Clayton County Conservation Awareness Network
Meeting Minutes – January 18, 2012
Osborne Nature Center

Attendees:

Larry Stone
Jean Marie Hall
Joe Ihm
Tim Englehart
Kim Bromelkamp
Kay Viffian
Brad Crawford
Aaron Schwartzhoff
Gary Siegwarth
Kevin Hanson
Bruce Blair

Meeting started with an update from Larry Stone about State legislation related to the banning of lead shot for Dove hunting. Larry said there was a movement to nullify the ruling passed by the Natural Resource Commission last year to ban the use of lead shot while Dove hunting. Those wishing to support the ban on lead shot should contact their representatives and tell them to vote NO on the bill to nullify the ban.

Jean Marie and Joe gave and update on the Statewide REAP Congress that was held in Des Moines Saturday, Jan. 7. Clayton County CAN! Member Brian Gibbs was elected to represent this area and Joe Ihm was an alternate. Joe and Jean Marie said the main issues voted on were support for full funding of REAP and funding for the Iowa Water and Legacy Act that was passed in 2010.

Larry Stone then updated on a state legislative bill that would be introduced by Representative Bob Hagar from Allamakee County that would remove the tax exemption for lands enrolled in the Forest Reserve Program. This could have devastating effects on the existing woodlands that could be cleared for agricultural production if the tax incentive is taken away. Members are encouraged to contact their representatives and tell them to vote NO against any bill that would weaken the Forest Reserve laws.

Group introductions were done and the group was introduced to new member Kay Viffian, who with her husband, grow and sell organically grown vegetables on their farm on the Great River Road between Guttenberg and Clayton. Kay has an interest in bluffland protection because of the proximity of their farm to the Pattison Sand Mine.

Larry updated the group on the County Supervisor’s meeting that morning that dealt with the Ivan Hardt bluffland development that was voted down by the supervisors last November. Mr. Hardt met with the supervisors to object to the ruling saying the Freedom to Farm Act would not allow potential homeowners in the development to complain about the confined animal feeding operations in the area, which was a concern for the supervisors and local feeding operation owners. Larry said the supervisors didn’t agree with Mr. Hardt’s arguments. Mr. Hardt stated he would pursue his own environmental study of the area and report back to the supervisors when the study was complete.

Discussion moved to the need to push for a Bluffland Protection ordinance. Kevin stated that the Hardt case is just one example of how a well written ordinance could be beneficial for developers , land owners and government officials to understand an agreed upon set of ground rules.

Kay described the problems that they have had with the Pattison Sand Co. who recently built a new road adjacent to their property. They are now located between two roads that service the mining operation. Between the heavy truck traffic and blasting the bluffs with explosives, she’s worried about the effects on her business and property values.

General discussion centered on the destruction the mining operation has had on the valley along Mississippi Road. The mining operation is currently shut down because part of the ceiling collapsed in one of the underground tunnels and so all mining currently being done is surface mining which is rapidly removing another bluff and the mining spoil is being used to fill an adjacent valley that will be covered with soil and converted to crop ground.

The suggestion was made that Clayton County CAN! should organize a field trip to view the mining operation sometime in late winter or early spring.

Discussion moved to “Paddlefest” an idea presented to the group to hold and event that would bring canoe races back to Elkader and combine the race with education and music that would celebrate conservation.

Larry mentioned that the Motor Mill Foundation was already planning to have 2 river events this summer.

The first being June 8,9 kayak and canoe float that will be sponsored by Crawdaddy Outdoors to raise money for the Motor Mill Foundation.

The other is in conjunction with the Iowa Rivers Revival and will be held in late July or August which will usually has 40-50 canoes and is centered on raising awareness for statewide river issues. This event often has a few state legislators that participate.

In addition, Kim Bromelkamp stated that Turkey River Outfitters is planning on hosting canoe races on Friday, July 20, during the Sweet Corn Days in Elkader.

The group discussed whether it would be in the best interest for Clayton County CAN! to play a supporting role for some of these other events rather than put effort and energy towards “Paddlefest”

Gary mentioned the benefits a “paddlefest’ could have in bringing people into the area and focusing on conservation education – using a fun and music event like this as a way to connect people with conservation. He suggested we remain in an ‘exploratory phase’ of a “PaddleFest” event.

Aaron offered that the group could host ‘field days’ that could invite experts to lead participants on educational hikes.

Kay asked if we had done anything to get kids involved in the outdoors. She mentioned that school opportunities often get parents involved in activities through their children and that may be a way to promote membership in this group. She mentioned her work with the Iowa Food & Fitness initiative and possibly how this group may connect people with that effort.

Discussion moved to other ways that we could use our website to get people connected to events.

One idea that we will move forward with is to develop a Conservation Calendar on our web page that will combine scheduled events from other groups connected through CAN!

The action item for next meeting that everyone was asked to do was to find out from other groups and individuals what outdoor recreation or conservation events they knew of that could be place on our calendar. Brad Crawford agreed to look into developing something to be used to display the information in a user friendly way.

Other ideas for the website were offered by Aaron who said either by committee or individual we need more and timelier content added to the site on a consistent basis to get more people to visit on a regular basis. Kim said ‘Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!’ are what attract people to your web page or Facebook page.

Another item that was discussed was to have pictures and descriptions of some of the area to visit in Clayton County. Bruce Blair mentioned that he has Power Point presentations that he has given with a lot of photos and information for the area and he wondered if that could be put on the site. Brad said that it may have to be converted to a video or a slide show. He said he could take a look at one of Bruce’s presentations and see what he could do.

We would also like to begin to include other groups that we haven’t previously connected to our website. A list of those were mentioned.

With that discussion moved to our next meeting. Kevin mentioned that next month will be the 1 year anniversary of the Clayton County Conservation Awareness Nework. The first official meeting was held February 12, 2011. It was hoped that we would try to plan our next meeting as close to that date as we could to have a 1 year anniversary celebration possibly at the Treats Coffee Shop where the original idea was hatched. Kevin said he would get back to everyone on that.

Meeting was adjourned.