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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 5/13/2024 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING May 13, 2024 County Board Room Members Present: Fred Strand; Steve Sandstrom; Larry Fickbohm; Charly Ray; Jeff Olsen Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator; Steve Probst, Assistant Administrator; Deanna Regan, Office Manager Others in Attendance: Joseph LeBouton, WI DNR 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. This meeting was called to order at 6:01 PM. 2. Election of Forestry and Parks Committee Chairperson. Sandstrom nominated Strand for Chairperson, Ray seconded. No other nominations. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Sandstrom) Close and cast unanimous vote for Strand. All: Yes. Carried. 3. Election of Forestry and Parks Committee Vice-Chairperson. Ray nominated Sandstrom. No other nominations. MOTION: (Ray, Fickbohm) Close and cast unanimous vote for Sandstrom. All: Yes. Carried. 4. Public Comment: None. 5. Approval of the April 8th Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Sandstrom) Approve minutes and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 6. Spring Timber Sales. Of the 30 sales offered, 9 received no bids. Six of those were offered previously. Bidding volume is down from previous years and this offering was below average for us. We are offering less wood now, but pricing is still decent and above minimum. The total for the year will probably be less than average. MOTION: (Ray, Olsen) Approve 2024 Spring Timber Sale high bids. All: Yes. Carried. 7. Land Acquisition. Appraisals were completed on both properties listed below. Both parcels would be eligible for the remaining ARPA grant, which needs to be used by the end of Q3, not the end of the year. a) David and Marsha Picard, 125 acre parcel in the Town of Bell. Appraised at $1,650/acre ($207,000 total). The land was listed for sale for a short time at $399,000. The family needs to get back to us regarding next steps. b) Aurora Sustainable Lands, 160 acres in the Town of Bell. Appraised at $1,600/acre. Owner wants $2,045/acre. ARPA grant will only reimburse the county up to the appraised value. The appraisal itself is reimbursable. The county would be responsible for the difference. MOTION: (Ray, Sandstrom) Authorize department to proceed with both parcels. All: Yes. Carried. 8. Ten-Year, Temporary Access Permit Requests. a) Celeste Finn, Town of Bell. Reciprocal permit with the county requiring permission to cross a short section of private land and Finn desiring the use of a short section of county land. The road exists. The landowner requests that the permit be recorded. No issues, Bodine Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee May 13, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 recommends approval. Discussion regarding whether recording the permit makes it permanent access. It does not. Is it at the owner’s expense? Yes. MOTION: (Ray, Fickbohm) Approve access permit request. All: Yes. Carried. b) Richard and Andrea Wiitala, Town of Iron River. Request is result of a pending encroachment issue and was discovered while doing work on an adjacent timber sale. They do not have a permit for the entire length of road they are using. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Ray, Olsen) Approve access permit request. All: Yes. Carried. c) Dean Kiggins, Town of Hughes. This request is also due to unauthorized use discovered as part of establishing an adjacent timber sale. Consists of a short existing road that has likely been used by the landowner for some time. There is also some garbage and other items on county land that must be removed (they are in the process of removing it). Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Ray) Approve access permit request contingent on removal of garbage. All: Yes. Carried. 9. Encroachment on County Forest Land. As part of the timber sale establishment process, two significant encroachments were recently discovered on county land. a) Richard and Andrea Wiitala, Town of Iron River. In addition to the unauthorized use of the existing access road mentioned above, a total of roughly ½ acre of land was cleared in two separate locations. A small storage shed on skids was also placed partially over the line. This has since been removed. Bodine’s recommendation is to determine the per acre value of the cleared land by using the averages for similar wood realized as part of the spring offering. Timber trespass law allows the landowner the ability to charge 1, 2, or up to 4 times the stumpage value, based on the effort to encroaching landowner used when attempting to determine the location of the property line. Since minimal effort was made in this case, Bodine recommends charging 2 times the determined value. In addition, the landowner would be charged our admin costs and field time/mileage required to summarize the extent of unauthorized use. MOTION: (Ray, Fickbohm) Approve charging at least 2 times the value of timber plus other expenses. All: Yes. Carried. b) Koeplitsch, LLC, Town of Hughes. This property owner harvested the land within the last decade, cutting approximately 3 acres of county land in the process. In addition, they installed a fence around the perimeter of their property, some of which was on county land (around 2,700’ total). The landowner is required to move the fence to the actual property line and is encouraged to hire a surveyor as part of that process. They also must remove a deer stand located on county land. Like the above recommendation, Bodine recommends charging 2 times the determined value as well as our admin costs and field time/mileage required to summarize the extent of unauthorized use. Landowner also asked about making payments. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Sandstrom) Approve charging 2 times the value of timber plus other expenses and allow Bodine to accept installments. All: Yes. Carried. 10. 2023 Accomplishment Report. Forestry had another productive year. Harvest goals are the lowest in the last ten years. Discussion regarding wind damage or backlog causing this. More due to red pine pocket decline. Also discussed caterpillar effects as well as chestnut borer. MOTION: (Sandstrom, Fickbohm) Receive report as presented and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee May 13, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 11. Wisconsin County Forests Association (WCFA) Board Member. There are 6 open seats on the board. It’s been about 15 years since we’ve had a representative (Dave Good). MOTION: (Fickbohm, Ray) Nominate Jeff Olsen to WCFA Board. All: Yes. Carried. 12. Committee Meeting Schedule. Discussion regarding time and date of future meetings. It will be left as is. No motion necessary. 13. Monthly Reports a) Forestry (all updates). A total of just over $200k was received in April, which is a little below normal. However, over $160k has already been received in May. To date, a total of just under $1.8 million has been received, which is slightly above normal. A slight slow down in harvest activities is expected once the ground dries out a bit more and contractors move to other jobs. It’s also the season for Spongy moth and oak wilt. Of special concern is the mature oak along the Ashwabay ridge. Another round of defoliation would stress that area for a third straight year. When combined with the drought last year, we are more at risk for outbreak of two-lined chestnut borer, which could put us on salvage watch. We’re also looking at delaying all oak thinnings in that area for 2 to 3 years after the last significant stress event (hopefully this last round of Spongy moth defoliation). This means the sale in the Ashwabay SMA might be on hold until 2027. We will be reviewing that SMA plan to determine if other scheduled treatments should be adjusted or re-considered as well. a. 2024 Budget. Everything is on target to date. b. 2025 Budget. The rec position will likely be the most significant item to consider heading into 2025. There is also the potential to start moving forward with some FCOR initiatives. The bulldozer needs to be replaced as do a few remaining old rec vehicles. c. Carbon Project. Some good news! ANEW is in the process of finalizing a large carbon buy which involves around 60,000 credits, for roughly $900k.Terms haven’t been finalized yet, but this is obviously good news and hopefully a sign that markets are improving (and more large sales are on the way). As a reminder, as per our agreement, ANEW will release funds to the county after their out of pocket costs have been covered, in addition to their small share of the net proceeds. It is anticipated that the county will make a total of around $400k from this sale (likely received in Q4). Since ANEW’s out of pocket will be fully addressed as part of this sale, the county will be receiving a much larger percentage of the total on all future carbon sales. Some of these proceeds can be used to address the second Rec position (see below), and puts us in a position to consider initiating portions of the COR. d. Other Land Acquisition Projects. We are still working with Landmark on the Iron River/Maki project. Landmark was recently awarded $190k from the EcoFootprint grant for that project. We should know the result of our Community Forest grant application by either late May or early June. Landmark will be submitting a request for Stewardship funds this fall and we are also working with them on a GLRI grant. Other projects are starting to show up on the radar, including the potential purchase of land around Pine Lake in Iron River. e. Barnes Barrens Core Expansion. The Barnes Barrens Management Area (BBMA) has been in development for the last decade+. Every so often, it’s important to step back and review progress as well as look at the bigger picture. Since the BBMA was started, other barrens areas have been established or expanded (or in process) as part of the DNR’s stepping stone plan/concept. The Moquah Barrens are located northeast of the Oulu Grasslands, and Motts Ravine (recently approved for expansion) is located to the west of the BBMA. However, the recommended distance between barrens areas, to best facilitate the movement of barrens species, is about 3.5 miles. The north end of the BBMA core area is just under 6 miles from the south end of the BLBMA. Another stepping stone between BLBMA and BBMA really isn’t realistic. Nor is expanding the BLBMA further south. One option currently being considered is expanding the north end of the BBMA core by ¼ to ¾ mile, either in spots or along the entire border. This would pull the Barnes Barrens core that much closer to Bass Lake and increase the effectiveness of each permanently open area. Also, some of the recently seeded areas along that northern edge of the core have been Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee May 13, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4 marginally successful, so timing could be good to consider an expansion. The goal of this topic is to gauge the willingness of the Committee to consider a northern expansion of the core. If yes, we’d present a formal plan for action during a future meeting. All committee members support expansion and would like to see a proposal from Bodine regarding this. f. EcoFootprint Grant Application. We were successful in receiving a $50k grant to help kickstart a road stream crossing inventory. Another goal of the inventory is to establish an assessment protocol that will be used as part of the routine road monitoring/inventory program (part of our access management program), likely modifying more robust and lengthy stream crossing assessments already in place but not applicable for our purpose. Significant repairs, if discovered, will also be prioritized as part of the grant. b) Campgrounds and Day Use Parks. The campgrounds will open on May 10. We recently completed the second phase of the retaining wall replacement work at Twin Bear. Once again, Highway played a major role in helping us complete that work. c) Trails and Recreation. a. Motorized Trails. We continue to identify and prioritize trail improvement projects that can be addressed with the remaining unused maintenance funds for both the snowmobile and ATV programs. Highway is assisting on many of these projects. b. Non-Motorized Trails. Starting to gear up for the upcoming season, which includes installing the new sign at Big Rock, as well as various projects at Lost Creek, Siskiwit and Jolly. c. Yurts. Rentals continue to stay strong at the Bayfield locations, especially Terra Cotta, March and April are traditionally the slower months. Reservations in June are starting to increase. d. Events. Recently approved the Chequamegon 100 mountain bike event in Cable. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Sandstrom) Receive reports as presented and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 14. Recreation Coordinator Position. During the last meeting, Ray shared a proposal to move forward with filling the currently vacant second rec position. Currently, that position has been approved as a second Rec Specialist and budgeted to be filled around the middle of this year. Bodine thinks we are ready for a second Rec position, but not as a Specialist. If we move forward with recreation, the second position should be a Rec Coordinator and provide more of a leadership role, taking a lead on visioning, program development, assessments, relationship building, etc. Moving forward in this way would require a shift from a Specialist to a Coordinator and would likely involve a re-class. Would also likely involve an increase in compensation. We could target filling that position either later this year, or target Jan 1, 2025 and roll it into the budget for next year. Bodine recommends Jan 1, 2025. We’d also have a much clearer picture on carbon by this fall. If various FCOR initiatives are put in motion (which is looking more likely now), the priorities of the new position may be a little different than they are today. Discussion among committee members ensues with the committee asking Bodine to bring back a job description in a future meeting for discussion. 15. Committee Members Discussion. None. 16. Joseph LeBouton, DNR Representative, Comments: Welcome to Jeff. The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting has been scheduled for Monday, June 10th, at 6:00 PM in the County Board Room. Meeting adjourned at 7:27 PM. Submitted by, Deanna Regan