Meeting Minutes Meeting date: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 First 2020 meeting of the Polk County Association of Lakes and Rivers (PCALR) was held Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at 6:30 pm via Zoom due to the current Wisconsin “Safer at Home Order” effective at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 and will remain in effect until 8:00 a.m. on Friday, April 24, 2020, or until a superseding order is issued. Attending Karen Engelbretson, Bone; Anna Turk, Long; Ray Sloss, Balsam; Jeremy Williamson, Amery Lakes District; Katelin Anderson, Land & Water Resources Dept.; Kim Butler, Half Moon; Jim Reckinger, Cedar Lake; Rod Preble, Balsam Lake; Larry Bresina, Pipe Lakes; Frederick Painter, Round Trade Lake; William Johnson, Polk County Tourism Council; Paul Duxbury, Balsam Lake; Colton Sorensen, Polk County Land & Water Resources Dept.; Don Demulling, Cedar Lake; Joe Waldo, Horseshoe Lake; Bob Boyd, Bone Lake; Mark Reidell, Little Butternut Lake; Dan Early, Cedar Lake; Thomas OHern Pipe Lake; Mark Lamkin; Scott Hansen, Round Trade Lake. Welcome & Introductions by Karen E. Treasurers Report provided by Ray S. See Slide 5 of attached presentation. Karen brought up reprinting of Who’s Who brochure for lake districts, expecting maybe $300-$400 for 1,000 brochures. In the past this has helped get a packet of 50 brochures to every organizational member of the PCALR. Dues received from: Pike & North Pike, Amery P&R, Big Round P&R, Mark Reidell, Doug Drake, Kim Butler, Anna Turk, Karen Engelbretson. Asked that PayPal not be used due to cost, Karen asked what the cost of PayPal was, $41 on approximately $500 in membership dues for 2019 budget year. Membership Report provided by Anna T. See Slide 6 of attached presentation. 38 membership invoices sent April 1, 40% viewed, 13% paid. Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) aka “Factory Farms” by Kim B. See Slides 7-13 of attached presentation. Kim Butler is a full time Polk County resident and PCALR board member attending Polk County Environment Services Committee (ESC) meetings typically held Wednesday mornings two times per month. CAFOs exist in Polk County, currently have 4 dairy CAFOs and 1 turkey CAFO; issue began with 26K hog farm operation with Iowa (IA) wanted to start in Burnett County (Burnett) with satellite operations in Polk County (Polk). CAFO is a large-scale farm with 1,000 or more animal units, animal unit = 1,000 lbs. of animal weight. Ex. Beef cattle =1,000 lbs., dairy cow=800 lbs., hog=250. Hog CAFO 4,001+ hogs, hen/turkey CAFOs can have 82,000 hens.
Cannot make rules that “we don’t’ want any CAFO in community” but can make rules so onerous that someone could not or would not start a CAFO. 26K hog CAFO from IA wanted to come to Burnett with satellite (farrowing barn) operations in the Town of Laketown of northwest Polk, Town of Laketown does not adhere to Polk Zoning regulations. Big CAFOs are looking for poorly zoned areas. Farms could potentially affect St Croix Watershed as well as our local lakes and drinking water. A corporation wanted to come in because of poor local water quality and swine flu issues elsewhere, looking to set up “islands of safety” around Polk county, farms that are not around other farms so that they can safely raise the pigs without disease. Much of the hogs are grown for China, not local use. Dairy CAFOs are different; they are local, generationally owned farms. These farmers are not the problem, they live here and want to be good environmental stewards of the land. Glaring exception in St Croix County Emerald Sky Dairy has had numerous manure spills that have infiltrated the Kinnikinic River. In Polk we don’t have that issue. Dairy industry is in crisis, farmers under a lot of stress, dairy CAFOs are heavily regulated and expensive to implement. People who don’t want swine CAFOs coming into the county are not anti-agriculture. Need to be careful to not come across as anti- farming/anti-agriculture, need to be able to work hand in hand with our local farmers. Potential problems: drinking and surface water contamination from manure spills, manure spreading, or dead animals. Pollution, algae, fish kills, undrinkable private well water, lakes become un-swimmable. Spread of disease to local farms. Smell and toxic gases. Flies. Decreased property values for homes within 3 miles 10-40%. Disease – bacteria E.coli, Salmonella in well water, overuse of antibiotics. What you can do: Call/email County Supervisor at co.polk.wi.us. Share info with lake neighbors. Write letters to local Polk newspaper. Agriculture is an important part of this community but so is tourism and the lakes community who pay a lot of taxes to support our county. County ought to be considering all of stakeholder voices in this issue, encourage you to make your voice heard. ESC recently met on 4/15. See the Polk County Website>Environmental Services Committee Agenda report that explains in greater depth potential areas to be impacted. Right to Harm documentary will be provided virtually for limited time April 19-25. Frederick Painter mentioned that each pig can have “8 baby pigs per year” which adds up to a lot of pigs at the farrowing in Polk. Big concern is manure and watershed. Urged attendees to go to their Town and encourage a moratorium, several Towns – including Trade Lake – already have moratoriums in place. Trade Lake has spent a lot of money developing moratorium and ordinance. Lake Planning Grant Activities by Katelin A. See Slides 13-34 of attached presentation. ESC available through virtual platform going forward, visit Polk County website>calendar. Planning grant covers activities for colleting data on lake to inform a planning effort. Protection grant covers implementing the actions from the Lake Management Plan. Lake water quality – Secchi disk and multiparameter probe, once you make the initial purchase you have the tools to continually monitor. Composite water sampling, chlorophyll a and algae.
Ray asked about shipping of water samples for Citizen Lake Monitoring Network, DNR provides all of the supplies and pays for shipping. Discussion about sampler costs, some can be borrowed from LWRD. Grants are available to help purchase equipment, small scale planning grant probably the best option. All grants have a match, typically at 33%, volunteer hours, boat use, mileage can all be included in the match for the grant. Tributary monitoring – measuring flow, determine how much water is going in/out of area over a time period. Lake level & precipitation monitoring –surveyor surveys in the lake level gauge so it is tied into elevation and can be compared accurately year over year. Shoreline inventory – take GPS points at where changes to shoreline occur (vs parcel lines which can be difficult to identify), view shoreland up to 35’ inland. Plant survey – rake used to identify type and density of plants throughout lake. Lake resident survey – great way to get feedback from everyone you send it to you, district, watershed, etc. Consider keeping survey to amount where you can send it without needing an extra stamp for postage, including stamped and self-addressed return envelope helps to get completed surveys back. Sediment cores – work with Science Museum of MN, sediment cores are more expensive but you get a lot more data from them, there can be 100-200 years of data preserved in the lake bottom. Additional studies – Zooplankton, Black Crappie Sarcoma, Resident Geese. Watersheds & land use – topography to help understand where the water will flow. Nutrient loading, education, aquatic invasive species (CBCW), Healthy Lakes program. Timeline: September 2, 2020 communicate intent to apply to local biologist (Alex Smith in Polk County), grants due November 1, 2020. Wisconsin Lakes Convention Programs available to view at https://tinyurl.com/WILakes2020 Karen E. shared about Steve Vavrus, WI initiative on climate change impacts, spoke in particular to climate change impacts on lakes. If you are doing a lake planning grant this presentation may be helpful to see what kinds of things are changing rapidly and how you plan for practices around your lake. Ex. in next 10 years expect night time temps to be warner, daytime to be cooler, to be cloudier, muddier, wetter all which will likely lead to high water levels, increased erosion, etc. which can affect our lake management plans. Next Meeting June 17, 2020; annual meeting and election of board. Program and format TBD. Meeting adjourned: 8:30p Minutes respectfully submitted by Anna Turk April 20, 2020
PCALR Meeting Wednesday, April 15, 2020 Opens a chat window Housekeeping that allows you to type a question, anything entered here will be visible to all attendees See who's currently in the meeting. You can also Raise Hand to indicate to the host you have a question or comment. April 30, 2020 Polk County Association of Lakes & Rivers 2
Introductions PCALR Board & Presenter Lakes/Groups Represented Today • Karen Engelbretson, President • Balsam Lake • Anna Turk, Vice President • Bone Lake • Ray Sloss, Treasurer • Cedar Lake • Kim Butler, Member at Large • Pipe Lake • Katelin Anderson, Polk County LWRD • Half Moon Lake • Little Butternut Lake • Long Lake • Polk County LWRD & Tourism • Round ‐ Trade Lake April 30, 2020 Polk County Association of Lakes & Rivers 3 Agenda • Treasurer's report • Membership report • Wisconsin Lakes Convention sharing • CAFO update: Kim Butler • Presentation: Katelin Anderson, Polk County LWRD • Overview of common activities included in grant applications and lake planning grant activities • Agenda items for June meeting April 30, 2020 Polk County Association of Lakes & Rivers 4
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