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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 4/8/2024 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING April 8, 2024 County Board Room Members Present: Fred Strand (virtually); Jeffrey Silbert; Steve Sandstrom; Larry Fickbohm, Charly Ray Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator; Steve Probst, Assistant Administrator (virtually); Deanna Regan, Office Manager Others in Attendance: Joseph LeBouton, WI DNR (virtually) 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. This meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM. 2. Public Comment: None. 3. Approval of the March 11th Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Ray) Approve minutes and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 4. 2024 Spring Timber Sale Offering. A total of 30 sales, covering 2,373 acres, with a minimum bid value of nearly $740k is included in this offering. Of that, 8 sales, covering 611 acres, with a minimum bid value of nearly $135k are re-offered sales. Most of the sales are in the Bayfield peninsula or south in Barnes. The reroute through Washburn is expected to have a slight impact on this offering. If the first half of the scheduled repair work is completed by this fall as planned, the impact should be minimal. The second half of repair work isn’t slated until 2027. MOTION: (Silbert, Ray) Approve 2024 Spring Timber Sale Offering. All: Yes. Carried. 5. Timber Sale Contract Extensions. A batch of timber sale contracts are set to expire on May 31, 2024. All expiring contracts are eligible for a one-year extension. The standard extension involves a 5% increase on stumpage prices on the first extension, with additional 10% price increases for each subsequent one-year extension. There is also generally a $100 processing fee assigned to each approved extension. With the abnormal winter and Hwy 13 construction issue in Washburn, Bodine recommended the following: a free one-year extension on all timber sales that contained a winter/frozen ground component, similar to what was recently adopted by the DNR. Also recommends a free one-year extension on all timber sale contracts that are impacted by the Hwy 13 closure in Washburn. Free would include a 0% increase on stumpage prices and no processing fee. Regarding the Hwy 13 free extensions, contractors would need to contact us directly and describe/prove how their contract is impacted by the closure to be eligible. All other contracts would be eligible for a one-year extension under the normal terms. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Sandstrom) Approve Timber Sale Contract Extensions. All: Yes. Carried. 6. 2024 Town Road Aid Requests. Road aid applications were due on Thurs, April 4. Similar to last year, $60k is available. We typically get requests from every township that contains county forest land. We’ve also traditionally distributed available funds to the townships based, in part, on the amount of land contained within their jurisdictions, similar to how the 10% stumpage revenue sharing proceeds are distributed. Bodine recommends Option 1. Ray’s question going forward is could we increase funding Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee April 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 from Forestry or maybe consider awarding more money to fewer towns based on the quality of their projects? MOTION: (Ray, Sandstrom) Approve recommended Town Road Aid funding Option 1. All: Yes. Carried. 7. Recreational Use Request: Washburn Area Chamber. The Chamber is asking to include a mountain bike ride as part of their annual Superior Vistas Bike Tour event. Mt. Ashwabay and CAMBA both support the addition. The ride would involve the use of existing trails in the Ashwabay SMA. No concerns. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Ray, Fickbohm) Approve recreational use request. All: Yes. Carried. 8. Resolution: Honoring Jeff Silbert. Jeff has been a member of the Committee for 8 years and vice-chair for 6 of those years. During that time, he has been a passionate and tireless advocate for sound, sustainable forest management, stressing multiple-use, with a special emphasis on climate smart forestry; all elements that he helped to firmly entrench in current and future management protocols. Jeff’s mark on the Forestry and Parks Department will be long lasting. Personally, I’ve very much enjoyed the level of energy, enthusiasm, and attention that Jeff brought to every meeting. His thoughtful insights into virtually every topic, including sometimes contentious issues, and unwavering support of the Department were/are very much appreciated. Thank you, Jeff! Ray commented that the resolution was well-written and well-deserved. Thank you. Strand conveyed appreciation for Jeff’s service, along with his congratulations and best wishes. Probst conveyed congratulations. Silbert commented that he learned a ton of stuff and was very proud of this department. MOTION: (Ray, Fickbohm) Approve Resolution honoring Jeff Silbert. All: Yes. Carried. 9. Committee Members Discussion. Ray distributed his draft of Bayfield County Trail Opportunities. This will be added to next month’s meeting agenda for discussion. 10. Joseph LeBouton, DNR Representative, Comments: Congratulations to Jeff for 8 years. We will miss him. 11. Monthly Reports a) Forestry (all updates). This abnormal winter continues to push (and keep) contractors into spring ground earlier than normal. As a result, timber sale activity was above normal throughout most of the first quarter. The truck re-route around Washburn has created transportation issues on many timber sales located in the Bayfield Peninsula. The 20 ton weight limit around the city will allow some of the lighter trucks to pass through empty but not full. Some empty trucks push 43,000 pounds. A request was made to increase the weight limit to 22 tons to at least cover all empty trucks, but that was denied by the DOT. The approved DOT reroute is Hwy 13 to Hwy A to Hwy 2. Any material heading east will be subject to a significant increase in transportation costs. There are closer “local” routes, but those are at the mercy of towns (Washburn and Barksdale) keeping them open for, what would likely be, a significant increase in truck traffic. And the closer re-route still adds more mileage to the haul distances. This means that most contractors that included the use of Hwy 13 in their budget and bid will choose not to complete those contracts this summer. Until the work is completed, this will impact some existing contracts, as well as future sales, that would have relied heavily on Hwy 13 as part of the haul route. This could also have an impact on stumpage returns that we would have otherwise anticipated this year. Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee April 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 a. 2024 Budget. Stumpage returns for March were at an all-time high. A little over $790k was received last month. To date, total stumpage returns are just over $1.52 million. Total returns in Q1 were roughly $1.55 million, which is well above the pace set last year ($1.05 million) and well above the three-year average for this time of year ($1.1 million). If typical harvest patterns continue, there will likely be a fairly significant decrease in timber sale returns in Q2. Combining volatile markets with abnormal seasons makes it nearly impossible to predict where loggers will be and when to expect revenue. Expenses are on target. b. Carbon Project. No new sales to date and nothing new to report. c. Land Acquisition Projects. Appraisals for the Lost Creek 160 acre parcel (Aurora property) and the roughly 125 acre Siskiwit River parcel (Picard property) were ordered a few weeks ago. Delivery is expected on or before April 15. Landmark has committed to helping cover half the cost of the Picard appraisal. d. EcoFootprint Grant Application. We submitted another application for grant funding last week. This project would involve the assessment and potential repair of road stream crossings in the Lake Superior basin, targeting higher priority South Shore streams. The project was written to be dynamic in nature, to address initial crossing assessments and inventory first, but allowing flexibility for pivoting seamlessly to repair work if significant issues are discovered. The grant request was $50k, with an in-kind match (primarily from staff time and Department equipment use). If awarded, this grant would align well with the internal Departmental goal of ramping up road inventory and assessment efforts, with an emphasis on sustainability and long-term use pressures, as per the access management plan. e. Development and Land Sales/Fencing. Recently, the Development and Land Sales Committee was dissolved with those responsibilities shifting to the Forestry and Parks Committee. Bodine will work with Land Records to incorporate items associated with development and land sales during future meetings. It’s anticipated that this will occur two or three times per year, depending on need, and will be addressed at the beginning of the meeting. When land sales/development is part of the agenda, we could discuss whether to start those meetings earlier or if keeping the standard 6:00 pm start time would still be preferred. All items listed as part of development and land sales will still be led by the Land Records Department Head (Scott Galetka). At this point, I’m assuming that we’ll take the minutes, otherwise, there really won’t be a significant impact on the Forestry and Parks Department. Fencing moved from Tourism. I don’t believe there has been a Fencing Committee meeting in roughly 15 years, so this isn’t expected to be a major workload or common agenda item. b) Campgrounds and Day Use Parks. We started taking reservations for the upcoming season on April 1. All seasonal sites have now been reserved. The recent snow put a damper on some of out plans to get a few tasks done early. Still hoping to get ahead on some spring projects. Work on the next round of retaining walls will begin as soon as conditions allow. c) Trails and Recreation. a. Motorized Trails. Finishing up the routine motorized grant applications for the snowmobile and ATV trail programs due mid-April. Working with various clubs to complete a variety of different trail maintenance and improvement projects. Planning with Highway to complete some of this work. b. Non-Motorized Trails. BAT/Corny Trails Club volunteers completed the first round of pruning the old apple orchard on the Siskiwit property. Highway will chip the piles soon. c. Yurts. Rentals continue to stay strong at the Bayfield locations, especially Terra Cotta, March and April are traditionally the slower months. Rentals at the Cable location continue to lag well behind the other two but reservations across the board are expected to pick up in late April and early May. d. Events. Nothing new to report. Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee April 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4 MOTION: (Silbert, Sandstrom) Receive reports as presented and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting has been scheduled for Monday, May 13th, at 6:00 PM in the County Board Room. Meeting adjourned at 6:34 PM. Submitted by, Deanna Regan