Summary
In the Fall of 2000, the Fayette County Soil and Water Conservation District (FCSWCD), submitted a Section 319 Grant Application to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to implement a 2-year public input process and develop a watershed management plan (WMP) for the Lick Creek watershed. Section 319 of the Federal Clean Water Act provides funding for various types of projects that work to reduce nonpoint source (NPS) water pollution.
A two-year grant in the sum of $89,000 was awarded to the FCSWCD from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the IDEM. The grant period was from June 2, 2001 through September 1, 2003. The Section 319 grant included the following requirements:
- Hire a Watershed Coordinator,
- Organize a local Steering Committee (SC),
- Evaluate the water quality conditions of the Lick Creek Watershed,
- Develop a WMP that meets the requirements of the IDEM’s checklist titled, “What Needs to be in a Watershed Management Plan Checklist.”
The FCSWCD Board of Supervisors chose to hire contract personnel to serve the role of “watershed coordinator.” The FCSWCD entered into a sub-contractual agreement with a professional environmental staffing company, Goode & Associates, Inc., whose specialty is water quality management, policy analysis, and watershed coordination. This subcontract allowed for twenty-one (21) months of coordination, meeting facilitation, water quality field sampling, map preparation, and various related coordination and management services. Goode & Associates, Inc. provided a “watershed coordination team” (referred to throughout this document) consisting of a land use planner, a biologist/water quality chemist, an agricultural specialist, a local government policy and regulatory specialist, and a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) mapping and database specialist. The lead representative from the watershed coordination team is referred to throughout this document as the “watershed coordinator.”
The watershed coordination team drafted the Lick Creek WMP, which meets the checklist requirements of the “What Needs to be in a Watershed Management Plan” FFY 2003.