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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 1/8/2024 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING January 8, 2024 County Board Room Members Present: Fred Strand; Jeffrey Silbert; Steve Sandstrom; Larry Fickbohm Members Absent: Charly Ray Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator; Steve Probst, Assistant Administrator; Deanna Regan, Office Manager Others in Attendance: Joseph LeBouton, WI DNR; Erika Lang, Landmark Conservancy 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. This meeting was called to order at 6:03 PM. 2. Public Comment: None. 3. Approval of the November 13th Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Sandstrom) Approve minutes and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 4. Presentation by Erika Lang, Conservation Manager, Landmark Conservancy. a) Land acquisition of roughly 860 acres adjacent to the Iron River in the Town of Orienta, currently owned by the Maki family. Landmark would apply for a Stewardship grant under their name. Bayfield County would apply for a USFS Community Forest Grant with Landmark’s assistance. The final purchase price is expected to be a little under $1.2 million. If full funding is secured, Landmark would facilitate the closing, which would include the transfer of full ownership to the county. Bodine recommends this property be enrolled in CFL. Closing could occur in early 2025. Committee inquires as to whether the rivers flow. Erika responds that the east and west branches do but not sure about Resch Creek. Discussion regarding where roads are (Sorenson and Kokomo) for access to property. b) Land acquisition of roughly 160 acres within the headwaters of the North Fork of Whittlesey Creek in the Town of Barksdale. One of the primary funding sources would likely be a grant from WI Coastal. Landmark is applying for a Stewardship grant and are asking for county support. If successful, the County would own and manage the property. Landmark would also facilitate the closing. Discussion is had regarding access to this unique and wild property. Committee inquires as to how access would affect the grant. Erika responds that it would fall apart without access. c) Brownstone Trail Project: FEMA Grant application. Landmark is also in the process of applying for a roughly $1.2 million FEMA grant to help fund the various planned restoration and repair activities on the Brownstone Trail and surrounding property. As it is a nationally competitive grant, it’s unclear the chances of success. 5. Resolution: Supporting the Iron River Project. This project aligns well with our mission and program. Landmark would prioritize securing all the funds needed to complete the acquisition. We would need to apply for the Community Forests grant, but the application would be completed primarily by Landmark. If successful, ownership would then transfer to the county. Bodine recommends approval. Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee January 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 5 MOTION: (Fickbohm, Sandstrom) Accept and proceed to full board approval. All: Yes. Carried. 6. Resolution: Supporting the Whittlesey Creek Project. This project would protect a property with high conservation/natural resource values. Landmark would do all the heavy lifting with regards to securing full funding. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Silbert, Sandstrom) Accept and proceed to full board approval. All: Yes. Carried. 7. Resolution: Supporting a FEMA grant application for the Brownstone Trail. The county now owns this property. As per the MOU with Landmark, we are both committed to restoring the bank, improving the trail, and establishing a community park on the property. Landmark is committed to taking the lead role in facilitating the necessary repair work, which includes securing all the required funding. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Fickbohm) Accept and proceed to full board approval. All: Yes. Carried. 8. Big Rock Campground Sign Contest. Discussion and possible action regarding the contest and the selection of the winning entry. There were a total of 5 entries for the new sign at the corner of Highway C and Big Rock Rd. The Forestry Department met as a team and selected the top 3 picks. The top pick was asked to do a few modifications and the modified version was presented to the Committee. Discussion ensues regarding the top selection and modifying it for more of a pine tree look as well as tweaking the color a bit more to make it less lime green. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Fickbohm) Accept the top recommended selection with slight adjustments. All: Yes. Carried. 9. Monthly Reports. a) Forestry (all updates). The Department has been working with the Sheriff’s Department on some illegal birch pole harvesting in the peninsula. The illegal cutting of birch saplings is, unfortunately, a somewhat common occurrence leading up to the holiday season, and especially when the prices paid for decorative birch products is strong. a. 2023 Budget. Stumpage returns were slightly above average in December at just over $267k. The final stumpage revenue for CY23 was just over $3.542 million. The stumpage surplus will be right around $267k. When including other grants and revenues that were received over the year, total program revenues will end up roughly $400k over budget. There are a few outstanding expenses that will still be applied to 2023 (e.g. the 10% payment to the towns), but we should finish slightly under budget on total program expenses. b. Carbon Project. We continue to work with ANEW on ways to improve our project, especially while in the midst of a very poor voluntary market, but otherwise, nothing new to report. c. Land Acquisition Projects. Had some very preliminary conversations with Bluesource (now called Aurora Sustainable Lands) regarding some of their recent acquisitions in this county (former Forestland Group properties). d. DNR ARPA Grant. All necessary materials have been submitted and accepted by the DNR. We are now in the process of submitting the final reimbursement request for the Bark River acquisition. The anticipated reimbursement for that project is expected to be just under $1.033 million. Once received, the balance of the ARPA grant would be around $267k and would need to be used by the end of CY2024. An appraisal would be required of any new acquisition project Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee January 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 5 where the ARPA funds would be used. Due to the hard deadline, it will be important to identify an eligible acquisition by the end of Q1 or early Q2. e. Enbridge EcoFootprint Grant. We were successful in receiving a $50k grant for the purchase of the roller chopper. This grant, combined with $16k in other funding was enough to move forward with the purchase of the roller chopper. That order was placed a few weeks ago and delivery is expected in early February. The DNR and USFS have also already expressed an interest in using the machine as part of their similar barrens management objectives. One goal this winter will be to develop a lease/rental agreement, which will also generate a new source of revenue. f. State Natural Area (SNA) Designations. We are in discussions with the DNR regarding the potential of establishing SNAs on portions of the county forest. Some surrounding counties have established SNAs on portions of their county forests. For us, the target areas would be those already designated as SMAs. Since State Natural Areas recognize unique and important natural features, the only SMAs that would be considered are those that also contain such features, like the Bibon Swamp, Lost Creek Falls, Glacial Kettles, Sultz Swamp and the core area of the Barnes Barrens. The rec SMAs would not be considered. b) Campgrounds and Day Use Parks. With this unseasonable weather, we were able to complete some stump grinding at Delta Lake. Otherwise, nothing new to report. a. Pigeon Lake. Mark is in the process of fleshing out the details of a potential one-year, virtually no cost lease with the Board of Regents. The goal of the lease will be to give us time to commission a site assessment/condition report of the property. If favorable, it would also provide us with some time to discuss potential future goals/uses of the property. We currently have $30k in the budget, which would likely be used towards the site assessment. This would likely be the last opportunity we get to address this property. It’s also assumed that Forestry and Parks would be taking the lead on commissioning the various reports. c) Trails and Recreation. a. Motorized Trails. Everyone is eagerly awaiting snow. Otherwise, nothing new to report. i. Snowmobile Trail Bridge Repair and Inventory. Highway recently completed the emergency stabilization of the railroad trestle bridge outside of Grand View. We are now working with an engineer on plans for repair. The engineering firm developing plans for repairs to the trestle bridge can also perform formal inspections on rec bridges (and does so in other counties). We are working on a long-term contract with them to conduct an initial inventory and then establish a routine monitoring schedule. This is an eligible expense covered by the state maintenance grants. b. Non-Motorized Trails. Highway completed some routine brushing along the paved road within the Fire Hill property. Actively in the process of closing out grants associated with trail work at Lost Creek Falls and the Siskiwit properties. c. Yurts. Rentals are picking up again this winter, though there have been higher than average cancellations due to lack of snow. That trend is expected to continue until the cross-country ski trails are open. d. Events. Birkie is expected to submit their standard request for annual events soon. Ashwabay was approved for their annual Summit ski race. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Silbert) Receive reports as presented and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 10. 2023 Budget Amendment. This is a standard end of year 2023 budget amendment. The accounts being adjusted this year will be: Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee January 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 5 a) State snowmobile. Primarily pertaining to the large supplemental payment received in 2023. Revenue and expense offsetting at roughly $135k each. b) 10% payment to the towns. We had surplus stumpage returns of roughly $267k, meaning the collective payments to the towns will be almost $27k over budget. This will be offset by an equal increase on the stumpage revenue side. c) State Sustainable Forestry Grant. We completed a project in 2023 but was budgeted in 2022. Full funding was received. Total overage was around $3k. This will be offset by an equal amount of revenue. d) County Conservation Aids. We shifted previously awarded grant funds to the core road project around the Bass Lake Barrens. That project was completed in 2023 but budgeted in 2022. Expense will be increased by $15k and offset by $11k in county conservation revenue and $4k from stumpage. e) Knowles Nelson Grant. Final expenses incurred from the project at Siskiwit. Expenses are fully covered by this grant. Roughly $5,500 will be offset with an equal amount of revenue. The final reimbursement may not arrive until later in Q1 2024. Bottomline: expenses will be offset by an equal amount of revenue resulting in no net change to the 2023 budget. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Fickbohm) Adopt and forward amendment to County Board with recommendation for approval. All: Yes. Carried. 11. Sand River Headwaters Community Forest Management Plan. The final version of the plan has been reviewed and accepted by the grantor. We can make changes to this plan at any time with approval from the grantor. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Silbert, Fickbohm) Approve Sand River Headwaters Community Forest Management Plan. All: Yes. Carried. 12. 2024 Annual Work Plan. A county board approved annual work plan is a requirement of the DNR County Forest Administrator grant. This grant compensates the county for nearly half of the costs (salary and fringe, as well as some of the WCFA dues) associated with the administrator position. a) Forest Management. There will be a slight decrease in the harvest goal, increase in barrens related projects, increase in inventory work and relatively stable workloads associated with reforestation and invasive species control. Discussion is had regarding the spongy moth impact possibly affecting numbers for this year. Committee inquires as to whether plantings are contracted out; it is contracted out to American companies that provide migrant labor. Discussion is had regarding bud capping. Also, revisiting the access management program and re-establishing a routine monitoring and maintenance plan. It’s anyone’s guess where carbon is going, but I’m optimistic there will be a return to a new normal later in the year and we will be able to move forward with various FCOR initiatives. Committee inquires as to whether carbon credits were actually sold; yes, but since the first 16% goes to a buffer pool to recoup ANEW’s costs, we won’t see revenue yet. Address land acquisition projects as opportunities arise, including spending down the remaining balance of the ARPA grant. b) Parks and Rec. Targeted projects include: update the management plan for Fire Hill; finalize the SMA plan for the Cable block; complete some additional retaining wall work at Twin Bear; complete a few lake access projects, including grant funded work at Jackman Lake; implement a rec bridge inventory and maintenance plan; consider motorized trail expansion, especially in areas Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee January 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 5 currently underrepresented; complete a site assessment at Pigeon Lake; complete the assessment of the currently vacant second rec position and fill as needed; continue working with Landmark on various projects, including the restoration work at the Brownstone Trail property; all of this in addition to maintaining existing facilities and associated infrastructure. MOTION: (Silbert, Fickbohm) Adopt Annual Work Plan as presented and forward to County Board with recommendation for approval. All: Yes. Carried. 13. Event Request: Trail Life, LLC. Trail Life is requesting permission to host a running event on portions of the North Country Trail in the Town of Hughes. This isn’t a new event for the area, as it’s currently held on the NCT in Douglas County but would be a new event in Bayfield County. Waiting to hear back from the NCTA stating that they don’t have concerns (as NCTA is the official steward of that trail, as per our Rec Use Agreement with them). Bodine recommends approval, contingent upon no concerns being raised by the North Country Trail Association. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Sandstrom) Approve event request from Trail Life, LLC. All: Yes. Carried. 14. Committee Members Discussion. None. 15. Joseph LeBouton, DNR Representative, Comments: None The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting has been scheduled for Monday, February 12th, at 6:00 PM in the County Board Room. Meeting adjourned at 7:25 PM. Submitted by, Deanna Regan