700 Creek Drainage Water Quality Report

The Wood River Soil Conservation District applied for a Water Quality Project for North Shoshone on November of 2004.  This project was to focus on conversion of surface irrigation to sprinkler irrigation on 1,000 acres identified as critical in the draft Big Wood River TMDL implementation plan, to assist in meeting load reductions of sediment (10%) and phosphorus (25%).  This treatment will complement work initiated through EQIP, RCRDP loans and grants to accelerate implementation of planned treatment.

The Commission reviewed & accepted the proposal then made contact with the WRSCD for a meeting on February 1, 2005 to cover and sign the agreement for the 700 Creek Drainage WQPA.  Jerry Nicolescu, Biff Burleigh, Chuck Pentzer and many other Commission employees were in attendance along with all board members excluding Carl Pendleton. 

BMP cost share       $ 300,000.00

Administrative        $   30,000.00

State Costs               $ 330,000.00

Matching Funds      $ 110,000.00

Total Project Cost   $ 440,000.00

This project begins the 1^st day of June 2005, and expires the 30^th day of June, 2010.

Instead of a newsletter the staff and supervisors began telling landowners throughout the area about the program that was available and before long we had 9 applications and 1 that also qualified for EQIP.  The combination of the two programs made it feasible for NRCS to do the planning contracting and engineering because there priority is EQIP.  This project was completed by October, 2005.

Because this was such a good project and went so smoothly the District decided to request technical assistance from the Commission. The response from Jerry Nicolescu, Commission administrator and Biff Burleigh, program coordinator, was so great that a plan was constructed to utilize the request for technical assistance as a tool for training many Commission employees in the planning and contracting phases. 

The District staff and NRCS staff worked together to prepare the first 5 applications along with maps, soils and descriptions for each landowner.  We then called and made appointments for each landowner to meet with a specific Commission employee to go over the plan.

This was a fantastic team effort and because of this effort the WRSCD is making progress in reaching there TMDL and water quality goals in the Big Wood River.