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HomeMy WebLinkAboutUnapproved MINUTES_February 3_2011GRANT COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING February 3, 2011 9:00 a.m. Ag Services Building Lancaster, Wisconsin The meeting was called to order by Chairman Vince Loeffelholz at 9:00 a.m. Present in addition to Chairman Vince Loeffelholz were, Lester Jantzen, Steve Adrian, Mark Stead, Marvin Kettler, and Grant Loy. Others present were, Greg Cerven, Dan Goltz, Abbie Church, John Patcle, Melissa Bartz, Kevin Lange, Jared Reuter, Lynda Schweikert, and Annette Lolwing. Motion by Grant Loy, seconded by Lester Jantzen that the Committee was in compliance with the Open Meeting Law. Motion carried. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve the minutes from the January 4, 2011 meeting. Motion carried. Corrections to Agenda: Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve the agenda as printed. Motion carried. Bills: Annette Lolwing Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve the bills. Motion carried. County Board Chairman Report: John Patcle John reported that they are working on union negotiations; there are no unions that have settled yet. Still have not got anything done on the size of the county board. Talked about a referendum, however Mark and John went to a meeting at Stevens Point and we are to have the county board size determined by March. Pace Agreement: – Abbie Church Abbie Church came to give a presentation of the Dennis Yoose PACE agreement through the Department of Ag. Abbie has previously presented this presentation at the County Board Supervisors meeting. Abbie gave a little background history of the Mississippi Valley Conservancy; it is a nonprofit land trust; that was formed in 1997. They are searching for conservation easements throughout Southwest Wisconsin with the local landowners and also have nature preserves throughout this area. To date they have protected over 12,000 acres. Wisconsin is losing 30,000 acres in cropland and pasture land every year. The DATCP has created the PACE program (Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easements) it is funded by a conversion fee that applies when lands are taken out of Agriculture Use. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Grant Loy to recommend the County Board’s resolution contingent upon Paris, Potosi and Tennyson with those local jurisdictions approving it. Motion carried. Wildlife Damage Abatement Claims Program: Greg Cerven Greg Cerven went through the WDACP claims for 2010 as to who met the shooting requirements. There were 6 people who did not meet their shooting requirements. They are: Steve Adrian, Arnold Cuchna, Darrell Henry, Lynn Kirschbaum, Gary Klein, and Ted Krause. There will be an appeals meeting set for those 6 individuals. Motion by Grant Loy, seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve those who were in compliance and the recommendations for the denials. Motion carried. Steve Adrian Abstains. An appeals meeting will be held on February 16, 2011 at 9:00. Greg mentioned that he has another issue to deal with within the deer donation program. Having a large problem dealing with The Butcher Shop in Fennimore; problem getting paperwork back from them, no log of how many pounds of meat that has been taken out by the charitable organization log. Josh wasn’t communicating and/or cooperating with Greg, Paula and Annette. Josh is in violation of the rules and regulations of the deer donation program contract that he had signed. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Grant Loy to not pay The Butcher Shop until we receive the distribution of venison to the charitable organization log showing the equal amounts of venison brought in. Motion carried. Steve Adrian Abstains. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Marvin Kettler, to not sign The Butcher Shop up for the 2011 deer donation program. Motion carried. Steve Adrian Abstains. County Cost Sharing Requests: Lynda Schweikert Lynda handed out the updated cost share policy with the changes that was discussed at the January meeting. Items that were discussed were the piggybacking of county cost sharing, and then moving of the closure of waste storage above manure storage facility. Revised date will be February 3, 2011. Motion by Steve Adrian, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve the revised Grant County Cost Share Policy as written. Motion carried. Lynda reported that the EQIP ranking is continuing and there are many applicants that are signing up for DATCP and for County Cost Sharing. Lynda will be holding all the county and DATCP cost share requests for structural practices until EQIP ranking has been completed. Still have not received approval for the (DATCP) money. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing on a well decommissioning project for Luebker Investment LLC, Woodman Twp., $500.00. Motion by Steve Adrian, seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve payment. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing on an emergency well decommissioning for Scott Farms LLC, Ellenboro Twp. $500.00. Motion by Marvin Kettler, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve payment. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing on another well decommissioning project for Scott Farms, LLC, Ellenboro Twp., $500.00. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve payment. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing on an emergency well decommissioning project for Peter Winch, Fennimore Twp., $399.21. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Grant Loy to approve payment. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presents final approval request for county cost sharing on a grade stabilization structure project for Doug Schauff, Cassville Twp., $1,166.00. Motion by Steve Adrian, seconded by Grant Loy to approve payment. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented an additional final approval request for county cost sharing on a grade stabilization structure project for Doug Schauff, Cassville Twp., $2,447.53 and DATCP cost sharing of $5,052.47 for a total of $7,500.00. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented tentative approval request for county cost sharing on a well decommissioning for Sam Fox, South Lancaster, Twp., $500.00; and Doris Vesperman, South Lancaster Twp., $371.00. Motion by Steve Adrian, seconded by Mark Stead to approve the 2 well decommissioning requests. Motion carried Contribution Agreement/CRP Issues: Lynda Schweikert Lynda reported that the contribution agreement was to write 45 CRP contracts by December 31, 2010. Out of the 45 landowners, 40 decided to sign, the other 5 chose not to be in CRP. On January 4, 2011 an email from Ron Howard who is now the contact individual who is in charge of the contribution agreements. Ron emailed that he had the wrong dollar amount on the contribution agreement; it was $16,290.00 and then decreased it to $14,599.00 to reflect a 1,691.00 error. Lynda has not signed any amendment at this time. Committee recommends that Lynda sign the contribution agreement and send a letter to Pat Leavenworth. The 5 individuals that did not sign the CRP contract were under the impression that there was not going to be any penalty for backing out of the CRP. However, Jared apologized and stated that he did not know at the time that those 5 individuals that did not sign the CRP contract will lose their crop bases that were established on the farm. FSA was under the impression that there would be no penalties on the contract side. Lynda also reported that Kevin and herself were out to assess the existing contracts and cover on the CRP fields. Brian Pillsbury, Marlene, and Lynda met with Jared Reuter in regards to the weed threshold that are in the CRP fields. Jared did say that there will be no penalties and/or violations. There were 15 – 20 landowners that were affected by the penalty. Jared stated that the landowners that were sent a payment reduction can send in a written statement to appeal it to the FSA committee. The committee has the authority to grant the landowners a reduction in payments by 50% of their payment reduction. Lynda wanted to inform the committee of what is going on with the FSA and the CRP issues, just in case there is another contribution agreement that comes before the committee if Lynda agrees to sign it or not. Conservation on the Land Internship Program (COLIP): Lynda Schweikert. Lynda reported that she has applied for $2,000 to match the $2,000 that we budgeted for a soil conservation technician intern. Lynda has sent letters to the US Senators and to Representatives to support the earmark for the COLIP Grant. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Steve Adrian to approve and move forward with the grant application and to solicit a soil conservation technician intern. Motion carried Invasive Species Training: Lynda Schweikert Lynda reported that even though Invasive Species control ranks low in the Land and Water Resource Management Plan, a lot of the new invasive species that are showing up on the map are starting in Grant County, possibly being brought in by the riverways. Lynda has spoke with Peggy Compton to try and get a 3 county educational training on terrestrial invasive species identification and how to control them. The training will be aimed at highway managers and townships to better manage the highway corridors. Matt Krueger with the River Alliance of Wisconsin would like to promote Aquatic Invasive Species awareness in Grant County. A training will be held on March 10, 2011. Lynda would help promote these issues by placing articles in the local newspapers. Steve Bertjens, Southwest Badger RC&D Coordinator contacted Lynda to see if LWCD would support RC&D in applying for a grant for a 9 county invasive species coordinator. WLWCA/WALCE Ad Hoc Committee: Lynda Schweikert Lynda handed out a packet with the minutes and merger information. The committee is made up of 5 LWCC members and 5 WALCE employees across the state. If there are any comments on the merger, they need to communicate through your LWCC chair to one of the WLWCA members on the committee. David Hammer is the SAA contact person with any merger information. The next meeting will be on February 17, 2011. Southwest Technical College Speaking Engagement: Lynda Schweikert Lynda reported that Deb Ihm asked her to speak to the Farm Business & Production Management Program. Lynda spoke about the State Ag Performance Standards, Working Lands Initiative, and the Manure Storage Ordinance. Annual Report: Lynda Schweikert Lynda reported that she is working on the Annual Report for the newspapers that is due tomorrow. She will also be working on the Annual Report for the County Board, due by February 11, 2011. NMP Training: Lynda Schweikert Lynda reported on the Nutrient Management Training at the UW-Platteville on January 14, 2011. There were 2 classes held; out of the 2 classes 9 of the 12 students completed their NMP. Two more have since completed their NMP. Lynda mentioned that there was a Snap Plus Update on January 27, 2011. This was a work day for the past students to come and get assistance in updating their nutrient management plan. There were 3 students from past classes that came to update their plan, 1 student from this years’ class came to finalize their plan, and 1 landowner in CSP came to work on his plan. Those 5 students left with their updated plans. Lynda reported that there will be a Snap Plus for Agronomist Training, March 1, at the Youth & Ag. It will be instructed by Sue Porter, DATCP. This will be a CEC approved for agronomists receiving training on the proper way to develop a NMP through Snap Plus. There has been 4 agronomists that have already RSVP’d. Because of the agronomist training on March 1, we need to reschedule the March monthly LWCC meeting. FPP Report: Kevin Lange Kevin reported that he has a cancellation of Notice of NonCompliance. John and June Yanna, Castle Rock Twp. There are 4 Notices of NonCompliance; Edward Snyder, Jamestown Twp., Mark & Paula Richardson, Potosi Twp., Larry & Peggy Moore, South Lancaster Twp., and Walter & Kathryn Dresen, Wingville Twp. Motion by Lester Jantzen seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve the 4 Notices of NonCompliance and the 1 cancellation of Notice of NonCompliance. Motion carried. Kevin reported that he has been working with Lynda on the nutrient management classes and writing articles for the annual report, and has also worked on a couple of CREP contracts. There have been many phone calls from tax preparers regarding the Farmland Preservation (Working Lands Initiative). He is working on the 2011 spot check list. Will be getting the information out to the local churches and schools inviting them to take advantage of our Arbor Day and Soil Stewardship celebrations. February 18th is the deadline to order trees through our office tree sale. NRCS Report: Melissa Bartz Melissa reported that they are finishing up on making the payments on the Conservation Security Program (CSP). There were 44 contracts and each person came in the office for a review on their contract. Melissa reported that they will be working on the EQIP rankings. Had 120 applications, have 2 weeks left to rank 50 applications. NMP are ranking high. We have 12 Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) applications and will be working with those individuals after the EQIP ranking. There is a separate sign up for EQIP Organic either certified organic or are transitioning to organic. There will be a CRP sign up coming for more workload. Melissa stated that there will be a good chance of a contribution agreement with the NRCS for CRP. FSA Report: Jared Reuter The lease on the building packet has gotten through the first approval process. They are trying to bring some of the authority back to the local offices like it used to be. There are very few offices that have a lease agreement in the state of Wisconsin. FSA is also finishing up with the 2009 disaster program. There are 2 big differences between the 2008 and the 2009 program. In 2008 there was a stimulus bill that was passed that created a stimulus calculation that gave more money to some of the producers. The 2009 is solely based on what your insurance coverage’s are. All major crops needed to be insured in 2009. Call for Agenda Items for Next Months Meeting Other Business Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Grant Loy to adjourn until March 3, 2011. Motion carried. Respectfully Submitted by Annette Lolwing for Grant Loy