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For the Week of July 14-18, 2008
In This Week’s Edition . . .
A Report from the Executive Director, Jennifer Boyle
Resolutions. Daviess County has submitted a resolution to be considered for 2009. A resolution on the disbursement of funds between scheduled SWCD meetings has been suggested. The complete resolution can be found here. Please review the submission and get back to Toni Allison before Aug. 1 if your District is interested in being a co-sponsor of the resolution. Your District chair will need to sign a copy of the resolution so that all signatures can be forwarded to the IASWCD office by the Resolution submittal deadline of September 5. Contact Toni at dcswcd@rtccom.net for more information or any questions.
Minutes Posted from Last Meeting. The minutes from the 65th Annual Business Meeting of the IASWCD held on January 16, 2008, are now posted online and can be viewed by clicking here.
Board Meeting Scheduled. The next IASWCD board meeting will take place on Monday, Aug. 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Farm Bureau building on 225 South East Street in Indianapolis. A room location and agenda will be available later.
New Issue of EPA’s Nonpoint News Source Available. The July issue of News-Notes from the U.S. EPA is now available online and can be read by clicking here. This issue contains information on using Web-based watershed tools as well as information on the Farm Bill and other programs and reports.
SWCD Training for Supervisors and Staff. Many participants at the recent Leadership Institute's Leadership in Change workshop held at Purdue commented that supervisors would like for the rest of their board members to go through this important training. There are a couple opportunities to do just that coming up very soon. This workshop will be repeated in Clarksville on Aug. 1-2 and in Muncie Aug. 22 -23. If you would like your full board to participate in your next level of training this fall, register for either of these Level 1 trainings by visiting http://inleaguercd.org/events.php. Deadlines for registration and hotel discounts are quickly approaching. We would highly encourage those interested to register within the next few days. Click here to view a photo slide show from the Purdue seminar.
And finally, 2008 IASWCD Dues. Each week new Districts are added to the list as we say thanks to SWCDs who support our Association with payment of their 2008 dues: Adams, Allen, Bartholomew, Blackford, Benton, Brown, Cass, Clark, Crawford, Dearborn, Decatur, Delaware, DeKalb, Dubois, Elkhart, Fayette, Floyd, Fountain, Franklin, Fulton, Gibson, Grant, Green, Hamilton, Harrison, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jasper, Jay, Jennings, Kosciusko, Knox, LaGrange, Lake, LaPorte, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Noble, Orange, Owen, Parke, Perry, Porter, Posey, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Ripley, Rush, Scott, Spencer, St. Joseph, Switzerland, Tipton, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren, Warrick, Washington, Wayne, Wells, White and Whitley. Please take the time to read over the important information in the dues brochure on how your dues support SWCD activities in the state.
Have a good week,
Jennifer
Telling the District Story . . . Homeowners Learn to Improve Our Water Quality
Shaena SmithHamilton County SWCD
 Rain gardens, rain barrels and lake edge enhancements were just a few of the hot topics discussed at two Improving Water Quality through Backyard Conservation workshops held in southern Hamilton County this week. The 40 individuals in attendance learned how they can improve the water quality of our streams, rivers and reservoirs, just by making some smart choices when landscaping.
Rain gardens, small depressional flowerbeds designed to capture stormwater runoff from a residential downspout, are becoming a very popular landscape feature. They are beautiful, low maintenance and attract birds and butterflies. The best part, however, is the fact that they reduce stormwater runoff into our streets which in turn reduces the amount of pollutants entering our waterways.
>> click here for the rest of the story
USDA Makes Additional Funds Available for Farmers
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced an additional $200 million will be made available through the 2008 Farm Bill to help farmers nationwide solve natural resource problems through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers EQIP, which provides financial and technical assistance to producers.
“These additional funds will help our Indiana farmers in addressing critical natural resource issues,” said NRCS State Conservationist Jane Hardisty. “With this announcement, Indiana will receive $9 million through EQIP that will help us fund a large number of the 402 EQIP applications in backlog.”
Voluntary incentive-based programs like EQIP are the key to helping producers meet their conservation goals and provide the public with important benefits such as cleaner water, improved air quality, healthy soils, and abundant wildlife.
Hardisty said, “Because of the June 2008 floods, many of our farmers in Indiana are facing serious damage on their land. With the additional EQIP funds, $1 million will be applied to repair existing EQIP conservation practices that were damaged by the devastating floods. This money could not have come at a better time.”
EQIP, which was reauthorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, helps farmers and ranchers improve agricultural production while protecting environmental quality. EQIP helps producers install or implement structural and management practices on private agricultural land.
Limited resource producers and beginning farmers and ranchers may be eligible for higher rates in EQIP to address their natural resource issues. USDA can provide incentive payments to encourage producers to adopt conservation practices that would result in extra environmental benefits.
Click here for additional online information about EQIP.
NRCS flood update
 NRCS sent out a news release (see the NRCS Structures release below) on how well our flood protection dams withstood the June flooding. This week we'll be doing a similar release highlighting how well conservation practices held up through the flood events.
I've been impressed with how well existing  conservation practices have done their job, including grass waterways capturing sediment and no-till fields holding on to topsoil. Our latest news releases can be found on our Web site.
Thanks again to all the NRCS and partnership staff that are working so hard for our Indiana landowners. Weekly NRCS flood disaster updates are available on the Indiana NRCS Web site.
NRCS Structures Held During Flood
The June record rainfall and flooding in the southern half of the state caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages in both rural and urban settings in Indiana. In rural parts of the state, many farms suffered flooding, erosion or deposition damages…sometimes all three. While there was no way to have controlled all the flood waters, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) flood control structures held strong, which reduced flood damages to the rain soaked areas.
“NRCS field staff has been busy inspecting damages, measuring, designing and estimating repair quantities and costs. They have also been talking to landowners about what we can do for them since the June storms hit,” said NRCS State Conservationist Jane Hardisty. “So far, we have focused on what the Emergency Watershed Protection Program can do to eliminate threats to people and property from situations that developed in the storm and subsequent flooding. Now, we are turning our attention to longer term assistance that we can offer.”
We also asked our field staff to take a look at flood prevention measures we designed and installed over the last 50 years to see how they held during the storms,” said Mike Cox, state conservation engineer for the agency. “NRCS has 134 dams throughout central and southern Indiana that were built under the PL83-566 Flood Prevention Program. Our first two dams were completed in 1959 in Washington County, and our most recent addition was completed in 2004 in Clark County. All of the dams were built for flood prevention, and many of them are multi-purpose structures adding water supply, recreation, wildlife habitat in addition to their primary flood prevention purpose. A majority of NRCS dams throughout Indiana can store nearly 13 inches of rainfall before storm water might overtop the dam. Some dams, designed as ‘High Hazard,’ can store over 27 inches of rainfall before the dam would overtop.”
As flood prevention structures, engineering design and specifications are of primary importance in these dams. With years of heavy rainfalls, the attention to detail and adherence to good construction methods has paid off in that none of the NRCS flood prevention dams in Indiana have failed. Even at the point of overtopping, water flowing through the primary and auxiliary spillways in the NRCS flood protection dams is at full flow, quickly lowering storm water levels in the lake pool. Dams are designed so that if overtopping takes place, the shallow water flows over a wide area, spreading out the possibility of any concentrated damage. The auxiliary spillways are wide, flat earthen spillways covered in grasses or other vegetation to help stabilize them.
Under the intense precipitation during the first week of June 2008, the Indiana NRCS dams "weathered" the storms well. As these storms crossed central Indiana, heavy rainfall fell in watersheds affecting around 44 dams in Parke, Putnam, Vigo, Sullivan, and Greene counties. NRCS staff visited a Putnam County dam on Sunday, June 8, where the lake pool was quite high, just two feet below the auxiliary spillway (sometimes referred to as the emergency spillway). For some dams in Vigo and Sullivan counties, the lake pool rose high enough to activate or flow through the auxiliary spillway. As the water flowed through the earthen spillway outlets and moved toward the stream below, it caused only minor rutting and erosion of the slope and the channel banks of the stream below the dam.
Even with the dramatic depth and force of flooding throughout central and southern Indiana, NRCS dams held strong. They protected property, roads and bridges downstream of the dams, and reduced downstream flooding damages in their watershed. Local Districts are to be commended for carrying out their responsibilities in the maintenance of the dams and their structures.
Beyond the Boundaries Listening Sessions
Lt. Governor Becky Skillman renewed the state's commitment to rural Indiana, announcing a series of 12 town hall meetings to gather information on the needs of rural communities. A similar effort in 2005 brought together a broad-based group of rural-serving organizations to address issues identified by rural residents and helped determine the priorities of the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA).
Attendance to these sessions is open to the public and citizens are strongly encouraged to attend. Registration for all events will begin at 5:00 p.m. and the events will begin at 5:30 p.m. All times are local. Contact OCRA at 800.824.2476 or visit OCRA's Web site for more information. The dates for these sessions can be found on the OCRA Web site and also in IASWCD's calendar of events.
Nominate a SWCD Employee for 2008 District Employee of the Year
The Indiana District Employee Association (IDEA) would like to again recognize District employees at the 2009 Annual Conference banquet. The District Employee recognition has been one way to honor four people for their outstanding service, one each of the following categories: Administrative/Secretarial, Technical, Educational and Multi-task (for SWCD offices with only one person doing all jobs: secretarial, technical and education).
Every SWCD office and the chairperson of each District will receive an application form. The form also is available on the IASWCD Web site at the District Tools & Resources page >>click here. Forms will be available by emailing your Regional IDEA Director or District Employee Recognition Chairman Sharon Watson at sharon.watson@in.nacdnet.net. An award panel will review the applications and the awards will be presented at the 2009 Annual Conference.
Following is the criteria for the nomination process and awards:
- Nominations are open to all District employees in Indiana.
- Anyone can nominate a District employee including Supervisors, Partner Agencies, and any co-worker with the Partnership and/or themselves.
- Nominations must be typed, using the form provided online, only the space provided per category, and only five pages of support documentation (ex. photos, news releases, letters of endorsements). Your application will consist of the title page, two pages with set category and no more than five pages single sided of support documentation. The largest total amount will be eight pages. Applications not adhering to the above rules as stated will not be considered for this year’s award program.
Send your District nominees to: Sharon Watson, White County SWCD,
103 Country Lane,
Monticello, 47960. The deadline for applications is Friday, September 5, 2008. Applications postmarked after that date will be returned and not considered for this year’s award program.
>> Click here for the application
INDIANA ASSOCIATION OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION Districts
OFFICERS:
 President: Jim Droege, Posey Co.
Vice President: Paula Baldwin, Marion Co.
Secretary: Ray McCormick: Knox Co.
Treasurer: Jeff Meinders, Ripley Co.
REGION DIRECTORS:
Board Roster / Region Map
North-Northwest: Larry Strole, Newton Co.
South-Northwest: Kenny Cain, Montgomery Co.
North-Northeast: Tom Crowe, Allen Co.
South-Northeast: Bobby Hettmansperger, Wabash Co.
North-Southwest: Bob Weaver, Johnson Co.
South-Southwest: Ray Chattin, Knox Co.
North-Southeast: Brad Dawson, Dearborn Co.
South-Southeast: Brad Ponsler, Jennings Co.
IASWCD STAFF:
Executive Director: Jennifer Boyle, 317.692.7519
Watershed Information Specialist: Elizabeth Trybula, 317.692.7514
Communications Manager: DeeDee Sigler, 317.692.7374
Project Assistant: Jaclyn Casale, 317.692.7325 |
