Federal
Valley Watershed Group
A
Rural Action VISTA volunteer worked in the Federal Creek watershed beginning
in April 2000. Outreach and education were conducted both through monthly
meetings that offered educational presentations and through more than
forty face-to-face interviews with watershed stakeholders, most of whom
are resident landowners. The presentations included: "Using Wetlands
for Processing Sewage," presented by Chuck Hammer of the Athens Health
Department and Bob Eichenberg, Athens County Planner; "Programs Available
through ODNR and NRCS," by Mitch Farley; "Fish of Federal Creek," by
Jim Grow of the Ohio EPA; and "Stream Channel Restoration," by Mike
Greenlee of ODNR Division of Wildlife.
In
the fall we partnered with ODOT and Federal Hocking's Hooked on Fishing
program to organize a trash clean-up on state routes in the watershed.
An EPA 319 grant that was submitted in May will make it possible for
Rural Action to hire a watershed coordinator by fall of 2001.
Monday
Creek Restoration Project
During
the year 2000, we saw the first dramatic results from our remediation
work in the Monday Creek watershed: fish began to appear in parts of
the creek where no fish have been seen in more than sixty years. Over
one thousand trees were planted in the watershed to help stabilize stream
banks and reduce groundwater flow into acidic gob piles. Knowing it
will take decades to clean up the Monday Creek watershed, it is especially
rewarding to see these early results of our work.
Rural
Action and the Monday Creek watershed were selected to receive a unique
grant award from the EPA and the National Endowment for the Arts. The
AMD and Art project brings nationally acclaimed landscape artists together
with communities in watersheds damaged by acid mine drainage to develop
artistic interpretive areas. We held more than a dozen meetings in Murray
City, site for the AMD and Art project.
There
were also monthly meetings of all nineteen partners in the Monday Creek
Restoration Project. The Friends of Monday Creek citizens group met
five times during the year. The Monday Creek project brought in almost
$1 million in grant funds during the year 2000. Nearly all of those
dollars were spent locally for wages, supplies, and construction contracts,
directly benefiting the local economy. Rural Action acts as coordinator
of this project.
Sunday
Creek Watershed Group
Rural
Action is the fiscal agent and provides project coordination for the
Sunday Creek Watershed Group. Highlights of the year 2000 include receiving
an EPA 319 planning grant; opening an office in Glouster, centrally
located in the watershed; conducting an extensive watershed inventory;
establishing long-term water quality sampling sites; planting 1600 trees
in the watershed; and hiring a full-time coordinator.
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