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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 11/8/2021 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING November 8, 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, Charly Ray, County Board Member and 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: None 3. Approval of the October 11, 2021 Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Zepczyk, Sandstrom) to approve and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 4. Recreational Use Request and Agreement. Cornucopia Trails Club Bodine presented a proposal from the club to the committee proposing the development of non-motorized trails in the Pratt’s Peak area of the county forest. Peter Rothe from the Cornucopia Trails club that was started in January of 2021, spoke to the committee regarding developing a hiking trail to Pratt’s Peak. A map was presented to the committee showing where the trails would be developed. Peter also talked about other projects the Cornucopia Trails Club has discussed as future endeavors including a trail through the orchard at Siskiwit Falls, cross country ski trails and bike trails. MOTION: (Silbert, Sandstrom) move forward with the development of recreation use request agreement with the cornucopia trails club as pertains to the Pratt’s Peak recreation area. 5. Resolution. Erika Lang. Landmark Conservancy Bodine presented a copy of the resolution and the maps to the committee. Landmark Conservancy is working on two separate Knowles-Nelson Stewardship land acquisition projects. One in the Town of Bayfield (Big Ravine 10) and one in the Town of Cable (Telemark Preserve). Landmark is looking for local project support. Erika gave some background information on the project. The Telemark Preserve project is a 218 acre property purchased from the American Birkebeiner Foundation. It was purchased to keep the property forested Big Ravine 10 is a 10 acre parcel in the Big Ravine forest area in the Town of Bayfield. This is primarily a forested wetland, some tree cover and it includes a large pond with many animal species. This property offers a trail connection between the Big Ravine trail system and the County owned Fire Hill property. Some committee discussion on these properties including; timber management, property tax, county access on this property MOTION: (Fickbohm, Silbert) Forward the resolution regarding Landmark Conservancy Telemark Reserve project to the county board with the recommendation to approve. All: Yes. Carried. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Fickbohm) Support the Landmark Conservancy Big Ravine 10 property with a recommendation to forward to the full county board. All: Yes. Carried. 6. Recreational Use Agreement. Iron River Chamber of Commerce Bodine presented a rec use agreement with Iron River Chamber of Commerce. This is similar to the agreement done for Ashwabay, with a few specifics to the Chamber. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Zepczyk) support the recreation use agreement with the Iron River Chamber of Commerce pertaining to the dog sled trails with the agreement that if there is any change with the map, it will be updated in the agreement as well. All: Yes. Carried. 7. Draft Management Plan. Mt Ashwabay Special Management Area for Recreation. Bodine present a rough draft of the management plan for the Ashwabay SMA. The plan is intended to provide additional clarity and context regarding historical and scheduled future management activities within each SMA. Also identifying various mitigative options that will be considered when establishing timber sales within these blocks of the county forest. The policies and procedures already incorporated in the Comp Plan are used as sideboards. The plans for each SMA moving forward is intended to complement the Comp Plan and are not meant to act as new, stand alone documents or approaches to management, nor establish new policies or procedures MOTION: (Sandstrom, Zepczyk, approve the draft SMA plan for future development cooperatively with the user groups. All: Yes. Carried. 8. Monthly Reports. Discussion of general activities, events, issues and accomplishments. Possible action on report(s) only. a. Forestry (all updates): a) 2021 Budget. Stumpage revenue was average for October. Just over $308k for the month of October. b) Carbon Project. No updates. c) Mill Bill. Another attempt is being made to pass legislation that would help kickstart the idle mills in Park Falls and Wisconsin Rapids. Documents presented to committee. Also, there will be an increase in the direct sale allotment. Currently we can sell sales direct without going through the bidding process if the sale is under $3,000. This value will be increasing to $10,000. d) Resolution Thanking Sen. Bewley and Rep Meyers. Mark is drafting a resolution thanking Sen. Bewley and Rep. Meyers for their work on the increase in the PILT payments. e) Red Cliff Land Sale/CFL Withdrawal. Still in process. f) Burns/Duquette Trespass CFL Withdrawal. Local assessors determined the land to be of much higher value than originally thought. An adjustment needs to be made on the application. The landowners are aware of the price adjustment. g) Stewardship Project. Mathey has accepted our offer of $980k for the roughly 1,600 acres in the Town of Clover. The county has until July 2022 to come up with the funds. We also continue to have discussions with Forestland group and Landmark about the sections of property near Lost Creek Falls. h) New Rec Position. The position description was provided to the committee. Job should be posted soon. i) 2022 Annual Workplan. Bodine will begin working on the plan. Will be presented to the committee in January. b. Campgrounds and Day Use Parks: Record revenue year. Will end around $130k. We have one seasonal site still available at Delta Lake. c. Trails and Recreation: a) Motorized Trail Updates: We are addressing a trail closure in Cable. Bodine presented a map for the committee. The club is working on establishing a new connection. b) Non-Motorized Trail Updates: We received two bids for work at Lost Creek Falls. We accepted the lower of the two bids, at just around $14k. Work is expected to begin spring 2022. Working with the Chequamegon Audubon on getting bat and bird houses on the Siskiwit property. c) Yurt Updates: Looking at updating the AirBnb page and making for a more automated reservation system. d) Events: Bodine plans to bring all new and recurring events to the committee for approval. In the past, only new events were brought to the committee with recurring events being approved by the administrator. d. Delta Landfill Update: No updates. MOTION: (Silber, Fickbohm) Receive and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 9. Fall Timber Sale Offering. Summary of the bid opening was presented to the committee. 92 total bids on 33 sales. Prices are still decreasing, as seen over the last few years. Eight no bid sales, Bodine does not recommend reoffer as these have gone no bid numerous times already. MOTION: (Silbert,Zepczyk) accept the high bid on the fall 2021 timber sales. All: Yes. Carried. 10. Sustainable Forestry Grant In the past, this office has used this grant for invasives, CFI plot establishment and drone purchases. Bodine proposes using the money this year to assist with the initial mapping and inventory of invasive species across ownership. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Silbert) approve the application for the sustainable forestry grant. All: Yes. Carried. 11. Recreation Use Request. Hayward Lions Club The Hayward Lions Club is requesting use of trails located in Cable for the 40th annual Pre-Birkie cross- country ski event. Attached are their answers to a variety of questions that we ask regarding every event. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Zepczyk, Fickbohm) approve the recreational use request for the Hayward Lions Club. All: Yes. Carried. 12. Recreation Use Request. American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation Birkie submits a request for all their events at once. There are eight events scheduled for 2022. Bodine recommends approval of all events EXCEPT the Epic Bike Fest on June 3-5 as CAMBA and ABSF are requesting to host very similar mountain bike events using the same trails, on the same dates. Bodine has reached out to each group and asked them to resolve the issue and come back to the committee with a formal event request. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Zepczyk,) approve the recreation use request by the Birkebeiner Ski foundation excluding the Epic Bike Fest for their 2022 events. All: Yes. Carried. 13. Committee Members Discussion. Some committee discussion on land the county purchased in the Town of Lincoln. Town would like a park established there. After discussion, it was determined the land is owned by County Highway Dept and it should be brought to the highway committee for discussion. Silbert updated committee on some Tribal Relations topics and happenings. Committee discussed the condition of some county roads and plans for repair. Access management is going to be a duty of the new rec specialist position. Comment on this month’s agenda being very rec heavy. 14. Joseph Lebouton – No comments. The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting has been scheduled for Monday, December 13, 2021 at 6:00 P.M. Meeting adjourned at 7:34 PM Submitted by, Lindley Mattson