Clean Water Indiana monies fund projects in Mill Creek Watershed

Friday, June 3, 2011

The Boards of Supervisors for the Putnam and Owen County Soil and Water Conservation districts have announced a partnership in bringing a Cover Crop Cost Share Program to the Mill Creek Watershed.

This program is made possible by grants received by the Putnam and Owen County SWCDs through the Clean Water Indiana Grant Fund administered by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

The Cover Crop Program is available to landowners and operators within the HUC 05120203 sub watershed. The SWCD staffs will work with landowners and operators within the Mill Creek watershed to see if their agricultural land lies within this specific sub watershed. Applications will be accepted until June 15. If funding allows applications after June 15 will be taken in order received.

The program will allow up to $1,000 per entity to purchase cover crop seed. An application can be obtained from either the Owen or Putnam County SWCD Office.

The Putnam and Owen County SWCDs have also entered into a partnership with the local agricultural businesses in the area to provide a discount on the cost of seed.

The agricultural businesses partnering on this initiative are the Cloverdale Agri-Center, Butler's LP & Fertilizer, Co-Alliance (Stilesville and Quincy) and Ceres Solutions (Clay City).

Those accepted into the Cost Share Program can utilize these or other seed sources but must follow the cover crop seeding standard provided by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) who is also a partner in this Program and will provide technical assistance.

The Cost Share Program for cover crops is part of an ongoing Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI) to provide education, technical assistance, and cost share opportunities to the farming community within Putnam and Owen counties. More information is available at the CCSI website http://www.in.gov/isda/ccsi/.

The Putnam County SWCD can be reached at 653-5716, ext. 3, while the Owen County SWCD can be reached at 812-829-2605.

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