Financial assistance available to address water quality impairments

WORLAND — The Washakie County Conservation District (WCCD) announced the 2018 NRCS National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) grant funding for approximately $450,000, intended to improve water quality in the Lower Nowater Watershed in Washakie County.

This program is intended to help producers install conservation practices that manage nutrients, pathogens and sediments. These funds were awarded to WCCD by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), through the National Water Quality Initiative.

Eligible landowners or those who operate property within the Lower Nowater Watershed, regardless of acreage size, can apply to receive technical and cost-share assistance for installing conservation practices such as irrigation water management, grazing land management, stream habitat improvement and management, and cover crops.

According to a WCCD press release, Washakie Watersheds Steering Committee, a local committee formed by WCCD to update the Big Horn River Watershed Plan, identified the Lower Nowater watershed as their next priority to focus implementation activities. These committee members include the federal NRCS, Farm Service Agency and Bureau of Land Management partners, as well as local landowners, WCCD board and staff, Wyoming Association of Conservation District’s watershed coordinator, Washakie County Extension Service and Wyoming G&F habitat biologist.

According to the WCCD, the committee believes that, “on-farm” conservation investments have the best chance to improve water quality.

According to a release, the Lower Nowater watershed was chosen by the committee as a priority due to the diverse land use including residential, commercial, and agricultural. Nowater Creek is an intermittent stream with headwaters originating in Hot Springs County, but the majority of the creek and its tributaries are located in Washakie County where it flows northwest to its confluence with the Big Horn River south of Worland. Nowater Creek and its tributaries identified on the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) Table A Surface Water Classification Table, are currently designated as a 3B waterbody for its entire length, protected for primary contact recreation. Class 3B waters are intermittent and ephemeral streams with sufficient hydrology to normally support and sustain communities of aquatic life including invertebrates, amphibians, or other flora and fauna which inhabit waters of the state at some stage of their life cycles.

WDEQ has determined that Nowater Creek is impaired for fecal coliform, from the confluence with the Big Horn River 6.6 miles upstream.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

NRCS will be accepting applications for this program’s cost-share assistance and all applications for consideration must be received by Dec. 15. Contact Laura Galloway, NRCS district conservationist, at 347-2456 ext. 107, for more information or to sign up.

ABOUT WCCD, NRCS

Washakie County Conservation District and Natural Resource Conservation Service help America’s farmers and ranchers conserve the nation’s soil, water, air and other natural resources. All programs are voluntary and offer science-based solutions that benefit the landowner and the environment.

NRCS is an equal opportunity provider and employer.