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Palo Alto County IRVM Plan

May 2017

Preface

This is an updated plan for Palo Alto County’s Integrated Vegetation Management Department Replaces Version 1 dated 5/30/13

Table of Contents

1) Contributors to the plan Page 1 2) Goals Page 2 3) Program history Page 2 4) IRVM Decision making process Page 2 5) Executive summary Page 2 6) Program type Page 3 7) Jurisdictional Recognition and Approval Page 3 8) Program Organizational Structure Page 3 9) Inventory and Analysis Page 4 10) Equipment Inventory Page 4 11) Program Operations Page 5 12) Work area types Page 6 13) Methods Page 6 14) Material and equipment procurement Page 6 15) Appendices Page 7

A) Iowa Code and Administrative Rules Page 7 B) Palo Alto County Ordinance No. 8 Page 8 C) Permit Work Within the Right of Way Page 10 D) Permit to Construct Page 12 E) Policy and Procedure Memorandum 94-5 Tile and Water Lines within

ROW Page 14

F) Policy and Procedure Memorandum 94-7 Use of Palo Alto County Right of Way by Others

Page 16

G) Palo Alto County LRTF Funding History Page 19 H) Map of Palo Alto County Page 20

1) Contributors to plan

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Kent Malm – Palo Alto County Roadside Manager

Palo Alto County Board of Supervisors

Walter Davis Oeth - Engineer

2) Goals

- Control invasive weeds, brush, and trees in the county right of ways.

- Establish native grasses and forbs.

- Reduce water and wind erosion, enhance water runoff filtration resulting in the improvement and protection of groundwater quality.

- Create a user friendly corridor for pollinators and wildlife.

3) Program history

When Palo Alto County’s IRVM program was first established in 2001 it was operated under the Conservation Department. In 2008, for a number of reasons, it was moved to its own building next to a secondary roads shed. At that time it became an entity of its own completely separate from Conservation and secondary roads.

4) IRVM Decision making process

Since Palo Alto’s program is independently managed, the department head is also the roadside manager as well as weed commissioner. The department head answers directly to board of supervisors. The person in this position is responsible for most decision making with direction and input from the engineer and the board of supervisors.

5) Executive summary

Palo Alto County IRVM recognizes the importance of utilizing our roadsides to their fullest potential. We strive to accomplish this in a number of ways including but not limited to:

- Working with secondary road department and engineers office to follow up on ditch cleanouts and new road projects on erosion control and getting new seeding established upon completion of their portion of the right of way.

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- Establish in these areas native plants, thereby enhancing water quality, wildlife benefits, erosion, control of snow drifting, and overall safer and attractive roadways within our county.

- Control invasive plants with judicial use of chemicals, manual cutting and spot mowing. - Educating land owners and the general public on advantages of native plantings in our

county right of ways. -

6) Program type

The Palo Alto County IRVM is operated as an independent department.

7) Jurisdictional Recognition and Approval

- Management

Roadside Manager / Weed Commissioner administers the roadside program regarding seeding, weed and brush control, equipment needs, budgeting.

- Board of Supervisors

The Board of Supervisors plays an active role in program budgeting, equipment purchases and ongoing changes in operating practices. IRVM dept. head answers directly to board.

No permits are issued through this department. Any required permits are issued through the county engineers office.

Iowa laws are adopted by county

Program Organizational Structure

8) Program Organizational Structure

a. Staff Organizational Chart - Roadside manager / Weed Commissioner - Seasonal staff includes one 6 month full time temporary and two short term (2-3

months) part/full time temps.

The Roadside Manager / Weed Commissioner is considered the Department Head and answers directly to the Board of Supervisors. The program works closely with the Engineer’s office, secondary roads, conservation and landowners on projects in the ROW.

b. Staffing Needs / Training All sprayer operators are certified in Category 6

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At least 18 years old with valid Iowa driver’s license Annual safety program includes attending flagger training thru Engineer’s office as well as in house training on all equipment, sprayers, and proper use of personal protective equipment.

Public involvement is crucial for public support of our IRVM program. We encourage input from landowners and citizens in general regarding the use of natives in our county.

Palo Alto County Conservation Board

- Work together on controlled burns, seeding projects, share equipment when needed.

Palo Alto County Engineers Office

- Communicate on summer hires, coordination of seeding and erosion control on right of way reconstruction projects and ditch cleanouts.

Palo Alto County Extension

- Continuing education for spray certifications. - Our local Extension displays our free IRVM literature from UNI Tallgrass Prairie Center

for public information.

Palo Alto County Garden Club

- We do occasional presentations to the garden club promoting native plantings. This has brought about numerous projects converting previously mowed or brome ditches to natives.

9) Inventory and Analysis

Paper records and before and after photos regarding seeding, spraying and erosion control are kept on file.

10) Equipment Inventory

- Condition rating included on each item ( Excellent, good, fair, poor ) based on age and need of repair

Ford F250 2WD (2000) 178,000 miles poor

Ford F250 4WD (2006) 122,000 mi good

Ford F350 4WD (2001) 51,000 mi good

-Flatbed spray rig with cab controlled ditch boom head and 300 gal tank.

Massey Ferguson 4610 FWD tractor (2014) 365 hrs excellent

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John Deere 302 tractor (1970?) fair

Shultz FX1200 10’ batwing mower (2014) excellent

Polaris Ranger XP 900 (2015) excellent

Finn T-60 Hydroseeder (2002) fair

Dewdrop ATV drill (2012) good

Truax 5’native seed drills (2) one in good condition

one in poor condition used for parts

Aluma 7816 trailer (2012) good

H & H flatbed gooseneck trailer 20’ excellent

2000 gal water tank with pump on tandem axle trailer good

Minnesota Wanner 300 gal skid sprayer good

Heiman 60 gal UTV skid sprayer w/foam tank, Honda engine (2016) used for controlled burning excellent

Old John Deere 12’ disc fair

Stihl power tools

- 3 Chainsaws, 2 trimmers, 1 pole saw good

UTV end gate seeder good

Misc shop tools

2014 Dell laptop and HP Officejet Pro 8600 copy/print/scan good

11) Program Operations

January – March: Prepare and submit annual Weed Commissioners Report to Supervisors and State Weed Commissioner, annual budget, equipment maintenance, cut trees/brush and pick up tires etc. from ROW as weather allows. LRTF grant

March – April: Continued ROW cleanup and cutting, prepare LRTF Grants, Seed and chemical inventory and ordering, prescribed burning, spring seeding as needed, advertise for seasonal help.

April – October: Manage seasonal help, cutting brush/trees, weed control, seeding, mowing, work with landowners on weed issues and complaints.

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October – December: Fall seeding, equipment cleanup and prep for winter storage.

12) Work area types

The majority of our activities are obviously in rural area as this is a county program. We do however from time to time work with towns within our county on projects in need of seeding, erosion control, etc.

In the nonresidential ROW natives are used.

We communicate with landowners on areas that will be mowed and or hayed and a

Waterway type grass will be used in these areas.

All shoulders are mowed therefor are seeded with waterway mix regardless at least one

mower width.

13) Methods

For most of our program operations we refer to the IRVM Technical manual. We have hard copies of this on hand and also refer to it online at http://www.uni.edu/~irvm/techmanual/IRVM-Technical-Manual.pdf. We try to follow these guidelines as closely as possible. Most of our seeding is done following ditch cleanouts and resurfacing projects. TAP seed cleanout mix with cover crop of oats or rye is typically used. Shoulders are seeded with a mowable waterway mix. In ROWs adjoining a residence where landowner wishes to mow, we work with them to reestablish a mowable grass to blend with the lawn. In areas where we are trying to replace existing vegatation ( usually brome ) we start by spraying with glysophate. Once a good kill has been accomplished we seed with site appropriate equipment. Truaxx drill is used as much as possible as this is quickest as well as most economical. Hydroseeding with mulch is used on steeper slopes, wet areas, etc. On the slopes, tacifier is added to mulch and erosion mats are used when necessary. UTV drill is used on smaller areas including narrow shoulders and in front of residentials. Following seeding IRVM maintains sites by spot reseeding, spot spraying and spot mowing. We also perform prescribed burning and silt fence removal at appropriate times.

14) Material and equipment procurement

http://www.uni.edu/%7Eirvm/techmanual/IRVM-Technical-Manual.pdf

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Each year we receive TAP seed (natives) from Tallgrass Prairie Center.

IRVM purchases the waterway mix seed, cover crop, mulching supplies, and herbicides with budgeted funds. Seed and chemicals are stored in the IRVM building in a climate controlled environment. Supplies are purchased as local as possible.

Iowa Living Roadway Trust Fund grants are used whenever possible for equipment purchases and upgrades.

15) Appendices

Iowa Code and Administrative Rules

Section 314.22 Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management

Section 314.17 Mowing Law – No mowing before July 15th

Section 314.11 Weeds on Roads – Harvesting of Grass

Section 318.3 Obstruction in ROW / Destruction of plants placed ROW / Crops in ROW

Chapter 317 Iowa Weed Law – Noxious Weeds and Enforcement Procedures

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Palo Alto County LRTF Funding History through FY 2017

DOT Project Number Applicant Award FiscalYear Description Type90-74-LRTF-101 Palo Alto County 10,000.00$ 2001 Equipment - Drill County90-74-LRTF-102 Palo Alto County 4,500.00$ 2001 Inventory County90-74-LRTF-201 Palo Alto County 19,500.00$ 2002 Equipment - Hydro seeder and inventory County90-74-LRTF-501 Palo Alto County 10,000.00$ 2005 Equipment - Storage shed County90-74-LRTF-601 Palo Alto County 4,500.00$ 2006 Equipment - GPS/GIS County90-74-LRTF-801 Palo Alto County 6,061.62$ 2008 Equipment - Water supply tank County90-74-LRTF-901 Palo Alto Conservation Board 3,500.00$ 2009 Equipment - ATV County90-74-LRTF-001 Palo Alto County 4,183.34$ 2010 Equipment - Fire County90-74-LRTF-101 Palo Alto County 1,087.06$ 2011 Equipment - Brush control County90-74-LRTF-301 Palo Alto County $ 7,065.00 2013 Equipment - ATV drill County90-74-LR14-(320) Palo Alto County IRVM 12,960.00$ 2014 Equipment - Mower County90-74-LR15-(328) Palo Alto County IRVM 6,380.00$ 2015 Equipment - UTV County

Total LRTF Funding Awarded FY1990 - FY2017 89,737.02$

Total LRTF Funding Awarded FY1990 - FY2017 179,474.04$

PALO ALTO COUNTY

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Job Description

Palo Alto County Roadside Manager The purpose of this position is the implementation of the Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management (IRVM) program of Palo Alto County. The person in this position also acts as Weed Commissioner as well as department head.

Responsibilities and duties include:

Establish and manage natives in the county’s ROW, control invasive weeds, brush, and trees.

Communicate with landowners regarding weed, tree, and brush issues as well as seeding projects.

Manage seasonal employees.

Manage purchases and budgeting.

Equipment maintenance

Grant applications to LRTF.

21

Palo Alto County IRVM PlanMJPPalo Alto County AppendicesPaloAlto_County_Funding_History_thru_FY2017Sheet1

palo-alto-coCitiesRODMANCYLINDERCURLEWAYRSHIREMALLARDRUTHVENGRAETTINGEREMMETSBURGWESTBEND

Unincorporated PlacesOSGOODDEPEWFAIRVILLECRIPPENSIDING

Job Description