Chelsea Dam work nearing completion

Work on replacing the Camp 8 dam is expected to begin next week and be substantially completed by September 8, while the Chelsea Dam project should be substantially completed by the end of this week.

However property owners on the lake expressed concern about what they feel are lower than normal water levels and the risk of extensive winter kill if levels do not increase.

At Monday’s forestry and recreation committee meeting, county forest administrator Jake Walcisak gave updates to committee members about the two dam projects.

He said crews began the dewatering process at Camp 8 dam on July 20. Under the plans, the water level can only be reduced by six inches per day. Crews from Minger Construction, the general contractor for the project, have been running pumps for a few hours each day to drain the water. The lake level is down about 6.5 feet with the goal to bring it down a total of 8 feet, which will be close to the main channel. At that point the company will install metal sheeting by the dam itself to drain it completely there for the work to take place to replace the main bypass drain in the earthen dam structure.

Walcisak noted that while the level was down, the family of a logger who does a lot of work in the forest had gone out and collected garbage that was on the lake bed. He praised them for making the effort to help improve the area.

While the lake levels have been drawn down, the county was working with local outdoors and sportsman groups to make lake improvements. One such improvement will be the planned addition of a new fishing pier.

See FORESTRY on page 4 Walcisak said he researched the options and found one that would meet their needs from a vendor out of the Mosinee area at a cost of about $13,000. He and county representatives will be meeting with representatives from the sportsman groups about raising funds for the pier addition. He said it is about a four-week lead time for getting the pier after ordering it. County employees and volunteers will install the pier.

In regard to Chelsea Dam, Walcisak said the project was delayed about 2.5 weeks due to the fill material being brought in not meeting specifications for compaction standards. This required the addition of pouring an anti-seep shield in the dam and bringing in new materials.

“It has been a back and forth challenge,” Walcisak said. Even with the delay he expected substantial completion by the end of this week with final restoration work to take place.

He said while the construction was taking place, the lake level was brought to being 1,530.5 feet above sea level. Walcisak said in past few years the lake level had been at 1,531 feet and that following the project would be brought back up to that level. “The regular summertime average has been 1,531,” Walcisak said.

Lake property owner Bud Suckow said he felt that lake levels were below that amount judging by the number of stumps and amount of vegetation in the lake.

Walcisak explained the information regarding lake levels was from the engineers working on the project. He said the plans called for only dropping the level by 8/10ths of a foot and that with normal fall rains this should fill up before winter.

“To me it is more than 8/10ths,” Suckow said, expressing concerns about the potential for winter kill and the amount of weeds in the lake.

County code changes

Rather than moving forward with a large overhaul of the portion of county code governing the operations and committee structure of the forestry and recreation department, committee members instead directed Walcisak to come back to the September meeting with language updating only three specific areas of the code.

Walcisak presented the proposed changes explaining that he was approached by county administrative coordinator/human resources director Nicole Hager that the county would be reviewing the departmental codes in chapter 2 of the county code book and that he should review it to see if it needed to be updated to bring it in line with how things are actually being done. Walcisak noted it had been some time since the code had been reviewed and that there were several areas that had needed to be updated to refer to state law changes and in particular to reference the county’s forest plan rather than an outdoor recreation plan.

“I will be voting against this. I think we should leave Chapter 2 alone,” Mildbrand said of the proposed changes. He went through the proposed changes and stated his concerns with each area including noting he felt there were too many references to the Department of Natural Resources and putting too much authority in the DNR. He expressed concern about the county seeming to be fixing things that aren’t broken.

“I do see Scott’s point,” Walcisak said, noting that in preparing the draft revisions he did not attempt to take any power away from the personnel committee and only bringing the code language to reflect how the county was actually operating.

Mildbrand questioned if the DNR actually needed to approve the county forest plan and the annual work plan for the forest. Walcisak said it is in section 28.11 of the Wisconsin Statutes which require the county board to approve those plans as well as the DNR.

Rather than making broad language changes, Walcisak will update areas referencing the forest plan, specifying committee responsibility only of countyowned dams, and update references to statutes and bring it back to the committee next month before it goes to the full county board in October.

Carbon Credits

Taylor County could potentially get about $6 million in outside revenue by enrolling the county forest in a carbon credit program with the Climate Trust.

Jeremy Koslowski director of forest carbon partnerships with the Climate Trust met with committee members and explained the program which assigns carbon credits to forests and other lands to sell in a market-based setting to large companies seeking to offset their carbon emissions elsewhere.

Enrolling in the program would have minimal impact on the overall county forest operations of ability for the county forest to continue to have logging take place provided the amount of logging was below the projected regeneration amount.

“We look at forest carbon as another forest product,” Walcisak said, comparing it to logging, harvesting boughs or firewood.

According to Koslowski, the forest would be enrolled for a 40-year period. During the first 20 years they would receive the revenue and do monitoring while for the remaining 20 years would have to do monitoring of sample plots measuring tree and plant growth.

Walcisak noted the estimated value of the carbon credits in the county forest, based on its acreage, is about $6 million. He said this averages out to about $150,000 in additional revenue each year over the 40-years of the contract.

Koslowski said they recommend their partners set aside about $200,000 in escrow during the first 20 years when revenue is coming in to cover the ongoing monitoring expenses for the remaining 20 years.

Koslowski said a major benefit of the program is the ability for forest owners such as the county to get revenue from the forests without having to push marginal stands into production.

The process to enroll in the program is a lengthy one involving review by a third-party group to see if the forest meets the program requirements.

Walcisak said there have been a number of other county forests who have entered into these agreements. He said they have been approached by other groups over the past two years but that the Climate Trust looked like the best fit for Taylor County.

The Climate Trust is based in Oregon and was formed in 1997 and operates under a not-for-profit model working with other partner companies to develop and sell carbon credits on the market.

At this point the forest is in the feasibility study phase with the county to continue to explore the potential before any decision is needed to be made and a contract signed. In other business, committee members:

  Were introduced to Alex Solawetz, the new assistant forest administrator who was hired last month to replace Jordan Lutz who left for a private sector forest management position.

  Approved the department budget for the coming year with a net increase operational expenses of about $450. Walcisak noted this total to being a couple tenths of a percent increase in the department budget.

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