Big Piney Watershed

This month has been one of a lot of planning. I am starting a lot of projects that will be carried out through the next few months/ my term and I’m happy to say they are going great so far. My main objective with this position is to help create a watershed committee for the Big Piney River. This river runs through three counties providing water for domestic use as well as recreation to the south central Ozarks. I’ve hosted two meetings so far with the help of MU Extension Facilitators to provide us with guidance and keep us on track. The meetings attendance included community leaders such as County Commissioners, health department, MDC, Forest Services and Soil and Water. They all brought their concerns and ideas which made for a great roundtable discussion and dialog. We are hoping to meet up again next month to discuss the future of the committee, grants we will try for, plans we hope to create and water quality issues we hope to attack. So far the main concerns for our area have been erosion, storm water drainage, old well plugging, and for Pulaski County which has major construction as an on going concern; planning and zoning. The other big project which I won’t go too much into is a collaboration between Texas County Soil and Water and Top of the Ozarks RC&D. It’s an art contest for 5th and 11th grade students in the county. The theme is “Quality Water Means Quality Life.” The deadline is not until February, and we are hoping to make presentations to the classrooms about water quality and what people do and practice and how it affects their daily life. That’s all for now, have a Happy Thanksgiving.