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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 9/13/2021 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING September 13, 2021 County Board Room Members Present: Fred Strand, Chairperson; Jeffrey Silbert, Steve Sandstrom, David Zepczyk, Larry Fickbohm Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator; Lindley Mattson, Office Manager; Steve Probst, Assistant Administrator Others in Attendance: Joseph Lebouton, DNR Liaison, three members of the public were present 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. This meeting was called to order at 6:00pm. 2. Public Comment: Doug Olson, Mt. Ashwabay Operations Manager spoke with concerns about getting an MOU between Ashwabay Outdoor Educational Foundation (AOEC) and Bayfield County Forestry. He believes an MOU would help establish better communication between the County and AOEF. Mark Peterson, public citizen and avid trail user spoke about the importance of Ashwabay to our area. He would like to see more education to the public in regard to forestry practices in and around our SMA (special management areas) 3. Approval of the August 9, 2021 Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Zepczyk) to approve and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 4. (Item 8 moved to 4.) Recreational Use Agreement Template. While Bodine was developing a Recreational Use Agreement for Ashwabay Outdoor Education Foundation (AOEF) it was apparent that the template used in years past was in need of revision. Now is a good time to revise the long-term agreements as the 15 year plan was just updated and there are numerous similar rec agreements coming up for renewal over the next year (e.g. CAMBA, Birkie, Wolfsong Dogsled, Cornucopia Trails Club, Northern Pines Dogsled, etc) A draft template was provided to the committee. It has numerous updates to some of the standard protocols and also includes new content. The new content attempts to better define and clarify the county forest program, as well as provide better direction and expectations regarding events on County Forest. Bodine highlighted in blue on the draft template conditions unique to Ashwabay. Once the draft template is approved by the committee. Bodine will then proceed with inserting more user specific content for AOEF, finalize the map and distribute to AOEF for review. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Zepczyk,) approve the recreational use agreement template. All: Yes. Carried. Clarification on the motion from Chairman Strand, this is the template being approved, content added for user specific agreements. 5. 2022 Forestry and Parks Department Budget Bodine attached budget narrative that was submitted to the County Administrator in August. Some significant changes include: Delta Landfill admin revenue, land acquisition for land sold to Red Cliff, expense for office furniture and workstation for new position, retaining wall and wifi upgrades at the campgrounds and Lidar. MOTION: (Silbert, Fickbohm) approve amended budget for 2022 as presented by administrator. All: Yes. Carried. 6. Monthly Reports. Discussion of general activities, events, issues and accomplishments. Possible action on report(s) only. a. Forestry (all updates): WCFA is currently lobbying for a legislative language change regarding an increase in the direct timber sale limit. Currently, County Forest Law (s. 28.11) allows a timber sale to be sold direct if the appraised value is $3,000 or less. This hasn’t been adjusted since 1999. The current proposal, which has already received bi-partisan support, is requesting the limit to be increased to an appraised value of $10,000 or 500 cords, whichever is lesser. a) 2021 Budget. Stumpage revenue was low compared to past Augusts. Roughly $167K for August, our lowest of 2021. Three year averages for August is around $470K. To date, we are at $2.9 million in timber sale revenues. Expenses are on target. b) Carbon Project. Nothing new to report. c) Red Cliff Land Sale/CFL Withdrawal. Withdrawal paperwork was sent to the DNR last week. It takes about two months for the state to process the requests. As with the past transactions with Red Cliff we are not expecting any issues. d) Burns/Duquette Trespass CFL Withdrawal. The DNR has fond a potential issue with the assessed value of the land in question. We used the upper average for undeveloped land and determined the price to be $2500/acre. The DNR has an assessed value of developed land, which is $10,000/acre. Because of this discrepancy in values, the DNR has flagged this withdrawal. This is still working on this. If there is no movement, Bodine will have to go back to the landowners and increase the price for the land. e) Stewardship Project. Stewardship funds were reauthorized so there isn’t as much of an urgency to get a project ready by the end of 2021. TPL still has not been able to find matching funds. The next option is to apply for a Federal Community Forest grant which is due early January. But, waiting on this until the next sale to Red Cliff has closed, should be completed by mid December. Bodine has been working on another larger potential project in the Town of Clover. Maps were presented to the committee. This would increase our blocking in this area and also has some attractive water on these properties. (headways of the Bark River and other water tributaries) The committee discussed the property in the Town of Clover and encouraged Bodine to pursue negotiating the purchase and bring more information to future meetings. The 160 acre Heartwood property near Lost Creek Falls did not work out. Heartwood wants to move quickly, and the potential trade would not work as the DNR stated that is not an option. Still an option if the land is still available in 2022. f) Xcel Energy Temporary Bypass Line: Xcel is currently in the process of determining final placement for the portion of the bypass line that will travel through county owned lands. Once received, it will be presented to the Committee for final approval. Xcel is aware of existing timber sales and will work with us on placement to minimized impact to those sales. g) Barrens/Wildlife Project: Bodine presented a summary from NRRI regarding the current sharp- tailed grouse monitoring project. The project is producing valuable information and NRRI will continue monitoring throughout the year. Efforts are still underway to establish the Bass Lake Barrens. An initial herbicide treatment was applied late August as a one time application to target the undesirable wood regeneration. This project has drawn some attention from some adjacent landowners and users. This project will continue to develop. b. Campgrounds and Day Use Parks: Camping season is almost over although the boat launch is still popular. New docks have been installed at Puig’s Point and the boat launch at Twin Bear. We established a new record for revenue for 2021. Should end up around $130k. a.) Siskiwit Falls Celebration: The event was held on Saturday, August 14 and was well attended. The previous landowners were impressed with the improvements. Still a few improvements, entrance sign, trail markers, possible bench and picnic table. There is some remaining grant funds and we are looking at developing a short section of trail along the west side of the river. c. Trails and Recreation: a) Motorized Trail Updates: Trails are very popular. Snowmobile clubs are out clearing trails in preparation for winter grooming. i. Wally Polk Trail: Continue to work with the Forest Service on a reroute. b) Non-Motorized Trail Updates: Privies are set to be installed early 2022. Total cost is $48,375, not including site prep, which highway has committed to doing. End cost should be less than $60k. RFP for trail work at Lost Creek is expected to go out next week. That work would happen in 2022. c) Yurt Updates: Bodine presented occupancy rates. Tis the season for mice, we have started seeing sign and are taking the extra steps to keep them out. d) Events: New event addressed later in the meeting. d. Delta Landfill Update: The project has officially been allocated. Plans to start the project spring of 2022. Highway will be completing this work. MOTION: (Silbert, Sandstrom) Receive and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 7. 2022 Campground and Yurt Pricing and Policy Modifications. Bodine presented of summary of the rates for the last few years at the yurts as well as the campgrounds. a. 2022 Camping, Boat Launch and Boat Mooring Pricing J Bodine suggests a slight increase in the seasonal rates. From $1,675 for regular and $1,775 for prime campsites, to $1,700 and $1,800, respectively b. 2022 Seasonal Camping Structure at Twin Bear and Delta Lake. During 2020 and 2021 Twin Bear and Delta Lake Campground went to a seasonal only structure. Transient camping was permitted to occur at Big Rock. For 2022, Bodine hopes to move back to a mix of transient and seasonal camping. At Twin Bear, that would mean between 18 and 22 seasonal sites and at Delta Lake, 14 to 18 seasonal sites. The remaining sites would be open for transient campers. The seasonal selection process is done by a random lottery system. All interested parties must fill out an online application. Each application is assigned a randomly given number to establish a selection order. We then call each applicant as per their selection order. They then pick their site. This process is done the same at both Twin Bear and Delta. Any remaining sites will be available at a first come first served basis. c. 2022 Yurt Pricing. Currently all three yurts are price at $75/night. Bodine proposes the following pricing structure for 2022 and forward: i. Prime season: June 1 through Labor Day. Every day, $90/night. ii. All weekends (Friday and Saturday) outside of the Prime season: $80/night. iii. All other days (Sunday through Thursday) outside of the Prime season: $75/night. MOTION: (Silbert, Zepczyk) approve the 2022 yurt and campground pricing modifications. All: Yes. Carried. 8. County Conservation Aid Grant. This is an annual state grant that requires a formal application. We are allotted $3,993 to help cover the costs associated with various conservation related projects, but it requires a county match. In the past, we’ve used this money to help with bud capping, red oak reforestation, jack pine seeding, barrens development and/or maintenance, a fishing pier at Twin Bear, and, more recently, lake access improvement projects for Perch Lake and Carroll Lake. Bodine does not have a formal project developed yet but would like to continue improving accessibility to lake on the county forest. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Zepczyk) approve the county conservation aid application. All: Yes. Carried. 9. Events Request. AOEF is requesting permission to host a new mountain bike event that would in part utilize trails on county forest. The clinic would be held on September 17-18 and have approximately 30 participants. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Silbert) approve the Mt. Ashwabay Women’s Mountain Bike event for this weekend. All: Yes. Carried. 10. Committee Members Discussion. None 11. Joseph Lebouton – No comments. The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting has been scheduled for Monday, October 11, 2021 at 6:00 P.M. Meeting adjourned at 7:40 PM Submitted by, Lindley Mattson