March 18, 2008 by admin.

“Attached is the Grand Lake/Wabash Watershed Alliance’s latest press release. We will be co-sponsoring a stream monitoring training. This training is for anyone interested in learning more about water quality. It is hands on and a lot of fun! If you have any questions, please call or email.I also attached the GLWWA Advisory Board meeting agenda, you have received this before. AN ADDITION TO THE AGENDA is included on this document. The GLWWA Joint Board will meet briefly before this Advisory Board. This meeting will be to review Water Pollution Control Loan Fund certification letters. These letters require a motion with the board before being passed to OEPA.

Thank you,

Laura Walker
Grand Lake/Wabash Watershed Coordinator
Mercer County Soil and Water Conservation District
220 W. Livingston St. Suite 1
Celina, OH 45822
419-586-3289
fax: 419-586-9599
laura.walker(at)mercercountyohio.org”

3-12-08-monitoring-release.doc

glwwa-advisory-board-meeting-3-08.doc

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March 11, 2008 by admin.

Ag Day is approaching, and the Grand Lake/Wabash Watershed Alliance is extending our thanks to producers in the watershed.

Press Release
GLWWA Thanks Producers
In honor of National Agriculture Day, March 21, 2008, the Grand Lake/Wabash Watershed Alliance
(GLWWA) would like to extend gratitude to all landowners and operators who use best management
practices (BMPs).  Utilization of BMPs is important for many reasons.

Planting strips of grassland around a field will slow surface water runoff and filter water, keeping sediment
and nutrients from entering the water.  Thank you to the producers in the Grand Lake St. Marys watershed
who are participating in the 2007 Agriculture Incentive Program or have signed up for the EQIP
Demonstration Project.  Both of these programs offered an incentive to plant filter strips that can be cut for
hay.  A special thank you goes out to producers who install filter strips on their own.

As winter continues, we want to thank producers who followed winter manure application guidelines.  By
following setbacks and application rates, nutrients are kept on your fields and out of the water.  These
practices take time and the extra effort is noticed.

As spring arrives, the GLWWA wants to send an early thank you to producers and landowners who test
their soil and follow the analysis recommendations.  As we have seen, many lawns and some fields do not
need phosphorous on a regular basis.  Keeping the phosphorous to only the level needed for healthy plants
will reduce the phosphorous carried away by runoff.

A big thank you goes to the producers who tried a cover crop this winter.  Cover crops are planted during
the fall, capturing nitrogen and other nutrients.  These nutrients are held on the field, instead of running off
during winter freeze and thaw.  In the spring, these plants will decompose releasing the nutrients for the
summer crop.

The last big thank you is extended to agriculture landowners and operators who have considered bettering
water quality with their practices.  Only a few are specifically mentioned above, so many of the very
important practices are not mentioned.  Wetlands, riparian buffers, Conservation Reserve Programs and
many more BMPs are vital for improving water quality.  The GLWWA will continue to search for
incentives and cost share programs to make BMPs more cost effective.  There are many facets to our
watershed action plan and it will not be a success without action from the agriculture stakeholders.

If you are a stakeholder in the Wabash River Watershed, please consider attending the Public Advisory
Board meeting on March 25, 2008.  This meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the Fort Recovery Village Hall.
The topic of discussion will be a grant application for agriculture practices that will improve water quality
in the Wabash River Watershed.  These practices must be in one subwatershed, as seen in the attached
map.  If you have questions about this meeting or the above information, please call Mercer County Soil
and Water Conservation District at 419-586-3289.
 Ag Day 2008

In 2008 the GLWWA is planning to submit a 319 grant application for agriculture practices in one of these hydrologic codes:
1.Wabash Headwaters to below Bear Creek
2.Wabash River above Bear Creek below Stony Creek
3.Wabash River below Stony Creek above Beaver Creek
4.Beaver Creek from Grand Lake to above Little Beaver Creek
5.Little Beaver Creek
6.Beaver Creek below Little Beaver Creek to Wabash River
7.Wabash River below Beaver Creek to New Corydon
8.Limberlost Creek Headwaters to below Bull Creek

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March 1, 2008 by lakeprotector.

Below are the letters of thanks that were sent to Senator Brown and Representative Boehner thanking them for their efforts which have resulted in $1 Million in special funding for projects to clean up two of the creeks feeding the Lake.

March 1, 2008

SENATOR SHERROD BROWN
455 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510

Dear Senator Brown,

On behalf of the 700 family and business members of the Grand Lake St. Marys Lake Improvement Association, I want to thank you for your efforts which have resulted in the recent $1 million dollar funding of watershed projects by the Natural Resources Conservation Service in the Lake’s watershed.

As you are aware, Grand Lake Saint Marys is one of the most degraded lakes in the State of Ohio. Its hypereutrophic condition is primarily the result of runoff from the agricultural land which makes up the majority of the Lake’s watershed. The $1 million dollar funding for projects in the watershed will significantly contribute to reducing the nutrients in two of the six major waterways draining into the Lake. I hope that this funding will signal the start of the major efforts required at the local, state and federal levels to make the Lake a legacy that we can proudly leave for future generations to enjoy.

While the Lake Improvement Association is a non-partisan organization, I am sure its membership will consider your bipartisan efforts which have resulted in the funding becoming available when they vote in the future.

Sincerely,

William Ringo
President, Lake Improvement Association

March 1, 2008

Representative John Boehner
1011 Longworth House Office Building 1011 LHOB
Washington, D.C., District of Columbia 20515-3508

Dear Representative Boehner,

On behalf of the 700 family and business members of the Grand Lake St. Marys Lake Improvement Association, I want to thank you for your efforts which have resulted in the recent $1 million dollar funding of watershed projects by the Natural Resources Conservation Service in the Lake’s watershed.

As you are aware, Grand Lake Saint Marys is one of the most degraded lakes in the State of Ohio. Its hypereutrophic condition is primarily the result of runoff from the agricultural land which makes up the majority of the Lake’s watershed. The $1 million dollar funding for projects in the watershed will significantly contribute to reducing the nutrients in two of the six major waterways draining into the Lake. I hope that this funding will signal the start of the major efforts required at the local, state and federal levels to make the Lake a legacy that we can proudly leave for future generations to enjoy.

While the Lake Improvement Association is a non-partisan organization, I am sure its membership will consider your bipartisan efforts which have resulted in the funding becoming available when they vote in the future.

Sincerely,

William Ringo
President, Lake Improvement Association

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