Take a Watershed Tour with Friends of Lake Monroe and Other May NewsWatershed Tour June 21, Shoreline cleanups, cost-share program update
Join Our Watershed Tour!
We are excited to offer a new tour of the Lake Monroe Watershed on Saturday June 21st! While our past tours have focused on North Fork Salt Creek, this tour will focus on South Fork Salt Creek. Bring a picnic lunch and come learn about the lake. Sites include:
Cutright State Recreation Area - Learn about the geology of the area from Victoria Leffel of the Indiana Geological and Water Survey
Maumee Bridge - See where we collected water samples from South Fork Salt Creek and what we learned as we developed the Lake Monroe Watershed Management Plan
South Fork Stream Gauge in Kurtz - Did you know Friends of Lake Monroe was instrumental in adding a United States Geological Survey stream gauge to South Fork Salt Creek in Kurtz? Learn about the gauge and the information it has provided.
Hoosier National Forest - See areas where the United States Forest Service has already started controlled burns as part of their Houston South project which calls for burning as much as 15,000 acres of forest in the watershed over the next 10 to 15 years.
Hickory Grove Church - Listen to Jeff Stant with Indiana Forest Alliance provide additional information about the Houston South project while we enjoy a picnic lunch (bring your own) with dessert provided by Friends of Lake Monroe.
Lake Monroe Dam and Outlet - Did you know Lake Monroe was built largely to provide flood control for the White River? Learn how the dam works and how the United States Army Corps of Engineers decides how much water to release.
It has been two and a half years since we launched our Lake Monroe Watershed Conservation Cost-Share Program. So far we have reimbursed seven projects and are wrapping up an eighth. We have one more approved project that should be completed this fall and about $30,000 in available funds.
One of our recent projects was at CYO Camp Rancho Framasa in Brown County. We helped the camp install new fencing to keep their horses out of Clay Lick Creek (pictured at right). The project also included a new watering system and two heavy use area pads to reduce erosion when the animals gather to eat and drink. Other recent projects included planting cover crops on cropland across Brown County and adding water and sediment control basins to control erosion on a particularly hilly farm.
Our conservation cost-share program helps reduce the amount of sediment, nutrients, and fecal contamination reaching streams that feed into Lake Monroe. The projects also frequently make life easier for the farmers and landowners - for example, keeping their watering area from becoming a muddy mess. If you have land in the watershed and want to discuss a potential project please reach out to coordinator Maggie Sullivan at 812-558-0217 or watershed@friendsoflakemonroe.org.
Creating a Cost-Share Guarantee Fund
As discussed in our last newsletter, funding for our conservation cost-share program comes from a 319 grant, which is federal money administered by the state. With all the changes happening at the federal level, we are not certain that those funds can be counted on. In order to ensure that we can guarantee funding to our cost-share participants (who pay for the projects up front and are then reimbursed), the FLM board has established a cost-share guarantee fund that will serve as a backup to grant funded payments. Even if the government pauses our grant, our cost-share participants will be paid for their projects. If we are reimbursed through our grant, the grant money will go back into the guarantee fund to pay for future projects.
If you would like to ensure that we can continue our work implementing the Lake Monroe Watershed Management Plan and helping farmers add new soil and conservation projects, please consider making a donation. Even if our current grant is not impacted, it seems likely that there will be less funding available in the future due to budget cuts and program cancellations. (This is also a good time to call your state and federal representatives to let them know that you value clean water!)
We are thrilled to have Landon Yoder as one of our newest board members. He is an assistant professor at Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. His research as a human-environment geographer focuses on social-ecological systems, collaborative governance, and farmer decision-making. He has worked with farmers, watershed coordinators, conservationists, and government officials to find ways to collaboratively tackled water quality challenges. Recent research focused on why farmers do (or don't) use cover crops on their fields.
Mark Your Calendar
Get Involved
Interested in volunteering but not sure how? Contact our volunteer coordinator, Keith Bobay, at volunteer@friendsoflakemonroe.org! We have opportunities to help with Lake Monroe Day planning, on our community science committee, and more.
Friends of Lake Monroe depends on members like you to keep our organization strong. Join today to help us keep the lake drinkable, swimmable, and fishable. Individual membership is only $25 annually.
