Conservation Board adopts tree stand rules for public lands

By APRIL KELLEY
Bitterly cold weather and snow squalls delayed the regularly scheduled Humboldt County Conservation meeting from Wednesday, Jan. 21 to Thursday, Jan. 22 at noon.

Following the yearly election of officers, the positions remained unchanged. Bob Rasmussen serves as Chairman and Will Spellmeyer is co-chair.

The projected budget remains unchanged as well. Three major expenditures over the next year are expected to be the remodeling of the Gotch Park Shelter, a new mower and wayfinding signage for the Three Rivers Trail.

“This is the same stuff we have talked about the last few months. Not any surprises in there,” Conservation Director Todd Lee said.

He also spoke to the Supervisors regarding 50/50 revenue sharing.

“They had quite a few questions but I think there was pretty good dialogue back and forth. I think they grasped what we are trying to do,” Lee said.

The revenue sharing would allow the Conservation Department to keep 50% of the revenue from the parks and other services of the conservation department, with the other 50% going back to the county for the county budget.

This would allow the Conservation department to plan for larger expenditures, such as the Gotch Park remodel, without having to ask for extra funds in the budget for it.

The matter will be placed on the agenda for the Supervisors to decide on in the upcoming weeks.

The remaining portion of the meeting dealt with trees in the area.

The city of Rutland has approximately 50 ash trees that have been planted on County land, however, the City of Rutland has been taking care of the trimming and care of them over the years.

“There isn’t a written agreement that I can find and Susan Tille (Mayor of Rutland) doesn’t have anything in writing either,” Lee said.

Lee suggested that the Conservation Department help by taking down the limbs and brush around the trees and moving it to a burn pile in Humboldt.

The trunk of the tree would then be felled and left on the ground for the citizens of Rutland to remove. The board members approved the actions suggested.

Read the story in this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent!