Post by L Roebuck on Mar 1, 2006 12:04:00 GMT -5
Watershed solutions flow at forum
Residents picked up tips on how to protect the Bonne Femme.
Missourian News
BY REBECCA TOWNSEND
Cattle farmer Robert hagans has kived on the south side of the Bonne Femme Watershed his whole life.
It wasn’t until 10 years ago, though, that he began to notice a neighboring creek flooding New Salem Church Road during heavy rains.
The property where his 45 Angus brood cows roam has no perennially flowing streams, but the gullies channeling storm water are flowing faster and there is more erosion, Hagans said.
Hagans was one of a couple dozen people who attended an open house Tuesday evening organized by members from the Bonne Femme Watershed Project. The forum was designed to educate residents and business owners about water quality issues and financial assistance available for grass-roots initiatives to improve or enhance stream health.
Hagans is considering building a pond to control storm water flow.
Warren and Gayle Sims, who in 1991 bought 26 acres within the 93-square-mile watershed located between Columbia and Ashland, had a similar idea.
“If everyone on all these little creeks would put in a retainment lake, you could stop all this flooding you have on the Bonne Femme,” Warren Sims said.
The Sims also have seen a significant gravel buildup in the stream adjoining their property.
“It’s forcing the water against our side (of the stream) and (has) taken out trees,” Sims said. “The gravel needs (to be) taken out.”
Terry Frueh, a watershed conservationist who oversees the financial assistance offered by the Bonne Femme Watershed Project, said lakes could work to slow down storm water flows.
“Everything has to be evaluated on a site-by-site basis,” Frueh said. “There may be other projects that do it better or are less costly.”
The Bonne Femme Watershed Project must distribute $320,000 to support local watershed improvement efforts before Environmental Protection Agency and state funding expires in June 2007. Financial assistance can be used for up to 60 percent of a project’s cost. Landowners can count use of equipment, labor or other in-kind contributions toward their portion of the project cost.
Examples of eligible projects include septic system pump-outs, stream bank stabilization and storm water control.
The rolling hills, ravines, creeks and caves that make living in the Bonne Femme Watershed an attractive prospect also add to the area’s sensitivity to increased land use.
Frueh said population within the watershed had increased by 40 percent between 1990 and 2000 and, according to newer estimates based on building permits and property assessments, the growth rate continues to increase.
Kathryn DiFoxfire, an interpretive resource technician at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, set up a karst groundwater model to demonstrate how much of the water flowing from Bonne Femme Creek and its tributaries runs through the Devil’s Icebox Cave. She said maintaining water quality within the watershed is essential to the health of the Pink Planarian, a worm unique to Devil’s Icebox, and the habitat of insects that feed six species of bat calling the cave home. She added that the bats are allies to agriculture, as they eat leafhoppers and other insects that destroy field crops.
Speak out: Do you have ideas on how to improve water quality in the Bonne Femme Watershed?
Contact watershed conservationist Terry Frueh at 886-4330 or tfrueh@boonecountymo.org
Cattle farmer Robert Hagans has lived on the south side of the Bonne Femme Watershed his whole life.
columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=18630
Note: Comments can also be made via the Columbia Missourian Forum columbiamissourian.com/forums/
Residents picked up tips on how to protect the Bonne Femme.
Missourian News
BY REBECCA TOWNSEND
Cattle farmer Robert hagans has kived on the south side of the Bonne Femme Watershed his whole life.
It wasn’t until 10 years ago, though, that he began to notice a neighboring creek flooding New Salem Church Road during heavy rains.
The property where his 45 Angus brood cows roam has no perennially flowing streams, but the gullies channeling storm water are flowing faster and there is more erosion, Hagans said.
Hagans was one of a couple dozen people who attended an open house Tuesday evening organized by members from the Bonne Femme Watershed Project. The forum was designed to educate residents and business owners about water quality issues and financial assistance available for grass-roots initiatives to improve or enhance stream health.
Hagans is considering building a pond to control storm water flow.
Warren and Gayle Sims, who in 1991 bought 26 acres within the 93-square-mile watershed located between Columbia and Ashland, had a similar idea.
“If everyone on all these little creeks would put in a retainment lake, you could stop all this flooding you have on the Bonne Femme,” Warren Sims said.
The Sims also have seen a significant gravel buildup in the stream adjoining their property.
“It’s forcing the water against our side (of the stream) and (has) taken out trees,” Sims said. “The gravel needs (to be) taken out.”
Terry Frueh, a watershed conservationist who oversees the financial assistance offered by the Bonne Femme Watershed Project, said lakes could work to slow down storm water flows.
“Everything has to be evaluated on a site-by-site basis,” Frueh said. “There may be other projects that do it better or are less costly.”
The Bonne Femme Watershed Project must distribute $320,000 to support local watershed improvement efforts before Environmental Protection Agency and state funding expires in June 2007. Financial assistance can be used for up to 60 percent of a project’s cost. Landowners can count use of equipment, labor or other in-kind contributions toward their portion of the project cost.
Examples of eligible projects include septic system pump-outs, stream bank stabilization and storm water control.
The rolling hills, ravines, creeks and caves that make living in the Bonne Femme Watershed an attractive prospect also add to the area’s sensitivity to increased land use.
Frueh said population within the watershed had increased by 40 percent between 1990 and 2000 and, according to newer estimates based on building permits and property assessments, the growth rate continues to increase.
Kathryn DiFoxfire, an interpretive resource technician at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, set up a karst groundwater model to demonstrate how much of the water flowing from Bonne Femme Creek and its tributaries runs through the Devil’s Icebox Cave. She said maintaining water quality within the watershed is essential to the health of the Pink Planarian, a worm unique to Devil’s Icebox, and the habitat of insects that feed six species of bat calling the cave home. She added that the bats are allies to agriculture, as they eat leafhoppers and other insects that destroy field crops.
Speak out: Do you have ideas on how to improve water quality in the Bonne Femme Watershed?
Contact watershed conservationist Terry Frueh at 886-4330 or tfrueh@boonecountymo.org
Cattle farmer Robert Hagans has lived on the south side of the Bonne Femme Watershed his whole life.
columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=18630
Note: Comments can also be made via the Columbia Missourian Forum columbiamissourian.com/forums/
