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HomeMy WebLinkAboutL & W Approved Minutes February 04_2014GRANT COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING February 4, 2014 9:00 a.m. Ag Services Building Lancaster, Wisconsin The meeting was called to order by Chairman Mark Stead at 9:00 a.m. Present in addition to Chairman Stead were; Dwight Nelson, Lester Jantzen, Vince Loeffelholz, Roger Guthrie, and Dale Hood. Others present were; Joe Schmelz, Lynda Schweikert, Kevin Lange, Annette Lolwing, Greg Cerven, Dan Goltz and Jared Reuter. Excused: Myron Tranel. Certification of Open Meeting Law: Annette Lolwing Annette Lolwing sent the agenda to Karla Schwantes to post in the Administration Building and at the Courthouse, also sent an agenda to Bob Middendorf, WGLR, and was posted in the front of the Ag Service Building. Media notices were sent to Karla Schwantes, Herald Independent, Tri County Press, Platteville Journal, and the Muscoda Progressive. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve the agenda as printed. Motion carried. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Dale Hood to approve the January 10, 2014 minutes. Motion carried. Bills: Annette Lolwing Motion by Roger Guthrie seconded by Dwight Nelson to approve the bills. Motion carried. Wildlife Damage Abatement Claims Program – Greg Cerven & Dan Goltz Greg and Dan presented the 14 WDACP claims for crop season 2013. There were 5 landowners that met their requirements of their deer damage claim: Clement Dressler, Robert Hochhausen, Lynn Kirschbaum, Ray Kirschbaum and Bob Waterman. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Roger Guthrie to approve those 5 claims. Motion carried. Lynda, Dan, and Greg met and agreed to approve a waiver for Verlin Anderson and Dennis Haas as they were close to their shooting requirements and had finished shooting their deer close to the deadline date. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dale Hood to approve the waivers for Verlin and Dennis based on their efforts. Motion carried. It was recommended to deny the deer damage claims for Darrell Henry, Steve Adrian and Arnold Cuchna as they did not shoot their deer quota and not much effort was involved in the attempt to shoot more deer. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Dale Hood to deny their claim and offer them an appeal date to provide us with more research and evidence to see if they met their quota requirements. Motion carried. Appeal letters will be sent out with a deadline date of February 14, 2014 to contact our office if they wish to appeal the committee’s denial decision. If we receive any appeal requests from Steve, Arnold, or Darrell we will have an appeals meeting on February 25, 2014, 9:00 a.m. If there are no appeals, the regular LWCC monthly meeting will be on March 4, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. There were 4 landowners: Ted Krause, Gerald Zimmer, Marlin Shirk, and Elam Zook who participated in the Wisconsin Act 82 where they are issued hunting permits but waives eligibility to receive a wildlife damage claim payment for damage caused by deer. Greg Cerven brought forth a change that the DNR has made with the Venison Program budget approval; DNR changed it to the beginning of the year. In the past the venison program would be approved at the August or September LWCC meeting. The approval for the deer donation budget will be on the March agenda. Edward Eddy Letter Lynda received an appeal letter on January 21, 2014 from Edward Eddy regarding the denial of his county cost sharing request on a well decommissioning project that was filled without contacting our office first. Edward’s county cost sharing request was denied at the January 10, 2014 LWCC meeting because he did not follow the county cost sharing policy. Lynda read Edward’s appeal letter to the committee. Edward had filled another well in 2009 and followed the cost sharing policy at that time. Consensus of the committee was to stay with their earlier denial decision from the January 10, 2014 meeting stands as is. County Cost Sharing Requests: Lynda Schweikert Lynda presented a cancellation request for Jeremiah Collins, Fennimore Twp. for $487.50 on rye cover crop. Lynda and Annette both tried to contact Jeremiah but he had not returned any of their phone messages. Bills and proof of payment needed to be turned in 1 week prior by the November meeting. Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Vince Loeffelholz to cancel Jeremiah’s cost share application. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing on a well decommissioning for Tom Bollant, Wingville Twp., $500.00. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve payment. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for 2014 county cost sharing of $3,500.00, and 2013 DATCP cost sharing of $10,000.00 for a manure storage facility for Dennis and Scott Crapp, South Lancaster Twp. Motion by Dale Hood, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve both payments. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. SWRM Cost Sharing Requests: Lynda Schweikert Lynda presented final approval request for 2013 DATCP SEG cost sharing of $6,076.00 for a Nutrient Management Plan for Dennis and Scott Crapp, South Lancaster Twp. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve payment. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. Discussion of Combination of LWCC and Planning and Zoning Committees Lynda brought forth the discussion of the combining of the LWCC and the Planning and Zoning committees. Planning and Zoning committee recommended downsizing the committee to 7 total: 6 county board members and 1 FSA representative. Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Lester Jantzen to rescind their previous motion of 8 total: 7 county board members and 1 FSA representative. Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Lester Jantzen to downsize to 7 total committee members; 6 county board members and 1 FSA representative. Motion carried. Lynda will let Larry Wolf, County Board Chairman, know of their decision. WLWCA Dues Lynda asked for approval to pay the WLWCA dues of $1,379.00. Lynda read a letter that was sent out by the WLWCA to the counties to highlight their accomplishments throughout 2013. They were also asking for a donation of $50.00 dues to put toward the Environthon, and $350.00 dues to put towards the SOC (Standards Oversight Council). The SOC is a good tool to incorporate the different agencies; DNR, DATCP, NRCS to make sure that all the standards are useful in all the agencies. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Dale Hood to approve the payment of $1,379.00 dues. Motion carried. Land & Water Conservation Report Lynda asked for comments on the SAA meeting that was held Thursday, January 16 at 10:00 a.m. in Dodgeville. Dale Hood was nominated to the Land & Water Conservation Board. At the SAA meeting the counties reported of what percent of cropland is in compliance with NMP’s. Lynda handed out a document on WI progress with NMP’s. Lynda reported that the Farmer Written Nutrient Management Plan has completed their class for 2013. There were 7 out of 9 landowners that have completed their plans. We paid out $3,500.00 with the 7 landowners receiving $500.00 incentive money. Lynda is working independently with the remaining 2 landowners. Lynda reported that the WLWCA conference is March 10-12, in Appleton at the Paper Valley Hotel. Lynda asked if anyone has any silent auction items for the conference. Vince said he would look into donating a fair tractor. FPP Report: Kevin Lange Kevin presented 1 Cancellation of a Notice of Noncompliance for Al, Dan, and Bradford Leibfried (Leibfried Farms), Paris Twp. They have submitted their Nutrient Management Plan. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dwight Nelson to approve the cancellation. Motion carried. Kevin presented 2 Certificates of Compliance with Conservation Standards for FPP Tax Credits for Rick Govier, Mount Ida Twp., and Ron Iverson Clifton Twp. Both Rick and Ron have never been in FPP and have met all the FPP requirements. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dale Hood to approve Kevin’s Certificate of Compliance for FPP. Motion carried. Kevin reported that the Tree Sale ends on February 21st. So far we have 28 orders turned in with just shy of 3,000 trees. Kevin has been working on a mailing for Earth Week, April 27th – May 4th. Invitations were mailed out to local churches offering Church Litanies to celebrate Earth Week. Also sent out invitations to all the schools in the county for the 4th and 5th grade teachers to request conservation activity books, and to request a tree/s for Arbor Day. NRCS Report: Joe Schmelz Joe reported that the EQIP sign up has closed on December 20, 2013. At this time we still don’t know the General EQIP allocation. Received notice on February 4th that the special EQIP funds have been set aside for the DALCI (Driftless Area Land Conservation Initiative) program. This DALCI allocation is for the specific 22 counties that are in the Driftless Area. Allocated $1.6 million for the DALCI sign up, approximately 4.5% or $74,000 per county. So far we have $207,000 accepted for the general EQIP sign up, but still need to have the landowners sign the contracts. Joe reported that there has been a strong interest, about 22-25 applications into the CSP. Joe reported that the Farm Bill sounds like it is getting close to being signed. Sounds like compliance will be tied to the Crop Insurance. Looks like the Conservation Programs will survive for another 5 years. FSA Report: Jared Reuter Jared reported that the Farm Bill eliminates direct payments. (The Milk Program & the SURE Disaster Program)  Price support will be replacing direct payments with the ARC Program (Ag Risk Compensation), and PLC Program (Price Loss Compensation)  May have the opportunity to be able to update yields and bases. Large workload expected.  The CRP will continue. Will be starting out with 27 million acres as the cap and reduce down to 24 million acres.  Linking Conservation Compliance with Crop Insurance.  Dairy Protection Margin Program will be going to be implemented to take the place of the Milk Program. Will have an all price Milk and feed adjustment that will have different coverage levels based on the pounds per 100 weight. Will have 1 flat payment for all programs.  Will be bringing out the Livestock feed and disaster program. Will be retroactive to October 1st 2011.  Non Insurable Crop Program. Crop Insurance may be purchased through the FSA Office at a catastrophic level. This insurance is available on miscellaneous crops if you are not able receive coverage through regular crop insurance.  In the last 4 years FSA has lost 90 employees throughout the state. FSA has a closing of an internal hiring.  Dave Bainbridge is going to be doing some flooring in the IT office at FSA. Carpeting is done in Dennis’s office. Snow removal has been good. New cabinet has been replaced in Sue’s office.  Chuck Raisbeck was reelected for another 3 year term. Paras Reddy will be on for 1 more year. Linda Ruchti is in her last year of her 3 year term. FSA has their committee meeting every other month. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Lester Jantzen to adjourn until, Tuesday, March 4, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. Unless a WDACP participant appeals their claim – then the March monthly meeting will be held on February 25, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. Respectfully Submitted by Annette Lolwing for Lester Jantzen