Land Conservation

Land Conservation Committee June 2, 2026 County-USDA Service Center Meeting Room 2, Medford Call Meeting to Order: Tim Hansen called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Members Present: Tim Hansen, Catherine Lemke, Karen Cummings, Joe Tomandl Members Absent: Sara Matyka Other Attendees: Brent Tessmer, County Conservationist; Klayton Kree, Engineering Technician; Pamela Holz, Conservation Program Specialist; Nicole Hager, Human Resources; Jodi Chapek, NRCS; Liz Usborne, DNR ; Chris Hamerla, Golden Sands RC&D; Brooke Cherek, Golden Sands RC&D Approve Minutes: Lemke moved to approve the minutes of the April 7, 2026 meeting; Seconded by Tomandl. Motion carried. Approve Agenda: Tomandl moved to approve the agenda with 10 items; seconded by Cummings. Motion carried. Review and approve 3/27/26 to 5/22/2026 bills and March -April 2026 budget analysis. Cummings moved to approve the bills; seconded by Tomandl. Motion carried. Reports: Wildlife Damage Program –No report submitted. Golden Sands RC&D – Minutes and reports provided. Tessmer added the Golden Sands grazing planners were busy working on grazing plans, including one for a llama farm in Taylor County. Hamerla introduced himself and his summer staff and highlighted his reports (attached). After giving background on AIS surveying, Hamerla recommended Lakes Anderson, Shearer, North Twin, Horseshoe, and Clark Lakes be surveyed this summer for an estimated cost of $4,700. At the same time, he will reach out to the Mondeaux Flowage Lake Association in preparation for potential surveying next year for a cost of approximately $7,000. The importance of discovering invasives early was stressed due to the county having few lakes with AIS and early intervention was thus crucial. Natural Resource Conservation Service – Chapek reported she was acting DC until the end of June when an Altoona staff person will be the next temporary DC. She believed the switch should affect the Medford office minimally given the two full -time staff assigned there and the needs elsewhere in the district. She reported the Medford Office is finishing EQIP with 19 contracts for Taylor County and $338,000 to be spent by August. NRCS had 20 high CSP applications for the 4 -county region and five in Taylor County were approved. Currently, they have 230 active contracts. Lastly, she recommended representation for the upcoming Local Work Group for NRCS on June 23. Farm Service Agency – Written report provided. Northwest Land Conservation Association, Representative – No information was available at this time but a meeting was scheduled for the following week in Hayward. WI Land+Water – Matt Krueger, Executive Director, gave a brief presentation on the unique mission and vision of WI Land+Water while reviewing some of its activities. He then opened the floor to answer any questions the LCC may have, such as clarifying the legal status of LCCs/LCDs (also unique to Wisconsin), the current standing on wake boat legislation and barriers, and the offerings the state conference had for LCC members, of which scholarships were available. He also added that an LCC training was scheduled for the regional meeting in Hayward on June 10. Discuss/take action on 2026 Drinking Water Testing Program: Holz reviewed with the LCC the previous year’s total expenditures, informed the LCC of the recent increase in testing fees, and provided several broad scenarios for the discounted rate. She added the caveat that participant numbers – and the numbers of each tests – could not be known until the program itself. Therefore, she erred on the higher side in submitting potential county costs. Holz recommended a $5 increase from the previous three years as she believed a $10 increase would significantly deter participation. Hager informed the LCC of the potential procedure of requesting carryover funds if the LCC should decide to use them for the project. Lemke moved to set the price for the drinking water testing program at $45/package; seconded by Cummings. Motion carried. Hansen then left the meeting and Lemke took responsibility as chair. Discuss/take action on changes to the Manure Storage Closure Pumping Cost Share Program: Tessmer reviewed the background for the cost share program, stating the pumping costs – which were not covered by the state program – had been a barrier in closing manure pits. While the LCD had been using their own funds as part of a closure, the cost of pumping has risen significantly. In addition, the number of pit closure requests have also increased, from an expected two per year to eight this year alone. Cummings moved to increase the maximum payment for Manure Storage Closure Pumping Cost Share Assistance to $4,000 with an annual cap at $12,000; seconded by Tomandl. Motion carried. LCD Staffing and program update: Klayton Kree: Kree reported on just finishing a meeting with AITCOM to plan training meetings. Projects: Kree reported on working with Overgard on fencing needs for a llama farm. He had checked the Rib River project to ensure the rock had held up over a heavy rain, high velocity event. He had several pit closures in the works, including a rapid turnover one due to an onsite fire. Currently he was finalizing several designs and waiting for construction to begin. Education/Training: he had attended training in POWTS, soil training in Ashland, and a DNR wetland permitting, while assisting with Buckthorn Bash and soils education at COWS with Tessmer. Other: Kree reported assisting with the annual Tree Sale including afterhours pick ups and Maplefest. Brent Tessmer: Tessmer reported most of the Nutrient Management Plans were in with a few to finalize after the spring rush. The no till drills have been out on a steady basis with seven farms for the new drill and eleven for the old. No maintenance problems to report at this time. Regarding invasive species, Buckthorn Bash was held successfully in the southwest corner of Campus Woods in a thicket of the bush. On May 22, he did garlic mustard spraying and will be spraying for wild parsnip in two to three weeks. Stream sampling began two weeks ago with the metals at the Bend site and the county -wide samples were taken the previous week. One AMO application was in the process of being approved for Never Done Farms for a waste transfer system. Tessmer also reported leading COWS educational session. Pamela Holz: After spending most of April in preparation, Holz gave the final report on the 2026 tree sale (attached), adding any comments or concerns that arose. In addition, she updated the bulletin boards, attended educational trainings, assisted with the in -class Buckthorn session and Buckthorn Bash, and taught Stetsonsvile K at the school forest. Office work included finalizing MS Publisher files transference and updating GIS software while focusing on skill building and LCD drinking well database. She has also received new drinking water testing bottles and adapted the attached paperwork. Future Meetings and Events: a. Next LCC Meeting……………………………………………….…….Tuesday, August 4; 9:00 a.m. b. Golden Sands RC&D, Steven’s Point………………………….Thursday, July 16; 10:15 a.m. Motion by Tomandl, seconded by Cummings, to adjourn at 10:43 a.m. Motion carried. Land Conservation Committee April 7, 2026 County-USDA Service Center Meeting Room 2, Medford Call Meeting to Order: Tim Hansen called the meeting to order at 9:01 a.m. Members Present: Tim Hansen, Catherine Lemke, Karen Cummings, Joe Tomandl, Sara Matyka Members Absent: None Other Attendees: Brent Tessmer, County Conservationist; Klayton Kree, Engineering Technician; Pamela Holz, Conservation Program Specialist; Amanda Kaspaerek, NRCS; Liz Usborne, DNR Approve Minutes: Lemke moved to approve the minutes of the February 3, 2026 meeting; Seconded by Tomandl. Motion carried. Approve Agenda: Tomandl moved to approve the agenda with 12 items; seconded by Cummings. Motion carried. Review and approve 1/25/26 to 3/26/2026 bills and January -February 2026 budget analysis. Tomandl moved to approve the bills; seconded by Cummings. Motion carried. Reports: Wildlife Damage Program –Luoma submitted her report via email. Attached. Golden Sands RC&D – Minutes and reports provided. Tomandl gave updates from the recent meeting. He reported Golden Sands federal funding was continuing to decline and other funding sources were being investigated. Part time summer help was in the process of being hired. Tomandl also reported on the delay of the Vista Sands Solar project and added that Golden Sands was working on a partnership to increase prairie chicken habitat at the edges of that project. Tessmer added that AIS Coordinator Chris Hamerla would be digging Loosestrife plants in the south during tree sale week and offered to bring up enough for our program and set up the pots. Natural Resource Conservation Service – Kasparek introduced herself and reported Chapek, though unavailable for the meeting, was currently serving as acting district conservationist. Kasparek reported that 24 of 31 applications from Taylor County received funding for EQIP, which is a high number for the area. The work on these projects are to be completed by August 28, with 75% done by May 22. Taylor County also has seven CSP projects, mostly for forest land use. The local work group meeting will be held virtually on July 23. Kasparek also gave an update on the current staffing situation. Farm Service Agency – Written report provided. Matyka added they will be meeting on Thursday and DMC payments went out for January/February. Northwest Land Conservation Association, Representative – Kree reported attending a brief NWLCA meeting at the WI Land+Water Conference, primarily to discuss details in preparation for a summer tour in Polk County. More information will be shared with the LCC once it is available. Discuss/take action on 2027 SWRM (Soil & Water Resource Management) Grant: Tessmer reviewed the proposed grant with the LCC, clarifying details as needed. Cummings motioned to approve the grant; seconded by Lemke. Motion carried. Discuss/take action on 2026 Annual Work Plan : Tessmer reviewed the work plan with the LCC. Cummings motioned to approve the work plan; seconded by Tomandl. Motion carried. Discuss/take action on nomination for the Board of Commissioners of Lake District #1 in the Town of Hammel: Lemke motioned to approve the nomination as submitted; seconded by Cummings. Motion carried. Discuss wake boating in the county : Tessmer reported another party had inquired interest on this subject due to activity on a local lake. However, Tessmer reported only cities, villages, or towns could enact ordinances regarding wake boating, not counties. Discussion ensued over the current legal status of wake boats and the concerns with the environment. The LCC suggested that Tessmer be made available to speak on the topic at town meetings, if requested. Discussion concluded. LCD Staffing and program update: Pamela Holz: Holz reported on her attendance to the WI Land+Water Conference, particularly on sessions including wake boating, AI and the connection with water usage and data centers. She further clarified her conclusions from the latter session, believing Taylor County with its low yielding wells to be a highly unlikely site for a data center as currently constructed. She also included her work with the Outreach Committee and other webinars and continuing education progress she had made over the last two months. She reported on practicing her GIS skills with the DWEP dataset and produced a draft map of high arsenic and manganese sites across the county. Further discussion ensued over the health concerns of these metals, the randomness of their appearance in any given well within the county and properly informing the public of this concern. Lastly, Holz updated the LCC on the Tree Sale. Although sales were slow going into pick up this year, she felt they were in a good position going into tree pick up and should be able to sell most of the remaining trees during pick up and Maplefest. Klayton Kree: Kree reported on his work with AITCOM and an upcoming meeting on April 22 to discuss trainings and funding for the year. He met with Cody Overgard regarding questions on new designs, for job approval, and to learn new hacks for AutoCAD. His trainings included: two tech meetings in Park Falls, one of which he presented on a concrete project; and the WI Land+Water Conference, where he had good network time, picked up new AutoCAD ideas, and requested needs for AITCOM trainings ; and Manure Mondays for March. He reported he and Tessmer had been given seven sites by the DNR for compliance review and meeting with Chris Murphy for phosphorus credits. He announced he should have at least five, maybe more, pit closures this year and in reply to questioning by the LCC explained many of these closures were sales or transfers that either the pit was now too small or the pit was included in the home sale, but not farmland, and the pit was needed to be removed for safety reasons. Brent Tessmer: Tessmer reported Nutrient Management Plans were preferably due March 31 and he still had some coming in. One no till drill was ready to go as he had one farmer on sandy loam who was hoping to use it soon. The other drill still required some maintenance yet. In regard to invasive species, Tessmer reiterated that Hamerla had offered to set up the loosestrife plants for our biocontrol project. He was still waiting to hear from the school for Buckthorn Bash, due to a change in staffing. With Kree, he met with Chris Murphy of the Clearinghouse in regard to signing up landowners for erosion control to prevent phosphorus in our waterways. Tessmer believed they had one landowner willing to sign on with a potential for a second. He gave further details on the program as well as how it may help as Chelsea Sanitary District was having difficulty meeting their phosphorus load requirements and thinking of privatizing. He also reported he and Kree and been working with some landowners over a dispute that began with a misplaced fence line and had progressed to alleged run off issues. Future Meetings and Events: a. Next LCC Meeting…………………………………………………….…….Tuesday, June 2; 9:00 a.m. b. Golden Sands RC&D, Steven’s Point………………………….Thursday, May 21; 10:15 a.m. Motion by Lemke, seconded by Cummings, to adjourn at 10:17 a.m. Motion carried. Land Conservation Committee February 3, 2026 County-USDA Service Center Meeting Room 2, Medford Call Meeting to Order: Tim Hansen called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Members Present: Tim Hansen, Catherine Lemke, Karen Cummings, Joe Tomandl, Sara Matyka Members Absent: None Other Attendees: Brent Tessmer, County Conservationist; Klayton Kree, Engineering Technician; Pamela Holz, Conservation Program Specialist; Jody Chapek, NRCS; Nicole Luoma, USDA -APHIS; Liz Usborne, DNR Approve Minutes: Lemke moved to approve the minutes of the December 2, 2025 meeting; Seconded by Cummings. Motion carried. Approve Agenda: Tomandl moved to approve the agenda with 9 items; seconded by Lemke. Motion carried. Review and approve 11/22/25 to 1/23/26 bills and November -December 2025 budget analysis. Cummings moved to approve the bills; seconded by Tomandl. Motion carried. Reports: Wildlife Damage Program – Review and approve county wildlife claims. Luoma reported out of 21 claims this past season, only one had requeste d compensation. A copy of the request was included in the meeting packet. Luoma reported it currently was the slow season for wildlife damage and at this time, she only needed the claim approved. Tomandl moved to approve the claim, seconded by Lemke. Motion carried. Golden Sands RC&D – Tomandl reported they had met in Steven’s Point on January 15 with the meeting minutes in their packet. Tomandl provided a budget update of the agency, noting that previously paused funds had been released. However, with fe wer federal funds available in the future, the competition was higher, so the RC&D was looking at other sources of funding. Tessmer reported the forest service grant they had been seeking was not eligible for Taylor County due to the lack of required pre-existing plans. Natural Resource Conservation Service – Chapek introduced herself and reported Amanda Peters tenure as acting DC would end on February 23. Search for a replacement acting DC was in process. Permanent staff out of the Medford office includ ed herself, Amanda Kasperek and Dan Miller as the compliance officer. Staff from other offices assisted as needed with projects beyond the Medford’s staff expertise. Due to the government shutdown, program sign up deadline was moved to January 15. For Taylor County, EQIP had 63 applications and CSP 18 applications. These applications are now being assessed. Some of these applications will be eligible for the Farmer First Regenerative Pilot Program. Chapek explained the local work group areas had changed an d thus who Taylor County was competing against for funds had also changed. In addition, although the EQIP program had remained basically the same, the CSP has some alterations. Farm Service Agency – Written report provided. Matyka added they hoped to add half a staff person to assist with the workload between the joint counties. She added the deadline for the DMC was coming up and crop reporting was finished. Northwest Land Conservation Association, Representative – Holz reported on the meeting on January 22 at Shell Lake. She reported that the Association hoped to have a LCC training that summer as it was an election year but yet was unsure on the best organizational strategy to meet regional and statewide needs. Holz reminded the LCC of the upcoming WI Land+Water conference and added that the following two years it will also be at the Dells, though in a different location. A summer tour is tentatively planned; thus, the NWLCA will meet briefly at the conference to lay out a plan. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for June 10 in Hayward. LCD Staffing and program update: Klayton Kree: Kree reported this was a slower time of year for him. He had been meeting with landowners to gather signatures and check on projects. He has plans for many projects for 2026 including several pit closures, pipelines and fencing. He reported he and Tessmer met with Chris Murphy of a Water Clearinghouse in regard to phosphorus projects in a local watershed. He was in Altoona for a pipeline training. As usual, Kree atten ded the area tech meeting Park Falls. In addition, he plans on attending the Area Interagency Training Committee (AITCOM) on Friday in order to consider joining. He has attended POWTS webinars. Kree has also met with DATCP engineer specialist Cody Overgard to review projects and receive job approval. He has a permanent water facility planned and finished an as -built for a waste storage facility. Kree concluded with reporting all his 2025 projects were now finalized. Brent Tessmer: Tessmer reported on his Nutrient Management classes he had been working with in the region. He reported five farms participated in the classes in Medford. He also assisted with the classes in Wausau and Spencer. He is currently assisting other farmers in updating their nutrient management plans. Tessmer reported he has been working on completing SWRM grant reporting. In 2025, it covered $61,000 for nutrient management, cover crops and no till. The staffing grant is due February 15 but he is still waiting on final numbers before su bmitting. He will also be submitting reimbursement for wildlife damage once he has received the invoice for venison. Lastly, Tessmer handed out his 2025 Stream Sampling report (attached) and reviewed it with the LCC. Pamela Holz: Holz reported on transferring Microsoft Publisher files to either a readable format (for archival files) or another program (for active files). She reported on one educational program for RVA and attending an in -person Outreach meeting, the NWLCA meeting, with a climate roadshow the next day and WI Land+Water conference in March. Holz updated the LCC on the new prices of the drinking water tests and procedures. Per LCC inquiry, Holz gave further information on manganese in the county, discovered local health effects, and the obstacles in making the public more aware. Finally, Holz updated the LCC on the status of the tree sale, reporting on the uptick in the amount of trees bought per sale. In addition, several species were sold out or close to it. She also added the changeover for the seed store was completed in a timely manner with the new publicity on the seed products available. Future Meetings and Events: c. Next LCC Meeting…………………………………………………….…….Tuesday, April 7; 9:00 a.m. d. Golden Sands RC&D, Steven’s Point………………………Thursday, March 19; 10:15 a.m. e. WI Land + Water Conference, Chula Vista, WI Dells ….…………………March 4-6, 2026 Motion by Lemke, seconded by Cummings, to adjourn at 9:58 a.m. Motion carried.