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Message from the Prez
Terry Ochs, Dodge County
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Summer is over…The END!
Yup, it went that fast. I hope everyone had a great summer and had the ability to get some time off and enjoy it in between the “Monsoon” rain storms our state seemed to have on a regular basis this year. I think we need to petition the State to change the State bird to a “Duck” and the state animal to the “Beaver”. We all seemed to get enough rain but, unfortunately, the northern and western portions of the State are still pumping water and hoping things will get back to some resemblance of “Normal”. The bear hunters, I’m sure, will enjoy the abnormally large mosquito hatch all this moisture is bound to bring.
Now it’s time to get slammed with the fall rush with septic systems and foundations which haven’t been able to get in the ground due to the weather and if I had a nickel for every foot of drain tile that farmers want to install, good grief, I could retire. Let’s just say they’re never going to understand watershed management, hydrology and the adverse impacts of these practices. Oh the joy, never a dull moment in this line of work.
Thankfully, it has been a slow legislative year which has allowed us a little bit of time to get all of our ordinances up to speed from the legislative chaos. I mean the changes thrown at us from the previous year. Mainly, NR 115 as we all know the regulations were well written and crystal clear which made our lives much easier (SARCASM). As these regulations get implemented throughout the State more questions will arise, and we hope organizationally we will have the expertise to help everyone through these changes and get your questions answered.
Once we all realize what we are dealing with under these changes, we’ll have the information and the data to support “CHANGE” to those changes. Currently our organization is striving to do just that by pairing up with other like-minded organizations to see where we can find common ground on conflicting issues. Hopefully, this will give stability and protection to the public in regards to shoreland protection issues through some form of a review process. We can never lose hope in making a positive change!
Onto the fall conference, October 12th-14th, at the Radisson Paper Valley in Appleton - it should be another great one. I know Dan Everson has been working hard to get some great speakers covering a wide variety of topics. I hope you can all make it. If anything you need to come and VENT your frustrations, tell hunting and fishing stories and have a drink with friends if nothing else.
It’s going to be an interesting year coming up once everything gets rolling in the fall and into the spring of 2017.
Yup, I said it - 2017!
That went fast!
To think, just 14 more Sundays till Christmas! I still need to get the garden and yard cleaned up (I don’t do the CANNING), wood stacked, elk hunt, deer hunting, walleye fishing and a couple of motorcycle rides in to enjoy the colors.
And Packers!
And an ELECTION…
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Do you know a past WCCA member? Please invite them to the WCCA Reunion we plan to hold on Oct 13 at the Fall Conference. Details can be found on the conference page HERE
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WCCA FALL DECODER
SEPTEMBER 2016
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The WCCA Executive Board will be looking to fill two positions on the board at the fall conference business meeting. The two positions are Secretary/Treasurer and 2nd Vice President. If you do not attend the business meeting, you are likely to get nominated to one of these positions. Let Jay Kozlowski, Sawyer County, know if you are interested in being nominated for a position.
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WCCA will have their Fundraiser Raffle at the Fall Conference. District Reps have the raffle tickets. Cash Prizes. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. Proceeds go to the William Hnilicka Memorial Scholarship fund. The drawing will be at dinner on Thursday October 13.
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WCCA will be doing a NEW and IMPROVED Directory for the website this winter. We will be asking each county to submit their information, along with photos. If you have any ideas on other information we could include in the directory, please let CeCe know. The project will begin after November.
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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Jeremy Johnson, Menominee County
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Jeremy is the Director of the Menominee County Conservation/Forestry/Zoning Department.
He was born and raised in Wausau and has lived in the Green Bay area since 1992. Outdoor activities are the most important ways to spend time away from work. Jeremy, with wife Sharon, travels at least twice a year out of state to explore our National Parks, natural areas, and other countries. Hiking, camping, climbing, and wildlife viewing are the main reasons for getting away from everyday reality. Outdoor sports and recreation are also very important such as fishing, golf, tennis, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling.
Jeremy has a B.S. in Environmental Sciences, Ecological Processes and a M.S. in Environmental Policy and Management from UW Green Bay. He was hired as the part time Menominee Town/County Forester in April 1997. The position of Town/County Conservationist/Forester was created in June 2001 and he became a full time employee.
Jeremy became the Zoning Administrator in 2006 when departments merged. He retired from the Wisconsin Air National Guard in 2015 after 21 years in F-16 aircraft maintenance
Although Jeremy works with people on a daily basis, he would rather spend time in a quiet forest than in any populated area.
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COUNTY SPOTLIGHT
Menominee County Conservation/Forestry/Zoning Department
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The Menominee County CFZ Department handles all aspects related to environmental protection to include forestry/tree health, water quality protection, invasive species prevention/control, and habitat enhancement. All Town and County building, zoning, and sanitary permitting/inspection is handled by this office. The solid waste/recycling program is also managed by this office.
This office has become what it is today over the past 15 years of changes and combination of two former departments. Forestry was a single person department in the 1990s until 2001. The conservation program was added to Forestry in 2001 though funding by DATCP, but still only manned by one person. In 2006, the building inspection/assessment/zoning department was merged with conservation and forestry to create the current CFZ department. A second, regular position was added at this time, while going to contract for building inspection and assessment. All town building and county sanitary permitting and inspections are handled by an independent contractor, but through the department. Everything else is handled by 2 staff, one full-time and one part-time.
Staff include, Jeremy Johnson, Director - April Arrowood, Department Assistant and Chris Arrowood, Timberland Invasives Partnership Coordinator (non-county staff working under the supervision of the department director)
Menominee County is very unique in that it shares the same boundary with the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. 97% of the land within Menominee County is owned by MITW or held in Federal Trust for MITW. Being that only 3% of the land is taxable, it makes sense that many departments within county government would be combined. The Town of Menominee, in all reality, is the same as the County. There is no separate town government. The Town Board and County Board consist of the same members, but hold separate meetings for the two jurisdictions.
Menominee County is the smallest county in the State in terms of population and land holdings. Most of the taxable parcels are in the southeast corner of the county, mainly around Legend, LaMotte, Southeast Bass, and Moshawquit Lakes.
Most land in Menominee is off limits to non-Menominees. There are no State or County parks in Menominee. The Town of Menominee (the only township in Menominee County) has several conservancies around Legend Lake that are available for public use. Most visitors in summer utilize either Legend Lake for boating and fishing or the Wolf River for rafting. There are two raft vendors off of State Highway 55 for 3-6 hour raft trips down the Wolf.
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QUESTION OF THE MONTH: DO I NEED A PERMIT FOR MY ADDITION?
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FIRST GROUP OF WCCA LEADERSHIP TRAINING ENROLLEES
2006
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The Northwest District held a Staff Training on Madeline Island in June. It turned out to be a beautiful day. Topics of discussion included Dealing with Difficult People, NR115 Updates and Wetland Training by WI DNR. Attendees shown above are from left to right: June Winters, Lincoln County - Colleen Schott, Rusk County - Krystal Hagstrom, Bayfield County - Deb Kmetz, Bayfield County - Heidi Meyer, Douglas County - Kathy Marks, Sawyer County - Katy Clark, Sawyer County - Amy Moore, Ashland County
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WCCA CONTACTS
Email - wccadm@yahoo.com
Web Page - www.wccadm.com
President - Terry Ochs, Dodge County
1st Vice President - Dan Everson, Dane County
2nd Vice President - Rob Schierman, Bayfield County
Past President - Terri Dopp-Paukstat, Waushara County
Secretary/Treasurer - CeCe Tesky, Rusk County
Webpage Coordinator/DeCoder Editor - CeCe Tesky, Rusk County
wccawebpage@yahoo.com
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