| |||
Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing Article Summaries |
Many Projects on Many Pondsby Josh Platt The Kennebec County Soil & Water Conservation District (KCSWCD) will be working on many projects in many watersheds this field season. Throughout the summer the District will provide updates on various projects as well as many educational articles about keeping watersheds healthy. One of our focus areas for this season will be in the Cobbossee Stream and Pleasant Pond watersheds in the towns of Litchfield, Richmond, Gardiner and West Gardiner. Pleasant Pond2009 is the second year of a two-year water quality improvement project in the Pleasant Pond watershed in the towns of Litchfield and Richmond. The District in partnership with the Four Towns Watershed Association (FTWA), Cobbossee Watershed District (CWD), and Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed (Friends) has project money from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to address sites that are contributing to the water quality issues of Pleasant Pond. Projects are not limited to properties directly on the pond. A site may have a significant impact on water quality and be far away from the shore of Pleasant Pond. Examples of potential projects are camp and gravel road erosion issues, culvert replacement, shoreline erosion and stabilization, lack of vegetated buffer and town and state road and ditch maintenance. Water clarity in Pleasant Pond in 2008 was the best it has been in years. Many factors influence water clarity but the issues addressed by this program have contributed greatly to this improvement. Site visits and recommendations will again be free under this program. Any construction will be a cost-share process where landowners pay a smaller percentage of the total cost or, in some cases landowners can meet their cost-share obligations by providing their own labor to a project. Cost-share rates/discounts for landowners will range from 50% to 75% depending on the type and scope of proposed projects. Landowners, road associations or other groups that may be interested in being part of a project or learning more about the program should contact the Kennebec County Soil & Water Conservation District at Cobbossee Stream SurveyThe District will also be involved in conducting a survey of the Cobbossee Stream watershed on June 11, 2009 in the towns of Richmond, Litchfield and West Gardiner. The purpose of the survey is to identify soil erosion and other non-point source pollution sites that are contributing to any water quality problems in Cobbossee Stream. District staff along with trained volunteers will be observing and noting problem sites throughout the watershed. Each team will be responsible for a sector and fill out a form for each identified site. A report will be generated but no names or property owners will be identified in the report. This survey is a requirement for obtaining funding to fix problem sites just like the funding the District has for the Pond. Obtaining funding for the Stream has been a goal of the District for several years and the District will be applying for this money following the completion of the survey. Other watersheds the District is working in this field season are: Tacoma Lakes, Togus Pond (in partnership with the City of Augusta and the Woromontogus Lake Association), Long Pond (in partnership with the Belgrade Region Conservation Alliance), Threemile, Three Cornered, Wilson and China (in partnership with China Region Lakes Alliance) and Wilson and Anabessacook (in partnership with the Cobbossee Watershed District). | ||