The Walworth County Land Conservation Committee on July 14 approved materials for the county's 5-year review of its 10-year Land and Water Resource Management Plan and will forward the packet for presentation to the Land and Water Conservation Board on Oct. 7. Chair Brian Holt volunteered to attend the board meeting or participate remotely.

County staff said the review covers work completed between the plan's 2020 approval and 2025, including answers to a four-question state questionnaire, the county's annual work plan submitted with the grant application, and a checklist of 2024 accomplishments against that plan. "We had received notification that the county's land and water resource management plan ' is due for its 5-year review this year," a staff presenter said during the meeting.

The packet highlights best-management-practice installations and program activity across multiple areas: watershed work, nonmetallic-mining reclamation, landscaper workshops restarted after a COVID hiatus, the county's EIS and aquatic invasive-species program with an intern, and other outreach. Staff noted success in the Delavan Lake Watershed and less success in the Geneva Lake Watershed, and attributed the latter primarily to lack of landowner cooperation: "It can't cost you a practice if the property owner isn't willing," the presenter said.

Committee members discussed who should attend the Oct. 7 Land and Water Conservation Board review in Madison and asked staff to check whether an alternate could represent the county. The staff presenter said the board meeting can be attended in person or remotely and that the county was asked to have a committee member participate.

The committee voted to approve the submitted materials and authorized the chair's signature on the review documents. The approval was procedural and does not require a county board action as a 5-year review.

The packet and discussion also point to goals for the next five years, including more work with the recently formed producer-led group and increased participation in the agricultural enterprise district and farmland preservation program. Staff invited committee suggestions for changes to the materials before the October presentation.

Less central accomplishments recorded in the submission included reclamation of Potters Pit and cleanup of a former shingle-recycling facility. Staff said landscaper workshops are being reimplemented and that the office is tracking BMP locations in a GIS database to support planning and outreach.

The committee's approval was preceded by routine housekeeping votes: the agenda and June 16 minutes were approved. The committee has no meeting in August; it next meets Sept. 15, 2025, at 1 p.m.

(For the state review, staff will submit the county's questionnaire responses, the 2024 work-plan checklist, and the annual work plan previously prepared with the county's grant application.)