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LONGVILLE-Cass County has planted 2.6 million tree seedlings since 2002.

The county board approved planting 126,720 seedlings this year during its regular second meeting of the month, held this month at Longville City Hall. The commissioners will hold the second meeting each month through September at a city or town hall.

The county will start thinning these planted tree stands in 25 years, Land Commissioner Kirk Titus said Tuesday.

This year's plantings include red pine in May, Smoky Hollow and Blind Lake Townships, white pine in Inguadona Township and white spruce in Trelipe and Inguadona Townships. A total of 199 acres will be planted.

Tree planting assures the forest is sustainable and available for future generations, Titus said, while providing wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, clean water and forest products.

This year's season has benefitted from earlier spring rains, which provided good soil moisture conditions for the trees to get off to a good start, he added.

All nine tracts offered for sale at an April 27 timber auction sold, including 43.90 acres of blown down aspen that sold for $15,144.15. Total receipts from the auction were $237,551.38. Standing aspen sold for $38.71 per cord. Red oak sold for $37.40 per cord.

Plans to replace failing culverts under the Soo Line Trail are progressing, Titus reported, but a plan to re-route a portion of the Old Grade Trail has been suspended in this round of grant applications.

The plan was to move away from the original route, which has increasingly caused conflicts with newly expanding housing development, onto other existing trails and forest access roads.

The U.S. Forest Service, which owns some of the alternate routes, wants an environmental study of the effect on changing routes, Titus said. This will delay the project beyond when funding would be available, Titus said.

He said he will continue to study alternates, but would have to delay finding funding.

Cass County's receipts from timber auctions and land sales in 2016 exceeded $1.5 million for the first time since 2008, Chief Financial Officer Sandra Norikane reported.

The county board voted to keep the share going to reforestation at 30 percent, but to increase the share going to trails from 18 to 20 percent. This still will leave a higher dollar amount to distribute in 2017 to townships where the sales occurred than in 2016.

Environmental Services Director John Ringle obtained county board approval for a newly revised Comprehensive Local Water Management Plan, which will serve the county through 2027.

Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources approved the plan in April. Their approval was needed before the county could implement the plan.

Kevin Lee, who oversees North Memorial's operation of Longville Ambulance Service, reported the service served 41 patients the first quarter this year, down from 55 patients last year. Net margin, however, was 7.2 percent or about 5 percent higher than the budget expected.

The board approved paying the $122,750 quarterly payment the county makes on behalf of the Longville Ambulance District. That amount is collected with property taxes from property owners living in the district to help support the services, which does not collect enough from fees for service to support it.

Auditor-Treasurer Sharon Anderson obtained board approval for a contract with Northland School District for the county to conduct the special election planned in 2017 to fill a school board vacancy in that district.

Heidi Tumberg, fiscal supervisor for Health, Human and Veterans Services, reported the number of children in out of home placements has dropped this year, compared with 2016, so billings for those services also are down.

The overall cash balance for HHVS at the end of April was $12,553,755 or approximately $111,000 higher than at the same time in 2016.

The commissioners referred a Mississippi Headwaters Board request for $1,500 funding in 2018 to the county's citizen budget committee for review with other 2018 requests.

Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.[[In-content Ad]]

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