President Heiman welcomed all to the first in person meeting in a long time. He introduced Ward Nelson who presented Jeff Sundell with this Paul Harris Fellowship pin +1. Congratulations and thanks to Jeff. 

 

So far our Ukraine Relief request has generated $400 from Club members and $1,275 from the Public. We want to send two check to the Rotary Foundation, one on 4/4/22 and one on 4/22/22. Please consider a donation.

 

We have a Board meeting coming up on Monday, April 4th at 5:00 pm via Zoom and in person. 

 

Yesterday we made our largest donation ever to the Ely Area Food shelf, more than $10,600. Thanks to Heather Fitzgerald and Pat Warner for doing as much as you do.

 

And if you want to help screen scholarship applications, please talk to Mike Musich. 

 

 

Dave gave us a very thorough and interesting presentation on all that the Lands and Minerals department does to manage Tax Forfeit Lands for the County and to generate revenue for the County, Schools, and Cities and Towns. Of its more than four million acres of land, this department manages 830,00 acres for timber, recreation, reforestation, mineral exploration, and surface leasing for gravel pits, hunting shacks, and tax forfeit land sales to generate revenues - $4.7 million in 2021 alone for such land auctions. In addition they have two oral timber auctions and one sealed bid auction each year, with one additional one for decorative trees.

 

How did we get so much tax forfeited land? Well after logging off the big pines in the late 1880's and reaping those profits, many large tracts of land went Tax Forfeit in the Great Depression - 740,000 in 1937 and more added each year. We heard of the many ways that these tracts are used and how they benefit our citizens overall.

 

He told us of the practices and standards of the Department and how they have modernized and become this large and diverse Department.

 

Thanks to Dave Skurla for a wonderful overview.