Koochiching County commissioners established an incentive policy this week in an effort to encourage salvage of timber on county-administered land damaged by high winds in July.

County Land Commissioner Dennis Hummitzsch brought the interim policy to the board and said the policy would not cost the county any money, but could encourage area loggers to salvage the timber before it is damaged by snow cover followed by exposure to the sun.

In July, some areas of northern Minnesota were hit hard in an early July storm that brought straight-line winds of 60-80 miles per hour knocking down trees in a wide swatch. Some of the trees damaged in the storm were on county-administered land, said Hummitzsch.

Hummitzsch said the policy would encourage loggers to purchase the wood and push other wood harvest back to their free time.

The policy grants to operations purchasing advertised blowdown salvage permits free one-year extensions for existing timber sales which expire on or before May, and are not already in extension.

The current policy of requiring an additional timber sale down payment installment of 20 percent of the total sale value, to grant a first-year extension, will be postponed until the end of the one-year free extension.

The free extensions will be granted on an approximate volume salvage at a one-permit volume to one-permit volume ratio.

Commissioner Wade Pavleck said the proposal is in the best interests of the taxpayers, and noted that it’s voluntary.

In addition, the board approved a damaged timber policy for sold tracts affected by wind, fire, and insect and disease damage as recommended by Hummitzsch. The policy applies to existing permits not already in extension.

In related business, the board set the 2013 timber auction dates for Jan. 23, May 1, July 31 and Nov. 13.

 

Other business

In other county business, the board agreed to send a letter to the area’s federal delegation seeking support to fund a balanced approach to reducing the federal deficit apart from the Budget Control Act reduction, which the board said places the needs of the public at risk.

The action was taken after Commissioner Kevin Adee presented a list of Health and Human Services and Department of Labor funding cuts to county programs in the state as a result of an impending sequestration process required by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

The Association of Minnesota Counties, of which Koochiching is a member, has encouraged counties to ask their federal representatives to seek a bipartisan plan to balance the federal deficit which does not cut the needs of constituents.

Commissioner Rob Ecklund told the board that other county services will also be impacted by the act.

“We need to be aware of what else is on the agenda,” he said of other potential cuts.

Pavleck reported that staff of the Department of Natural Resources announced last week at an AMC policy meeting that the department will introduce legislation to review the state’s shoreland rules.

“We were all shocked and surprised that’s what’s coming,” he said. “Fasten your seat belts.”

Pavleck said the review of the shoreland rules, on top of a review of the state’s wetland rules, could result in additional development restrictions.

Koochiching, he said, only agreed to the shoreland and wetland rules after compromises.

“I am concerned,” he said. “A deal is not a deal with the state, ever, and we will continue to fight (any attempts at further restrictions),” he said.