CCNRD

Crook County Natural Resource District (CCNRD)

August 6th Regular Board Meeting Minutes

12:00 pm Sundance USDA Service Center

CALL MEETING TO ORDER at 12:03 pm by Wayne Garman

ATTENDANCE

Board: Wanda Burget, Wayne Garman, Kim Fundaun, Lily Altaffer (call)

Employees: Bridget Helms, Sarah Anderson, Jessica Halverson, Carmen Horne-McIntyre (call)

Guests: Jason Nehl, NRCS.

MONTHLY UPDATES

A. NRCS Update- Last week staff attended statewide meetings in Lander. Their office is very busy with contracting.

B. Water Quality Program Updates by Carmen & Jessica

Grant updates- Jessie presented the NRCS collaborative cooperative grant agreement for the Board to sign. Kim made a motion to sign the NRCS collaborative cooperative grant agreement, Wanda seconded. Motion carried. Jessie has been water sampling, attended sampling training, participated in activities at the county fair, completing data entry for DEQ, and planning activities for the UAC grant. Jessie also showed photo results of the shadeball project. Sampling results were reviewed. Water was low at the last event. Bridget, Carmen and Jessie are setting a date for a water sampling audit at end of September.

TMDL- DEQ was sent the data in the a google folder, now they want the data in an excel spreadsheet instead, so staff is working to complete this. Site information for DEQ will be provided in HUC 12 format.

Carmen has submitted quarterly reporting, she attended WQ training last week in Lander..

C. Forestry Program Update by Sarah

Sarah has completed site visits with state forestry, working through issues with scrub oak mitigation. For the sage grouse habitat project CCNRD will work with landowners/contracts but we will not do the reporting due to the lack of administrative funding. Sarah has attended 1 USFS BHNF cooperating agency meeting and 7 USFS national old growth amendment meetings. The MOU with WWNRT received for $175,000 for the North Sand project from July 2024 through June 2027. Kim made a motion for Sarah to sign the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust and CCNRD North Sand Forest Health grant agreement. Wanda seconded. Motion carried. Sarah has been attending landowner meetings in the Sand Creek and Red Canyon areas.

D. Office Manager Update Bridget has submitted the F-32 report to the Department of Audit, completed the Kara View subdivision reviews, attended county fair, working on the annual plan of work and annual reports, preparing for the financial review with Ketel Thorstenson, planning the area 1 meeting and electronics recycling events. Several sponsorships for the recycling event have been received. Annual Report Summary was signed. Ketel Thorstenson Engagement Letter A motion to sign the online engagement letter was made by Wanda and seconded by Kim. Motion carried.

E. Local Issues – Election filing periods begin August 7 through August 26. Sarah has been contacted about Moskee land exchange issues and questions about sampling water on Sand Creek. Discussion on Noxious weed designation for cheatgrass.

F. Financials A motion to pay the bills was made by Wanda and seconded by Kim. Motion carried. All checks were signed, and the reconciliation reports prepared by Bridget were reviewed and signed.

G. Approve July 9th Minutes A motion to approve the minutes as presented was made by Wanda and seconded by Kim. Motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS

A. Employee job descriptions the board made suggestions on how to reformat the descriptions. Staff will revise and present at the next meeting.

B. Personnel Policy The board suggested employees to meet and bring the policy back with edits for review next month.

NEW BUSINESS

C. Kara View Minor Subdivision Review was reviewed. A motion to approve the Kara View Minor Subdivision Review was made by Wanda and seconded by Kim. Motion carried.

Time off requests were approved.

Motion to adjourn was made at 2:38 pm by Wanda.

Office Manager Signature:

_____________________________________________________Date: ______________

Chairman Signature:

_____________________________________________________Date: ______________

Crook County Natural Resource District (CCNRD)

September 3rd Regular Board Meeting Minutes

CALL MEETING TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 12:05 pm by Chairman Wayne Garman at the Sundance USDA Service Center.

ATTENDANCE

Board: Lily Altaffer, Wayne Garman, Kim Fundaun, Casey Devish (call), Wanda Burget (call)

Employees: Bridget Helms, Sarah Anderson, Jessica Halverson, Carmen Horne-McIntyre (call)

Guests: Jim Geis

MONTHLY UPDATES

A. NRCS Update- Jason was unable to attend today, but staff is very busy with design and applications.

B. Water Quality Program Updates Carmen- The Board of Ag meets next week to go over applications- we applied to updated TMDL/watershed plan. It will be a longer wait for the 319 RFP. Extension request is in on the current 319 grant. The NACD TA RFP is out, Lily made a motion to allow staff to apply for the NACD TA grant, seconded by Kim. Motion carried. WDA funding will be available in spring to cover monitoring expenses. Campbell County CD has a new district manager, Carmen will be working with her on the Gillette Fishing Lake study.

Water sampling- water was low last week; three sites were not able to be sampled due to low/no flow.

TMDL Update- Not much progress on this, data entry is almost completed with the new form received mid-July except for checking on the R limit Energy Labs is using. Carmen found that they have changed it. Ron is not coming up in fall as originally planned.

C. Guest update: Jim Geis gave an update on septic pumping.

D. Forestry Program Update Sarah shared the open comment period until November 29 for USFS OHV proposed fee changes and cabin rentals. Discussion. Sarah will work on comments for next month’s meeting. NOGA comment period: Lily made a motion to have Sarah draft comments for the NOGA letter. Kim seconded. Motion carried. Sara is working with WACD on agreement with the USFWS project money. The hazardous fuels reduction projects are delayed until October 1 due to the Northern Long Eared Bat concern. Sarah has received two applications for the North Sand project already.

E. Office Manager Update Bridget has been working on the Area 1 meeting planning, electronics recycling planning, sponsorships and advertising, working with Ketel Thorstenson on the financial review, completing the annual report and plan of work, assisting with the UAC grant- watching NACD webinars and listening to urban ag podcasts to gain a better understanding of projects/areas we can work in the future. Jessie and Bridget would like to attend an ag conference in Rapid City in September that has an urban ag focus.

F. Local Issues- UW extension has applicants for the 4H position and is hosting a meet and greet on Wednesday evening.

G. Financials A motion to pay the bills was made by Lily and seconded by Kim. Motion carried. All checks were signed, and the reconciliation reports prepared by Bridget were reviewed and signed.

H. Approve August 6th Minutes A motion to approve the minutes as presented was made by Lily and seconded by Kim. Motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS

A. Employee job descriptions – tabled.

B. Personnel Policy- Wayne suggested that the personnel policy and job descriptions have a work session with Board involvement to assist employees in finishing these. The first workday will be September 10 at 10:00 am.

NEW BUSINESS

A. Annual Plan of Work/Annual Report- The report was reviewed, and updates were suggested. Casey made a motion to approve the annual report and plan of work with minor edits as discussed. Kim seconded. Motion carried.

B. WACD Cooperator award- Lily made a motion to nominate Dru Bower for the WACD Cooperator award, in conjunction with WCNRD. Kim seconded. Motion carried.

C. WACD leadership team discussion on turnover within WACD staff. This will be brought to the WACD Board.

D. NRCS DC discussion- NRCS says it is a priority to fill this position, but it’s still not advertised. Discussion.

E. Convention auction items Discussion. Items need to be provided as soon as possible.

Motion to adjourn was made by Kim at 2:57 pm and seconded by Lily.

Office Manager Signature:

_____________________________________________________Date: ______________

Chairman Signature:

_____________________________________________________Date: ______________