Summary
The Gibson County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) received a 205j grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to rewrite the 2008 Watershed Management Plan (WMP) for the Lower Patoka River watershed. A revised WMP was deemed necessary as the 2008 WMP was not in compliance with IDEM’s 2009 checklist due to its age; and that the watershed had experienced tremendous change since its approval. This WMP Development project was a success due to the cooperation and involvement of many partner agencies and those people who saw this work as important including: Pike County SWCD board of supervisors and office staff, Lower Patoka Steering committee, The Nature Conservancy, Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge staff and the Friends of the Patoka River who volunteered throughout the grant. Purdue Extension, Conservation through Community Leadership (CCL) program, Gibson County Solid Waste Department, and the Gibson County Highway Department.
The LPR Watershed consists of the main branch of the Patoka River and the South Fork, Patoka River (South Fork PR). The main branch Patoka River has a Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) of 05120209080 and is 86,688 acres. The South Fork PR is HUC 05120209070 and includes 48,814 acres. There are 10 sub-watersheds in the project area which is in far southwest Indiana in Gibson, Pike, and Warrick Counties.