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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 10/14/2024 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING October 14, 2024 County Board Room Members Present: Fred Strand; Steve Sandstrom; Larry Fickbohm; Charly Ray; Jeff Olsen Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, 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 6:00 PM. 2. Public Comment: None Public comment closed at 6:01 PM. 3. Approval of the August 12th Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Ray) Approve minutes and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 4. 2024 Fall Timber Sales. A total of 30 sales (23 new and 7 re-offers), covering nearly 2,400 acres, with a total minimum bid value of just under $1.0 million will be available during this offering. The 7 re-offers account for 647 acres and $87k in minimum bid values. This is a normal fall offering, heavy pine, and the market for larger pine products (e.g. poles) remains strong. MOTION: (Olsen, Fickbohm) Approve fall timber sale offering. All: Yes. Carried. 5. Land Acquisition Projects. Private landowner outreach phase is complete with letters sent to ~80 landowners with a response rate of over 20%. 13 higher priority parcels were identified for pursuit. Next step would include prioritizing the parcels and authorizing the Department to negotiate prices and formalize offers to purchase contingent upon final Committee and Board approval, as well as securing full funding and applying for grants. There may be opportunities to work with other partners like Landmark Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land. Discussion was had regarding various parcels. MOTION: (Ray, Sandstrom) Authorize Department to negotiate price, make offers, and apply for grants. All: Yes. Carried. 6. Access Permit Renewal. Jeff Tyson. We’ve held a reciprocal access permit with the Tyson family for the last few decades. Site is located east of Hwy 27 in the southern portions of Barnes. Due to the reciprocal nature of this permit, the typical fees have been waived. No issues. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Ray, Fickbohm) Approve access permit request. All: Yes. Carried. 7. Access Permit Renewal. Tim Landgreen. Another of the older access permits. The permit provides the primary access into the Northern Pines Golf Course, west of Iron River. This is a well maintained sand road. No concerns. Bodine recommends approval. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Sandstrom) Approve access permit request. All: Yes. Carried. 8. Monthly Reports a) Forestry. a. 2024 Budget. A total of nearly $288k was generated in August (slightly below average) and $188k in September (slightly above average). To date, just under $4.2 million in stumpage Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee October 14, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 revenue has been received. The 2024 budget for stumpage returns is $3.38 million. The 3-yr average for stumpage returns in the 4th quarter is a little over $900k. Even if we were to underperform by 50% in Q4 this year, total stumpage returns will still likely approach $4.5 million. The results of the fall offering will significantly influence anticipated returns in 2025. Generally, the more we generate in 2024 (above budget), the less we can expect next year. Expenses are on target and running a little under budget. b. 2025 Budget. Some minor adjustments were made to the capital projects, primarily to address the $100k dump truck to keep that in the budget. Also, $100k was added to the timber sale revenue item. Otherwise, no other significant changes were made since the last presentation to the Committee. c. Carbon Project. No new sales to report. Carbon is in 2025 Budget. i. ANEW Field Tour. Team members from ANEW and a few of their contractors (from UK, Spain & Brazil) made the trip to Bayfield County last week. They spent two days touring various sites throughout the forest, primarily to help fine tune their internal modeling and detection programs. Many of our team were part of the tour (Jason Holmes took the lead on both days and did an exceptional job). Our project is one of a select few nationwide where project data is being used to help make improvements to their verification/validation process. d. Lake Access Projects. Over the past few years, we have gradually incorporated low impact, non-motorized, improved lake access projects into the annual workplan. To date, we’ve completed projects at Perch Lake, Bismark Lake and Jackman Lake. A few other projects are in various stages of development or have been included in future grants/timber sales, including Carroll Lake (internal project/previously completed timber sale), Pine Lake (grant, existing sold timber sale), Richardson Lake (grant), Erick Lake (current timber sale, this fall offering), and Hobbs Lake (current timber sale, this offering). The intention is to keep moving forward with lake access projects/improvements on various lakes regardless of the extent of county frontage and presence of private development, on a case-by-case basis as opportunities arise or funding becomes available. Projects that demand a lower level of resources would typically be targeted first. e. Other Land Acquisition Projects. i. Lost Creek. This project closed over a month ago and we’ve already received reimbursement from the ARPA grant. It has been entered into County Forest Law. ii. Community Forest Grant-Iron River Community Forest. Landmark recently received formal support from the Town of Orienta. Many of the Maki family members, as well as Larry, were present during that meeting. Obtaining Town approval was one of the last remaining steps in Landmark’s Stewardship application. The DNR is now in the process of ordering a second appraisal and will complete that part of the review within the next few months. The County is also awaiting a final Community Forest grant contract from the USFS which might not happen until closer to the end of the year. As a final contingency of sale, the current landowners also need to remove an old structure located on one of the southernmost 40’s and cap/decommission an old well. Closing isn’t anticipated until early 2025. iii. Whittlesey Creek. Both Landmark and the County are waiting for formal grant contracts on the previously awarded funds. Landmark is also working on securing a permanent easement through the adjacent private land. Closing on this 160 acre property is also expected in early 2025. f. Barrens Management Update. Over the last two months, a variety of projects are either in progress or have been completed, including roller chopping at the Bass Lake Barrens, which was primarily accomplished by DNR staff and using a DNR dozer. DNR staff also recently completed a 350 acre prescribed burn within the core area at the Barnes Barrens location. There was a small spot fire that was quickly contained, resulting in minor damage to an adjacent mature red pine stand (about 6 acres, which is in the fall offering, and was going to be managed soon anyway). Still, the burn was very successful and critical to creating and maintaining the barrens landscape. Two surveys are also ongoing within the barrens; working with a local botanist who specializes in barrens plants to continue the vegetation Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee October 14, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 work, and lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), where we are working with an entomologist. Both reports are in the final stages of completion and will be shared with the Committee during a future meeting. g. Herbicide Overspray Update. Corporate Counsel recently submitted a draft demand letter for review which will involve compensation to both the private landowner and county because of the herbicide overspray error made by the contractor. Bodine isn’t anticipating a rapid response but hopes to have this situation resolved to the satisfaction of all parties by the end of this year. h. Next Meeting. The next scheduled Forestry and Parks Committee meeting will fall on Veterans Day. The courthouse is closed as well as the post office so we won’t receive any mail on that day. Since that would be the day we traditionally open timber sale bids, and it would be difficult to move the Committee meeting to a different day that week, the recommendation is to require all bids due at 2:00 pm the Friday before the meeting. We can open the bids on Friday afternoon, summarize them, and announce the preliminary results, then bring the results to the Committee meeting on Monday (Veterans Day) for formal approval. i. WCFA Director Update. With Jeff now serving on the WCFA Board of Directors, this item will be included every meeting, primarily to serve as a placeholder for WCFA related items that can be reported to the Committee. b) Campgrounds and Day Use Parks. The application process for 2025 seasonal camping sites at Twin Bear and Delta Lake was completed last week. Currently, all 21 seasonal sites have been reserved at Twin Bear, and all but four sites (out of 17) have been reserved at Delta Lake. It’s common to go into winter with a few seasonal slots open. The unseasonably warm fall weather has created favorable camping conditions which has resulted in above average post Labor Day camping this year. This has helped push total gross returns to just under $140k to date. However, primarily due to the wetter start of the season, we’ll likely end up a little below last year. For reference, total gross returns in 2023 were just over $143k. c) Trails and Recreation. a. Motorized Trails. Work continued on a variety of ATV and snowmobile trail projects scattered throughout most of the county, but primarily located in the northern half. The Wally Polk re-connection has been very well received. Most of these projects were completed with the help of the Highway Dept. This has blossomed into a very productive and mutually beneficial relationship. More and more projects are being planned where the Highway Dept will provide most, if not all of the equipment and labor. b. Non-Motorized Trails. Most of the work over the past few months has centered on the motorized trails. BATS volunteers contributed towards some trail restoration work at the Jolly property, some of which was previously damaged from the mid-June storm event. We also worked with Ashwabay on repairs to a few sections of trail within that block, including assisting on improvements to the newer Pileated Woodpecker hiking trail. We are also working with the Town of Barnes on some potential improvements to the Tomahawk Lake trails. Once the Rec Coordinator is in place, the plan is to incorporate a more robust and extensive rec report as part of all future Committee meetings. c. Yurts. Reservations from August through October have peaked at all three locations. Terra Cotta and Evergreen have averaged over 80% during those three months, while Cable is averaging 45% during that same period. November tends to be a slower month, but both Terra Cotta and Evergreen are already approaching 50% occupancy. All yurts have had some fall cleaning, with the roofs being recently power washed. Also, this is the time of year when firewood stocks are replenished at all three locations. Collectively, firewood continues to be the single largest maintenance expense for the yurts. d. Events. Nothing new to report. Committee acknowledges that reports are received and placed on file. Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Committee October 14, 2024 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4 9. Committee Members Discussion. None. 10. Joseph LeBouton, DNR Representative, Comments. None. The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting has been scheduled for Monday, November 11th, at 6:00 PM in the County Board Room. Meeting adjourned at 7:11 PM. Submitted by, Deanna Regan