Ohio Lake Management Society Press Releases
October 11th 2007News Release
The 2007 Agriculture Incentive Program has approximately $638 left for allocation. Applications for the remaining funds will be reviewed monthly at the GLWWA meetings. Applications can be picked up at the Mercer Soil and Water Conservation District Office.
This program is a direct result of Senator Keith Fabers work to put $200,000 in the state budget for the Grand Lake St. Marys Watershed. With this line item, there is $100,000 for 2007 and $100,000 for 2008, to be used for agriculture best management practices in the Grand Lake St. Marys Watershed. The first round of applications received through this Agricultural Incentive Program allowed us to allocate $93,121 of the 2007 funds.
The program offers five incentive or cost share programs including cover crops, filter strips, recharge areas, waterways and tile control structures. The program offers a unique option of haying filter strips. For this program applications totaled approximately 47 acres, paying producers $38,060. Four producers chose to take the $500 bonus payment and enter into a federal program which pays a percentage of the soil rental payment for 10-15 years.
Cover crop applications totaled 1083 acres. Producers have chosen to plant annual rye grass, wheat and various other cover crops. Cover crops hold and produce nitrogen, acting as a fertilizer for the crop planted in the spring. They can be taken as forage but may not be used as a cash crop. Cover crops also allow more opportunity for producers to spread manure during the winter months. Producers were given the opportunity to bid the amount they wanted to plant in cover crops. Higher bids were given less points in the ranking system. The ranking also included the priority of the subwatershed where the practice would be installed.
Chickasaw Creek is a high priority subwatershed, according to the Watershed Action Plan. Almost half of the cover crop applications came from this area. The total acreage for Chickasaw Creek is 492, with an average bid of $49.54 an acre. Beaver Creek subwatershed garnished 199 acres of cover crop applications, with an average bid of $52.50. Coldwater Creek subwatershed applications totaled 85 acres with an average bid of $38. Prairie Creek subwatershed applications totaled 64 acres, with an average bid of $56.67. The remaining subwatershed applications totaled 182 acres with an average bid of $38.
In the second round of ranking no applications for tile control structures or waterways were received. Tile control structures and waterway applications were received in the first round of ranking. The total for these best management practices is 8 tile control structures and 2 waterways.
Lake Monitor Class
The Grand Lake/Wabash Watershed Alliance (GLWWA) will be sponsoring a lake monitoring class on October 19, 2007. The class will begin at 10 a.m. at the Montezuma Fire Department for the classroom section. After lunch we will go to Windy Point docks for the hands on section. The class will end at 2 p.m. and lunch will be included with the class.
The class will be taught by Ohio State University Extension Specialist Jerry Iles. Iles is the South District Water Quality Specialist. He is working with Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to educate volunteer monitors.
After completion of this class volunteers will be able to apply to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) for level 1 monitoring certification. This certification is required for EPA to recognize any data collected. After this class, volunteers will also be considered a Citizen Lake Awareness and Monitorng (CLAM) volunteer. CLAMs are a part of the Ohio Lake Management Society (OLMS). OEPA requires a separate level 1 certification for stream monitoring. A stream monitoring training will be taught locally in the spring.
The GLWWA is rejuvenating the volunteer monitoring program for the lake and streams. At this time the watershed action plan is conditionally endorsed. Once the plan is fully endorsed and implementation begins, there will be more changes in the watershed. As these changes in water quality occur, we want to document them. This will be done through monitoring. Following the spring stream monitoring training, the GLWWA volunteer monitoring program will officially begin.
If you have questions about volunteer monitoring or to register for this class please call the Mercer County Soil and Water Conservation District Office at 419-586-3289 or email laura.walker@mercercountyohio.org. Class size is limited and there is no cost to participants. If participants want to purchase their own monitoring equipment, they can order it through the GLWWA. Otherwise, monitors may borrow the equipment from the GLWWA.
Press Release Map
