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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 10/9/2023 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING October 9, 2023 County Board Room Members Present: Fred Strand; Larry Fickbohm; Charly Ray; Steve Sandstrom Members Absent: Jeffrey Silbert Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator; Deanna Regan, Office Manager Others in Attendance: Kathleen Klow, WI DNR 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. This meeting was called to order at 6:01 PM. 2. Public Comment: None. 3. Approval of the September 11th Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Ray) Approve minutes and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 4. Campground Manager Contract Renewal. Bodine recommended extending the contract with the following changes: 1) increase the length of contract from 3 years to 5; 2) increase the threshold for when the supplemental payment kicks in from $80,000 in net campground returns to $100,000; 3) adopt a cap on the supplemental payment in the amount of $140,000 (the maximum value of the supplemental payment would be $10,000); 4) increase the base payment by 5% in 2024 and 1.5% at the start of every remaining year of the contract thereafter (2025-2028); 5) recognize the cabin at Twin Bear as a temporary seasonal residence (during period of campground operation) of the campground manager and require renter’s insurance. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Fickbohm) Approve contract renewal request. All: Yes. Carried. 5. Access Permit Request. Duwayne Montag’s 10-year temporary access permit is up for renewal. They recently upgraded the road with rock/gravel. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Ray) Approve access permit request. All: Yes. Carried. 6. Recreational Use Agreement Request. Duwayne Montag’s recreational use agreement is up for renewal as well. This unique rec use agreement involves less than ¼ acre of county forest land located adjacent to the SW corner of the Montag parcel. Over the past 4+ decades, the landowner has been hosting a private local music event known as Baystock on their property, which generally involves music and rustic camping over a long weekend in late Aug/early Sept. The primary stage/grandstand for this event is located in the bottom of a depression (bowl/kettle) in the extreme SW corner of the Montag property, creating a natural amphitheater. Portions of the seating that surround the stage are placed on the small incline that leads to the top of the depression, however, some of that seating is located on county land. A few natural openings on county land, adjacent to the private parcel, are also used for camping. Rather than force them to remove portions of existing seating near the stage (on county land), we established a rec agreement to authorize the use. The agreement recognizes the use of county property and assigns liability/responsibility of that use to the private landowner. There were no issues over the past 10 years and the landowner makes an extra effort to clean up the area after the event. Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee September 11, 2023 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 MOTION: (Sandstrom, Ray) Approve recreational use agreement request. All: Yes. Carried. 7. Monthly Reports. a) Forestry (all updates). There has been another positive oak wilt finding, this time on federal land east of Highway A, near Delta (Canthook Lk Rd area). Oak wilt finding will initiate timber harvesting restrictions on county sales in portions of Barnes and Iron River, but primarily those with appreciable levels of oak. When a timber sale occurs within a 6-mile radius of a confirmed oak wilt location, we enact a restriction on harvesting activities that would occur when the risk of spread is greatest, currently from mid-April through mid-July. The restriction only applies to sales that contain a significant oak component where there is an increased risk of impacting the residual stand. This can have a big impact on stumpage prices, especially on sales that could have been harvested during the early summer season. Rec maintenance and development activities in these areas could potentially be impacted during that same time frame. WCFA is campaigning for a special license plate and needs 500 signatures by next spring. a. 2023 Budget. September is traditionally fairly slow for stumpage returns, and that trend continued this year. Roughly $140k was received in September, which is a little under the three year average for the month. Total stumpage returns are just under $2.81 million. With one quarter to go, we are still trending towards meeting the budget for stumpage revenue this year. This would be a significant departure from the past decade, where we’ve averaged nearly $1.0 million or more in surplus stumpage returns. Expenses are still on target. b. 2024 Budget. 50% position is restored. We have until mid next year to fill it. c. Carbon Project. Nothing new to report. d. Land Acquisition Projects. Still waiting for the final revised contract for the previously awarded ARPA funds, which will trigger the appraisal of the recent Bark River acquisition. New land acquisition opportunities include a 40 acre BCPL parcel which was appraised at $27,000 and 80 acres recently purchased by Oak Hills (Bluesource) off Spider Lake Fire Lane in Cable. There is a need to establish better direction for determining high priority acquisitions and where to best invest resources. We will be conversing with Landmark Conservancy on how they prioritize. Ray requests to make this an agenda item for the next meeting. e. Slow the Flow Meeting. Our Forestry Department (primarily Mike Amman and Jason Holmes) has been actively participating in the Lake Superior Collaborative. A Slow the Flow (STF) workgroup has been formed from that collaborative. The STF workgroup has organized a field trip to look at forest management practices within the Lake Superior basin that have been designed to slow the flow. A completed sale on the Bayfield County Forest will be the focus of the tour, which will be hosted by Mike and Jason (the field visit will occur next week). The tour will be attended by numerous local natural resource professionals and will be a good opportunity to collaborate and discuss effective ways to protect these water resources, while also accomplishing sound, sustainable forest management. Kudos to Mike and Jason for being available and engaging as part of this important collaborative. b) Campgrounds and Day Use Parks. Campgrounds will close on October 16, after which the Highway Department will be beginning work on the retention walls at Twin Bear. Total revenue is expected to be a bit lower than 2022 as anticipated. Net camping returns are a little over $132k compared to a total of $144k received in 2022 and $135k in 2021. a. 2024 Seasonal Camping. The seasonal selection process was completed Saturday, September 30. As of today, two seasonal sites remain unreserved at Twin Bear (21 were available) and zero remain at Delta (17 were available). It’s pretty common to have one or two sites unreserved heading into winter, but there has already been strong interest on the two open slots at Twin Bear. Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee September 11, 2023 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 c) Trails and Recreation. a. Motorized Trails. ATV season is winding down and work on snowmobile trails has already begun. We are expecting to update our bridge inventory and are working with clubs on fall projects. b. Non-Motorized Trails. Final touch up work is expected to occur at Siskiwit and Lost Creek Falls this month. Trail counter information at numerous locations is being summarized. c. Yurts. Rentals have been relatively steady this fall as we head into what has traditionally been our quiet season (November). d. Events. Nothing new to report. MOTION: (Ray, Sandstrom) Receive reports as presented and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 8. Fall Timber Sale Offering. A total of 33 timber sales (25 new and 8 re-offered), covering 2,387 acres (1,766 acres new and 621 acres re-offered) will be part of the offering. Total minimum bid value is nearly $1.1 million. It’s a tough time to predict sales, markets are weak. Red pine poles will carry this sale. MOTION: (Ray, Fickbohm) Approve fall timber sale offering. All: Yes. Carried. 9. Temporary Storage Agreement: Xcel. A few years ago, we entered into a lease agreement with Xcel Energy that authorized their storage of power poles in the Sand River pit off Highway 13. That agreement expires the end of 2023. Xcel has requested a 12 month extension of that agreement, under the same terms (compensating the county at a rate of $650/month, $7,800 total). There were no issues with the previous agreement. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Fickbohm) Approve lease renewal request. All: Yes. Carried. 10. Big Rock Campground Sign Replacement Contest. We are looking to replace the old Big Rock Campground sign at the corner of Hwy C and Big Rock Rd. The sign and posts are starting to deteriorate and need to be replaced. Given the local artistic nature of the current sign and the fact that it’s been a local landmark for nearly half a century, our recommendation is to replace it with a new sign that would continue to showcase the talents of local artists. All draft artwork/design concepts for the contest would be submitted to the Department. Forestry and Tourism staff will narrow the entries down to the top three. We’d then bring the top three entries to a future Committee meeting and recommend a winner. Once a winner is formally selected by the Committee, we’d award the commission to the top choice with the goal of unveiling the sign around Memorial Day 2024. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Fickbohm) Approve sign replacement contest. All: Yes. Carried. 11. Access Permit Renewal Request: Fox. No issues with previous agreement. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Ray) Approve access permit request. All: Yes. Carried. 12. Committee Members Discussion. None 13. Kathleen Klow, DNR Representative, Comments: None Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee September 11, 2023 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4 The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting has been scheduled for Monday, November 13th, at 6:00 PM in the County Board Room. Meeting adjourned at 6:54 PM. Submitted by, Deanna Regan