LWRWIP

Made possible by a grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and

The United States Environmental Protection Agency

In November, 2006, the Owen County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) received a 319 Water Quality Grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). The purpose of the grant is to produce a Watershed Management Plan for the following watersheds: McCormick’s Creek/Fall Creek; Limestone Creek/Big Creek; Mill Creek/Little Mill Creek (not the Mill Creek draining Cataract Lake, this one is further south).

Over the next two years, the Watershed Coordinator, Sharon Hall, will work with a steering committee and local, state, and federal agencies, to create a Watershed Management Plan that includes the following elements: Water Quality Analysis; Land Use Analysis; Public Education and Outreach Programs; Pollutant Load Reduction Goals; Options to Achieve Goals.

What is a Watershed? A watershed is a geographic area of land that all drains to a common point. Depending on the scale of the discussion, you could refer to the watershed of the Mississippi River, or the watershed of a farm pond. As an example from the grant project area, you might be most familiar with McCormick’s Creek. The McCormick’s Creek watershed begins in Monroe County in the flat agricultural land just west of Ellettsville. It is roughly 8795 acres in size. If rain doesn’t soak into the ground in this watershed, it enters McCormick’s Creek as runoff, travels through the beautiful carved out canyon in McCormick’s Creek State Park, then enters the White River near where Trail 7 meets the river.

Water quality projects are usually based on watersheds rather than township lines, city limits, or counties. Watersheds serve as logical landscape units for environmental management. It is important to remember that watersheds refer to surface water only. Groundwater, which is the source of much of our drinking water, is influenced by surface water but occurs in underground aquifers, not watersheds.

This project is driven by the poor water quality in the White River. As we research each of the six watersheds, we will be able to roughly determine how they affect water quality in the White River.

Nonpoint Source Pollution, pollution of ground and surface water resulting from a variety of ways that humans use the land, is likely to be a contributing problem to poor water quality. Soil particles, fertilizers, animal manure, pesticides, oil, roadsalt, fecal material from failing septic systems, and debris from paved areas are transported over the landscape by storm runoff and snow melt. Eventually entering streams, wetlands and lakes, or penetrating into ground water, these pollutants damage aquatic habitat, harm aquatic life, and reduce the capacity of water resources to be used for drinking water and recreation.

Successful development and implementation of the watershed plan will depend primarily on the commitment and involvement of community members. Therefore, it is critical to build a partnership with key interested parties at the onset of the watershed planning effort. People and organizations that have a stake in the outcome of the watershed plan are called stakeholders. Stakeholders are defined as those who make and implement decisions, those who are affected by the decisions made, and those who have the ability to assist or impede implementation of the decisions. It is essential that all stakeholders provide input into the watershed planning process.

Numerous public meetings will be held throughout the two year planning period to collect public input. But those interested in really making a difference should join the Steering Committee. Steering Committee members serve a two-year term. They discuss and formulate decisions for the watershed project and review the work of the sub-committees and Watershed Coordinator. To begin, the Steering Committee will meet once each month at the Owen County Soil and Water Conservation District office located near the intersection of Highways 46 and 43.

As a Steering Committee member, you can: be a voice for the citizens of your community; have the satisfaction of helping to restore water quality in the lakes and streams so everyone can enjoy it; learn more about water resource protection and restoration; and contribute your unique knowledge and skills.

The first of many public meetings was held March 22 of 2007 in the Nature Center at McCormick’s Creek State Park. At this meeting, the project was introduced, public input recorded, and participants had the opportunity to sign on to the Steering Committee.

Sharon Hall has been selected by the Owen County Soil and Water Conservation District Board to act as Coordinator for their new Lower White River Watershed 319 Grant Project. The grant is being funded by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Sharon is no stranger to water quality and soil conservation issues. After fifteen years of employment as a Park Naturalist, Sharon accepted a job in 1992 with the Division of Soil Conservation, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, as a Resource Specialist. From 1992 to 1996, she worked out of the Natural Resources Conservation Service Field Office located in Fort Wayne helping agricultural producers solve water quality/soil loss issues on crop land, and also assisted with the urban conservation program.

In 1997, Sharon received a promotion within DNR to serve as a regional Stormwater Specialist in southwest Indiana. As a Stormwater Specialist, she traveled throughout 15 counties assisting local staff with urban conservation in the form of construction site inspection, pollution prevention plan reviews, training programs, and assistance to local municipalities with Rule 13 and Rule 5 programs.

When the Division of Soil Conservation within DNR was dissolved in 2005, Sharon went to work for Morgan County as their Stormwater Coordinator specializing in pollution prevention on construction sites, drainage complaint resolution, and administration of the counties stormwater and mineral extraction programs.

In her new role as Owen SWCD’s Watershed Coordinator, she will be responsible for the development of a Watershed Management Plan for the following watersheds: Limestone/Big Creek; McCormicks/Fall Creek; Mill/Little Mill Creek. She will work in partnership with a Steering Committee comprised of interested citizens, local government departments, state agencies, and USDA staff. Throughout the grant period, she will be collecting water quality data, land use data, and public input to develop a Watershed Management Plan that is usable, and that will be used, by stakeholders who make decisions about soil conservation and non-point pollution prevention measures in the watersheds.

Sharon has been a resident of Owen County since 2000. She has two children, Stephanie and Preston. In her spare time, she is an active PTO volunteer at McCormicks Creek Elementary School where she is part of a team working to develop an Outdoor Classroom on the southwest corner of the school’s property.