cliff recently came to the department with another potential land sale. J. Bodine presented a map of the property in question. A total of 340-350 acres, around $520-525,000. Their main focus of land is the remaining land around the Frog Bay area. If the grant is awarded, they will look at acquiring the additional parcels. MOTION: (Silbert, Sandstrom) Proceed with the logistics of the grant to go ahead with this land sale with Red Cliff. All: Yes. Carried. Some committee discussion on the motion and future transactions with the tribe (repatriation of lands). DNR policy on withdrawing county forest land was discussed at length. 6. 2021 Forestry and Parks Department Annual Workplan. Discussion and possible action regarding the Plan. The workplan was sent to the committee for review. The sustainable harvest goals are comparable for 2021 as they were for 2020. Reforestation goals are similar, inventory and monitoring mirrors 2020’s goals. There is some new language on the potential carbon project, Bass Lake Barrens and the potential lake improvement projects. CFI goals for 2021 are to establish 160 plots. With some help from an outside contractor we hope to have the remaining 270 plots done in the next two years. Wildlife projects are expected to happen in 2021 pending grants being awarded. More recreation improvements for 2021. MOTION: (Silbert, Zepczyk) Approve the 2021 annual workplan and recommend to the full county board. All: Yes. Carried. 7. Monthly Reports. Discussion of general activities, events, issues and accomplishments. Possible action on report(s) only. a. Forestry (all updates): a) 2020 Budget. Finished 2020 with timber sale revenues at $3.625 million, $300k over budget. Expenses may end up $50k-70k under budget. Approx. $400k will be returned to the general fund. b) 2021 Budget. Revenues are strong already. About $235k just eleven days into 2021 c) Timber Sale Adjustments: The following was included in the committee packets. d) Stewardship Land Acquisition Project. The Ceres Timber properties that were out of reach, have now returned as potential land acquisitions. We have lost a funding source, but the new potential sale with Red Cliff may replace those funds. b. Parks (update). c. Trails and Recreation: a) Motorized Trail Updates: Information on this topic was detailed in the agenda summary that was included in the Committee packets. This topic was not addressed specifically during the meeting. b) Non-Motorized Trail Updates: Information on this topic was detailed in the agenda summary that was included in the Committee packets. This topic was not addressed specifically during the meeting. c) Yurt Updates: Bodine presented the occupancy rates for the yurts. Still very popular. With a recent carbon monoxide alarm, we are looking at installing carbon monoxide digital readers to be able to respond accordingly. d) Events. Recurring events from American Birkebeiner submitted their events, all previously approved. The North End ski club did hold their snowshoe race on January 2. d. Delta Landfill Update: Wisconsin Emergency Management continues to actively review our latest change of scope request. MOTION: (Zepczyk, Fickbohm) Receive and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 8. Forest Carbon Offset Project. Bodine presented a summary table and a timeline of the potential project to the committee. If the department moves forward with a project, it would be subject to the voluntary carbon market under the American Carbon Registry (ACR). Terms of the voluntary carbon market under ACR are for a period of 40 years. There are many requirements to maintain a carbon project, maintaining forest certification is one as well as making sure we do not harvest more carbon than is sequestered. J. Bodine went through the summary table and timeline with the committee. Role of the Carbon Consultant: establishing a project, establishing plots, marketing the carbon, registering carbon for a fee. The fee is generally a percentage of net revenues generated. Fee to be negotiated. Bodine has reached out to the DNR to make sure this would not break any county forest law rules or ordinances and we’ve received the green light from the DNR. Adopting a carbon project would commit us to a 40 year agreement. Although this is a long agreement, there are no significant mandatory changes to the way we manage the forest now. There are insurance safeguards incorporated into the program to protect us against natural disasters and there is an ability to opt-out or terminate the agreement. Any project we adopt would take 12-18 months before we start seeing returns. At this point, we wouldn’t start seeing returns until mid 2022. Committee would like this again on the February agenda. 9. Resolution. 2020 Year End Budget Amendment. Discussion and possible action regarding a year end amendment of the 2020 Forestry and Parks Department operation budget. 2020 budget amendment was necessary to address the 10% sent to towns. Also, on the resolution is an amendment to adjust the snowmobile supplemental payments from the 2019-2020 snowmobile season. MOTION: (Sandstrom Silbert,) Forward the resolution to the full count board with the recommendation of approval. All: Yes. Carried 10. Barrens Wildlife Monitoring Project. Discussion and possible action regarding the development of a wildlife monitoring project in the Barnes Barrens Management Area. Over the past year we have been discussing developing a monitoring project in the barrens areas. At our request, NRRI has developed a plan. Bodine presented their proposal to the committee. The results of this project will help us to better understand barrens habitat use by various wildlife species and fine-tune future management strategies. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Fickbohm) Authorize Bodine to develop a contract with NRRI All: Yes. Carried 11. Timber Sale Modification: Advertising, Selling and Administering Pulpwood by the Ton. This is mainly an administrative change. We currently sell most timber sales as cords yet most of our mill slips come in as tons. This means 85-90% of our mill slips have to be converted from cords to tons. Not only is this labor intensive but increases potential for data entry error. Many surrounding county forests have made the switch and have been happy with results. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Silbert) Adapt a change in the sale of pulpwood from cords to tons. All: Yes. Carried 12. Joseph LeBouton, DNR – No comments. The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting has been scheduled for Monday, February 8, 2020 at 6:00 P.M. Meeting adjourned at 7:21 PM Submitted by, Lindley Mattson